A two-week layoff nearly behind it, the Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team will try to put a positive spin on its season this weekend when it goes on the road to face North Dakota in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series.
The Badgers (3-6-1 WCHA, 5-9-2 overall) and Fighting Sioux (5-4-1, 7-6-1) met earlier this year at the Kohl Center, where both teams picked up a victory.
""When you play North Dakota, you just know it's going to be a physical series,"" head coach Mike Eaves said at a press conference earlier this week. The Badgers found that out firsthand in the two-game set in mid-October.
The first game in that series featured heavy hitting and, unfortunately for the Badgers, resulted in three injured players. Senior Ross Carlson (7 games missed), junior Kyle Klubertanz (3) and sophomore Jack Skille (11), the top three returning scorers from the previous year, all were sidelined for multiple games. Eaves said this week, though, that his team would not be playing with a vengeance.
""It never entered my mind,"" he said. ""All three of those hits ... the injuries that happened were just a byproduct of playing hard. There was no viciousness. That was just good, hard hockey. When you play North Dakota, you know it's going to be high-energy, they're going to finish every check.""
Tenth-ranked North Dakota has had an ebb-and-flow type of season. The Sioux's balanced scoring attack is led by sophomore Ryan Duncan (16 points), but they have five other players on the roster who have recorded more than 10 points. North Dakota's offense poses the biggest threat when given an advantage—their 26.9 percent power play rate ranks first in the conference.
On defense, junior goaltender Philippe Lamoureux is stopping only 89 percent of the shots he faces, which ranks him eleventh in the WCHA.
In prepping for action this weekend, the Badgers have had to take into account that the rink at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks has a slightly smaller sheet of ice than they are used to. Eaves said he did not know whether that would advantage UW's style of play.
""I think it's a simpler game, because the fact, the lack of time and space dictates what you need to do,"" he said. ""If you do that, then your game plan will be simpler. If you try to get outside those realms, then I think you get yourself into trouble.""
Friday night, the puck drops at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday's contest begins at 7:00 p.m. Both games will be televised live on Fox Sports Net.
