Under altogether different circumstances than the last meeting, the Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team (2-1-1 WCHA, 3-1-2 overall) will face off against Boston College this weekend in a two-game set at the Kohl Center.
For UW, talk of Boston College evokes memories of last season's championship run at the Frozen Four in Milwaukee, where the Badgers played valiantly from behind and scored a 2-1 title-winning victory April 8.
With a decidedly different team this year—the Badgers lost their top five scorers from last season—head coach Mike Eaves sees this weekend as an opportunity for his young team to gain a measure of confidence.
""It's another excellent opportunity for our young team to grow. We get to play against a quality team in our own barn and we get to take another step forward, another opportunity to improve as a group, take our lessons from last week and get right back in the fire and become a better team,"" Eaves said earlier this week.
Injuries have besieged the Badgers in the early stages of this season. In their Western Collegiate Hockey Association opening game against North Dakota, UW lost their returning top three scorers: senior forward Ross Carlson, junior defenseman Kyle Klubertanz and sophomore forward Jack Skille. On Monday, Eaves said there was an outside chance that Klubertanz could suit up for the series.
Oddly enough, since the three Badgers were injured Oct. 13, the Badgers have not lost, going 2-0-1. They come off a three point weekend against Minnesota-Duluth and remain ensconced at No. 2 in the polls.
This weekend was bound to be a showdown between the first and second ranked teams in the nation, but Boston College suffered a major setback last weekend, losing to then-unranked Notre Dame, 7-1. The loss dropped the Eagles (1-0-0 Hockey East, 2-1-0 overall) to fifth from first in the rankings.
Through just three games, sophomore winger Brock Bradford has racked up seven points, including five assists. Senior captain Brian Boyle leads the Eagles with three goals. The goaltending in this highly-anticipated series will feature two of the marquee names in college hockey. Badger senior Brian Elliott is an oft-mentioned Hobey Baker candidate, while BC junior Cory Schneider is a returning first-team All-American.
Additionally, two of college hockey's better coaches will be on the bench Friday and Saturday night. Both Eaves and BC's Jerry York, who is ranked second all-time in wins, have won national championships. Another interesting connection binds the two: York coached both of Eaves' sons, Ben and Patrick, to All-American seasons.
""People like to play for Jerry York,"" Eaves said Monday. ""He teaches life lessons. We talked about the fact, how they conducted themselves when they lost that [championship] game. They started to go off the ice. He made them come back on in a very rough moment and salute their fans and thank them for coming. That's the type of gentleman he is.""
The puck drops at 7 p.m. both tonight and Saturday night.
