In a change from its usual schedule, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team topped the Riga 2000 Latvian team 3-2 in a midseason exhibition contest Tuesday night. Many of Wisconsin’s younger players were able to step up to lead the team to the victory. The Badgers’ top three scorers, Ryan MacMurchy, Rene Bourque, Andrew Joudrey; three of their top defensemen Ryan Suter, Andy Wozniewski and Dan Boeser; and first-string goaltender Bernd Bruckler were all healthy scratches.

UW fell behind 1-0 early in the first period as Riga’s Grigorijs Pantelejevs scored on a rebound in front of the net.

Midway through the period, Badger forward A.J. Degenhardt scored to tie the game at one. Although Wisconsin controlled the puck for most of the period, Latvian Edgars Zaltkovskis trickled a goal past Badger goalie Brian Elliott’s glove with three minutes left.

Adam Burish, who centered the Wisconsin first line, attributed the team?s slow start to the fact this was an exhibition game that does not count in the standings.

“It was hard to get the guys focused starting off,” he said. “That’s why I think we got off slow.”

The Badgers saw Riga play a cleaner second period and keep the play down in Wisconsin’s zone for most of the frame, out-shooting the Badgers 12-4 in the period. UW picked up play with about four minutes remaining in the period, and Adam Burish made a perfect pass from the corner to Nick Licari who was left alone in front of the net. Licari, a sophomore, went top-shelf past Riga goalie Edgars Masalskis to score the game-tying second goal.

Wisconsin began the third period with a spring in its step and dominated throughout. Degenhardt missed a chance to score his second goal of the game 30 seconds in, as he had an open net on the right side but slid the puck too far and missed the net completely.

There was a stoppage of play 2:46 into the third after a shot from UW defenseman Tom Gilbert knocked Masalskis’ helmet off.

After play resumed, the Badgers came right back 40 seconds later to score.

Licari brought the puck from behind the net and passed it through the crease to a waiting Burish for the Badgers’ third and final goal of the game.

After Riga pulled Masalskis for the one-man advantage, Elliott was able to withstand a flurry of shots from the Latvians in the final minute to hold on to the Badger victory.

UW’s first line scored all three goals and led the team through some of their early struggles. Elliott was also flawless in net in the final two periods, stopping all 24 shots he faced and making 29 saves total.

Despite somewhat sloppy play and the need for another third period goal to come from behind for a victory, UW head coach Mike Eaves was satisfied with his team’s performance.

“You’re satisfied with the win,” he said. “But I think that many of our players could have played better. It’s tough, a midweek game, and a game that does not mean an awful lot are tough games to prep for and I understand this, and our coaching staff understands this and you just try to maneuver your way through that type of game and we did that.”

The third-place Badgers will resume their WCHA season schedule this week with two home games against Minnesota State, as they look to extend their unbeaten streak to a UW record-tying 14 games.

Burish expressed the team’s confidence for this weekend and believes the team will be ready for Minnesota State.

“We’re coming into the weekend looking to get four [points], and nothing less,” he said.