Oct. 16, 2009
Box Score
MADISON, Wis. -
The 2009-10 Badger men’s hockey season officially kicked off Friday in the Kohl Center with a 3-2 loss versus Colorado College. The Badgers out-shot the Tigers by 15 as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
The first Badger to find the net in the 2009-10 season was senior center Blake Geoffrion (Brentwood, Tenn.). On the power play, junior defenseman Brendan Smith (Mimico, Ontario) forwarded the puck to fellow junior defenseman Cody Goloubef (Oakville, Ontario). From there, he dished a pass across the ice to Geoffrion, whose centering pass deflected in off a CC defenseman. The goal came at 4:32 of the first period.
The next goal did not come until the 7:30 mark of the second period. This goal was greatly credited to some nifty stick work by sophomore center Derek Stepan (Hastings, Minn.). Stepan led the charge up the ice, and maneuvered the puck around a Tiger defenseman, where he found senior left wing Andy Bombach (Hudson, Wis.) in front of the net. Bohmbach took the pass and drilled the puck into the back of the net to put the Badgers up 2-0.
Less than two minutes later, the Tigers answered back with their first goal of the game. It came from senior center Matt Overman with 11:08 remaining in the second period. Then less than five minutes later, senior right wing Brian McMillin cashed in for the Tigers. This knotted the game up at two heading into the final period.
With the Badgers dominating the shots category 26-14 heading into the third, it seemed like a matter of time until one of the attempts would go in the net. Both freshman defenseman Justin Schultz (West Kelowna, British Columbia) and Bohmbach learned this the hard way, as they both saw shot attempts hit the post and rattle out. Bohmbach’s actually hit both posts before bouncing out.
With overtime lurking in the minds of the fans, the Tigers put an end to the thoughts with 2:07 remaining in the game. Junior right wing Tyler Johnson scored what eventually became the game’s winning goal. The Badgers ended up losing by that exact score, 3-2.
Though the outcome did not fall the way the Badgers hoped, there are still some positives to build off of. Senior center Ben Street saw significant playing time after missing nearly all of last season due to injury. Also, the physicality of the Badgers was present from the start, as junior defenseman Ryan McDonagh (Arden Hills, Minn.) set the tone with a bone-crushing hit less than 30 seconds into the game.
The Badgers will look to even the series as the team takes the ice again tomorrow at 7 p.m. against Colorado College. The game will be streamed live for a fee at BigTenNetwork.com.
