(UW ATHLETICS) MADISON, Wis. – To cap off its four-game season-opening homestand, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes, 2-1, on Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
Ohio State (3-0-1, 2-0-0 Big Ten) opened the scoring 21 seconds into the game before adding another tally 1:01 into the third period to make it 2-0. The Badgers tried to generate offensive momentum in the third period, but Quinn Finley’s goal with 11:43 left in the contest was not enough for Wisconsin (1-3-0, 0-2-0 Big Ten) to force overtime.
How it Happened
Ohio State got on the board 21 seconds into the contest on a shot from Riley Thompson.
Neither team lit the lamp in the second period. Wisconsin had a power-play opportunity but was unable to convert on any scoring chances to tie the game.
The Buckeyes doubled their lead 1:01 into the third period after Max Montes beat UW’s sophomore goaltender William Gramme.
Sophomore forward Finley got the Badgers on the board 8:17 into the third period. Sophomore defenseman Joe Palodichuk passed from deep in the right side of the OSU zone around to junior defenseman Ben Dexheimer at the blue line. Dexheimer took a shot that Ryland Mosley deflected through the goaltender’s five hole before Finley pushed the loose puck into the open net to cut the Buckeye’s lead in half.
The Badgers kept pushing, putting up 13 shots in the third period, but were unable to find the back of the net to send the game to overtime.
Wisconsin went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 29-20 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
– The Badgers continue to dominate in the faceoff circle, winning 57.4 percent of face offs tonight. Through three games this season, UW has won 61.9 percent of face offs (133 wins in 215 attempts)
– So far this season, Wisconsin has outshot its opponents 148-79, including a 46-23 advantage in shots made in the third period
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On Ohio State’s fast start tonight
“The first [goal], I don’t think we let enough time go by for somebody to get their popcorn and get to their seat. In our building, you want to take advantage of the people that are kind enough to come out and spend their money and we made them watch us play from behind. We get beat out of the corner to the net and it’s one-nothing. So again, learning experiences like that are very painful. So, we’ve gotta go back and get to work on Monday.”
On offensive execution
“This obviously isn’t acceptable as far as the results, but we’re not far off from the idea of opportunities. As far as execution and staying connected, we’ve got a long way to go.”
On getting back to work this week
“For us right now, we cut up what we just saw and get back to work on Monday and ask the guys to buy in, which we have since day one. I think sometimes effort can get in the way of execution when they’re not tied together. One thing I’ve tried to pride our program on since last year was playing connected hockey, and right now, we’re not quite there.”
Graduate student forward Owen Lindmark
On getting ready to play Denver next weekend
“We’ve got to focus on the little details. It’s time to rally behind each other. The only way we are going to get through it is if we rally together as a team. We’ll just go to work on Monday, figure out the details we need to improve on, and get ready to go against Denver.”
On moving forward
“We all believe in each other. This was obviously not the start we wanted, but we believe in ourselves and each other to figure this out and get it going in the right direction.”
Sophomore forward Quinn Finley
On the team’s offense
“We are very happy with the chances we are getting; we just need to capitalize on these opportunities and put the puck in the back of the net.”
Up Next: The Badgers travel west to Colorado for a non-conference series at the University of Denver on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25-26. Friday’s game will start at 8 p.m. CT, while Saturday’s game starts at 7 p.m. CT.
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