MADISON, Wis. – A Ben Dexheimer goal with 3:43 left in regulation helped the Wisconsin men's hockey team rally back to tie the No. 10 Michigan Wolverines, 4-4, on Saturday night in front of an electric crowd of 13,063 at the Kohl Center.
With tonight's tie, the Badgers continue to sit in fourth place in the Big Ten with 24 points, one point behind third-place Ohio State and two above Michigan in fifth place. The top four teams in the conference secure home ice for the Big Ten tournament.
Michigan (14-10-2, 8-7-1 Big Ten - 22 points) opened the scoring 3:42 into the first period before Wisconsin's (11-12-3, 6-9-1 Big Ten - 24 points) Tyson Dyck responded at 8:27 into the first to tie the game at one. UM then scored two more times in the opening period – once at 9:30 and again at 12:13 – to take a 3-1 lead heading into the second. Quinn Finley lit the lamp 4:46 into the second period to make it a 3-2 game then Christian Fitzgerald tied it up at three, 11:05 into the frame. The Wolverines regained their lead 8:24 into the third before Ben Dexheimer tied the game at four for UW to force overtime. Neither team scored in overtime and the game officially went down as a 4-4 tie. Michigan found the back of the net in the third round of the shootout to claim the extra conference point.
How it Happened
Will Felicio got Michigan on the board first 3:42 into the first period.
Junior forward Dyck evened the score at one 8:27 into the first. From high in the middle of the zone, sophomore defenseman Joe Palodichuk passed to find graduate student defenseman Anthony Kehrer at the right side of the blue line. Kehrer then sent the puck to Dyck in the slot, who ripped a shot home to tally his third goal of the year.
Just over a minute later at 9:30 into the first, the Wolverines re-took the lead after T.J. Hughes capitalized on a rebound.
Michigan made it a 3-1 game 12:13 into the opening frame on a goal from Luca Fantilli.
UW cut UM's lead in half 4:46 into the second period on a goal from sophomore forward Finley. From behind the Wisconsin net, graduate student forward
Ryland Mosley poked the puck to Kehrer, who skated up to the blue line before sending a long pass to Finley in the neutral zone. Finley then rushed up to the Michigan net and stickhandled the puck past UM goaltender Logan Stein to put home his 19th goal of the year.
Junior forward Fitzgerald tied the game at three, 11:05 into the second. At the left side of the UM blue line, junior forward Kukkonen tapped the puck to Dyck who brought the puck into the zone before passing back to meet Fitzgerald near the slot. Fitzgerald skated forward and passed back to Dyck in front of the net, who took a shot that went behind the goaltender's pads and into the blue paint. Fitzgerald then capitalized on the loose puck to score his third goal of the weekend.
Michigan took a 4-3 lead 8:24 into the third period on a goal from Evan Werner.
Wisconsin continued to fight back as junior defenseman Dexheimer scored the game-tying goal with 3:43 left in regulation. From the top of the right circle, Kukkonen took a shot that was blocked by the Michigan goaltender. Botterill picked up the rebound and tried to stickhandle it past Stein, which he saved, but Dexheimer saw the second rebound and shoved it into the net to light the lamp for the first time this season.
Neither team scored in the final minutes of regulation as the Badgers and Wolverines headed into a five-minute, three-on-three, sudden-death overtime period tied at four.
No one found the back of the net in overtime, so the game officially went down as a 4-4 tie before the shootout for the extra conference point. UW senior goaltender
Tommy Scarfone made two saves in the first two rounds of the shootout, but Michael Hage scored for Michigan in round three to give the Wolverines two Big Ten points.
Sophomore goaltender
William Gramme made four saves and Scarfone made 13 saves in relief.
Wisconsin went 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 25-21 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
- Tonight is the highest-attended Wisconsin men's hockey home game this season as 13,063 fans filled the Kohl Center
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Gavin Morrissey had his team-best nine-game (5g, 7a) point streak snapped tonight
- This marks Wisconsin's first conference tie since recording a 1-1 final score against Minnesota on Feb. 3, 2024
- The Badgers overcame a two-goal deficit in both nights of the series against Michigan this weekend. Last night, UW was down, 4-2, in the second period before coming back to win, 5-4, in regulation
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On tonight's game
"It's a grind of a league. At the beginning of the year, we talk about how we want to win series. You'd love to sweep teams, but it's difficult to do. The guys went in and went to work in the second period. It's great to see Dexheimer score that goal – we needed to make a push. This group's been very resilient, I want to give credit for that."
On getting better
"I told everyone in the locker room, staff included – we would love to take big steps, but progress is progress and we're making it. When our athletes can put themselves in a position to be successful, we are getting better."
Sophomore forward Quinn Finley
On his goal tonight
"It's a huge momentum swing to get that. Great play Kehrer throwing it up, got me into a quick transition, and I made a move. It was really big."
Junior defenseman Ben Dexheimer
On the series against Michigan
"We should be really proud of ourselves. We took eight of 12 points against a top-10 team this season. We're taking baby steps every weekend and building some momentum for the end of the year."
Up Next: The Badgers head to Minneapolis for a series at No. 4 Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31-Feb. 1. Friday's game starts at 7 p.m., while Saturday's begins at 5 p.m. Both contests stream on B1G+. Audio play-by-play can be found on 1310 WIBA as well as on the Badgers app and the Varsity Network app. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram at @BadgerMHockey.
