SPORTS
Wisconsin readies for preseason WCHA favorite
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Also by Tom Ziemer:
- Much maligned UW defense rebounds to pitch shutout (September 12, 2005)
- Williams attracts 'special' attention in loss (October 10, 2005)
- Badgers run over in Happy Valley (November 7, 2005)
- Young UW defense steps to forefront in intra-squad contest (April 18, 2005)
- Williams making noise for UW's return team (September 13, 2005)
Related Stories:
- Recognition for Badgers' hockey team may come after Michigan Tech (November 14, 2001)
- Badgers face month off (December 11, 2003)
- Wisconsin faces first WCHA opponent of '04 (October 22, 2004)
- Badger men's hockey releases 2001-02 schedule (July 14, 2001)
- Border Battle for WCHA Supremacy (October 24, 2003)
by Tom Ziemer
Friday, December 3, 2004
The fourth-ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team (10-4-0, 7-3-0) will look to stay near the top of the WCHA this weekend when it welcomes No. 14 Minnesota-Duluth (7-5-2, 5-3-0) to the Kohl Center for a two-game series.
Wisconsin enters tonight’s game fresh off of a Thanksgiving weekend of mixed results against a pair of non-conference opponents. UW fell to unranked Michigan State 4-0 last Friday before responding with a win over fifth-ranked Michigan Saturday. Overall, the Badgers enter the Duluth series as winners of five of their last six contests.
Duluth, on the other hand, has won just two of its last eight games. The current stretch provides a stark contrast to the first three weekends of the season, in which the Bulldogs posted a sparkling 5-0-1 record. The Badgers are hoping to prevent a UM-D renaissance in their final home stand before the end of the first semester of classes.
“They scare me, because we know what they’re capable of,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “They’ve been inconsistent in showing that. I sure as heck don’t want them to come in this week and be the team that they thought they could be. So, they scare us from that standpoint.”
UM-D entered this season with high expectations after reaching the Frozen Four a season ago. Despite the graduation of forward Junior Lessard, last year’s Hobey Baker Award winner, the Bulldogs were picked to win the WCHA in the conference’s preseason polling of coaches.
“We know they’re a talented, veteran team,” Eaves said. “I think coming into the Kohl Center, playing in front of a big crowd — a big game — that they’ll be jacked and they’ll be ready to play some really good hockey.”
Even without Lessard, Duluth possesses several offensive threats in senior Evan Schwabe and juniors Marco Peluso and Tim Stapleton. Schwabe finished only six points behind Lessard for the team lead in 2003-04, with 57 (19 goals and 38 assists) on the year. Stapleton, in his own right, totaled 41 points last season and is only five points away from reaching 100 for his career. In all, seven players who scored over 25 points last year have returned.
“They’ve got veterans up front that can score,” Eaves said.
The matchup will pit the dangerous Bulldog power play — the best in the WCHA, with a 24 percent success rate — against a Badger penalty kill that has yielded only six goals on the year. Peluso and Schwabe have been especially dangerous, combining for seven of Duluth’s 12 scores on the man advantage. On the other side, the Badger power play will look to exploit a porous Bulldog penalty kill that ranks seventh in the conference.
Overall, the Bulldog defense has failed to meet expectations this season. UM-D yielded the third fewest goals per game (2.54) in the WCHA a year ago, but this year that number (3.00) has slipped to fifth. Returning starting goaltender Isaac Reichmuth has posted just a 3-4-1 record out of the gates after recording 23 wins last season.
“‘When are they going to wake up,’ is kind of like the thought,” Eaves said, “The coaches picked them to win the WCHA for a reason — the fact that they’re a veteran club with good goaltending and solid defense.”
Wisconsin will need to play well if it hopes to keep pace with conference leaders North Dakota, who hosts seventh-place Alaska-Anchorage. Duluth, who Eaves likened to a cornered animal, sits just four points behind UW, even after its poor start.
“They’re wounded; their pride’s been hurt,” Eaves said. “They’re trying to get their game together, they’re trying to find their groove as a team and this will be an opportunity for them.”
