It would be reasonable to assume that the Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team should be feeling a pressing sense of urgency at the moment.
Struggling to string together any sort of momentum this season, the team is listed No. 8 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings. And were the NCAA tournament to begin today, UW would not have the strength of numbers to qualify.
But, even with a precious few eight games remaining, head coach Mike Eaves says that his players must find some sort of medium between urgency and anticipation of the big picture.
""There's a balance that needs to be struck there,"" Eaves said Monday at his weekly press conference. ""If you get too overanxious then you're going to take yourself out of your ability to play the best you can.
""This is the most exciting time of the year, and I think that's the way most guys would look at it,"" Eaves added. ""Yes, there is an urgency, but this is the fun time of year because ... we're trying to finish strong, trying to climb back up higher in the standings, plus we're getting ready for the playoffs. So it's an exciting time.""
With an underwhelming 8-11-2 record in the conference, these Badgers do not offer the slightest resemblance to last year's championship team, which was a model of consistency. Yet, Eaves drew on his experience from last year to suggest that this year's Badgers can still take a turn for the better.
Responding to a question about whether, at this point in the season, the team is what it is, Eaves said: ""It bounces back right to last year at this point where we were what we were. We just got swept by [Minnesota State] at home ... and we took a turn and became a better team based on the fact that we sat down as a group and we looked at who we were and we control the things we can control. And you know what? That's what we're going to do here today, too.""
It certainly is a good time to start. The Badgers were swept this past weekend by Colorado College. Eaves had his regular meeting with the leaders of the team—senior captain Andrew Joudrey and assistants Jake Dowell and Jeff Likens, both seniors—to discuss what he called the ""state of the union.""
This week the Badgers will be preparing for a series this weekend against Alaska-Anchorage, which is ranked ninth out of ten conference teams. Back in early November, UW made their longest road trip of the year to take on the Seawolves. A loss in the back end of the two-game set sent UW spiraling into a season-long six-game losing streak.
""Here we go again,"" Eaves said. ""Another battle in the WCHA.""
