The No. 17 ranked Wisconsin Men's Hockey team showed tremendous resilience, fighting back from a two-goal deficit to secure a 2-2 tie against the No. 20/19 Minnesota State Mavericks at the Kohl Center.
While the official score stands as a draw, the Badgers sent their home crowd away happy by winning a dramatic seven-round exhibition shootout, with freshman Blake Montgomery netting the winner.
Minnesota State dominated the early proceedings, capitalizing heavily on penalties assessed to the home side. The Mavericks opened the scoring 9:58 into the first period, converting on a five-on-three power play just minutes after a major penalty was handed to the Badgers.
They quickly doubled their advantage, making it a 2-0 game at the 13:28 mark of the first, scoring their second power-play goal of the night.
Wisconsin’s response was swift and decisive in the second period. Junior forward Quinn Finley ignited the comeback just 43 seconds into the frame.
Senior forward Simon Tassy quickly followed suit, finding the net at the 7:11 mark of the second to completely erase the two-goal deficit and tie the game at 2-2.
The third period saw both teams lock down defensively, successfully killing off respective major penalties to force overtime for the second consecutive night. Neither side could find the decisive goal in the extra period, confirming the official 2-2 tie.
The drama, however, continued into the exhibition shootout.
The contest went deep, stretching to seven rounds, with the heroics coming from both the netminder and the freshman forward. Goaltender Daniel Hauser was unbeatable, making a perfect seven saves to shut down the Mavericks.
Stepping up under pressure, freshman Montgomery scored the decisive goal, securing a thrilling 1-0 shootout win and giving Wisconsin the bragging rights in their second straight shootout victory against Minnesota State.
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