WORCESTER, Mass. — Persistence and patience paid off for Wisconsin in its NCAA regional semifinal against Dartmouth on Thursday night.
After recording more than twice as many shots on goal through two periods but having little to show for it beyond a tie score, the Badgers finally broke through midway through the third period on the way to a 5-1 win at DCU Center.
“Don’t give up, just keep going, one of them is bound to go in,” said Wisconsin senior forward Jack Horbach, whose third-period goal broke a 1-1 deadlock. “We just kept talking about hammering the idea that we don’t give up here. No matter what happens, we just keep going no matter what.”
Wisconsin (22-12-2) will face Big Ten rival Michigan State on Saturday in the regional final at 4:30 p.m.
It was only Horbach’s third goal of the season, but it sparked a four-goal outburst that moved the Badgers within one win of their first Frozen Four appearance since 2010. Simon Tassy scored twice, including an insurance goal at 14:17 of the third. Christian Fitzgerald and Quinn Finley added empty-net goals to turn a close game into a rout.
“That wasn’t a 5-1 game,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. “That was a little bit of ping-pong, back and forth. We knew that Dartmouth would be a hard out, and they obviously were. I’m proud of the guys for sticking with it.”
Wisconsin struck first early in the contest when Tassy poked home a rebound of a shot by Ben Dexheimer to give the Badgers a 1-0 lead at 2:52. Dexheimer sent the puck toward the net from the left faceoff circle, where it was initially stopped by Dartmouth goaltender Emmett Croteau, who made 23 saves. Tassy battled for the rebound in front, and it eventually crossed the line for his 12th goal of the season.
“I wasn’t sure the goal was going to count,” Tassy said. “I just tried to push it in.”
Dartmouth’s Hank Cleaves tied it almost exactly halfway through the opening period. Cleaves finished an efficient tic-tac-toe sequence by slipping the puck five-hole between the pads of Wisconsin goaltender Daniel Hauser, who made 13 saves, at 10:05.
A scoreless second period followed, and it remained tied 1-1 until Horbach scored at 9:47 to give Wisconsin the lead for good. Vasily Zelenov stole the puck after a Dartmouth rush was broken up at the red line, skated into the high slot and fired the puck toward Horbach, who was driving the net. Horbach used slick stickwork to send the puck past Croteau on the right side.
Dartmouth, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1980, finished the season 23-8-4.
“We could not get inside the dots in the offensive zone,” Dartmouth coach Reid Cashman said. “I thought we actually had some pretty good forechecks in the first period. (They) blocked a good amount of shots.”
It was the first meeting between the programs, both of which have sponsored men’s hockey for more than a century.