Playing away from Madison has not been kind to the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (8-14-2 WCHA, 13-15-2 overall) this season, but it will try to improve on its dismal road record this weekend as it travels north to face Bemidji State (9-12-3, 15-14-3) hoping to build momentum for the postseason.
Wisconsin’s final two series of the season will be played away from home, which could be a blessing in disguise with the start of the WCHA playoffs looming two weeks from now and the Badgers preparing to play the first round of the postseason on the road.
“Were going to be used to getting on the road and what it’s going to take to win,” sophomore forward Mark Zengerle said of these last two regular season weekends. “I don’t think it’s a big deal, yeah we’ve struggled, but we have two weekends still to buckle down our play on the road and take it into the playoffs.”
Sophomore Michael Mersch added that success on these road trips could go a long way toward building up for a playoff run.
“It would be nice if we can go into Bemidji, get a few wins and build some confidence with our play on the road,” Mersch said. “It’s just a matter of staying with it and believing in ourselves that we can play well on the road.”
This weekend will be the Wisconsin mens’ hockey program’s first trip to Bemidji, Minn. and head coach Mike Eaves said even he has only been there once in 1986 during his only season as head coach for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Bemidji State has played its best hockey inside the confines of the Sanford Center this season. The Beavers own a 11-4-1 record at home this year, and in their last home series they swept then-No. 10 Colorado College. Eaves recognizes that Bemidji is tough to beat in its own building, but believes his team has the right mentality going into the series.
“I know they play well at home,” Eaves said of the Beavers. “And the way we played [against Denver], I think the guys had a real sense of the way we need to go. It’s just all out there…we’ve got to be playoff ready now. There’s no other reason to look at it any other way.”
Road games have been one of the Badgers’ biggest Achilles’ heals. They have only managed a single win in 10 tries (1-8-1) outside of Madison this season and have scored a meager 1.6 goals per game on the road. But Wisconsin is hoping it can carry the offensive momentum it built in its 5-2 win over Denver last Saturday into its series in Bemidji.
“We’re going to take that momentum from Saturday night and we’re going to go back and learn from it,” sophomore forward Keegan Meuer said. “You understand what you did well and how you did it well and when you do that you put that into the system versus Bemidji and I think we’ve set our self up for a great weekend against Bemidji.”
The Badgers’ defense has not fared much better away from home—giving up an average of 3.5 goals per game on the road—but will be matched up this weekend with a Bemidji State offense that has had struggles of its own this season.
The Beavers’ scorers rank next to last in the WCHA in goals per game (2.69) and their leading scorer, junior forward and Madison native Jordan George, ranks 29th overall among conference scorers with 26 points (15 goals, 11 assists). However, Bemidji did put up eight goals the last time it played at home Feb. 10 and 11 against Colorado College.
Puck drop for Wisconsin and Bemidji State is at 7:37 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. Saturday.
