As it turns out, the No. 1 ranking in the country is not all Badger men's hockey (8-0-2 WCHA, 11-1-2 overall) received earlier this week when polls were released. Along with the distinction came the proverbial target that will be placed squarely on the team's back.
Not that senior captain Adam Burish sees a problem with that.
'You're doing something right then, if you have that target on your back,' said Burish, who collected game-winning goals in both of UW's wins last weekend. 'We'll enjoy it. The neat thing is, every game is so big now.'
Burish also noted that the accomplishment, however significant, is being taken in stride in what is still an early season.
'Guys aren't going around like we just won the Stanley Cup,' he said. 'It's more of this kind of thing where we need to be recognized as number one, but there's a lot of work to be done. That's the sign of a mature group of guys.'
Junior Robbie Earl, who ranks second in the team with 16 points, said that the team will need to be even more focused now that it has its first number one ranking since 2000.
'We've always been prepared,' Earl said. 'We've just got to be even more prepared for every team we play because every team wants to beat the number one team.'
The Badgers will take the cachet of the number one spot, along with the nation's longest unbeaten streak of 12 games, into a venue where they've lost 10 straight.
The Gophers of Minnesota play their home games at Mariucci Arena, where the Badgers have not won since early 2000. Is it the team or the site that has spelled trouble for Wisconsin?
The answer is probably both.
'They play so well at home,' Burish said. 'When they get in front of their home crowd, they play with a different kind of confidence than they do on the road. It's always sold out. It's loud. At home they're a different team. They've got a little bit of a swagger.'
Earl offered the same opinion on the Gophers' success at home. 'They feel comfortable playing there, and they have a great track record there,' he said. 'It's a grind, and you just want to get in and out of there as fast as possible.'
This weekend's series with Minnesota will pit the WCHA's best offense against its best defense. The Badgers, with WCHA defensive player of the week Brian Elliott in goal, have allowed only 1.4 goals per game.
Meanwhile, the Gophers are scoring 3.8 goals per game on average and have been nothing short of deadly on the power play. Their 23.5 percent conversion rate is the best in the country.
'They're unbelievably talented offensively,' Burish said of this weekend's opponent. 'So defensively, we're going to have to be sharp. You've got to make sure that defensively, everyone takes care of their responsibility.'
Burish expects that an already-heated rivalry will take a step to the next level, with No. 4 Minnesota bent on knocking off number one.
'We've got the huge rivalry. Now we've got the number one spot on our heads so it's going to be more fierce of a rivalry,' Burish said. 'So it's going to be fun, it's going to be exciting, and we look forward to the challenge.'
