Wisconsin men's hockey scores Senior Night win over Michigan State
MADISON – Senior Night was a success.
The Wisconsin men’s hockey program sent its seven seniors out on a high note Saturday with a 6-2 victory over Michigan State in front of a crowd of 10,703 at the Kohl Center while simultaneously putting the Spartans hopes of getting home ice for the Big Ten tournament in jeopardy.
Junior Mathieu De St. Phalle scored two goals and recorded an assist for the Badgers, who raised their record to 12-20 overall and 5-17 in the Big Ten. Among the seniors Jack Gorniak (one goal, one assist) and Brock Caufield (two assists) had multi-point games, while goalie Jared Moe had 25 saves and a .926 save percentage.
“It was a special night tonight,” Gorniak said. “The guys rallied tonight and as a collective group we played really well. We fixed up on the changes from last night and we definitely played more to our identity tonight.”
Michigan State, meanwhile, finished the regular season with a 16-16-2 record and 34 points in the Big Ten. The Spartans finished the night in fourth place, the final spot for home ice, but Penn State and Notre Dame have 31 points. One or both teams could pass the Spartans with two wins next week.
BOX SCORE:Wisconsin 6, Michigan State 2
Wisconsin is locked into the lowest seed for the conference tournament, but it did score its second win over a ranked opponent in as many weeks. The Spartans are ranked 17th in the nation in the USCHO poll and 14th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine ranking.
"To finish their senior career at the Kohl Center and come up with a win, and how we did it, was really special," Wisconsin coach Tony Granato said. "The whole emphasis coming into tonight was to make sure that as teammates and coaches we found a way to make this special for some kids that gave everything they had to us."
Wisconsin rebounded from its 6-2 loss to the Spartans on Friday with a fast start. Sophomore Liam Malmquist's goal at the 4:20 mark and junior Carson Bantle's score at the 10:15 mark gave the Badgers a 2-0 lead.
“We dictated the game right from the start and that’s huge for us,” Gorniak said. “We’ve got to continue to do that. We’ve got to come out hot to start every game and dictate the speed, the pace and get pucks behind and make it hard on their D.”
Those first 20 minutes marked the first stretch of sustained success for UW against the Spartans this season. Michigan State outscored Wisconsin, 16-3, in winning the teams’ first three meetings.
Saturday, however, wasn’t Sparty's night. In addition to being outshot by Wisconsin, 14-4, in the first, the Badgers also scored off their power play, which Granato was critical of Friday. The coach also thought his team was more physical, citing senior captain Dominick Mersch and saying “he had more hits in a shift in the first period than our entire team had last night.”
De St. Phalle goal off passes from freshmen Cruz Lucius and Charlie Stramel pushed the UW lead to 3-0 at the 2:02 mark of the second period.
The Spartans scored twice in the second period but never pulled closer than two goals. They outshot Wisconsin, 13-9, in the final period, but the Badgers put the game away with goals from sophomore Corson Ceuelmans and an empty netter by De St. Phalle to punctuate the night.
Due to COVID seasons and medical redshirts, its possible that some of UW's "seniors" could return next season, but this was the end of the line for Gorniak, Mersch and Caufield, all fifth-year guys.
“A lot of emotions,” Caufield said of the night. “Being thankful for my time here and the guys, especially Gorney and Dom since we spent five years together. It’s kind of a lot of emotions and being thankful for the past five years.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin men's hockey scores Senior Night win over Michigan State
