While the Wisconsin women's hockey team is on a 1-5-1 run, the Badgers are optimistic heading into this weekend's series at North Dakota.
We realize we still have a very good team. We were in every game that we've lost so far, so a little bounce one way or another and we could have won those games,"" junior goaltender Jessie Vetter said.
The Badgers are coming off of their toughest loss of the season, in which Minnesota Duluth scored once with 25 seconds remaining and then 15 seconds into overtime to complete the sweep of Wisconsin Saturday.
This dropped the Badgers to 10-6-2 - last season after 18 games they were 16-1-1 - and seventh in the two national polls. Last season, Duluth had a stretch of nine games in which it went 1-7-1, yet still reached the NCAA Championship game before losing to Wisconsin.
""You can't look at the big picture right now. You have to be more into what we're doing right now and how we can become better and stronger so those games that are slipping away from us in the second half we can win those games,"" Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said.
Wisconsin's biggest struggle this season has been with goal scoring. The lack of lamp-lighting has cost the Badgers in some close games in which their defense and goalie played well enough to win. For instance: two 2-1 losses in November against now-top ranked New Hampshire.
""At the beginning of the year I didn't feel overly concerned about it. I thought we had enough kids that would be able to score,"" Johnson said.
It appeared after a 16-goal performance over two games against Union to open the season that Johnson's club would be able to score at will. Since then, Wisconsin has been averaging 2.69 goals-per-game.
Like Vetter, Johnson is optimistic about the season, because the team is so young and has a lot of room for improvement. He believes the team played very well in the losses to New Hampshire and in the second and third periods against Duluth Saturday.
""The most important thing is that we keep creating these good habits and hopefully they'll be rewarded with a few bounces or breaks and we haven't had a lot of those in the last seven games,"" he said.
Besides the optimism, another positive sign is the play of junior forward Tia Hanson this past weekend against Duluth.
Hanson scored her first goal of the season Friday, and was rewarded Saturday by being shifted up by Johnson to the second line. This led to multiple scoring chances for Hanson who looked better in the third period Saturday than she has all season.
""[Scoring] felt like a monkey off the back,"" Hanson said. ""Hopefully it'll let the floodgates open.""
Wisconsin would welcome consistent contributions from Hanson, who scored 10 goals in her freshman season. Last season was marred by injury for Hanson, but this past weekend's effort shows she might be getting closer to that groove she was in two years ago.
""Every season is going to be different. I wish I could live up to that every season but obviously I don't expect that,"" Hanson said.
With freshman forward Mallory Deluce out this weekend with an undisclosed injury, Hanson will get more scoring opportunities playing on one of the top two lines.
North Dakota has won three conference games this season, compared to last year when it failed to win any. Despite the improvement, the series presents a great opportunity for the Badgers to rebound and enter their winter break feeling positive not only about the future, but also about the past.
