Posts, crossbars and deflections, oh my. Every break went the opposite way for the No. 7 Badger men's hockey team (3-4-1 WCHA, 4-6-2 overall) this weekend against No. 14 Denver (4-2, 6-4). Even after Wisconsin broke through Saturday with a Michael Davies goal and came back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period, a tipped goal past Brian Elliott left UW with another zero-point home weekend.
""We just have to continue to push through this, when you're in a hole, the first rule of thumb is stop digging,"" UW head coach Mike Eaves said Saturday. ""Last night we stopped digging, [and] we started focusing on things that will help us get back into an offensive flow.""
While the offensive struggles for the Badgers are well documented, the defense did not exactly help their cause against Denver, either. The Pioneers scored on breakaways and two-on-ones multiple times in the weekend series. Although Denver's speed certainly contributed to the odd-man rushes, the lack of offense is also causing the defense to take more risks, leading to costly turnovers.
""It's something we're aware of, something we're working on,"" Eaves said. ""I attribute [it] to a little bit of youth, and I attribute that a little bit to get the offense going so we're taking a few more risks in the offensive zone.""
In a penalty-filled couple of games, Wisconsin had plenty of chances to jump-start its offense on the power play, but ended the series 1-12 with a man advantage. Even though they did get a power-play goal in the second period of Saturday's game, UW also wasted four other power-play opportunities in the period, amassing 14 shots in the process.
""We don't have any 30-goal scorers, and we're going to have a lot of games like this so we better learn to deal with it,"" Eaves said.
Senior forward Ross Carlson did return for the weekend series after missing seven games with a leg injury. It took some time for him to get adjusted to games again, and he did not score, but he gave the Badgers some added depth and energy.
""He gave us some energy, I wish he could've given us some goals, but that'll come for Roscoe,"" Eaves said.
Despite suffering another weekend sweep at home, the Badgers can pull some highlights out of the weekend. Freshman forwards Davies and John Mitchell had great nights Saturday, combining for two goals and an assist. At the least, forcing Denver into overtime in the second game gives Wisconsin a little momentum heading into a huge matchup with Minnesota next weekend.
""It says a lot about our team that we were willing to come back,"" senior forward Jake Dowell said. ""It's one thing when things aren't going your way; we could've easily just folded and called it a night, but we didn't.""
""Tonight was that step of turning the ship around,"" Eaves added Saturday. ""The feeling in the locker room is ‘we're coming out of this, we're moving in the right direction.'""
