MANKATO — The “Ole!” song re-emerged Saturday night.

One night after one of the most miserable college-hockey games the Verizon Wireless Center had seen in quite some time, Minnesota State made certain it

wouldn’t let the Wisconsin Badgers leave town without hearing its signature celebration song at least a few times.

Before a crowd of 4,337, the Mavericks won 3-2 to get a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series split and avoid an 0-4-0 start in league play.

“That was a gutsy, character win for us,” said senior Zach Harrison, who scored the game-winning goal and assisted on the other two goals.

Harrison’s goal came on the power play at 12:22 of the third period during the second of two five-minute major penalties committed by the Badgers.

The first came on Craig Smith’s check from behind on Mavericks captain Geoff Irwin. The hit knocked Irwin out of the game with an upper-body injury. That penalty nearly concluded without a goal when the Badgers’ Ryan McDonagh hit Eriah Hayes from behind.

Less than a minute later, Harrison, who does not regularly play on the power play, fired the puck behind goalie Scott Gudmandson after senior James Gaulrapp, who was playing for the first time this season, retrieved a loose puck and fired it toward the net. The shot hit traffic and bounced out to Harrison, who was wide open below the left circle.

“We changed a few things up this game and guys who stepped in and played showed up,” Harrison said. “We got that goal, and that was enough. I hope, next time, we can get a few more.”

After Friday night’s 6-0 loss to the 17th-ranked Badgers, coach Troy Jutting changed up his lineup, playing Gaulrapp and giving junior Brett Peterson his first shot in a game that counted. Defenseman and last season’s leading scorer, Kurt Davis, was among the healthy scratches, and freshman goalie Austin Lee got the start in goal.

Instead of benching the seniors, though, Jutting played every healthy one (Jason Wiley remained out with an injury), and Irwin, he said, delivered an inspiring message to the team.

“You need your captain,” Jutting said. “A team leader needs to step up at that point in time and try to help fix the problem. Geoff Irwin did a great job being a team leader.”

Said Harrison: “When (Irwin) went down, it lit a fire. … That kid puts his life on the line every night for us. There was nothing we wanted more for him than to win that hockey game.”

The Badgers got on the board first with a Blake Geoffrion power-play goal at 13:02 of the first period, but the Mavericks had already shown a jump that they didn’t have on Friday.

“I thought the effort was fantastic,” Jutting said.

The Mavericks dusted off the “Ole” song, ending a six-period scoreless streak to take the lead in the second period. Harrison set up sophomore forward Adam Mueller with a goal at 2:55 and freshman forward Eriah Hayes at 8:34.

“(Harrison) might be one of the only guys who played hard (Friday) night,” Jutting said. “But he came out tonight and said that wasn’t hard enough. That’s a great credit to Zach. … All of our seniors stepped up and led by example.”

Wisconsin tied the game again during a power play at 5:38 of the third period when Brendan Smith buried a pass that came off of a spin move by Geoffrion, who finished the weekend with three points.

The Badgers outshot the Mavericks 33-27. Lee finished with 31 saves for his second career win.

“(Lee) played well tonight,” Jutting said. “He stopped the pucks we needed him to stop.”

The Mavericks (3-3-0, 1-3-0 in WCHA) will go back on the road Friday and Saturday for a WCHA series at Denver.



Wisconsin 1-0-1—2
Minnesota State 0-2-1—3

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. UW-Geoffrion 3 (B.Smith 3, Schultz 1) ppg 13:02
Penalties: Cooper, MSU (interference) 7:12; B.Smith, UW (interference) 7:57; Mouillierat, MSU (interference) 12:45; Hayes, MSU (elbowing) 17:01; Ramage, UW (roughing) 19:54; Mueller, MSU (roughing) 19:54

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. MSU-Mueller 1 (Harrison 2) 2:55; 3. MSU-Hayes 2 (Harrison 3, Schiller 3) 8:34
Penalties: Boe, MSU (tripping) 4:57; Street, UW (interference) 6:27; Louwerse, MSU (tripping) 12:22; Turnbull, UW (holding) 16:05; Hayes, MSU (interference) 19:48

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. UW-B.Smith 2 (Geoffrion 1, Stepan 2) ppg 5:28; 5. MSU-Harrison 1 (Stepan 2, Gaulrapp 1) ppg 12:22
Penalties: Cooper, MSU (tripping) :54; Lee, MSU (high-sticking) 3:34; C.Smith, UW, major/game disqualification (checking from behind) 7:00; Ramage, UW (roughing) 7:00; Canzanello, MSU (roughing) 7:00; Louwerse, MSU (roughing) 7:00; McDonagh, UW major/game misconduct (checking from behind) 11:30; Cooper, MSU (tripping) 19:09.

MSU called its timeout at 11:30 of the third period.

UW called its timeout at 19:09 of the third period

SUMMARIES
Shots on goal: UW 12-12-9—33; MSU 7-12-8—27. Penalties: UW 9 for 40 minutes; MSU 12 for 24 minutes. Power-play opportunities: UW 2 for 9; MSU 1 for 6. Goalie saves: UW-Gudmandson 7-10-7—24 (3 GA), MSU-Lee 11-12-8—31 (2 GA)
Referees: Jon Campion, C.J. Beaurline. Linesmen: Tony Lancette, Chris Olson.
Attendance: 4,337