ANCHORAGE, Alaska
-- Wisconsin (5-7-5, 3-5-5 WCHA) began a new year of hockey in winning
fashion on Friday night, holding off a late rally by Alaska Anchorage
(3-10-4, 1-9-3 WCHA) to earn a 5-3 win in
its first game back from break and its first game of 2013.
Despite two quick goals
from the Badgers and a 4-1 UW lead midway through the third period, the
Seawolves made a game of things inside their home, George M. Sullivan
Arena, recording two quick scores of their
own to make it a one-goal deficit with 7:41 remaining.
Mark Zengerle
(Rochester, N.Y.) put the game away late for UW, however, scoring in the
final minute off an assist from Tyler Barnes (Eagan, Minn.).
With the win, the Badgers extended their unbeaten streak to seven games (4-0-3) and tallied their fourth win in six games.
First to score on the
night was John Ramage (St. Louis, Mo.), as the senior defenseman drove
to the net from behind the goal line and was able to knock back in his
own rebound to score and give UW the 1-0 lead.
Keegan Meuer (Madison, Wis.) and Ryan Little (Fond du Lac, Wis.) earned
the assists.
Joseph LaBate (Eagan,
Minn.) was the next Badger to score, as he took a centering feed from
Michael Mersch (Park Ridge, Ill.) to finish strong at the net and make
it 2-0 for UW at 8:17 of the first period. Derek
Lee (North Vancouver, B.C.) got the goal's second assist.
The Badgers owned an
early 12-to-7 shots-on-goal advantage after the first period, but the
Seawolves responded in the second, coming out much more aggressive and
looking to take advantage of offensive opportunities.
UAA was able to cut
UW's lead to 2-1 at the 8:10 mark of the second period, as Matt Bailey
finished off a nice drop pass in the slot and snuck a shot past Landon
Peterson (Oregon, Wis.) for the score.
After contact to the
head by UAA's Austin Sevalrud drew a five-minute major power play at the
17:27 mark of the period, the Badgers were able to use the extended man
advantage to stabilize and retake some of
the momentum that had been built by the Seawolves.
Momentum being built up
by the Badgers was finally spent in the third period, as two goals
within a stretch of 1:05 pushed UW to a 4-1 lead.
At the 6:29 mark of the
final period, Mersch scored his 12th goal of the season on a nifty shot
over a sliding UAA defender and into the far upper corner with a wrist
shot on the rush. Just 1:05 later, Barnes
upped the lead to three, as the junior forward smacked home a feed from
Zengerle on the rush to make it 4-1 UW with 7:34 left.
Trailing 4-1 late in
the final period, the Seawolves put together an offensive spurt of their
own, scoring a pair of goals just over a minute apart to cut into the
Badgers lead. At the 11:04 mark of the period,
Blake Tatchell poked a loose puck past Peterson in the slot, then at the
12:19 mark, Kwas took advantage of a defensive breakdown by UW behind
the net to score and make it 4-3 UW.
At the 19:29 mark of
the period, Zengerle scored an empty-net tally off an assist from Barnes
to push the UW lead back to 5-3 and all but assured the win for the
Badgers.
Wisconsin looks to
extend its unbeaten streak tomorrow night against Alaska Anchorage, as
the two meet again for a 10 p.m. (CT) faceoff.
