Coming into the season, it was expected that the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (0-2 WCHA, 1-3 overall), containing 20 freshman and sophomores, would face its fair share of adversity, but the hope is that the youth on this team will learn from those experiences and grow.
The Badgers find themselves with a 1-3 record in this young season, with all three losses coming in overtime. UW was swept on the road by perennial WCHA cellar dweller Michigan Tech in two overtime losses, but this inexperienced roster has put that disappointment out of their minds in order to focus on their next challenge—a two-game date with No. 6 North Dakota this weekend.
“That’s the beautiful thing about hockey,” sophomore forward Tyler Barnes said, “Last weekend is over and you get two more to focus on this weekend.”
Despite the 1-3 start, the Wisconsin coaching staff and players have liked what they have seen on the ice so far this season.
“We’ve battled each game and have been right there along with everybody,” freshman forward Brad Navin said. “We could be 4-0. We’ve been in every game, we just have to find a way to finish it. We’re a young team, but we can’t use that as an excuse.”
“We are young and resilient and people are learning every weekend,” Barnes added. “There is always something positive to look forward to in the future.”
Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves took a page out of UW head football coach Bret Bielema’s book as he described what the mentality of this young Badgers team has to be moving forward.
“Right now we want to be 1-0 on Friday and 1-0 on Saturday,” Eaves said. “I think if we have that mentality that speaks to the concept of controlling what we can control and that gives us the best chance of doing what we want to do.”
In order to try and jump-start the Badgers’ offense (which has scored only seven goals in four games) and be able to put games away late, Eaves made some changes to his lineup for this weekend against the Fighting Sioux. Freshman forward Joseph LaBate moves up to skate on the top line with Barnes and sophomore forward Mark Zengerle, and sophomore forward Michael Mersch moves down from the top unit to play with junior forward Derek Lee and freshman forward Matt Paape.
“We’re trying to stimulate,” Eaves said. “We changed a few things to try and stimulate something that works.”
Lee says he is confident that the line shuffle will prove beneficial this weekend against UND.
“It’s always good to mix things up,” he said. “Me and Mersch have worked well this week and that top line with LaBate on there now is looking real good too. So hopefully it works this weekend, I’m sure it will be good.”
North Dakota comes into the Kohl Center carrying the No. 6 ranking in the country. This is a huge conference series for the Badgers and they say that it hasn’t been hard to get pumped up to play against a big rival like the Fighting Sioux.
“It’s a challenge, it’s competitive and that’s something that all of us take very seriously,” Barnes said. “We have a good team coming in and you really want to stick it to them.”
“I like being the underdog,” he added. “When you have guys coming in thinking that they are better you want to show them up.”
