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Wisconsin Badgers stuns No. 1 UND Fighting Sioux

For the first time in the Brad Berry era, the UND men’s hockey team has to deal with some adversity.

The longest undefeated streak to start a season in the past 16 years ended in surprising fashion Friday night as No. 1 North Dakota lost to unranked Wisconsin 3-1 in front of 11,788 Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It marked the first loss in nine games under Berry (6-1-2), the first loss to the Badgers since October 2011 and just the third loss in the last 23 home games dating back to last season.

Corbin McGuire, Luke Kunin and Jedd Soleway scored goals in the opening two periods to fuel the upset victory for a Wisconsin team that won just four times in 35 games a season ago.

“We underestimated them,” UND junior defenseman Paul LaDue said. “They came out flying and they deserved to win that game.”

Defenseman Troy Stecher said: “They outworked us. It came down to that. We talk every day about playing with pride and playing with heart. In the first two periods, I don’t think we had that. It was really disappointing coming home and letting our fans down like that and having a poor performance.”

UND opened the season by playing seven of its first eight games on the road. Its return home Friday night was a dud, as the Badgers buried three Grade-A scoring chances from point-blank range in the opening 30 minutes of the game, then held off a charge by UND in the third.

North Dakota, playing without leading scorer Drake Caggiula and defenseman Tucker Poolman, had trouble sustaining offense against a physical Badger defensive corps until the final 20 minutes.

By then, it was too late.

Badger freshman goalie Matt Jurusik was strong but didn’t need to be spectacular in stopping 29 of 30 shots. Twelve of those saves came in the third. UND goalie Matt Hrynkiw (20 saves) lost for the first time since jumping in as the No. 1 goalie three weeks ago due to injuries to Matej Tomek and Cam Johnson.

“We were slow all over the ice,” Berry said. “The execution wasn’t there in the first two periods. We have to play to the level that we did in the third in order to have success.

“Coming into our rink, there are expectations. We demand excellence. You’re not going to go through a season with losing a game, but the big thing for us is that we want to play consistently and give ourselves a chance every night.”

Wisconsin (3-3-3) won its third straight game — its longest such streak since the 2013-14 season — and won its first game in The Ralph since December 2009.

“We played on our toes and got a couple of goals in the second period,” Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said. “The last part of the second, (UND) started to push. Then, the first part of the third, they definitely pushed. But Matty was strong in the second and third and that was the key.”

The Badgers were able to shut down UND’s top like of Brock Boeser, Nick Schmaltz and Shane Gersich, who threw just four shots on net and didn’t register a point.

UND actually jumped out to a quick lead when Luke Johnson’s snap shot from the right circle got past Jurusik on the short side at 7:31 of the first period, but the lead didn’t last long.

McGuire scored his first of the season just 3:02 later, banging home a rebound of a wraparound attempt.

Just 37 seconds into the second period, Kunin finished off a beautiful passing play from Cameron Hughes and Grant Besse to give the Badgers a 2-1 lead. It was the first deficit for UND since Oct. 17. And UND only trailed for six seconds in that game.

Soleway added to that lead, finishing off a feed from Adam Rockwood at 9:06 of the second.

UND outshot Wisconsin 12-4 in the third period, but couldn’t get any closer.

“In the long run, maybe this is a positive for our hockey team,” Stecher said. “Obviously, you never want to have a loss. At the same time, maybe we can remember this feeling and not let it happen again. Maybe this feeling will sink in to some guys and maybe kick some guys in the butt.”

Notes: Freshman goalie Matej Tomek (lower body) dressed as the third-string goaltender. It was the first time that he’s dressed in a game. . . Berry said the team will be cautious with Poolman, but he didn’t rule him out for Saturday’s series finale.