Playoffs a chance for UW to prove they still have itThe second season of men's college hockey commences Friday with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association conference tournament, and while Wisconsin (17-8-3 WCHA, 23-9-3 overall) is not exactly where it wants to be, it knows that all bets are now off. Every team starts fighting for its life this time of year, and no squad can be taken lightly.
Everybody's 0-0 right now, when the playoffs come along, even the teams that didn't finish so well in the league now have new life,\ senior captain Adam Burish said. ""The teams down at the bottom have nothing to lose now, and they're going to throw us everything they've got.""
""At this point it doesn't matter what your record is,"" senior defenseman Tom Gilbert added. ""It matters how well you're playing as a team.""
Although every team is 0-0 starting Friday, the Badgers did not want to go into the conference tournament on the heels of a five-game winless streak. Last weekend's sweep against St. Cloud helped Wisconsin's confidence immensely, as the defense and goaltending awoke from a month-long dormant state. Those two wins have made the outlook for the postseason a bit brighter.
""Last weekend was a good chance for us to get back on our winning ways,"" Gilbert said. ""Coming in here this weekend, we want to continue that and just do the things we were doing well the first half of the year.""
""Guys are excited, guys are upbeat, this is the part of the year you look forward to all year,"" Burish said. ""All year we knew we had the kind of group that could do something special come playoff time and come NCAA [tournament] time.""
No team wants to go through tough times, injuries or losing streaks, but sometimes they can really have benefits in the long run. Over the last month and a half, the Badgers have discerned what needs to be focused on heading into the most important games of the season.
""I think a lot of our emphasis is defensive zone coverage,"" Gilbert said. ""I know in the last month and a half we've given up more goals than we did during the first half.""
The last time UW saw Michigan Tech, the Huskies were celebrating after stealing a tie with two third-period goals. Wisconsin certainly learned from that experience and has in no way forgotten the bitter taste following a game it should have won.
""Guys are still a little bit upset they took a point from us up in Michigan Tech,"" Burish said. ""We know they're a good team; they've taken three out of eight points from us this year.""
""It was definitely a learning lesson for us,"" Gilbert said. ""Friday night we probably played one of the best games of our season, then Saturday night we maybe thought it was going to be the same and they ended up coming back.""
Going into the playoffs, perhaps the biggest temptation for a coach is to overscout the other team and not focus enough on what his own team has to do. Head coach Mike Eaves has not succumbed to this philosophy as he has UW working on the fundamentals and looking inward instead of only toward the Huskies.
""We want to get ourselves playing to an even higher level than we were playing this past weekend so that we're ready for the next step,"" Eaves said.
""We talked a little bit about Tech today but other than that it's just been about ourselves,"" Burish said. ""It's been about doing what we need to do to be successful.""
Wisconsin starts its best-of-three series against Michigan Tech at 7 p.m. Friday at the Kohl Center.\
