As longstanding members of the Big Ten conference, Ohio State and Wisconsin are no strangers to fierce battles on the gridiron. A similar intensity holds true on the ice and proved emblematic on B1G Super Saturday at Madison Square Garden as Wisconsin appeared headed toward a shutout win before a raucous Ohio State comeback set up a Cameron Hughes overtime goal in a 3-2 Badgers victory.
“A lot of things can happen in a game. Things are going to change,” Hughes said. “We wanted to close out the game in regulation, but obviously it didn’t happen. I thought we bounced back great in the overtime period. We felt we still had life and that we still believed in ourselves. That is the bottom line and good things happened.”
Facing the eighth-ranked Buckeyes, the Badgers produced one of their best efforts of the season. The tone initiated from the opening faceoff and climaxed at the 18:15 mark of the first period when Aidan Cavallini, the nephew of former St. Louis forward Paul Cavallini echoed his lineage with a slapshot from the point for the lone tally of the period. Wisconsin doubled their lead in the final period, courtesy of Matthew Freytag's third goal of the season.
The Badgers limited scoring opportunities and had a stellar effort from goaltender Matt Jurusik, who recorded 27 saves and blanked the Buckeyes for the first 58 minutes of regulation. Although Wisconsin appeared headed for a near-certain victory, Ohio State refused to go down quietly and nearly wrestled the game away in the final minutes. Center Mason Jobst netted a power play goal after the puck rolled under Jurisik’s pads. Josh Healey followed with the equalizer with just 21 seconds remaining to send the game to an extra session.
“You try to keep a positive frame of mind,” Jurisik said. The two goals were a tip-in and a big screen. If a goal is going to go in during the last minute of a game like that, you don’t try to let yourself get too low. I knew the team was going to bail me out. It just didn’t happen to be easy.”
“I thought we had a lot of chances, but we cannot wait until the last two minutes to score two goals,” Jobst said. “We dug ourselves a hole on back-to-back nights. We have gotten out of it multiple times this year, but we cannot do that every night. We felt like we had the momentum going after scoring those two goals. Obviously, it’s a disappointing loss.”
Although the Badgers squandered a two-goal advantage, their attitude did not change as they entered the extra session. Wisconsin took an aggressive approach on the offensive end, recording all six shots in overtime. Their efforts paid dividends when Hughes poked a loose puck into the back of the net for the victory. Video review would uphold the ruling and clinch a series sweep over Ohio State.
“We are still learning about our team as all teams are as you try to better as the year goes along,” Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato said. “We weren’t put in a position like this all year, where we played this solidly and then had to go to overtime. It gave someone the opportunity to be a hero and that was the best part about tonight.”
Wisconsin’s thrilling overtime triumph at MSG held sentimental meaning for Granato, who spent his first three NHL seasons with the New York Rangers, including a 36-goal campaign in 1988-89. In addition, current Rangers Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan are among the 80 NHL alumni from the university. The win also completes a sweep of B1G Super Saturday after the school’s basketball program defeated Rutgers 61-54 earlier in the day. Madison Square Garden began hosting B1G Super Saturday in 2016 and will continue to do so through 2019.
“These players want to play in the NHL,” Granato said. “They have watched a ton of games here and know that Mike Richter and Eddie Giacomin and all of the superstars that came through this arena for the big events that occurred here. This building meant a lot for me because it gave me my first crack in the NHL to play for an Original Six team in front of these fans and this community and to come back (as a coach) is pretty special.