The Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team, in a tie for fourth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings, will play on the road this weekend in a consequential series against Michigan Tech.
The No. 12 Badgers (8-9-3 WCHA, 12-11-5 overall) and Huskies (6-9-3, 10-12-4) will be facing off for the second time this season. The two teams split a weekend series at the Kohl Center back in early November.
With only four series left for the Badgers, each game takes on a bit more importance. The standings show five teams all within four points of each other. The Badgers can ill afford to fall in the standings if they want home-ice advantage in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
Overall, the Badgers have lost only one of their last seven games. But that one loss came in their most recent game, a 2-1 overtime loss to Minnesota-Duluth that scotched a prime opportunity for Wisconsin to claim sole possession of fourth place.
UW head coach Mike Eaves said earlier this week that the players were not discouraged over that setback and that they had put things in perspective.
It's just a little bump in the road,"" Eaves said, recounting thoughts expressed in a conversation with the team's captain, senior defenseman Davis Drewiske. Eaves said that the Badgers, ranked at both No. 11 and No. 12 in the two college hockey polls, were well-equipped to focus on their mostly positive play of late.
The Badgers will be going up against a Michigan Tech team that has been up and down over the past two weekends. The last time they skated at home, the Huskies won a series against No. 3 Colorado College, taking three of four points from the WCHA's first place team.
But their showing last weekend was less than inspiring. In Anchorage, Alaska, playing against the league's last place team, the Huskies left with a
dispiriting 4-0 defeat and a tie.
Still, Michigan Tech is not a team to be underestimated. With an average age of 21-and-a-half, the Huskies are the WCHA's most veteran team. And their goaltender is one of the league's best. Junior Michael-Lee Teslak is allowing only 1.92 goals per game on average and saves about 93 percent of the shots that come his way.
The Huskies defense is far stronger than their offense. Michigan Tech has scored a league-worst 38 goals this year. By comparison, UW has, in two more games, tallied 11 more goals. Michigan Tech's season leader in goals scored is senior wing Tyler Shelast, who has 12.
The series this weekend will also overlap with Michigan Tech's annual Winter Carnival, which the Badgers last took part in eight years ago. The winner of the series, determined by the total number of goals scored over the two games, is awarded the John MacInnes Memorial Cup. If both teams tie in the goals department, a shootout will follow Saturday night's game.
Friday's game begins at 6 p.m., and Saturday's contest starts at 4 p.m. Neither will be televised, but both will be broadcast in Madison on AM 1310.
