(UW ATHLETICS/ST. NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS/LAWRENCE ATHLETICS) MADISON, Wis. – A Ben Dexheimer goal with 3:43 left in regulation helped the Wisconsin men’s hockey team rally back to tie the No. 10 Michigan Wolverines, 4-4, on Saturday night in front of an electric crowd of 13,063 at the Kohl Center.
With tonight’s tie, the Badgers continue to sit in fourth place in the Big Ten with 24 points, one point behind third-place Ohio State and two above Michigan in fifth place. The top four teams in the conference secure home ice for the Big Ten tournament.
Michigan (14-10-2, 8-7-1 Big Ten – 22 points) opened the scoring 3:42 into the first period before Wisconsin’s (11-12-3, 6-9-1 Big Ten – 24 points) Tyson Dyck responded at 8:27 into the first to tie the game at one. UM then scored two more times in the opening period – once at 9:30 and again at 12:13 – to take a 3-1 lead heading into the second. Quinn Finley lit the lamp 4:46 into the second period to make it a 3-2 game then Christian Fitzgerald tied it up at three, 11:05 into the frame. The Wolverines regained their lead 8:24 into the third before Ben Dexheimer tied the game at four for UW to force overtime. Neither team scored in overtime and the game officially went down as a 4-4 tie. Michigan found the back of the net in the third round of the shootout to claim the extra conference point.
How it Happened
Will Felicio got Michigan on the board first 3:42 into the first period.
Junior forward Dyck evened the score at one 8:27 into the first. From high in the middle of the zone, sophomore defenseman Joe Palodichuk passed to find graduate student defenseman Anthony Kehrer at the right side of the blue line. Kehrer then sent the puck to Dyck in the slot, who ripped a shot home to tally his third goal of the year.
Just over a minute later at 9:30 into the first, the Wolverines re-took the lead after T.J. Hughes capitalized on a rebound.
Michigan made it a 3-1 game 12:13 into the opening frame on a goal from Luca Fantilli.
UW cut UM’s lead in half 4:46 into the second period on a goal from sophomore forward Finley. From behind the Wisconsin net, graduate student forward Ryland Mosley poked the puck to Kehrer, who skated up to the blue line before sending a long pass to Finley in the neutral zone. Finley then rushed up to the Michigan net and stickhandled the puck past UM goaltender Logan Stein to put home his 19th goal of the year.
Junior forward Fitzgerald tied the game at three, 11:05 into the second. At the left side of the UM blue line, junior forward Kukkonen tapped the puck to Dyck who brought the puck into the zone before passing back to meet Fitzgerald near the slot. Fitzgerald skated forward and passed back to Dyck in front of the net, who took a shot that went behind the goaltender’s pads and into the blue paint. Fitzgerald then capitalized on the loose puck to score his third goal of the weekend.
Michigan took a 4-3 lead 8:24 into the third period on a goal from Evan Werner.
Wisconsin continued to fight back as junior defenseman Dexheimer scored the game-tying goal with 3:43 left in regulation. From the top of the right circle, Kukkonen took a shot that was blocked by the Michigan goaltender. Botterill picked up the rebound and tried to stickhandle it past Stein, which he saved, but Dexheimer saw the second rebound and shoved it into the net to light the lamp for the first time this season.
Neither team scored in the final minutes of regulation as the Badgers and Wolverines headed into a five-minute, three-on-three, sudden-death overtime period tied at four.
No one found the back of the net in overtime, so the game officially went down as a 4-4 tie before the shootout for the extra conference point. UW senior goaltender Tommy Scarfone made two saves in the first two rounds of the shootout, but Michael Hage scored for Michigan in round three to give the Wolverines two Big Ten points.
Sophomore goaltender William Gramme made four saves and Scarfone made 13 saves in relief.
Wisconsin went 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 25-21 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
– Tonight is the highest-attended Wisconsin men’s hockey home game this season as 13,063 fans filled the Kohl Center
– Gavin Morrissey had his team-best nine-game (5g, 7a) point streak snapped tonight
– This marks Wisconsin’s first conference tie since recording a 1-1 final score against Minnesota on Feb. 3, 2024
– The Badgers overcame a two-goal deficit in both nights of the series against Michigan this weekend. Last night, UW was down, 4-2, in the second period before coming back to win, 5-4, in regulation.
Milwaukee School of Engineering 4, St. Norbert 2
DE PERE – St. Norbert College couldn’t overcome a disastrous start to the third period in a 4-2 loss to Milwaukee School of Engineering in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights held a 2-0 lead after two periods, but the Raiders scored three goals in the first 2:54 of the third period to take control.
St. Norbert and MSOE almost skated to a scoreless first period, but Logan Dombrowsky beat the buzzer with a power-play goal at 19:59 for a 1-0 lead. Dombrowsky added a shorthanded goal – his 12th overall on the season – at 14:05 of the second period to double the Green Knights lead.
MSOE got a goal from Sam Lyons just 1:04 into the third period. The Raiders kept momentum with goals by Steve Guo at 2:31 and Eddie Shepler at 2:54. Lyons added a breakaway goal at 15:19 for the game’s final score. The Green Knights had 3:29 of extra-attacker time at the end of the game but did not inch closer.
St. Norbert outshot MSOE 30-26. Vaughn Maker made 18 saves in the game’s first 42:54, while Hunter Garvey made four saves in 13:37 in relief. Austin Schwab made 28 saves for the Raiders.
St. Norbert was 1-for-2 on the power play, while MSOE was 0-for-3.
Marian 4, Lawrence 3
APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s hockey team retained the Battle of Highway 41 trophy Saturday despite dropping a 4-3 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association decision to Marian University at the Appleton Ice Center.
Since the teams split the two-game series, it went to a shootout to determine who would get the traveling trophy. Lawrence won the shootout 2-0 to retain control of the trophy.
The Vikings trailed 3-0 in the game Saturday after a hat trick by Marian’s Daunte Fortner. Lawrence started to claw back when Carter Cloutier scored on the power play off a pass from Tiziano Pauchard at the 13:50 mark of the second.
Marian (7-12-0, 4-8-0 NCHA) pushed the lead back to 4-1 with a goal early in the third period, but the Sabres took some penalties late and the Vikings cashed in.
After Nolan Flint was whistled for cross checking, Lawrence (4-12-2, 3-8-1) converted on the ensuing power play. Cloutier scored his second power-play goal of the night with 4:38 remaining to trim the lead to 4-2. Miles McCue and Josh Danis both picked up assists on the tally.
Marian’s Caden Carlson was then called for tripping with 3:35 left to put the Vikings back on the power play.
Lawrence also pulled goaltender Nolan Mahaffey for an extra attacker on the power play, and McCue scored with 2:27 left to trim the lead to 4-3. McCue jumped on a deflection of Cloutier’s shot for Lawrence’s third power-play goal of the night.
The Vikings finished 3-for-5 on the power play, and Marian was 1-for-3.
Lawrence again pulled Mahaffey for an extra attacker in the final two minutes but couldn’t get the equalizer.
The shootout to determine possession of the trophy started with Marian’s Fortner shooting the puck wide of the net. McCue then beat Marian goaltender Tyler Fromolz by going top shelf for a 1-0 lead.
Marian’s Dayne Tews was denied with a save from Mahaffey in the second round. Jack Michels then won it for Lawrence when he went through the five-hole against Fromolz for an insurmountable 2-0 advantage.
Mahaffey finished with 31 saves for the Vikings, and Fromolz had 27.
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