With the season still young, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (1-0-1 WCHA, 1-2-1 overall) has already seen its share of ups and downs.
The Badgers, who take to the ice at the Kohl Center for the first time this season in their home opening series this weekend, are looking to jump on a struggling Colorado College team (3-3), that has dropped their last three games to non-conference opponents.
Prior to Friday night’s game the Kohl Center ice will be dedicated to former coach Bob Johnson, unveiling the officially named Bob Johnson Rink.
UW put up a stellar showing in last weekend’s series against Minnesota-Duluth, which included a two-goal third period comeback to record a tie, allowing Wisconsin to claim three of the weekend’s four points—the first time Wisconsin has opened up WCHA play with a trio of points since the 2005-’06 season.
With a roster heavy on underclassmen, hard-fought games early in the season represent a valuable learning experience for the freshmen and younger players who are just breaking into the lineup.
Senior captain John Ramage knows this better than anyone, and after four years on the team he’s seen firsthand the importance of having the older players lead by example.
“Both [games] were close. You can’t make a lot of mistakes or the puck ends up in the back of your net,” Ramage said. “The freshmen were really able to come out early and learn what it takes to win college games.”
UW hopes to keep that ball rolling against a Colorado College team that was swept last weekend by Cornell and posted five consecutive penalties in the final 30 minutes of Saturday’s game.
This is good news for Wisconsin, who, according to sophomore goaltender Joel Rumpel, has come a long way on power plays since the beginning of the season.
“We’re starting to know what we’re doing out there, we’re not fumbling around with the puck or losing it and trying to get it into their zone,” Rumpel said. “When we have the puck on our stick and they’re in the box it makes our job [as defenders] pretty easy.”
The Tigers also had trouble converting on power play opportunities, going 0-for-8 on the weekend with the man advantage.
UW is also looking to post a similar shutdown on defense, which head coach Mike Eaves recognizes as the Badger’s saving grace so far this season.
“Right now we haven’t had more than two goals a game, so we’re trying to rectify that,” Eaves said. “At the same time our goaltending, our penalty killing has been very good and we need to continue that until we get our offensive legs under us a little more.”
Wisconsin will take to the ice at the newly named Bob Johnson Rink against Colorado College at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday, with television coverage of Friday night’s game on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
