When we last saw Shane Connelly in the throes of battle, the junior goaltender for the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team was distraught and near tears.

In a gotta-have-it Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff game March 15 at St. Cloud State, Connelly didn't.

One night after playing extremely well in a 3-0 setback, Connelly allowed two satiny soft goals in the first period, then watched from the bench as freshman backup Scott Gudmandson was unable to prevent a 4-3 loss in overtime as the Badgers were swept in the best-of-three series.

In a narrow hallway outside the UW dressing room that night, Connelly spoke in quiet, emotional tones about how he hoped he would get a chance to redeem himself this season.

If that opportunity didn't materialize, he said the coming months would be difficult.

"Distraught," Connelly said, measuring the word carefully, "that's a good way to describe how my mind-set was."

At the time, the odds seemed awfully long that the Badgers would get into the NCAA tournament. They had to sit idle for a week and hope that an involved series of playoff games elsewhere somehow would go their way.

"It was little bit tough just waiting, not knowing if I was going to have another chance," Connelly said. "I'd put the (performance against St. Cloud) behind me, but I wanted another chance to redeem myself."

Connelly was hanging out with his aunt and uncle in Chicago last weekend when, slowly but surely, text messages from teammates came in outlining the fact that UW had a second life despite its losing record (15-16-7).

The Badgers received one of 10 at-large berths and will host WCHA rival Denver (26-13-1) in a Midwest regional semifinal Saturday at the Kohl Center.

"Sunday came around and changed everything for me," Connelly said, referring to official word from the NCAA on the makeup of the 16-team field.

Connelly (14-15-5, 2.44 goals against average, 91.2 save ratio) seemed to get stronger and more confident as the season progressed.

His issue during that critical loss to St. Cloud was obvious to UW coach Mike Eaves.

"Shane tried too hard in my opinion," he said. "He took himself out of his peak performance state, which we saw the night before."

Connelly nodded his head in agreement.

"I think that's exactly it," he said. "I was trying to win the game by myself knowing that we didn't score the night before and I played pretty well. I had this mind-set where I need to win the game and that was the wrong approach to take.

"I just need to play my game. Just relax and have fun. I wasn't having too much fun that Saturday night. I was pressing too hard."

Eaves said Connelly is the resilient sort whose habit of keeping a written record of every start should come in handy.
Connelly's last start has a lot of valuable information tucked around the edges.

"We know how diligent he is in his lessons and the things that he learns from every game," Eaves said. "I said, 'Write that one in there and keep that one close to your heart.' "

The all-or-nothing stakes are back on the table Saturday when the Badgers will try and take a step toward the NCAA Frozen Four April 10 and 12 in Denver.

Connelly's statistics are respectable, but not good enough to crack the top eight in a league where, amazingly, nine of the top 10 goaltenders had goals against averages under 2.50 and save percentages above 91.0 percent.

Still, Connelly won head-to-head duels with eight of the nine WCHA starters, including a road victory over Denver senior Peter Mannino and a shutout against Hobey Baker Award finalist Jean-Philippe Lamoureux of North Dakota at the Kohl Center.

Connelly said the lesson from his last start is obvious.

"We're a complete team," he said. "If I trust them and they trust me and no one's trying to go above and beyond what they should do, I think we'll be fine."