CHICAGO – In four games over less than a month, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team has taken the top-ranked team in the country to overtime twice and has scored more goals overall.

The Badgers’ record in those games against Michigan State: 1-3, after a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday night in the conclusion to the Frozen Confines series at Wrigley Field.

Spartans right wing Daniel Russell scored on a scramble in front of Wisconsin goaltender Tommy Scarfone with 1.4 seconds left in five-minute, three-on-three period, completing an exciting four-game event at the home of the Chicago Cubs.

“To me, you know what? We’re still work in progress, obviously, but there’s some positives out of this, too,” UW coach Mike Hastings said.

“Thank you to the Cubs, Big Ten. It’s just special. It’s really special. And so I know this one hurts. All losses do. You can learn from them. We will, but we learned some good things too.”

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Ryland Mosley and Quinn Finley gave Wisconsin a chance in overtime

Wisconsin (9-12-1, 8-8-0 Big Ten) came back from a 2-0 deficit with goals by Gavin Morrissey and Finley in the second period. Then Isaac Howard put Michigan State (17-2-1, 7-1-1) back on top for nearly 12 minutes before UW’s Ryland Mosley evened the score with 38 seconds left in regulation.

The fifth-year right wing took a perfect pass across the slot from sophomore Quinn Finley to the right of Michigan State goaltender Luca Di Pasquo and dropped it behind him.

“It was pretty much right on the tape. It couldn’t have been much better,” Mosley said. “I was shocked it got to me. He made a great pass. We made eye contact, and he put it through sticks and feet and everything, right on my tape.”

Finley and Mosley each had a goal and an assist to each other.  Scarfone finished with 34 saves, including two in OT.

For Michigan State, Russell finished with two goals and an assist. Di Pasquo stopped 31 UW shots.

The Badgers’ momentum has stalled, but they’re playing well

After a 2-8 start, the Badgers closed within a game of the .500 mark by winning the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off in Milwaukee. Three weeks earlier they had split with the Spartans with a 4-0 victory and a 3-2 overtime loss in Madison.  

Six of UW losses have come in overtime.

“The idea (coming into the night) was to have an opportunity to compete against another team in our league, to get it back to even from what we lost on Thursday,” Hastings said, referencing a 4-3 defeat in East Lansing.

“Not quite enough, but we didn’t go away. I thought our start wasn’t great, but the guys stuck with it.  I’m proud of the way the kids continued to compete all the way to the end.”

The Badgers are off next weekend, face Long Island University upon their return and then finish the regular season with five consecutive Big Ten Series, including two games each against top-10 teams Michigan and Minnesota.