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UW men's hockey: Engel earns power-play time

Todd D. Milewski  —  3/29/2008 9:18 pm

Josh Engel got a chance to earn his second career power-play point only because a teammate was in the penalty box.

The University of Wisconsin senior defenseman was happy enough to fill in, and he did enough to keep the spot.

Engel set up a second-period goal with a shot toward the net that Jamie McBain redirected home for a 2-0 Wisconsin lead, part of the Badgers' 6-2 victory over Denver in Saturday's Midwest Regional semifinal.

Referee Matt Shegos called Badgers defenseman Davis Drewiske and Denver defenseman J.P. Testwuide for matching roughing-after-the-whistle penalties 7 minutes, 38 seconds into the second period, but he added a cross-checking penalty to Testwuide.

That gave Wisconsin its second man advantage but took away Drewiske, one of the members of the top power-play unit.

Enter Engel.

"When coach told me the word," he said, "I just hopped on the ice and did what he said."

Engel, who has seen power play time only briefly in his 99-game UW career, took a pass from Kyle Turris near the blue line and fired a shot at the net. At the top of the crease, shaded to the right, McBain got his stick on the shot and sent it into the top netting.

"It was a better tip than a shot," Engel said. "I just got it on net."

It was enough for Engel to replace Drewiske on the top power-play unit for the rest of the game. Drewiske moved to the second group.

Engel played his seventh straight game as a defenseman after starting the season as a winger. He played three seasons on the blue line before Badgers coaches moved him up at the start of the season.

"Wherever coach wants me to play, I'll just jump in there and do what he says," Engel said.

At home on the road: Wisconsin had the backing of its home fans at the Kohl Center despite playing as the road team.

As the third seed against second-seeded Denver, the Badgers had to make the first line change and wore their red sweaters.

"Personally, I like the red sweaters better than the white sweaters, anyway," Drewiske said. "We'll take it. We got our bench, our locker room. The red sweaters don't make too much of a difference, but I think they're pretty sharp."

Perhaps that was what changed the Badgers' home luck against the Pioneers. UW was 1-11-2 against Denver at the Kohl Center before Saturday, including five straight losses.

"Maybe it was the change of jersey that we needed," Drewiske said.

One-timers: The Badgers improved to 11-0 against Denver in the postseason. Three of those victories have come in the NCAA tournament.

** Michael Davies recorded his UW-high third multiple-goal game of the season. The sophomore leads Wisconsin's active players with six career multiple-goal games.

** Davies, Blake Geoffrion, Kyle Turris and Kyle Klubertanz all were plus-3. Denver's Patrick Mullen was minus-4.

** Wisconsin blocked 23 of Denver's 75 shot attempts.

Todd D. Milewski  —  3/29/2008 9:18 pm