DU 5 - Wisconsin 0 FINAL


(above) The Goal Czar scores the easiest goal of his career

"The Badgers, evidently still suffering from the painful sting of Friday night’s overtime loss, were soundly booed as they meandered back to their locker room at the end of the 1st period."
- USCHO.com

The University of Denver Hockey Team did something unusual on Saturday night. They took the easy road back to Denver with a 5-0 victory in the Kohl Center. DU is now 13-2-2 all time in Wisconsin's hockey arena.

DU's first goal (see video above) was emblematic of the Badger's problems all evening. UW goaltender Shane Connolly badly mangled a play behind the goal and gave up an essentially empty netter to Luke Salazar. The game was less than 10 minutes old.

Rhett Rakhshani scored a nifty spin-a-rama six minutes later. Then Anthony Maiani drove a dagger into the Badgers heart with a goal with less than a minute left in the first period.

The concern for DU is shoulder injury sustained by star forward Tyler Ruegsegger late in the game. Wisconsin forward and leading goal scorer John Mitchell was ejected in the third period for excessive roughness on Ruegsegger. We probably won't know for a couple of days the severity of the injury, but Chris Nutini is still out of action with a similar injury.
Box Score

WCHA Standings

Pairwise

USCHO.com
game recap

Rocky Mountain News game recap

13 comments:

Jordan said...

In MagnessMan's words, we were just hoping and praying for 2 points after this series. I feel so refreshed and confident now! We haven't dominated like this since before break (read: since before Bozak got hurt). These are 4 HUGE points! Unbelievable! Go Seawolves!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I have to say thankyou to the announcers tonite. They show'd real class. You don't have to brown nose your team like Minnesota's announcers, complete homers.

Jordan said...

Though I didn't think that the color guy should have been saying he wanted to leave. This is college hockey, they should never encourage that sort of thing.

Their analysis was pretty pitiful too- Chevy the weakest link? Really? And saying that "ALL he did was pick him up and throw him to the ice." Total poofs.

Highway 2 and 35 said...

Wisconsin were total losers tonight, not only in their play, but all the extra curricular crap that Coach Eaves says is so evil to the game. Eaves is a joke and looks like a moron when he is losing. Did Wisconsin have a Saturday night party to go to and that is why they had such urgency to play like crap. Usually you have an urgency to win, not lose. Congrats to DU for making Wisconsin look like....well, basically quitters. I don't think I have ever seen a 15,000 seat arena so empty. Wow!

Anonymous said...

If there is one team in college hockey that will take cheap shots it is the Badgers. Lets hope TR is ok. Nothing surprises me with the Badgers. They really are classless. You see that with their fans in Denver.
Real idiots.

Anonymous said...

This was the stunniing series result that no one predicted. Pios took care of business and may have turned the season around from the post-Bozak injury maliase. The team is coming together and serving notice they they are a contender.Perhaps we should play all games at Kohl Center...:)

Anonymous said...

Highway 2 and 35, do you find that being a DU fan and being gay go hand in hand? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anonymous said...

4-1 und

Anonymous said...

I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised that DU pulled the full sweep. To be honest I was worried about pulling off a split at the least. But kudos to the hockey guys and I hope TR isn't that badly hurt.

As for the Wisconsin fans...I found it very unpleasant that they booed TR as he got up off the ice. I will say that the tv announcers were pretty gracious about the whole situation and they acknowledged that Wisconsin didn't come out to win this one.

Anonymous said...

I'm with a lot of you saying I was hoping for 2 and very happy with a sweep. It's been a while since I've been able to have that kind of confidence in this team since Dec. Tied for 4th in the nation when it comes to the PWR. I'm liking that!

I'm really hopping Russ is alright. That was a blatant cheep shot on him and come the final games of the season I really don't want to see him go down. He's too important in the line up.

As for the Wisconsin fans... they should really know better.

Twister said...

Terrific weekend for DU!! It seems like an eternity has passed since we were talking about the Pios sweeping an opponent. Although DU has been largely mediocre since the holidays they finish a very tough 5-game road trip at 3-1-1. It wasn't always pretty but the wins were huge. This team continues to show a great deal of resiliency.

Only 3 games left in the regular season. Next up: St. Cloud. The Pios were swept earlier this season at St. Cloud, although in the 1st game especially, DU put forth a lackluster effort. I would love to see 4 points at home, some fan excitement, and a good buildup/momentum toward the season finale with CC in 2 weeks.

hockeydave_DU said...

Anonymous said...

Highway 2 and 35, do you find that being a DU fan and being gay go hand in hand? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Such witty repartee! You really should stand up and take credit for that insightful analysis instead of cowering behind the label "anonymous." Must be a Badger fan!

Completely classless for the Badger fans to boo Ruegsegger when he was hurt. Also completely classless for Mitchell to do that. He should be suspended for at least two games, but I suspect Wisconsin will take no action against him. DU would suspend Mitchell if he were one of their own.

Anonymous said...

Right on the mark. Lets see what Wisconsin does with Mitchell. That will speak volumes about that program.