There have been more than enough ups and downs this season for the Badger men's hockey team. Yet after last weekend's tie and win against second-place St. Cloud State, the Badgers hope to carry their momentum into this weekend's series with the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves.
The Badgers, 9-7-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and 11-12-3 overall, head into the weekend with a strong hold on fifth place in the WCHA. If this weekend sees similar success for UW as did last weekend, the Badgers will be right on the heels of third-place Minnesota.
UW Head Coach Jeff Sauer remained optimistic during Monday's press conference.
\Well, I've said all along we want to be playing our best hockey late in the season,"" he said. ""I think we've learned a lot here in the last couple weeks.""
The Badgers will have had to learn a lot if they hope to avenge an early season loss and tie with the Seawolves.
""From a preparation standpoint, [Alaska-Anchorage] came out and played the game how it should be played and we came out thinking it would be easy,"" Sauer said.
Leading the way for Wisconsin will be rookie goaltender Bernd Bruckler, who will get his fourth start of the season Friday. The freshman has had limited playing time this season behind junior goaltender Scott Kabotoff, but has managed to accumulate a 3-4-1 record with a 2.40 goals against average and a .931 save percentage in about 500 minutes of ice time.
Kabotoff's knee injury, which occurred during last Friday's game against St. Cloud State, put the spotlight on Bruckler, who managed to hold off the nation's second-best offensive squad en route to earning WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors.
While Bruckler's superb play over the weekend has Badger hockey fans and players excited once again, Sauer said the freshman still has a long way to go.
""You see him on a day-to-day basis, he's outgoing, very friendly, talkative,"" Sauer said. ""I think he carries himself with pretty good confidence. Goaltending-wise, there are still some quirks that we have to continue to work with.""
At any rate, the Badgers are coming into this weekend's series with a new look and a revived momentum'two things that might finally create a spark in a team that's been looking for one all year.
""It's taken us awhile, but we're in the meat of our schedule and they've figured out that they have to come out and play every night and I'll be very disappointed if we're not ready to play mentally this weekend,"" Sauer said.
