The Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team is one win away from their 7th NCAA Frozen Four Championship after yesterday’s convincing 8-1 win over Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.) at Ford Field in Detroit.
The Badgers will meet Boston College in Saturday night’s (6pm /ESPN) championship game. Boston College rolled to a 7-1 win over Miami of Ohio in the other semi-final.
Junior defenseman Brendan Smith tallied five assists and sophomore Derek Stepan had 2 goals and 2 assists to lead the Badgers (28-10-4) in the win.
The Badgers out-shot the Tigers 37-14, including a 27-8 differential in the final two periods.
It was a quiet night for Badger goaltender Scott Gudmandson. The junior needed to make just 13 saves.
Wisconsin got first period goals from John Mitchell (pictured) and Derek Stepan. That was followed up by a 4-goal second period to move Wisconsin out in front 6-0 before R.I.T. managed to finally light the lamp.
Wisconsin improved to 18-2-1 when scoring the first goal and 25-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Badgers also finished 3 for 7 on the power play.
[Bill Scott recaps the Badgers 8-1 victory 1:00]