Wisconsin men's hockey head coach Mike Eaves answered questions Monday as his team prepares this week for the first round of the WCHA playoffs against No. 11 Denver at Magness Arena.
The Badgers have played well at Denver during Eaves' tenure and will look to continue that success this weekend.
""There will be certain things that we'll bring up and see if we can repeat those things. But I think it piggybacks off the point,"" Eaves said. ""For whatever reason, in our tenure here, we have played pretty well there. And as I said, I hope we can continue that.""
Wisconsin (12-13-3 WCHA, 15-17-4 overall) could be catching Denver at the right time. The Pioneers have not won a game since February 23 against North Dakota, while the Badgers are coming off of a three-point weekend.
It seems that not too many teams want to play the Badgers right now, something that Eaves touched on.
""I don't think that you can count on [the other team's fear] because that's something that the other coaches, they're going to deal with,"" Eaves said. ""I think we take stock in that because that's who we are going in. This time of the year the way we play is a benefit to winning games.""
One of the main points of the press conference was the current goalie situation, where the condition of the starting goalie only became cloudier last weekend as backup sophomore Shane Connelly recorded his third shutout of the season.
However, Eaves made it clear what direction UW would go in the playoffs as far as the team's netminder.
""Well, I mean, Brian is the man, and we will ride that pony. You know, it was a, we've talked about Shane's development here,"" Eaves said. ""He's followed the same path as Brian did his sophomore year, so, but going into this playoff, it's much like when we had Bernd [Bruckler] and Brian. Now we've got Brian and Shane. So unless something happens physically to Brian, you know, he's going to be the man.""
Elliott also made some noise this week, as he claimed the WCHA goaltending title. The senior from Newmarket, Ontario, became the 11th goalie to win the award back-to-back. Elliott barely edged out Michigan Tech netminder Michael-Lee Teslak.
Coach Eaves gave some insight into how Elliott has evolved as a player over the last two seasons.
""I think Brian is a lot more mature at this point because when he has the type of year that he had last year,"" Eaves said. ""He's as veteran as they get going in these playoffs for us. He's been there. He's won it. He's dealt with the expectations and the pressure of doing that again. So going through what he did last year, and winning it, and handling all the pressure that he has this year, he comes going into this playoff at a pretty good spot for us.""
Wisconsin travels to Denver for a best-of-three first-round series in the WCHA playoffs beginning Friday at 8:30 p.m. The Badgers will also skate Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 8 p.m. if necessary.
