No one can question the work rate or desire of the 2015-16 Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team, but all the desire and work in the world sometimes isn’t enough. That was proven out all season long, and nothing changed as the Badgers turned to Big Ten tournament play.
Instead, it was more of the same as the Badgers were downed 5-2 by Penn State in the opening game of the B1G tournament.
Wisconsin’s formula for losing was followed nearly to a tee, as they went down early and had to try a furious comeback in the final period of play. Of course, that furious rally would come up equally short on Thursday as it did all season long.
It looked like things would start off better for the Badgers than normal though, as they took much of the offensive action right to Penn State. However, PSU’s goaltender Eamon McAdam was up to the early challenge and kept the Badgers off the scoreboard on some big time chances in the first few minutes of the opening period.
Penn State weathered the early storm and then turned the tables on UW, peppering Matt Jurusik, who made 24 saves on the night. However, he didn’t stand up to the challenge as well as McAdam did and Eric Schied started the scoring at the 12:55 mark of the 1st period.
The Nittany Lions lead was doubled just four minutes later, as Connor Varley rocketed a shot from the left blue line and put it past Jurusik’s glove-side shoulder for a 2-0 PSU lead.
As the horn sounded for intermission, the Badgers actually held a 12-11 advantage in shots on goal but clearly struggled to convert on them.
That problem seemed solved early in the second, as 18-year-old Luke Kunin crashed the net and received a great pass from the goal line and slotted it past a helpless McAdam at the 3:49 mark of the second period.
Whatever momentum UW had was erased nearly 10 minutes later, as Penn State’s Ricky Derosa made it 3-1 PSU at the 13:18 mark of the second period. PSU made sure to completely shut the door just over one minute later, as Tommy Olczyk sped past UW’s defense and slotted home a 1-on-1 effort past Jurusik at 14:53 of the period and a 4-1 lead.
It was lights out for the game from there, and a very familiar tune for the Badgers’ 2015-16 season.
Even the crowd felt much like a Kohl Center crowd this season, with plenty of good seats still available as the puck dropped and beyond.
UW did try and get something going in the final period, as junior Grant Besse made it 4-2 on a nice effort at the 3:26 mark of the 3rd period.
It didn’t do much good though, as the Badgers couldn’t solve McAdam the rest of the period. He ended the game with 35 saves for the win.
PSU made sure to erase any doubt, adding an empty-netter with just under a minute left. Schied would get credit for his second goal of the game and it was all over at that point.
Wisconsin bowed out of the Big Ten tournament in the opening round for the second straight season, and now many wonder about the future of head coach Mike Eaves, who is a combined 12-46-13 in the past two years.
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