What a difference one game can make. Heading into Saturday's contest against North Dakota at the Kohl Center, the Wisconsin men's hockey team had dropped four straight games at home, and despite claiming home ice in the WCHA playoffs the night before, was on a desperate slide heading into the postseason.
But after their 4-1 victory over the Sioux, head coach Mike Eaves said the Badgers are in a much better position heading into their best-of-three series against Minnesota State at the Kohl Center March 13-15.
""It was huge,"" Eaves said. ""Playing a quality team like [North Dakota] helps you set yourself up for the playoffs.""
Whereas Wisconsin had spent the games before facing North Dakota blowing third period leads and allowing too many power-play goals, they did the opposite Saturday night by not allowing a Sioux goal in the final period and successfully killing all five of their penalties.
The Badgers' series against Minnesota State Feb. 27-28 best summarized their weaknesses during the recent cold streak. In those games, Wisconsin lost the first in overtime and tied the second after giving up third period power-play goals in both contests.
Although the series must still be fresh in the minds of the team, Eaves said simply getting that hard-fought win against North Dakota helped the team move past their poor performance against Minnesota State.
""We came out of that series thinking we didn't get a timely save or a timely goal,"" Eaves said. ""We got that monkey off our back here this past Saturday night.""
Eaves said the team's younger players, such as freshman Derek Stepan who had two shorthanded goals against the Sioux, were a key to the Badgers' turnaround.
""We've got guys that maybe are finally catching on and gathering what's at stake here and what they can do. If they have been struggling, they've been figuring that out and playing better,"" Eaves said.
""I'm excited the kids are playing the way they are and we're going to need everybody to get through this first round.""
According to Eaves, the consistently good field of this year's WCHA will make the playoffs especially difficult. Wisconsin is tied with Colorado College for third place in conference standings, but is just five points above Minnesota State in eighth place.
""It's never been more even than it is now,"" he said. ""I don't know who you'd bet on, the parity level has never been this high.""
One of the consequences of having such a strong conference and the Badgers' recent losing streak was that No. 17 Wisconsin has likely dropped out of contention for a spot in the 16-team NCAA tournament, meaning the only path in for the Badgers is likely for them to win the WCHA tournament.
Even with all of the pressure of making it into the NCAA tournament, Eaves said his team would just focus on bringing home a WCHA tournament championship and not any of the national playoff implications.
""With all the computations that you could go about doing right now, our thing is just to win,"" he said. ""If we are successful and get into the WCHA Final Five, then our task remains the same: let's win.""
