With less than eight minutes remaining in the second period, Alaska-Anchorage had a chance to break a 1-1 tie when it was awarded a power play.<\/p>\n
But less than a minute later, it was No. 12 Wisconsin that stole the momentum with a shorthanded goal, stunning the Seawolves. The Badgers parlayed that energy into three third-period goals on their way to a sweep with a 5-1 victory.<\/p>\n
“That was the killer. I thought we weathered the storm. We kept it tight,” Anchorage head coach Dave Shyiak said. “We had a power play and a chance to go up, [and we give up] a shorthanded goal.”<\/p>\n
“I like the fact that this weekend we were closer to our game that we want–being relentless in all areas of our game. That’s a good sign,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said.<\/p>\n
While the statistics may support a blowout similar to Friday’s 6-1 UW win, the game was still up for grabs until Nick Licari got his first career shorthanded goal.<\/p>\n
“It was a close game and they could’ve bounced back in it, but that just put us ahead and got us going again,” sophomore defenseman Joe Piskula said.<\/p>\n
The Badgers dominated the first-period shot chart again Saturday, outshooting the Seawolves 14-5, but the effort went unrewarded in a scoreless first stanza.<\/p>\n
Badger forward Robbie Earl, who has been a thorn in the Seawolves’ side throughout his career, put Wisconsin up 1-0 early in the second period.<\/p>\n
On what was essentially still a power play–UAA’s Merit Waldrop had left the penalty box seconds earlier–Earl capitalized on a pass from Ryan MacMurchy at 5:54.<\/p>\n
Waldrop evened the game less than three minutes later with a sharp wrister from the right circle that found its way past the Badgers’ Brian Elliott.<\/p>\n
The goal was reviewed–the first time replay has been used at the Kohl Center under new league rules–but stood as a score, knotting the game 1-1.<\/p>\n
The Seawolves got their power-play chance–one of many penalties over the final two periods–but Licari and the Badgers stole the thunder.<\/p>\n
Badger forward Andrew Joudrey skated the puck in down a player and fired a shot at Nathan Lawson. Lawson made the save, but gave up the rebound to Licari, who flip the puck over a streaking defender and Lawson for the goal.<\/p>\n
Licari, a senior, has been the focal point of UW’s penalty kill in recent years and finally was rewarded with a shorthanded tally.<\/p>\n
“I had a lot of chances, I just never put one in,” Licari said. “It was kind of nice to get that one \u2026 it means a lot.”<\/p>\n
“He’s always been pretty effective in keeping the puck out of the net for us, and tonight he was awarded with a big shorthanded goal,” Eaves said.<\/p>\n
Anchorage continued to hang with the Badgers into the third period, but saw it all come crashing down in the final 11 minutes of the game.<\/p>\n
UW freshman Ben Street got his second goal of the year skating four-on-four at 9:09 of the period. Ross Carlson threw the puck at Lawson, but it was blocked in front.<\/p>\n
A stumbling Street got his stick on the puck and put it past Lawson for the dagger, making the game 3-1.<\/p>\n
Piskula got his first career goal on a power play just 1:25 later when his shot was blocked and sent behind the net to Carlson.<\/p>\n
Carlson found a streaking Piskula, and the puck glanced off his leg and into the net. Replay was used again, but the goal stood.<\/p>\n
“I couldn’t tell if it hit the shaft of my stick or it was a knee pad,” Piskula said “I wouldn’t want to get my first goal if it was an illegal play.”<\/p>\n
Lawson was the victim of some tough goals, but made 36 saves in yet another gritty effort against Wisconsin. Elliott stopped 20 pucks and allowed just one even-strength goal on the weekend.<\/p>\n
Street got his second goal of the game, another power-play goal, with 2:22 remaining to round out the scoring.<\/p>\n
For the second straight night the once-struggling UW power play, which was converting on 6.9 percent of its chances coming into the series, scored twice on the man advantage.<\/p>\n
The Badgers were two-for-nine officially, and essentially three-for-nine with the man still out of the play on the first goal of the game.<\/p>\n
“That’s a difference maker in the game,” Shyiak said. “We were zero-for-seven. We had a chance to take the lead and didn’t take advantage of it.”<\/p>\n
But it was the shorthanded goal that changed the game.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin will look to carry the momentum of its three-game winning streak and stay atop the WCHA standings at North Dakota next weekend, while Anchorage will try to bounce back against Minnesota State at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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