Wisconsin Men's Hockey Wins Exhibition
December 09, 2003 | Men's Hockey
The Badgers topped the Riga 2000 team, from Riga, Latvia, by a 3-2 score in an exhibition game Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. Four Badgers tallied two points in the contest, and another notched his first point in a Badger uniform.
Riga 2000 got the action started only 4:32 into the game as Grigors Pantelejevs slapped one in from the right circle. Brian Elliot (Newmarket, Ont.), in the net for his third game as a Badger, did not jump quickly enough and Latvia became the first to tally a goal. He was assisted by Oleks Panchenko and Ronald Ozolinsh. Near the 13-minute mark, A.J. Degenhardt (LaCrosse, Wis.) evened the score and gave the Badgers their first goal of the evening off of a pass from Joey McElroy (Golden Valley, Minn.), earning his first point at UW on the play. Jeff Likens (Barrington, Ill.) also received an assist. Latvia kept fighting and Elliott's effort to stop Edgars Zaltkovskis unassisted shot was not enough to keep Riga from again taking the lead with three minutes left in the first period.
Latvian's offense kicked into gear in the second period, out-shooting the Badgers 12-4 in the second period. Elliott saved all shots on target to keep the Latvians with two goals. As the second frame wound down, Nick Licari (Duluth, Minn.) found a hole in Edgars Masalskis goaltending to tie the game at 16:09. He was assisted by Adam Burish (Madison, Wis.) and Jeff Likens, with his second point of the night.
Early in the third period, both goalies made big stops to keep the game even, including a shot from Tom Gilbert that knocked the helmet off of Masalskis. He may have still been shaken up when he let Adam Burish slide the puck through the posts to give Wisconsin the lead at 3:25. He had help from Licari and Degenhardt. As regulation ran out, Riga 2000 applied the pressure to Elliott, but he kept the Badgers ahead, stopping all shots on goal in the final 20:00.
Brian Elliott made 29 saves in his 60:00 of play and Riga 2000 's Masalskis stopped 23.
Wisconsin (9-3-4, 4-2-4 WCHA) hosts Minnesota State for a series Friday and Saturday night. Both games are set for 7:05 p.m. and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net and WIBA-AM.
