The Wisconsin men’s hockey team pushed the nation’s best unbeaten streak to 12 games following a tie and a win over No. 8 Denver this weekend.

Saturday night, UW made it 12 in a row thanks to a 3-1 victory over the Pioneers.

Wisconsin dominated the first period of Saturday’s action, tallying 14 shots on target, while Denver managed only five. Wisconsin’s netminder, Bernd Brückler, made his best save on a breakaway by Pioneer J.D. Corbin early in the frame, keeping the contest scoreless.

Wisconsin continued to play strongly in the second period despite heavy penalties called on both teams. The Badgers’ Tom Gilbert took advantage of one of UW’s man-advantage situations, notching a power play goal at 8:21. He carried the puck to the blueline, deiked a Pioneer defender, then slapped it high on the gloveside of Adam Berkhoel and into the net. Dan Boeser and Robbie Earl assisted on the goal. After a Ryan MacMurchy tripping penalty at 13:21, Brückler could not get his leg in front of Brett Skinner’s shot and allowed the Pioneers to tie the game. Denver continued to apply the pressure to Brückler, but he kept the teams tied after 40:00 of play.

The rough play and intensity continued into the third period. In a four-on-four play early in the last frame, leading UW goal scorer Ryan MacMurchy found a spot in Berkhoel’s goaltending and once again gave UW the lead. His ninth goal of the season was assisted by Jeff Likens. Brückler continued to protect the net and made an amazing save as Denver tried to use a six-on-five advantage. Jake Dowell sealed the game as time expired with an empty net goal on assists from Adam Burish and MacMurchy.

Brückler (6-0-4) made 22 saves in the game, and Berkhoel had 36 stops. The win was UW’s first victory in the last nine games against Denver.

The Badgers could not come up with a win Friday night and were forced to settle for a 2-2 tie with the Pioneers.

Playing perhaps their best hockey of the season, the Badgers stormed out of the gates, dominating the Pioneers throughout the first 20 minutes. UW out-shot the home team 19-4 in the stanza, but failed to solve Berkhoel. Berkhoel made stops on John Eichelberger and Earl to keep the game scoreless.

UW skated well in the second period but was forced to kill three penalties. However, just as Berkhoel did in the first, Brückler held the Pioneers scoreless and kept the game knotted at zero.

Earl finally solved Berkhoel on a UW power play early in the third period, converting the rebound of a Boeser point shot. Rene Bourque set up Boeser at the left point for the slap shot. The puck trickled past Berkhoel and along the left side of the goal. Earl picked it up, stick handled to the front of the goal and pushed the puck home for his sixth of the season at 5:46.

UW went up 2-0 when Nick Licari capitalized on a DU turnover along the left boards. A DU defenseman put the puck up the boards, but Licari was the only skater in the vicinity. The sophomore had a clear path from the boards to the goal and beat Berkhoel short side for his second of the year. The unassisted tally came at 12:14.

Greg Keith’s rebound goal at 16:50 of the third period with the Pioneers on the power play, snapping Wisconsin’s streak of 24-straight successful penalty kills.

Then, one minute later, Lukas Dora found room between Brückler’s pads from left of the goaltender and evened the game at two.

The goal sent the contest to overtime, the fifth time in seven games Wisconsin played extra time for a decision. Both teams took two shots in the extra time, but neither found the net.

Brückler stopped 31 shots in the game and now sits 6-3-4. Berkhoel finished with 36 saves and is now 8-3-1 this season.

-compiled from staff reports