The Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team, the youngest in the WCHA, would be in a substantially different position now had they shown signs of youth this weekend against Minnesota.
Playing for the all-important fifth place in the league standings - fifth is the last spot that comes with home-ice in the WCHA playoffs - the Badgers came out even better. With three points captured, UW, if for only a week, broke out from a three-way deadlock on fifth and moved into to a tie for fourth with Minnesota-Duluth.
In order to accomplish this, though, the Badgers had to overcome two sets of circumstances that usually push budding teams like theirs over the edge.
On Friday, the Badgers broke out to a 2-0 lead and were seconds away from going to their dressing room up a couple goals with only a period to play. But Minnesota's offense in the second period was intense, and they scored 15 seconds before the intermission. In fact, it could have been a tie game if not for junior goalie Shane Connelly's save on a point-blank shot from the slot with under five seconds left in that same period.
That flurry of action late in the frame gave every indication that the Badgers were in for a battle once the third period started. Yet the Badgers found a way to collect themselves after 15 shots on goal from the Gophers in the previous 20 minutes. In a remarkable turn of events in the third period, the Badgers held Minnesota to a meager four shots on goal, the first not coming until the Badgers had scored again and run off 12 straight shots on net.
They settled themselves down,"" Badger head coach Mike Eaves said of his players. ""They went back to playing the way they're capable of. That's a good sign of a team maturing when they can do something like that.""
Saturday night the Badgers' maturity was on display in the form of an improbable comeback. UW fought back from a 2-0 setback even though they were outplayed on balance, according to Eaves.
""I don't think we were at our peak,"" Eaves said. ""I've seen us play better. We got down. I think they were spent in a lot of ways, physically. The lesson that was available to them [Saturday] was the fact that, you know, that doesn't matter - that they have reservoirs of energy in them that they haven't tapped into yet, even though they're tired.""
The Badgers did have to overcome two straight weeks of travel out west, including last weekend's series almost 3,000 miles away in Anchorage, Alaska.
Now they get the luxury of another weekend at home for a series with just as many implications. The Badgers and Duluth will face off over fourth place in the WCHA, with the Badgers riding a season-high five-game unbeaten streak, and more importantly, feeling a bit more seasoned after coming out on top against Minnesota.
""I feel that we're definitely growing as a team,"" sophomore forward Aaron Bendickson said. ""And we're definitely coming together.""
