Badger Hockey opens season with win

Goalie, freshman spark Badgers
Elliott gets shutout; Davies scores twice
By MARK STEWARTmstewart@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 6, 2006

Green Bay - The University of Wisconsin men's hockey team picked up where it left off last season.

Senior goaltender Brian Elliott was superb as usual Friday night, recording 23 saves to record his 12th shutout as the top-ranked Badgers scored a 3-0 victory over Northern Michigan in their season opener.

Elliott's play in goal allowed some new faces to relax and show what they could do for the defending national champions, who played in front of a crowd of 4,968 at the Resch Center.
Freshman Michael Davies scored two goals in his UW debut, with linemates Matt Ford and Tom Gorowsky getting assists each time. Ford and Gorowsky also assisted Davis Drewiske's goal early in the third period, giving the duo three points apiece for the night.

That was more points than Gorowsky, a sophomore, scored all of last season. For Ford, it was almost half of the seven points he scored a year ago.

For a team that must replace its top five scorers from last season, their play was the highlight of the night.

"That whole line worked very well together. It wasn't just one guy," UW coach Mike Eaves said.

"(Davies) finished a couple of really nice plays. The other guys worked hard. They supported each other probably the best of any line we had."

The game was scoreless after one period but UW grew stronger as the contest wore on.

Davies broke the scoreless tie by smacking the rebound of Ford's shot into the net 2 minutes 44 seconds into the second period. Davies scored his second goal at the 11:38 mark of the third period.

The St. Louis native, who is teased by teammates because of his small stature, came up big.

"He's a little guy but he moves really well and he's pretty deceptive," Gorowsky said of his 5-foot-9, 167-pound teammate. "People see a little guy and think he's not going to do anything, but he's got great hands and just really good vision and he anticipates very well."

In between Davies' goals, Drewiske scored to give UW a 2-0 lead at 2:42 of the third.

By that point, the Badgers were exerting their dominance with numerous good scoring chances that just didn't get through the net. The Badgers finished with 36 shots, 13 more than Northern Michigan, which was picked by the coaches to finish eighth in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

"The second period we looked better and in the third period we looked like a team that had an idea of what they were trying to do and were getting things done more times than not," Eaves said.

For Elliott, the shutout was his fifth in the last eight games. It was also his third straight shutout at the Resch Center; UW played two NCAA regional games there last season.

The Badgers will try to add to that streak tonight in the second game.

"If Madison is our home, this our cabin up north," Eaves said. "We look forward to coming up here."