The No. 9/10 Wisconsin men's hockey team will return to the ice this weekend with the first Western Collegiate Hockey Association series of the season against the No. 13 Michigan Tech Huskies. The Badgers (3-1) are coming off of a bye week in which they spent a majority of the time cementing their system into the minds of the young team.
As we take a look at the week that we had, we thought we were very productive in practice, had good energy, introduced a couple new things, had good repetitions of the things that we need to get at,"" head coach Mike Eaves said. ""So we hope to build on that early in the week here and prepare ourselves for Michigan Tech.""
Wisconsin will try to carry over the momentum from their first home series of the season two weeks ago, in which they defeated Robert Morris 7-2 and 8-2.
Freshman forward Kyle Turris led the way with eight points over the weekend, but sophomore forward Blake Geoffrion stole the show with a career-high five point night Saturday and totaled his career scoring total over the weekend.
Eaves is quick to point out why he feels Geoffrion has gotten off to such a quick start.
""[His freshman season] was a tough year for him because of his expectations, and I think that he's kind of settled in and recognized, 'okay, what kind of player am I, and I need to play to my strengths', and I think he's done that to a definitely higher level,"" Eaves said. ""And because of those things, he's having some success, and we hope that this continues for him.""
On the other hand, the Huskies (3-1 WCHA, 4-2 overall) played last weekend and turned some heads by defeating then-No. 1 North Dakota 3-1 Friday. However, the Fighting Sioux turned things around and soundly beat Michigan Tech 6-0 in Saturday's affair.
But no matter what has happened in past weekends, Wisconsin expects a tough series against Michigan Tech.
""They'll give themselves a chance to win because they'll play hard. They play well together,"" Eaves said. ""They'll be well conditioned, they'll be well coached, and they'll have good goaltending.""
There is still uncertainty as to whether or not senior forward Josh Engel will play this weekend. Engel was hurt during the opening weekend of play, and this weekend would be the earliest he could return to the ice. While Engel is practicing, only time will tell if he will see some icetime this weekend.
Wisconsin may be able to sit Engel, even if he is healthy, due to the play of such youngsters as Turris, Geoffrion and sophomore forward Michael Davies.
Turris and Davies, along with junior forward Ben Street, have formed one of the most effective lines that the Badgers have, as they have combined for 24 points after only four games this season.
The Huskies are led by junior winger Malcolm Gwilliam with six points and sophomore defenseman Drew Dobson with five points.
""It's going to be a classic WCHA match up,"" Eaves said.
The Badgers and Huskies will face off both Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. with both games aired live on My Madison Network TV and a delayed broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television.
