Wisconsin advances to Frozen Four
March 27, 2010
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)—John Mitchell scored two goals and Wisconsin advanced tothe Frozen Four for the 12th time, beating St. Cloud State 5-3 on Saturday nightin the NCAA West Regional final.
“When you get down to this point in the season, you’re looking for offensefrom anybody and everybody,” Badgers coach Mike Eaves said after Mitchellscored for the first time since Jan. 29. “So to see (Mitchell) step up speaksto the depth of this team.”
Mitchell, Blake Geoffrion and Jake Gardiner had first-period goals for theBadgers (27-10-4), who will face East Regional champion Rochester Institute ofTechnology in the national semifinals April 8 at Ford Field in Detroit.
“Wisconsin earned that victory almost start to finish tonight,” St. CloudState coach Bob Motzko said. “To our guys credit, we made it interesting for afew moments there.”
Aaron Bendickson also scored, and Scott Gudmandson made 26 saves forWisconsin, making its first Frozen Four appearance since winning the 2006 titlein Milwaukee.
“Our strength all year long has been our depth, so just because Mitchhadn’t scored in a while doesn’t mean he hasn’t been huge,” said Geoffrion,selected the regional’s most valuable player. “He had two big ones tonight.”
Jared Festler scored twice, and Tony Mosey added a goal for St. Cloud State(24-14-5), which cut the Badgers’ lead to a goal three times, but couldn’t pulleven.
“Once they get the lead, it’s tough to get back,” Huskies forward GarrettRoe said. “They came at us the entire night. Give them credit. Their goalie wassolid and it was tough to get anything going.”
St. Cloud State’s Mike Lee stopped eight of 11 shots before being replacedby Dan Dunn late in the third with the Huskies down 3-1. Dunn made 31 saves.
