MADISON, Wis. – Consider this test passed. The No. 17 Wisconsin men's hockey team took on reigning two-time national champions and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth Saturday in front of over 13,000 fans at the Kohl Center and finished off a weekend sweep with a 3-1 victory.
The Bulldogs (1-3-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) came back for redemption in the second series game but ended with only one goal on the board, while the Badgers (3-1-0, 0-0-0 Big Ten) held strong as freshman
Alex Turcotte, junior
Ty Pelton-Byce and senior
Sean Dhooghe netted goals for Wisconsin.
After a scoreless first period, Turcotte took honors for the first goal of the night on a power play five minutes into the second, posting a pass by
Wyatt Kalynuk and
Linus Weissbach top shelf.
Pelton-Byce converted a breakaway for the game-winning goal off a pass down the ice by Dhooghe to give UW a two-goal lead.
Despite UMD snuck one in at the end of the second, UW held their defensive stature as the teams exchanged power plays and penalty kills into the third.
Dhooghe sealed the game with 36 seconds left on the clock to tally his first goal of the season -- an easy empty-netter after a pass by
Dylan Holloway.
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Notes to know:
- Sophomore netminder Daniel Lebedeff made 31 saves tonight, finishing with 57 saves on 60 shots faced during the weekend.
- Junior Harvard transfer and Madison native Ty Pelton-Byce scored his first game-winning goal as a Badger.
- Tonight marked the third time in four games for the 2019-20 season that Wisconsin was perfect on its penalty kill going 5-for-5.
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On the game:
"We won a different way. We're not going to be able to score six or 11 goals at all times. When you don't have it, you are going to have to find ways to play smart defensively, and I think the commitment from our team was very obvious from the start of the game.
On the team:
We ask all of our guys to be in a position where when the game is on the line, be reliable. So, as you go along this season, they are all going to get to have different chances and opportunities to be put into those situations. Early in the season, it's important to see how much confidence they have and to do it right. I thought they were playing well defensively."
Junior forward Ty Pelton-Byce:
"I think it was a huge step for us showing everyone, including ourselves, that we can beat anybody and get a sweep over a team as good as UMD. It feels pretty good, and it's something we can definitely build on the rest of the year.
We knew we were going to get their best tonight. Coming off the bat, they came out hard, and we just weathered the storm pretty well, and once we weathered that, we started to push back. So, I think we held them pretty well."
Freshman forward Alex Turcotte:
"It's our first big weekend, but I think it's the right step forward and beating the back-to-back national champions can only help our confidence. I think we are growing together as a team. It's definitely going to help us going forward."
Up next: Wisconsin will take on No. 10 Clarkson in a home series on Oct. 25-26. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center both nights.
Tickets
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