After an early exit in this year's NCAA hockey tournament, the Wisconsin men's team has added incentive to move on to next year. Though the loss to second-seed Michigan in the first round was a disappointing end to a solid season, the future is bright for the young Badger squad. The team ended the season with an overall record of 23-14-4 and has no doubt it will improve upon that mark next year.
UW beat a majority of their opponents, but just seemed unable to take that last step to being a real threat for the title. Top 10 opponents seemed to have the edge in all of the games, even though Wisconsin had flashes of great play and high intensity. The feeling for next year, is that they have that extra talent and experience to be one of the elite teams in the country.
\We were all hopeful we would take that step this year,"" Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said. ""We forged ourselves into a good team. We got to 20 wins and hit those five weekends against top 10 teams, and it didn't materialize. Maybe we were too young to take that step [this year].""
The loss to Michigan seemed to have as much effect on the younger guys as it did on the ones who had just played their last career game. That is going to be a powerful thing for next year when they find themselves in the same position.
""After the game, coach said, 'Let's learn a lesson from this,"" Badger junior forward Adam Burish told USCHO.com after UW's 4-1 loss to Michigan. ""If any of you have been in a dressing room after a season when it's some guys' last games of their careers at a place, it's a pretty powerful feeling in that dressing room. Tommy [Gilbert] and I, being juniors, it kind of sets in that we've got one more kick at this thing.""
There is no doubt that this year's team was young, as senior goalie Bernd Br??ckler played the leadership role all year. He was consistent all year in the net and his shoes will be the toughest to fill. His leadership will be irreplaceable, but his position in the goal seems to be in good hands.
""We have a good understudy in Brian Elliot,"" Eaves said of replacing Br??ckler. ""Brian just needs game experience. He only had one poor outing against Michigan State, but his pure numbers are excellent. Sometimes in practice we can't tell the difference between [Bernd and Brian]. Next year, Brian will get the game experiences. He has the tools, he just needs to apply them in game situations.""
UW returns five seniors who will have loads of experience, and everyone else will possess at least one year of tough WCHA hockey competition.
""Guys like Tommy and Adam, for the past two years, have been in the Final Five and the NCAA tournament,"" Eaves said. ""They bring back that experience.""
Even more encouraging is the new class of recruits. Incoming defenseman Garrett Suter-former Badger Ryan Suter's younger brother??-enters the fold and Eaves mentioned incoming freshman forwards Jack Skille and Tom Gorowsky and the potential for chemistry akin to this year's freshman class.
""We had good chemistry with Robbie, Joe and Adam this year,"" Eaves said. ""Jake Dowell, Andrew Joudrey and [MacMurchy] hopefully will take a big step forward next year. They are all older and more experienced. It will be interesting when we bring in the new guys. We saw that this year with Robbie and Joe; it was magical. Hopefully a couple of the new guys can come in and explode.""
