MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin goalie Shane Connelly made 25 saves in the third period and 43 in the game to lead the Badgers to a 4-0 win over the Sioux men's hockey team on Friday. It was Connelly's fifth career shutout and first this season.
North Dakota was shut out for the second consecutive time at Wisconsin's Kohl Center despite attempting 91 shots, 42 of those in the third period. In the game, thirty-three Sioux shot attempts were blocked by the Wisconsin defense. UND also fired 12 shots wide and hit the post three times in the game. The Badgers attempted 43 shots, 24 of which were on goal.
The last time UND played at the Kohl Center -- Oct. 14, 2006 -- Wisconsin won 1-0. The Badgers have now shut out the Sioux three times in the last five meetings between the teams at the Kohl Center, where UND is 4-11-0 since the building opened in 1998.
UND's record fell to 4-3-1 overall and 2-3-0 in the WCHA, while Wisconsin raised its mark to 5-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in the WCHA.
After a scoreless first period, Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead 8:27 into the second period when Ben Street scored from in close on a rebound.
The Badgers, who came into the lead with the nation's leading power play at 34.4 percent, made it 2-0 on a power play goal at 5:26 of the third period. On the play, Wisconsin defenseman Jamie McBain fired a pass to Brendan Smith, who one-timed a blast past UND goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Sr., Grand Forks, N.D.) from the right circle for his second goal of the season.
Wisconsin took a three-goal lead at 14:38 of the third when Blake Geoffrion scored his third goal of the season on a rebound after Lamoureux kicked out a Blake Geoffrion shot.
Wisconsin's Matthew Ford was called for an elbowing penalty with 4:34 to play in the game, putting UND on the power play.
Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol pulled Lamoureux with 3:18 left in the game, putting six UND skaters on the ice for the final 1:08 of the power play, but two Sioux shots were blocked by the Badgers' defense, one went wide and Connelly saved another while the Sioux had a two-skater advantage. After Ford's penalty expired, Hakstol kept Lamoureux on the bench, but the Sioux hit a pipe, had another shot attempt blocked, fired a shot wide and were stopped again by Connelly.
Finally Wisconsin's John Mitchell grabbed the puck and scored an unassisted empty net goal at 19:41 for the game's final tally.
Until Mitchell's goal, UND had attempted 15 shots in a 5:03 span.
The 25 shots on goal in the third were the most by the Sioux in a period since Hakstol became head coach.
The first period was scoreless, with Wisconsin outshooting UND 7-6 in the period. UND attempted 28 shots in the first, with the Badgers blocking 15 of those. Wisconsin attempted 13 shots in the first period.
The margins in both shots on goal and shots attempted in the second period were closer, with the Sioux outshooting the Badgers 12-9 in the second stanza and attempting 21 shots to UW's 16.
UND was called for just three minor penalties in the game, the fewest penalty minutes on the Sioux since Feb. 16, when UND had just three minor infractions in a game against Minnesota Duluth.
North Dakota was 0-of-5 on the power play, while Wisconsin was 1-of-3.
The teams will conclude their series Saturday at 7:07 p.m. Saturday's game is being televised by Fox Sports Net (Wisconsin) and can be seen on either DirecTV or on Midcontinent Cable (Ch. 23) in Grand Forks, N.D.
