MADISON, Wisc. -- Wisconsin goaltender Scott Gudmandson had every reason to lose confidence in himself after giving up 12 goals in his first two starts of the season. For the sophomore, there was no better way to rebuild that confidence than to pitch a shutout, which is exactly what the young netminder did Saturday night as Wisconsin blanked the Michigan Tech Huskies 6-0 in Madison, completing the series sweep.

Gudmandson stood on his head for the Badgers (3-6-1, 3-4-1 WCHA), stopping all 34 Husky shots he faced--including 17 in the second period. As the game clock approached zero near the end of the third period, Gudmandson naturally had an eye on the time.

"Obviously, that's in the back of your mind," Gudmandson said. "It's my first career shutout and it's something that's going to be in the back of my head. But I'm trying my hardest out there to not even think about it. I just want to play and get the 'W.'"

The Wisconsin offense made Gudmandson's job easy Saturday by scoring six times--including two goals by junior captain Blake Geoffrion. It was Geoffrion who put UW on the board with just over five minutes to play in the first period. Defenseman Brendan Smith recorded one of his four assists on Geoffrion's power play goal--one of five Wisconsin goals on the night with the man advantage.

"It's great when your team scores first," Gudmandson said. "You've got something to lay back on."

Michigan Tech (2-6-0, 1-5-0 WCHA) appeared to have tied the game early in the second period when senior forward Justin St. Louis slapped the puck past Gudmandson. However, the play had been whistled dead before the goal, and after referees reviewed the call it remained 1-0 in favor of Wisconsin.

"There’s always turning points in the game, and that very well could have been one of them," Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said.

John Mitchell put UW up 2-0 with his fourth goal of the season--and second in as many nights--midway through the second on the power play. Defenseman Jamie McBain notched his third of the year early in the final frame to extend Wisconsin's lead to three.

Geoffrion was initially credited with Wisconsin's fourth goal, but the scoring was later changed to give the goal to senior Tom Gorowsky, who scored twice in last Saturday's win over North Dakota. Instead, Geoffrion received the first assist on Gorowsky's goal, the third time UW scored on the power play.

After Ryan McDonagh made it 5-0 seven minutes into the third, Geoffrion tacked on his second goal of the night on a deflection in front of the net from a pass by Smith.

"I hope he continues to buy into it and plant that big body of his in front of the net and let pucks hit him, wack away at rebounds and tip pucks because that's where he's being the most effective right now," Eaves said.

But the night really belonged to Gudmandson who, after suffering a 5-1 loss to New Hampshire and a 7-4 loss to Denver, picked up his first win of the season and the second of his career, getting the start over senior Shane Connelly.

"We had discussed along with [goaltending coach] Mike Valley that whether or not we were going to play him was going to be very dependent on how he practiced this week," Eaves said of Gudmandson. "He was excellent. He made our decision easy by the way he practiced."

Said Gudmandson "It's something that's always going to be in the back of my mind is giving up 12 goals in two games, I worked with Mike Valley a lot and we had quite a few talks about what I need to do to get that out of my head."

With the win, Wisconsin has built itself a modest three-game winning streak--and garnered some confidence as well. They will hope to carry their confidence next weekend against Minnesota-Duluth.

"Like Coach says, we need to keep riding this wave as long as we can and keep playing hard every night," Geoffrion said. "When you do those things, good things happen."