Wisconsin men’s hockey missed its chances in NCAA loss

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The puck ended up on Christian Fitzgerald’s stick in the slot with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey center had enough time and space to look at the upper right corner of the net and see a potential go-ahead goal on Friday and a spot in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But when you’re talking about a matter of inches after a game, it’s probably because that measurement didn’t work in your favor.

Fitzgerald got the pass from Quinn Finley but didn’t hit the spot. His shot just missed and hit the glass behind the net instead.

“I had the corner picked and obviously just missed it,” he said. “It’s definitely going to stick in my head for probably the rest of my summer and into next year. It’s frustrating. Obviously, you can’t go back and change that now, but if that goes in it’s probably a different outcome.”

It wasn’t just Fitzgerald who had a chance to put the Badgers ahead in a game they ended up losing 3-2 in overtime to Quinnipiac at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

Simon Tassy and Cruz Lucius also couldn’t finish plays around the net in the third period. William Whitelaw had the puck near the goal line in overtime.

“Let’s be honest: Yeah, they get one by us, but we definitely had a couple opportunities to get it by them,” Badgers coach Mike Hastings said. “So we’re talking about inches. And these are learning moments. They’re ones that we’ll learn from and we’ll progress.”

The Badgers were close but not quite close enough. That’s the way the game went Friday and the way the season went down the stretch; they went 7-8-2 after a 10-game winning streak that covered parts of November, December and January.

But some of those chances to dethrone the Bobcats were lingering with the Badgers as they packed up their locker room.

Tassy made a move on Quinnipiac goalie Vinny Duplessis in the opening two minutes of the third period. The Badgers winger had the puck ready to put into an empty part of the net but he couldn’t get a shot off on a backhand-to-forehand move. Still 2-2.

Lucius had the puck on his stick at the top of the crease after Daniel Laatsch’s one-timer from the top of the zone hit traffic.

“I thought I had it,” Lucius said.

Duplessis, however, stretched out his left leg and got his toe on Lucius’ shot to send it just wide of the right post. Still 2-2.

“The goalie played really good, made a good save,” Lucius said. “I don’t think it really deflated us, stuff like that. I think we kept our calmness the whole game. It just was in their favor.”

Duplessis had to face only 20 Badgers shots — a season low for Wisconsin, even with the extra 11 minutes of playing time — but what lacked in quantity was made up for in quality.

“He’s had a great year for us,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “He just finds ways to win big games. He’s so calm in there. He has no fear. It just permeates through our team, his confidence.”

Whitelaw almost had him, however. The Badgers freshman had a step on a defender and only Duplessis in front of him in the opening two minutes of overtime. Whitelaw went to his forehand and was inches away from getting the puck around the goalie’s left pad.

But it grazed off Duplessis’ skate, which slowed its progress toward the goal line enough for Bobcats defenseman Davis Pennington to clear it away from danger a foot away from the line. Still 2-2.

“I thought it was in,” Pecknold said. “Obviously, we dodged a bullet on that one.”

The Bobcats took advantage later with Victor Czerneckianair’s second goal of the game, off a slow Wisconsin line change. It wasn’t enough for the Badgers to have the chances; they had to finish them.

“It hurts a lot just knowing it could have been one shot, a difference of anything — one puck bounce,” Lucius said. “Obviously, at the end of the day it didn’t go in our favor. It’s hard to look in the past and dwell on it but it’s definitely super tough.”