Early in the second period, Wisconsin, which is a young team with only four seniors, gave up a tying goal at just 44 seconds of the second to Jordan Boucher. Clarkson’s first goal at come at 19:06 of the first, by James de Haas, after Luke Kunin had staked the Badgers to a 2-0 lead at 9:37 of the first.
Approximately a minute after Boucher’s tying marker, Wisconsin scored on a shot from outside the blue line, but the goal was waved off, as a Badgers player was offside.
To some young teams, especially a team like Wisconsin that is young and is coming off two consecutive losing seasons, that could have been a confidence crusher.
Instead, about a minute after the goal was waved off, Cullen Hurley scored at 2:54 to put Wisconsin back in front, and the Badgers built on that momentum by getting a goal from Corbin McGuire at 5:17 to retake a two-goal lead.
Late goals again proved a problem, as Boucher scored with nine seconds left in the second to pull Clarkson back within one, but again Wisconsin regrouped, and Grant Besse scored just 15 seconds into the third to put Wisconsin up by two again.
“We’ve got to sit there for 15 minutes in the intermission and think about, did we just blow it?,” said Wisconsin first year coach Tony Granato. “And instead of getting on our heels and trying to defend, we went right back on the attack again.”
Boucher completed a hat trick with a goal at 16:43 to make it 5-4, but Wisconsin goalie Matt Jurusik, who made 24 saves in the game, shut the door the rest of the way and Wisconsin eked out a 5-4 win and a sweep of its North Country swing after defeating No. 18 St. Lawrence 5-2 on Friday. With the win Saturday, Wisconsin broke a streak of 15 straight road weekends without a weekend sweep.
Wisconsin improved to 4-2 on the year under Granato. The last time Wisconsin finished October with a winning record was in 2010, when they went 5-2-1.
Big Ten roundup
No. 11 Michigan 2, at Dartmouth 3
Troy Crema scored with 49 seconds left in the game to lift Dartmouth to a 3-2 upset win over No. 11 Michigan at home. Michigan opened the scoring with a power-play goal by Adam Winborg at the 17-minute mark of the first. However, Dartmouth rallied to take a 2-1 lead into the third period on a goal by Kevin Neiley just two minutes into the second and a goal by Cam Strong at 11:46. Michigan rallied to tie it with another power-play goal at 10:33 of the third, this time by Alex Kile, but Crema lifted Dartmouth to the win. Michigan goalie Jack LaFontaine made 32 saves in the loss, while Dartmouth goalie Devin Buffalo made 22 saves in the win.
No. 12 Minnesota 2, at No. 18 St. Lawrence 2
Minnesota rallied from two goals down with under a minute left in the game on two extra-attacker goals from Mike Szmatula to tie No. 18 St. Lawrence, 2-2. St. Lawrence appeared to have the game in hand after Gavin Bayreuther had scored a short-handed goal at 6:41 of the third to give St. Lawrence a two-goal lead, but with Minnesota goalie Eric Schierhorn pulled for the extra skater, Szmatula scored at the 19:00-minute mark to draw the Gophers within one, and followed that with the tying goal just 37 seconds later. Minnesota dominated the shot chart, firing 16 in each of the first two periods and 11 in the third. Schierhorn made 22 saves for Minnesota, including two in the overtime to preserve the tie, while Kyle Hayton made 42 saves for St. Lawrence, including one in the OT.
No. 15 Ohio State 6, at Niagara 2
Ohio State powered to a sweep of Niagara behind two goals from Ronnie Hein, including the game-winner at 16:36 of the second period, en route to a 6-2 win.
“I thought we did a great job as a team of coming out for the second game and setting the tone,” said Hein. “We could have come out with a laid back mentality after game one, but we talked as a group and wanted to be better. I thought we played a better all-around game tonight.”
Tanner Laczynski and Matthew Weis each got a goal and an assist, as the Buckeyes fired 41 shots on net, including 14 in the third period during which the Buckeyes broke the game open with three goals, the first coming just 36 seconds into the third from Nick Schilkey. Ohio State netminder Matt Tomkins made 22 saves.
No. 19 Penn State 4, Canisius 2
Penn State rallied from a 1-0 deficit with two goals in the first and another in the second en route to a 4-2 win over Canisius and a sweep of the weekend series. Kevin Kerr started the rally with a goal at 10:09, and Andrew Sturtz put the Nittany Lions up by one at 14:18 with a short-handed goal. Denis Smirnov scored the eventual game-winner at 7:12 of the second. Canisius pulled to within one with a short-handed goal by Jesse Pereira at 9:48 of the second; Pereira had also opened the scoring for the Griffs at 3:47 of the first. Canisius appeared to have tied the game at three in the third period on a goal by Dylan McLaughlin, but Penn State challenged the call and the goal was waved off due to offside.
“A real important play in the game was the challenge on their goal which turned out to be offside, and that was all (captain) David Goodwin,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. “He made the call. He saw it. He made the call.”
Chase Berger sealed with win with a power-play strike at 8:47 of the third. Canisius netminder Charles Williams made 43 saves in the loss, while Nittany Lions goaltender Peyton Jones made 19 saves in the win.
