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April 6, 2006
2006 NCAA Frozen Four Semifinal
Sea of Red
Burish, Elliott among the leaders as Wisconsin heads to the title game

By Jeff Howe

Wisconsin 5, Maine 2
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-WI	Adam Burish (9)	EV
10:11	J. Pavelski, R. Earl
1-ME	Michel Leveille	EV
17:37	M. Duffy
Second Period
2-WI	Ross Carlson (11)	SH
4:18	Unassisted
3-WI	Robbie Earl (22)	PP
8:16	A. Burish
Third Period
2-ME	Mike Lundin (3)	EV
11:29	G. Moore, J. Soares
4-WI	Ben Street (10)	EV
12:26	R. Carlson, J. Skille
5-WI	Robbie Earl (23)	EN
18:16	J. Engel
Goaltending
ME: Ben Bishop, 59:10, 34 saves, 4 GA
WI: Brian Elliott, 60:00, 32 saves, 2 GA
Penalties: ME 8/16; WI 8/16
Power Plays: ME 0-7; WI 1-6
Attendance: 17,691
More Coverage
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Riding a sea of red at the Bradley Center, No. 1 Wisconsin powered past Maine, 5-2, to move into the national championship against Boston College on Saturday night.

After an all-WCHA Frozen Four last year, the Badgers made sure this year’s national championship wasn’t going to be a who’s who of Hockey East, and Wisconsin has a chance to run the table without leaving the state in the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve got one more left,” said Adam Burish, who scored the first goal of the night and then assisted on the eventual game-winner. “We want to win a championship because that is what we came to do. We didn’t come here just to enjoy the atmosphere and see Miller Park and the Miller Brewing Company. We came to win a championship.”

“We’ve got a chance to win the last game of the year, and that is something we talked about at the beginning of the year,” Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said.

Besides Burish’s efforts, the Badgers used two goals and an assist from Robbie Earl, and Brian Elliott stopped 32 Black Bear shots, including 19 during the second period.

Eaves will take on an Eagle team his family shares close ties with, as his two sons – Ben and Patrick – both had brilliant careers with Boston College. Mike is looking forward to the challenge, not because of the bloodline connection, but because the game should provide some terrific hockey.

“There are no mixed feelings at all,” he said. “I look forward to it because of the fact that it will be two great teams; both well-coached, both have tremendous goaltending and both have talented people … The ultimate winner on Saturday night is going to be men’s college hockey because you’re going to be treated to just a terrific game.”

Wisconsin also has an opportunity to become the first school to win both the men’s and women’s national championships in the same season. Burish, however, is just looking to make sure his sister Nikki – who played for the women’s team – can’t rag on him at every Burish family party from now through eternity.

“She said, ‘If you don’t win one, I have one up on you for the rest of your life,’” Burish said. “My dad said, ‘Adam, if you don’t get one, your sister will be all over you.’ [Nikki] said, Good luck and have fun, but you better win it.’”

Trailing 3-1 in the third period, Maine picked up some momentum and started to take the life out of the rowdy Badger faithful by killing off a five-on-three and then cutting the lead in half. Josh Soares entered the zone on the right side and dropped the puck back to Greg Moore. He sent a pass across the zone to Mike Lundin, who beat Elliott’s left shoulder with a high wrister at 11:29.

Ross Carlson's quick shot on his short-handed goal surprised Ben Bishop, the Maine goalie admitted afterwards. (Photo by Larry Radloff)

But just 57 seconds later, the Badgers put the final stamp on their reservation for Saturday night. Ben Street took a shot from the right point that deflected out to Bishop’s right side. Ross Carlson tried to bang home the rebound, but Bishop sprawled out on his stomach to knock that bid away, too. Bishop couldn’t get back into position in time, though, as Street was trailing the play, got his stick on the puck and sent it over the Maine freshman netminder to make it 4-2.

Earlier, Burish had cashed in on the first friendly bounce of the night. Carrying the puck through the right circle, Burish tried centering it, but it was deflected back to him by Lundin. His second bid to work the puck over to Joe Pavelski, who was docked at the left pipe, deflected off of Lundin’s partner, Travis Wright, and bounced past Bishop’s blocker to give the Badgers a 1-0 lead at 10:11 of the first period.

“That one went off my pants,” Wright said. “That kind of stuff happens. Those kinds of goals win big games, and we didn’t get any. I was trying to take my man and do something right. I turned around, and it hit me, and I watched it go in the net.”

A little more than seven minutes later, Michel Léveillé evened things up with a lucky bounce of his own. While being held in the high slot, Léveillé wristed a shot that ricocheted off Matt Olinger’s right skate and through Elliott’s five-hole.

Wisconsin reclaimed its lead 4:18 into the second period with the loudest goal of the night. Carlson stole the puck from Léveillé in the Badger end and raced down the left boards where he was being pursued by Bret Tyler. Before Tyler could gear up and put the Wisconsin forward on his back, Carlson jumped to the right, skated through the slot and put the puck through Bishop’s legs.

“The short-handed goal was quite lucky,” Carlson said. “I knew I was going to cut to the middle [around Tyler], but I didn’t know how. It was a good bounce for me.”

“I didn’t think he was going to shoot it [that early] because he had all the time in the world,” Bishop said. “When he shot it, it surprised me and went five-hole.”

Greg Moore had an opportunity to knot things back up for the second time just four minutes later, but his short-handed bid was barely deflected by Elliott’s shoulder up and over the net. Burish picked up the puck and sent it up ice to Earl, who beat Bishop with a tough-angle shot from the right point to push the advantage to 3-1.