Freshman netminders aren’t supposed to be this good. Friday night Joel Rumpel earned his 2nd shutout of the season and his career as the Badgers used a balanced attack to take down Alaska-Anchorage 4-0 to open up the weekend action.
Rumpel stopped all 23 shots he faced on the way to earning a 2nd shutout on the season and improving his record to 8-5-2 on the year. The two shutouts on the season is something that hasn’t been done by a freshman goalie at Wisconsin since the 1980-81 season by Terry Kleisinger.
But don’t think Rumpel was the only star of the night. A game after losing his consecutive games with a point streak Mark Zengerle got right back on the horse, accounting for 3 points in the win. Also standing out on the offensive end of things was Justin Schultz, who ended the game at an astounding +4 for the night.
Just 9:04 into the 1st period Zengerle banged home is 10th goal of the season with assists coming from red hot Joseph LaBate and of course, who else, but Justin Schultz. Zengerle scored off a rebound from LaBate’s original shot that deflected off Seawolves goalie Chris Kamal, who took the loss and moved to 3-7-0 on the season for Alaska-Anchorage.
The offensive output in the 1st period was enough to win the game, but the Badgers weren’t done yet and the 2nd period would see two more Wisconsin goals, putting them up 3-0. It didn’t take long for Wisconsin to strike in the 2nd period, with Frankie Simonelli scoring just 40 seconds into the period. Zengerle and LaBate both got their 2nd points of the night with assists on the goal.
Wisconsin would triple their lead just over 8 minutes later on a shot rifled off the stick of freshman Jake McCabe (3). The stars of the night continued to shine as Zengerle passed to Schultz who feathered a great pass to McCabe garnering them both assists on the goal. With the goal McCabe has clearly put the early season hand injury behind him. “Game-by-game my confidence is growing and I’m 100 percent back now.” said McCabe. “I feel like I’m starting to figure out the college game finally, like I wish I would have had I not gotten hurt.”
Despite the 3-0 deficite the Sewolves didn’t give up, recording a game high 11 shots in the period, but Rumpel was obviously up to the challenge. “He looks a lot more confident for sure.” said teammate Mark Zengerle of Rumpel. “He looks patient in there and his rebound control has been really good… He was doing great before break for us, and ever since break he’s been locking the door for us.”
Wisconsin finished off the scoring by adding a 4th goal in the 3rd period as Justin Schultz capped off an amazing night with a goal of his own. It was his team leading 12th of the season and he got assists by Derek Lee and Michael Mersch on the goal.
The only bad part of the game for Wisconsin was the power play, which went 0 for 3 on the night, but that’s nitpicking at a 4-0 win.
Now the task ahead of the Badgers is to take this momentum and use it on Saturday to finish off the series sweep. “It’s huge.” said Mark Zengerle. “After we beat Mankato in Mankato on Friday we were talking about how we needed to win Saturday, and we didn’t do it. I think now we kind of know how to do and what to do right.”
Wisconsin takes to the ice against the Seawolves looking for the series sweep once again tonight at 7pm at the Kohl Center with the game televised live via TVW (Charter Cable) and tape delay on the Wisconsin Channel. The action will also be called on the radio via WIBA-AM 1310.
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