Hi all!
Just returned from the final game of the Badger Hockey Showdown.
Attendance wasn't announced, but it was probably slightly more
than last nights (just over 17,000). The crowd was really into
the action most of the night, despite the absence of the UW Varsity
Band (they're all out in Pasadena, lucky *@$*#!!). The Alumni
Varsity Band put in a good showing in their place.
In the consolation game, Providence College came out on top of
Alaska-Fairbanks 6-3. I arrived between the 2nd and 3rd periods,
at which time PC led 4-2.
In the championship game, Wisconsin squared off against the Northern
Michigan Wildcats in a non-conference tilt between the WCHA co-leaders.
NMU claimed a 2-0 lead after the first period, scoring a short-hander
and a power-play goal. There was some controversy regarding the
power-play goal, as Badger goalie Jim Carey got laid out to the side
of the net underneath a Huskie attacker. Just as he was scrambling
back in the net, Hehr's shot from the blue line went in. Carey
and the Badgers complained vehemently, but the officials were having
none of it. I'm assuming they ruled that the Huskie was checked
into Carey, so no interference occurred. I'd like to hear what the
radio broadcasters had to say about that one. Steve?
The Badgers scored two even-strength goals in the second to tie the
game. The second goal seemed pretty flukey (from my vantage at the
other end of the building). Apparently, Jamie Spencer tried to center
the puck from behind the NMU cage and the puck got kicked in the
net by goalie Dieter Kochan as he got back between the pipes.
UW got the game winner at 12:51 of the final period on a short-hander
by Chris Tucker. But the excitement didn't end there. Penalties
were whistled on Badgers at 18:54 and 19:50 of the third, resulting
in a 10 second 6-on-3 advantage for the Wildcats (after they pulled
the goalie, of course). Fortunately for Bucky, the puck was cleared
out to center ice from the draw following the final penalty.
UW Goalie Jim Carey was Tourney MVP.
Wisconsin wins it's own tournament for the 4th out of 5 times.
Briefly (it is 1am after all...) it seemed to me that the championship
game was a battle between two teams who knew each other well and knew
how to take the opponent out of their game. UW never seemed to come
together and turn on the jets as they were able to finally do against
UAF last night. All in all, a good toe-to-toe clash between two strong
teams.
I'd also venture to say that the officiating had something to do
with the lack of flow in this game. There wasn't much consistency
from the zebras. At one point in the second, the puck was frozen
against the board for at least 45 seconds (really!) and nothing was
done except to call a penalty on Wisconsin as soon as the puck was
(finally) freed up. I know that this has been the norm, and is
important to keep the game flowing. However, for the rest of the
game, as soon as the puck would be frozen against the boards, the
refs would stop play and face it off ... immediately!
Here's the scoring as I got it.
1st Period
0-1 8:33 NMU Kaebel (Woog, Carpenter) [sh]
0-2 13:52 NMU Hehr (Riplinger, Harding) [pp]
Penalties: NMU 3, UW 3
2nd Period
1-2 3:10 UW Williams (Howard)
2-2 7:20 UW Spencer (Shier, Fairchild)
Penalties: NMU 5, UW 2
3rd Period
3-2 12:51 UW Tucker (Elick) [sh]
Penalties: NMU 1, UW 4
NMU 2 0 0 - 2
UW 0 2 1 - 3
Saves
Kochan, NMU 10 9 5 - 24
Carey, UW 8 4 12 - 24
Referees: Goddard, Ricci
Linesman: Romano
--
Steve Manning
Wisconsin '85
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