No. 1 Wisconsin Sweeps Minnesota at Mariucci
December 03, 2005 | Men's Hockey
Junior goalie Brian Elliott stopped 32 shots to help the No. 1 Wisconsin men's hockey team shut out No. 4 Minnesota 4-0 Saturday night at Mariucci Arena.
Jake Dowell (Eau Claire, Wis.), Ross Carlson (Duluth, Minn.), Kyle Klubertanz (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and Joe Piskula (Antigo, Wis.) all scored for the Badgers, who completed their first sweep of the Gophers since February of 2000.
With the win, UW extended its unbeaten streak to 14 games and improved its record to 13-1-2 overall and 10-0-2 in WCHA play.
Elliott (Newmarket, Ontario) not only notched his second shutout of the season, but the first Badger shutout in the Wisconsin-Minnesota series since Nov. 12, 1983, a stretch of 100 Border Battle games.
On the other end, Jeff Frazee made 16 saves for Minnesota (7-5-3, 6-4-2) before being pulled at the start of the third period. Kellen Briggs was credited with eight saves in relief.
Wisconsin nearly made it a 1-0 game on an Earl wrist shot near the eight-minute mark of the first period. Earl picked the puck up outside the Minnesota blue line, skated towards the left hash marks and fired a wrist shot that hit the far post.
Wisconsin did finally grab the lead at 8:52 of the opening period when Dowell finished off a three-on-two. Rookie Jack Skille (Madison, Wis.) took a pass at the Minnesota blue line from Dowell. Skille then found senior Ryan MacMurchy (Regina, Saskatchewan) along the right side. MacMurchy passed the puck to Dowell on the far side, who chipped it past Frazee for his third goal of the season.
Minnesota had a pair of good scoring chances near the midpoint of the first period, but Gino Guyer missed the net on a two-on-one and UW goaltender Brian Elliott (Newmarket, Ontario) made a jaw-dropping diving glove save on Minnesota goal-scoring leader Ryan Potulny as he swept through the slot all alone.
The Badgers padded their lead with 39.2 seconds left in the first. In nearly identical fashion to last night, sophomore defenseman Joe Piskula (Antigo, Wis.) used the right boards to lead senior Nick Licari (Duluth, Minn.). Licari skated deep into the Gopher zone, stickhandled in front of the goal and whiffed on his last move. The puck continued right to high school teammate Ross Carlson, who snapped a shot past Frazee.
Wisconsin chipped in two more in the second period to go up 4-0. Sophomore defenseman Kyle Klubertanz (Sun Prairie, Wis.) tallied his first of the season seconds after the start of the Badgers' fourth power play. Klubertanz fired a wrist shot through a screen into the upper corner at 8:55. Likens and Dowell earned assists on the play.
Piskula made it 4-0 with a shot through a screen at 18:30 of the second. After Carlson found the puck behind the boards, he hit Piskula skating down the left side from the blue line. Piskula took the pass, eased towards the goal and wristed a shot through traffic and past Frazee for his second goal of the season.
The Badgers finished the game 1-for-8 on the power play while the Gophers were 0-for-7.
The first-place Wisconsin Badgers return to the Kohl Center to host Michigan Tech Dec. 9-10. Face off is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.
