I am not going to sit here and say that Ryan Suter made the wrong decision in forgoing his final three years at UW to play in the National Hockey League. At the age of 19, who wouldn't pass up $1.24 million over the next three years?
But the timing and impact of his departure has left a huge hole in the Badgers' defensive corps. What was going to be a year that Wisconsin made a run at the Frozen Four has now turned into the third straight season of question marks for third-year Head Coach Mike Eaves.
In his first year he had to deal with introducing a totally new scheme to the program. He accomplished that, though Badger fans were not pleased with the outcome.
Last year he was forced to deal with people questioning whether or not he should even be coaching the team, but silenced everyone by bringing in a solid group of freshmen and taking the team back to the NCAA tournament.
This season was supposed to be different. Expectations were high. Could the Badgers make it to the Frozen Four, or to their ultimate goal, a national title?
With Suter gone, the team is left with just seven total defensemen, a devastating number considering six blue-liners make the lineup every game. I wonder what Tom Sawatske-who left the program at the end of last season to play junior hockey-is doing right now.
Should one of the Badger blue-liners be injured, the team will be down to the bare minimum.
But that's not all. Four of the team's seven defensemen are freshmen. And much like three forwards play on a line together, two defensemen play together on the ice, and now none of the three duos from last season will return. Senior goalie Bernd Br??ckler will have to deal with another year of making up for the freshmen mistakes made in front of him.
Nevertheless, the Badgers will be competitive; however, they have to take things one step at a time. Even after Suter's announcement, junior captain Adam Burish maintained that the goal was to win a national championship.
It's hard for me to sit here and doubt Eaves and his program because of what they have accomplished, but this year's rookie class is not the same caliber as last season's, and with half the defensemen playing at the college level for their first time, I think the Badgers should focus on simply making the NCAA tournament before they focus on winning it.
ejschmoldt@wisc.edu.
