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| John Cross/The Free Press |
1. Quieting the crowd: Minnesota State finally got a nice crowd for a game after six home games with the students out of town. The announced attendance was 3,656 and the student section was full. But the building stayed quiet throughout the night, as Wisconsin freshman goalie Joel Rumpel shut them out with 36 saves. It was the Badgers' first road win of the season and Rumpel's first college shut out.
2. Badgers' big guns: Wisconsin and Minnesota State are pretty evenly matched – with the exception of two players, forward Mark Zengerle and defenseman Justin Schultz. Schultz, the nation's top-scoring defenseman, was kept off the board but was brilliant at times, including on the power play. Zengerle had a goal and an assist. MSU center Joe Schiller was charged with sticking to him like glue and did a fairly good job. When Schiller did lose Zengele briefly in the first period, the Badgers sophomore promptly scored the game's first goal (photo).
3. Playing short-handed: The Mavericks appeared to come out of the game all right on the injury front, but had to play the last four minutes of the second period and all of the third without Max Gaede, who was called for checking from behind and, by rule, was booted from the game. MSU killed the major penalty but had to shuffle the lineup, including its top power play after that.
Deep thought: The loss kept the Mavericks buried in the WCHA basement. They are two points behind 11th-place Anchorage but now seven behind the Badgers and Bemidji State, who are tied for ninth. St. Cloud State is eight points ahead.
Quote of the night: "It was awesome coming out right away and seeing the fans in the stands and finally having a big crowd. To let them down really doesn't feel the best." — Mavericks senior forward Adam Mueller.
Read the Free Press game story here, and the Wisconsin State Journal coverage here.
Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 6, Alaska Anchorage 2 ... Minnesota Duluth 6, Nebraska Omaha 2 ... North Dakota 2, Minnesota 1 ... Denver 6, Bemidji State 3 ... Colorado College 3, St. Cloud State 1
1 comment:
Although MSU would have lost anyway I'm sure, what was with the refs last night? It is like they did not know the rules, especially that Beurline buy. He didn't know the touch-up rule on the delayed penalty, he blew the whistle again quick when the puck was near the goalie out of position (just like the CC first game), and his linesmen didn't see an obvious off-sides that led to the third goal. There was another questionable off-sides missed on the fourth goal as well. Is he trying to make friends of teams leaving the WCHA or what?
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