Towards the end of any regular season in college athletics, teams battle for position going into their conference tournament or postseason game. Each game down the stretch is considered a must win, and anything less can permanently damage a team's momentum.
This case stands true for the Wisconsin men's hockey team (11-13-2, 8-9-1 WCHA). The Badgers are currently tied for sixth place in the conference with Michigan Tech, and with the WCHA playoffs a little over a month away, are trying to make a late charge to secure home ice for the first round of the conference playoffs.
UW will try to get back on the right foot this upcoming weekend with a series at Colorado College, but the Tigers will not be an easy opponent. Colorado College is currently in fourth place in the WCHA with 21 points. CC has three players with 20 points or more, including juniors Jimmy Kilpatrick and Scott McCulloch. In front of the net the Tigers are led by senior goaltender Matt Zaba, who currently holds a save percentage of .917 and a record of 11-6-2.
Colorado College is coming off of two shaky performances last weekend against Michigan Tech with a 2-2 tie on Friday and a 1-0 loss on Saturday. On top of that, Colorado College has split their last four series before last weekend, and appear to be heading in the wrong direction.
The Badgers, however, do not seem to be doing any better. Wisconsin has split their last four series, and seem to be stuck in a funk that they have been unable to break.
Last weekend UW split their series against Minnesota State, losing 3-1 on Friday but responding Saturday with a 4-1 win. While the team slogan this year has been ""patiently persistent,"" head coach Mike Eaves was the first to point out how hard it is to balance their slogan with the obvious urgency and pressure that the team is feeling.
""That's part of the reason that we played as poorly as we did Friday night ... and if you're asking for the best example, that was what we did Friday night in the second period,"" Eaves said. ""We came out and everybody tried to do everybody else's job, and as a result, we got worse. We played ourselves into a hole and we couldn't get out the rest of the night.""
Whether or not Wisconsin is successful this weekend obviously depends on the man in front of the net, and UW isn't exactly sure who that will be. While senior Brian Elliott will start Friday's match, Eaves was uncertain whether Elliott or sophomore Shane Connelly will mind the net in Saturday's affair.
""I know this weekend, what we've said all along is that we'll go night by night. And young Mr. Elliott will play Friday night, and we'll see how we feel,"" Eaves said. ""If we feel that playing Shane would be the best thing for the team on Saturday, then we'll look at doing that. But right now we know that young Brian will be our goaltender on Friday.""
