It is hard to find a Cinderella story at the University of Wisconsin. It seems like every sport you hear about has just knocked off its rival, or has brought home another piece of hardware for the athletic department's trophy case.
However, this year's Wisconsin men's hockey team may be as close to living a Cinderella story as any team on campus, and it is the NCAA defending national champion.
The Badgers will try to continue their post-season play today with a showdown against Michigan Tech at the WCHA Final Five in Minneapolis. To have any chance of repeating or even defending their national championship in the NCAA Tournament, the Badgers will have to win their conference tournament.
A week ago this seemed like a mighty task to undertake, but after a sweep of Denver in the first round last weekend, people are starting to take notice of UW. Senior forward and team captain Andrew Joudrey is quick to point out why the Badgers were able to control Denver.
""Scoring first was a big key for us and getting an early lead. But other than that I know Brian [Elliott] played well, and our penalty kill was really strong for us,"" Joudrey said. ""I think that guys just played their role. It sounds funny, but if everyone just does their own part, we don't need any Mario Lemieux or anything like that. Just play within your role and everyone does that as a team collectively and all five guys on the line are as a team, then we give ourselves the best chance to win.""
The 2006-'07 season has been a rocky one at best. With expectations running high, the Badgers started off with a lackluster record, including a 2-6 record in November.
But things have turned around late in the season, as Wisconsin has now gone 6-2-2 in its last 10 games. Senior forward Jake Dowell attributed team chemistry and growth to the consistent play as of late.
""I think we are finally to that point [of consistency], it's tough that it took this long but it has gotten to the point where it is do-or-die and we need to win in order to keep going,"" Dowell said. ""So everyone has to bring their best, and that is what everyone is expecting of each other.""
For the Badgers, it seems that consistency and role-playing go hand in hand, and that is something that Wisconsin will need today against Michigan Tech.
The Huskies swept UW only three weeks ago in a series that Wisconsin would call strange at best. The team's flight was delayed due to the weather, and Joudrey barely played with viral bronchitis.
But the Badgers aren't making any excuses for how they played, and are looking forward to the possibility of redemption in today's game.
""They wanted it more than us. They definitely executed their systems, and I don't think our special teams were as good as they could have been,"" Joudrey said. ""They worked harder than us, they had more intensity than us, and they worked better as a team and that's why they won.""
While the Badgers might still have the bizarre events and the weekend sweep on their minds, they are the first to point out that it is important to move onward and look towards the future.
""We can look at it for a little bit of momentum but we really don't look too much at it,"" Dowell said. ""I think that it was just a bad weekend for us and we need to look at the fact that we have to win here no matter what. They are our first opponent, and we need to take care of business in that game so that we can get to Minnesota in the second game.""
