The Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team is nowhere close to the end of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association season. But head coach Mike Eaves said Monday that if his team can have a good showing this weekend on the road at Minnesota State, it will have a favorable position in the conference standings before a three week December break.
After a badly needed sweep over then No. 10 St. Cloud State, the Badgers (4-4-0 WCHA, 7-6-1) find themselves out of the cellar and in the middle of the pack.
That's where we want to be before Christmas time, is right in the thick of things,"" Eaves said at this weekly press conference. ""Being so young, that'll be a good place for us to be, because we would expect that the second half, based on our experiences, that we'd be better able to find that consistency level.""
On the basis of point standings, the picture could not have been bleaker, as UW headed into this past weekend's face-off against the Huskies. The Badgers were tied for eighth place in the 10-team league and were winless in their last five games.
But coming back both nights, UW gained four points, jumping over both St. Cloud State and Minnesota into sixth place. Their efforts were rewarded with a return to the No. 10 ranking in the weekly USCHO.com poll.
""Hopefully it gives us some momentum going on the road,"" Eaves said, referring to this weekend's series against Minnesota State, which is in last place in the WCHA. ""Mankato's a tough place to play. It has been for us. So if we have some momentum, and we believe in the things we've been trying to do ... then that'll give us a better opportunity to be successful on the road.""
The Badgers have yet to win a game formally on the road this season, although they did win on neutral ice in their first game of the year.
In other matters, Eaves discussed his team's ability to come back from deficits this season, a skill clearly on display at the Kohl Center on Friday and Saturday night.
""They're too resilient or too young to know any better,"" Eaves quipped when asked about playing from behind.
""That's youth,"" he continued. ""If we're not panicking behind the bench and we're talking about, 'Hey, let's have our next best shift,' ... that's the youth that's in them. They've been a resilient group up to this time.""
The power play was also a topic of discussion. The Badgers started out fast on the power play this season, but have been tailing off. Over the last six games, they are 1-22 with an advantage.
""There's several things,"" Eaves said in explaining the drop-off. ""There's competition. This past weekend, we only get four power plays ... we never got any rhythm at all on our power play this weekend.
""And when we did get out there, it looked like we hadn't worked on it. And we know very well that we have. So there's a little bit of rhythm that goes in with the offense and the flow and the ebb. It'll come. We're going to continue to work on it.""
