Badgers Stomp Mavericks, Advance to Face St. Cloud

Now or never. Do or die. Against the ropes.

These were just some of the clichés used to describe the situation the Wisconsin men’s hockey team faced as they headed to the Xcel Energy Center and their first WCHA Final Five since 2010.

Well, the Badgers got off on the right foot with a 7-2 drubbing of Minnesota State-Mankato Thursday afternoon.

For the second straight game, an early onslaught of goals helped the Badgers gain an advantage that they would never relinquish.

Tyler Barnes helped UW draw first blood a little over one minute into the game.

Jefferson Dahl made it 2-0 in favor of the Cardinal and White with his goal at 6:11 of the first.

Nik Kerdiles got in on the act two minutes later and the Badgers were up by three not even midway into the opening period.

The second period started much like the first- with a Wisconsin goal. Dahl notched his second of the contest, this one a shorthanded, at the 8:50 mark to make it 4-0 in favor of UW.

Minutes later, Zach Palmquist helped the Mavericks finally break through with his seventh goal of the season, a power play score, bringing MSU within three.

Barnes answered in timely fashion, collecting his second score of the game and pushing the Badgers’ edge back to four. That spelled the end of Mavericks’ freshman goaltender Stephon Williams who was pulled in favor of Phil Cook.

Eriah Hayes lit the lamp for the Mavericks on the man advantage a short time later. The score marked his 20^th goal of the campaign. But that would mark the end of the scoring for Mankato.

Frankie Simonelli and Joseph LaBate each picked up goals in the third period to put the icing on the cake for UW.

Minnesota State out-shot the Badgers 40-27, but were unable to convert enough scoring chances.

In total, nine different Badgers got on the score sheet. Barnes led the way with three points for Wisconsin.

Joel Rumpel stopped 38 shots to pick up the win.

The Badgers advance to face St. Cloud State in the WCHA semifinals. Faceoff is slated for 2:07 p.m. CT. The game will air live on Fox Sports North.