The Badgers were extremely lucky to have won this game.  The first two
periods, it looked like the Gophers had a continuous power-play.  All the
Badgers would do when they got the puck was dump it into center-ice.  I
think if Bucky didn't get the first goal of the game, it may have been a
Minnesota romp.
 
This was not the same DeBus that shut out the Badgers, 5-0 in January.  He
seemed to have problems with his angles, couldn't control rebounds, didn't
know where the puck was at points, and just had an off-night.
 
Bucky capitialized on a lot of Gopher mistakes, including a lot of odd-man
rushes.  One goal I can remember to the contrary was (I think) by Mike
Strobel, who put a rocket past DeBus in the second period (although, DeBus
was actually off his angle again).
 
Badger goalie Kirk Daubenspeck stood on his head again for the Cardinal and
White, making 48 saves, even though, as someone mentioned, most were either
right in his chest or pads.  One save that sticks out in my head was in the
second period, when the Gophers had a lot of pressure right in front of the
Badger net.  The puck got loose right in front of the empty net, because
Dauber was on his back after making a couple of saves, when the Minnesota
shooter (unexplainably) put the puck toward the net on the ice.  Dauber put
his stick on the ice right before the puck hit it, and the defense cleared
the puck.
 
Which brings up another point.  The Badgers have started to play more like a
team on defense.  They still let a lot of rebounds get away, but they have
finally learned that clearing the puck into the corner is OK.  Nice to see
things coming together right before the playoffs.
 
With about 1:30 left in the game, a major scuffle broke out right in front
of the Gopher bench, after Bucky had made the score 6-2 on a Rick Enrico
goal.  What I didn't particularly like about it was that the Gopher bench
had to get their shots in on the Badger player.  What also didn't make sense
to me was why Minnesota came out with the power play from this.  The Gophers
had 2 guys DQed, and we had 1.  After a couple more penalty calls on the
Badgers, Bonin got a garbage goal, to make the score 6-3.
 
The Badgers will play the first round of the WCHA playoffs on the road, but
I'd hate to be the team that has to play them.
 
Todd D. Milewski  [log in to unmask]
"U-Rah-Rah Wisconsin!"
 
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