After a mildly disappointing 2-1-1 start, the future of the 2005- '06 season for the Badger men's hockey team is still unknown. Some aspects of the team though, have been established.
The Badgers' scoring ability is known but unproven; offensive numbers thus far are low'but who will score the goals? The line of junior forwards Robbie Earl and Joe Pavelski, and senior defensman Adam Burish will score goals, and often.
'We don't feel like we're the only line that's going to score but we put that pressure on ourselves to score goals every night,' Burish said. 'Guys kind of look to us three to produce every night, and we feel like if we produce and play well we'll give our team a chance to win every night.'
Badger fans can also expect senior forwards Ryan MacMurchy and Nick Licari to make big hits and get the team going physically every game.
'Little Nick Licari can be a spark plug for us who's gonna go out there and hammer guys and Ryan MacMurchy is obviously a guy who sets an example as a power forward who makes big hits,' Burish said.
There is no question junior Brian Elliott is the number one goalie for the Badgers. The only unknown with Elliott is whether Badger fans have seen the best of him, or if his game will improve over the course of the season.
'I feel comfortable in the net. I've worked on different things to try to take on that role as the starter and be a leader, and to gain the guys' confidence as well,' Elliott said.
What Elliott has shown thus far has been impressive. Over his four starts in net this season he has given up 1.71 goals per game and stopped almost 94 percent of the shots he has faced. His teammates feel that Badger fans have not seen the best of Elliott, even with tougher competition up ahead.
'We think every weekend he'll continue to get better, which in some sense is a little bit scary, because he's already played so well,' Burish said.
One of the biggest question marks so far this season has been the power play's ability to score goals. The Badgers have scored only two goals on 29 power play chances this season, but aside from some shots missing the net, head coach Mike Eaves was pleased with his power play's performance last Saturday night.
'We should've had two power play goals on Saturday; in our account there was two because the guy wasn't back in the play yet. By the numbers he's on the ice but not back in the play,' Eaves said. 'Right now our numbers aren't very good because we got off to a rocky start, but we'll look at our next 10 games and hopefully our percentage will be up.'
Many questions remain about this 2005-'06 Badger men's hockey team, but the players feel they are ready to answer those unknowns and establish themselves as a quality hockey team.
'It's going to help to see high quality teams with more skill,' Elliott said. 'We're excited to play the big-time teams and be a big -time team.'
