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Christian Fitzgerald's OT goal caps wild win for Wisconsin men's hockey over No. 14 Michigan

mark stewart, milwaukee journal sentinel
·2 min read
Wisconsin's Quinn Finley, shown against Lindenwood earlier this month, finished with one goal and three assists in the Badgers' 6-5 overtime win at Michigan Saturday.
Wisconsin's Quinn Finley, shown against Lindenwood earlier this month, finished with one goal and three assists in the Badgers' 6-5 overtime win at Michigan Saturday.

The Wisconsin men’s hockey team refused to go down for the count Saturday.

The third-ranked Badgers came back from deficits four times before leaving Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a 6-5 overtime victory over No. 14 Michigan.

Sophomore Christian Fitzgerald’s score 57 seconds into overtime allowed the Badgers to leave town with a series split.

Friday, Michigan handed UW its worst loss of the season, 5-1. Saturday, the Badgers responded by tying their second-highest goal total of the season.

BOX SCORE: Wisconsin 6, Minnesota 5 overtime

The victory raised Wisconsin’s record to 20-5-1 overall and 11-3 (33 points) in the Big Ten. That result coupled with first-place Michigan State’s 5-1 loss at Minnesota cut the Spartans' lead over UW in the standings to four points.

The win also gave the Badgers a 3-1 record in games tied after two periods and a 2-0-1 mark in overtime contests.

The offensive eruptions resulted in four players with multi-point nights for Wisconsin and 11 players with at least one goal or assist. Fitzgerald (one goal, one assist) recorded his third game-winner of the season. Freshman Quinn Finley (one goal, three assists), freshman Joe Palodichuk (two assists) and senior Anthony Kehrer (two assists) also had multi-point nights.

The tone for the game was set during the first 10 minutes when Michigan scored during the first 2 minutes and UW responded with goals by Finley and senior Carson Bantle to take a 2-1 advantage at the 7-minute, 27-second mark.

Michigan game back with two more goals before the game was 10 minutes old to take a 3-2 lead.

Wisconsin wouldn’t reclaim the lead again until Fitzgerald’s game winner, which came off passes from Finley and Kehrer.

The victory sets up a visit from ninth-ranked Minnesota at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kohl Center. UW swept the Golden Gophers, 5-2, on Oct. 26 and 3-2 on Oct. 27.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fitzgerald's goal caps wild win for Wisconsin hockey over Michigan