Boosted by a vote of confidence from his coach earlier in the day, Connelly orchestrated a major turnaround Saturday night, helping the Badgers to a 1-0 victory over St. Cloud State.

At the final horn, shortly after he made the last of his 26 saves, Connelly turned to the student section, the group that has given him so much grief over the last two seasons at the National Hockey Center, let out a shout and pumped both of his fists in its direction.

"It was just a lot of emotion coming back," Connelly said after his sixth collegiate shutout. "I was trying to hold it back in."

A history lesson: Since Connelly first appeared in a game here late last season, the St. Cloud State students have mocked the goaltender's pre-period shoulder shake as a waddle. They chant "Waddle! Waddle!" in anticipation, then go crazy when he actually does it.

Someone industrious even made up a sign with a duck waddling back and forth. That's what Connelly wanted to take home with him along with the shutout.

"I gave them one last waddle — I don't know if they caught it — coming off the ice," he said. "I had to. I couldn't resist."

Another history lesson, this one much more recent: On Friday, Connelly allowed six goals in a humbling defeat, the Badgers' fourth straight at this venue. It wasn't even a certainty that he was going to be in goal for the series finale after a performance that coach Mike Eaves described as below average.

But the two talked during Saturday morning's skate, where Eaves emphasized to Connelly that the coaching staff believed in him.

"We felt that we needed to put the ball in his hands again," Eaves said. "Just like the rest of the team, we wanted to give him the opportunity to respond because he's a very proud guy. He's played in big games for us, and we needed to get him back in there to get him going. What a statement he made."

This was a performance that he could be proud of. He didn't face as many shots as his Huskies counterpart, Jase Weslosky, who stopped 39 of UW's 40 shots on goal. But Connelly had things going for him in ways they weren't Friday.

On St. Cloud State's seventh and final power play, coming in the game's final five minutes, he made quick saves on John Swanson and Ryan Lasch and saw a number of other good shots sail wide of the net.

"Half of those, I didn't even really see them," Connelly said. "Everyone was selling out. You could tell how bad we wanted to win this game."

And how bad did they need to win this game? After seeing their five-game unbeaten streak end in a dismal 6-2 loss on Friday, there were questions whether the recent resurgence was just a mirage.

The Badgers (5-7-2, 5-5-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) responded with a dominant, 18-shot first period that didn't lead to a goal. St. Cloud State (8-5, 3-4) pulled the momentum back some in the second, but UW got the all-important first goal early in the third period.