MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men's hockey team dug itself an early hole on Saturday night, and it proved too much to climb out of in a 6-2 loss to ninth-ranked Denver at the Kohl Center.
 
After falling behind 4-0 a little more than halfway through the second period, the Badgers (3-5-4, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) tried to mount their biggest comeback of the season. UW scored twice in the final three minutes of the second period, but that was as close it got.
 
"I think this was the first night in a long time, we've played 12 games now, that we can say, 'We didn't take a step forward, or half a step forward tonight,'" head coach Mike Eaves said. "Our schedule has been such that we've played such good teams and been on the road and tonight we just didn't take that step and that was disappointing."
 
Denver (7-3-2, 3-0-1-0 NCHC) started the scoring at the 5:10 mark of the first period when Colin Staub stuck a rebound chance past UW goaltender Matt Jurusik to make it 1-0. The Pioneers then doubled their advantage with 7:23 left in the first period, as Jarid Lukosevicius finished off a rush into the zone with a tip of a wrist shot in front of the net.
 
With a 2-0 lead coming out of the first intermission, the Pioneers didn't waste any time increasing their lead in the second period. Troy Terry scored off a deflection on the power play just 26 seconds into the frame to make it 3-0. Dylan Gambrell scored on a one-timer a little less than 11 minutes later to make it a 4-0 Pioneers edge.
 
But despite the deficit, Wisconsin battled back to make it a game. Tim Davison got UW on the board with a power play goal at the 17:10 mark of the middle frame. Following an offensive zone faceoff, Davison got the puck at the right point from Adam Rockwood and ripped a slap shot past DU goaltender Tanner Jaillet's glove.
 
"We definitely had some momentum going, had some energy and a little boost on the bench," Davison said. "Shortly after that, Jake Linhart was able to get a goal. Things were going in our favor. We had a lot of energy and momentum going into the third period. That was good for a moment."
 
Less than two minutes later, the Badgers cut the deficit to just two goals on a shot from nearly the exact same point. UW forced a turnover at the DU blue line to start the play, and Cameron Hughes collected the puck and raced down the right wing. Hughes turned at the right goal line and found Jake Linhart, who whizzed a slap shot past Jaillet from the right point.
 
But Wisconsin couldn't translate the late second period momentum into the third period. Denver scored at the 5:39 mark of the third and then added an empty-net goal with 1:30 left in the frame to extinguish hope for a Badgers' comeback.
 
"What's really important now is how we respond to the things that happened tonight and we have another couple weeks here to work on that and it's about how we respond in practice," Eaves said.
 
"We're going to continue to push to get better, that's what we need to do. That's what the doctor ordered, so we're going to fill that prescription."
 
Jurusik finished with 37 saves for Wisconsin.
 
Wisconsin has a bye week next weekend before returning to action on Dec. 4-5 when it heads to Michigan to open Big Ten play.