Expectations weren’t high for the Badgers men’s hockey program in 2015-16, and Friday night was proof of exactly why. UW went on its first road trip of the season, with a pair of games against Boston schools, and promptly got routed in its first game of the weekend.
Boston College blanked the Badgers in a 6-0 win on Chestnut Hill. It was Wisconsin’s first loss of the season, dropping them to 0-1-2 on the year. BC improved to 2-1-0 after splitting its opening series last weekend.
It didn’t take long to figure out the Badgers were in trouble, as BC’s Austin Cangelosi netted what would be the game winning goal just 12 seconds in to the 1st period. Wisconsin senior netminder Adam Miller did well to block an initial shot, but Cangelosi, who netted a pair of goals in the last meeting at Kelly Rink between these to squads, was there to get the rebound in front of the net and stuff it past Miller.
Cangelosi continued to be a thorn in the Badgers’ side, as he had a pair of goals on Friday night to match his output the last time these two met up in Boston.
Just how bad were things for the Badgers on Friday night? Boston College’s second goal came short-handed, as Teddy Doherty put in his first of the season at the 4:39 mark of the first period. It wasn’t so much the short-handed nature of the goal, but the fact that it was a skipped wrist shot from outside the blue line.
Wisconsin was outshot by the Eagles 11-4 in the first period, en route to losing the shooting battle 27-20 on the night.
After watching that second goal go in, Eaves turned to the bench and freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik for the remainder of the game. It didn’t help much, and Jurusik was also left in many unenviable positions by his teammates.
Wisconsin was led in shots on the night by Jake Linhart and Kevin Shulze with three each.
After conceding two goals in the opening stanza, UW came out with some more life in the second period, but 10 shots on goal netted few opportunities for the Cardinal and White.
“Well, I think the breakdown of the game was we didn’t get the start we wanted, but it was only 2-0 after one,” Eaves said, via UWBadgers.com. “And for the first eight minutes of the second period, we were outshooting them. I thought that we were playing the way that we needed to play to try to make a game out of it.
“But that’s a talented young group over there. We made two big mistakes and the game was broken open.”
BC pounced on those mistakes and added a trio of goals to increase their lead to 5-0 after two periods.
Ryan Fitzgerald opened the scoring in the second period, netting his first of the season at the 6:50 mark of the period.
However, it was a pair of goals just 40 seconds apart that slammed the door shut on any hopes of a UW comeback in this game. The first of those was the second of the night for Cangelosi, as he slammed one home at the 16:05 mark.
Cangelosi wasn’t the only multi-goal scorer for the preseason No. 1 Eagles either. Colin White netted his first of the season at the 16:45 mark of the second period and pushed the BC advantage to 5-0.
White would finish things off on a brutal 5-on-3 situation at the 3:12 mark of the third period for the final 6-0 margin of victory for BC.
Jurusik finished the game with 19 saves on 23 shots faced, while his team put the goaltenders in bad situations nine times on the night. UW was called for nine penalties resulting in seven power play opportunities for the Eagles, while BC was sent to the sin bin just six times overall and allowed just three power play opportunities to the Badgers.
“This group that we have, we’re trying to find a starting goaltender. We got a lot of young guys that are learning. We did some good things,” Eaves said.
Wisconsin finishes up the Boston road trip with a contest against No. 6 in the USCHO.com poll, Boston University. Puck drop is scheduled for 6pm CT and can be viewed live online here.
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