I guess one could say that men's hockey Head Coach Mike Eaves is going through a trial by fire this season. What has arisen in the past few weeks has caused the first-year coach to be in caught in the middle of a whirlwind he has no way to get out of right now.
The recent horrors for the men's hockey program began a few weeks ago against Alaska-Anchorage at home. In their 4-1 victory against the Seawolves Feb. 7, sophomore Alex Leavitt and senior Erik Jensen both received penalties late in the third period with the game well in hand. These penalties caused Eaves to suspend the two for three games.
The next weekend, Feb. 15-16, against rival Minnesota, the Badgers fell to the defending national champion Gophers 5-2 the first night, and then 8-1 the next night. Leavitt and Jensen did not accompany the team to the U of M for the weekend series due to their suspension.
On Feb. 19, days after the 8-1 loss, Leavitt went to the press with a story of how Eaves had assaulted him in a Grand Forks, ND hotel room Nov. 23 after a pair of losses to North Dakota that weekend. Eaves sent out a public apology for his actions and Athletic Director Pat Richter came out stating that Eaves, even through all this, was his man as coach.
After all this, UW hosted St. Cloud State this past weekend and played some of their best hockey all season. The Badgers came out with intensity and desire and tied the Huskies 2-2 Friday night, and then came from behind to win 4-3 Saturday night.
With what looked to be a sure turnaround for the struggling young club, it was only a matter of time before things went sour again. Early Sunday morning, senior captain Brad Winchester was arrested after repeatedly striking a police officer outside of the Kollege Klub. According to the Badger Herald, \A source close to the Winchester family said Winchester's vision was obstructed and he did not know the man who approached him was a police officer.""
First things first. His vision was obstructed--he was too drunk to tell--what's the difference? Secondly, he didn't hit the cop once. He hit the cop once in the nose, and then a few more times after that. For his actions, he got to experience the pleasant feeling of getting showered in pepper spray. I bet that will be the end of Winchester's career in Madison.
The adage, ""Whatever doesn't kill you will only make you stronger"" comes to mind when I think of all this. The dysfunctional family that is UW men's hockey is showing how to create adversity; now it's time to see whether they grow stronger or just completely fall apart.
