University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Wisconsin
Gophers Suffer First Big Ten Loss
2/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
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Feb. 6, 2014
MADISON, Wis. - For the first time since Nov. 24, the top-ranked Minnesota men's hockey program suffered a loss, falling for the first time in Big Ten play in a 2-1 battle with No. 12 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.
The loss also snapped the Gophers' 14-game unbeaten streak, which stood as the longest active streak heading into the weekend, despite the fact that Minnesota (19-3-5 overall, 8-1-2-0 Big Ten) peppered the Badgers with 32 shots and held its opponent to 19 shots for the second game in a row.
Wisconsin (14-8-2, 5-4-1-0 Big Ten) jumped out to a first-period lead when Frankie Simonelli scored his sixth goal of the year during the game's first power play at 14:47. Joseph LaBate and Kevin Schulze set up the goal. Minnesota wouldn't go into the first intermission trailing, however, as Taylor Cammarata slipped home the equalizer at 17:20 of the first stanza after Kyle Rau picked up the puck behind the Wisconsin net and fed his freshman teammate in front for Cammarata's sixth goal of the season.
After a scoreless second period, both squads saw scoring chances in the third period. Perhaps Minnesota's best chance came on a Gophers' power-play as Mike Reilly's shot from the point rang off the post. Reilly and Hudson Fasching both saw their five-game point streaks snapped on Thursday night. In the end, the Badgers converted the only goal of the third period with Jake McCabe finding a way past Adam Wilcox at 13:47 for the deciding goal (assisted by Jedd Soleway).
Adam Wilcox made 17 saves and fell for the first time in more than two months, moving to 18-3-5 on the season. Joel Rumpel made 31 saves for Wisconsin to move to 12-3-1.
Minnesota and Wisconsin return to action on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. CT for their fourth and final meeting of the regular season. Friday's finale will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and streamed live on BTN2Go.com. Radio broadcast for the game will be on the Gopher Radio Network and 1500 ESPN.
-Pride on Ice-
