The No. 8/9 University of Minnesota Duluth scored the most goals against a University of Wisconsin team in seven seasons Sunday afternoon -- but unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the No. 2 Badgers found a way to do the same.

Despite leading Wisconsin by two goals twice in the game, the Bulldogs had to settle for a hard fought 5-5 tie at AMSOIL Arena in the last regular season game of the year.  UMD officially finishes in fourth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, securing home ice for fourth-consecutive year.

"That's about as well as we've played all year for 58 minutes," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell after the game.  "We put five goals up on Wisconsin, I thought we played great hockey in the first and the third especially, really possessed the puck, controlled play and found the back of the net, pretty complete game until the final minutes there.  It's a disappointing tie for sure, because we had that game well in hand."

The Bulldogs put the Badgers back on their skates for the entire first period, outshooting UW 15-4 before finally taking the 1-0 lead at 18:17.  After picking up the puck from a Badger skater near the blueline, Kylie Hanley skated to her left and wristed a shot that knuckled under Kristen Campbell's glove -- Hanley's sixth goal of the season and her fourth point over the past four games (2g, 2a).

UMD's second goal came at 10:01 of the second period, its third shorthanded goal in the last four games. Ryleigh Houston flipped the puck over to Hanley driving to the net, and Hanley's initial shot drew Campbell out of the crease.  Enter Houston again, who banged home her second goal of the series to give the Bulldogs their first two goal lead of the afternoon.

Wisconsin's nation-leading power play finally broke through at 12:49 to pull within one, and at the 15:21 mark, the Badgers tied the game on a rebound tally from Alexis Mauermann to carry a 2-2 tie into the second intermission.

The third period saw a flurry of offense early, kicked off by Daryl Watts giving the Badgers its first lead of the game a mere 47 seconds into play.  But UMD, ignited by Sydney Brodt, responded -- and how. After Gabbie Hughes found Brodt from behind the net, Brodt's snipe from the extended goal line angle found the net at 1:25 to knot the game up at 3-3.  The Bulldogs then retook the lead at 3:51 on complete first line effort. Anna Klein pushed the puck into the Badger zone, and after finding its way to Hughes' stick, the sophomore center tapped it over to Brodt in the slot.  Brodt went five-hole to beat Campbell, and just like that, UMD was on top 4-3 after the first four furious minutes of action in the stanza.

"I honestly don't even fully remember those plays," said Brodt after the game when asked about her two goals. "I wanted to get pucks on net and crossed my fingers that they would go in, so I just shot everything as much as I could in the third period and a couple went in."

"Syd Brodt is the difference," replied Crowell when asked what sparked UMD's top line to three goals in the third period.  "She throws this team on her back, and when there's a will, there's a way, and she is the example of it. Klein's goal to go up 5-3, that was absolutely as clutch of a goal as I've seen, what a play.  Syd leading with that passion that plays with, she just willed those goals, Klein plays the same way and everyone just fed off of Syd."

Klein, who like her entire line altered the course of the game in the third period, doubled UMD's lead at 16:28 after skating wide into the Badger zone and ripping a shot off the far post to put the Bulldogs up 5-3.

Wisconsin refused to go away, however, and Sophie Shirley's 6-on-4 goal with 59 seconds remaining closed the Badger deficit to just a single goal.  Then, with 15 seconds left in regulation, Roque scored her second goal of the game to draw the game even at 5-5.

After a five minute overtime, the game officially ended in a tie -- UMD's sixth of the season.  The Badgers' Watts struck 1:04 into the 3-on-3 overtime to pick up the extra WCHA point.

Wisconsin outshot UMD 35-29, and went 2-of-5 on its power play.  The Bulldogs were 1-of-4 on their power play, and had 29 saves from Maddie Rooney, who became UMD's all-time career minutes played by a goaltender record holder 14 minutes into the second period.  Badger goaltender Kristen Campbell made 24 stops for Wisconsin, who clinched the WCHA Regular Season Title with the tie and is now 27-4-3 overall and 17-4-3 in league play.

The Bulldogs finish up the regular season 16-10-6 overall and 11-8-5 in the WCHA.  UMD will host Bemidji State University next Friday night at AMSOIL Arena in the WCHA playoff quarterfinals.  Game-time is set for 7:07 p.m.

"We certainly rise to the occasion, we play some of our best hockey against Wisconsin, who I think is the best team in the country," said Crowell.  "It bodes well heading into playoff hockey, we will face good competition and Bemidji State will be good next weekend. We will rise to the occasion again.  It's the right time to be playing our best hockey."

BULLDOG NOTES:  Five players notched two or more points in the game -- Gabbie Hughes had three assists, while Syndey Brodt (2g), Kylie Hanley (1g, 1a), Anna Klein (1g, 1a) and Ashton Bell (2a) each recorded two points...With two assists in the game, Bell now has 31 total points (11g, 20a), the most by a defenseman since the 2007-08 season...Bell is also now in a three-way tie in fifth for the most points by a blueliner in a single season...With 6,960:52 career minutes played, Maddie Rooney has played more minutes than any other UMD goaltender in program history, despite having played in three less games than Kayla Black, who still holds the record for games played with 121 (Rooney has played in 118).