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UW jumps back into WCHA mix

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Also by Stephen Watson:

UW concludes fall slate at Big Tens (November 9, 2007)
UW seniors Mehlhaff, DeBauche get final kicks in (November 8, 2007)

by Stephen Watson

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

After playing 10 consecutive games against ranked opponents, the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team finished the tough stretch on a high note with a pair of home wins over St. Cloud State this past weekend. The Badgers now sit in the middle of the WCHA pack, tied for sixth place in the conference and 12 points behind the leader, Colorado College, with four fewer games played. Considering the youth of the roster, head coach Mike Eaves is pleased with his team's position.

"Right before Christmastime, we want to be in the thick of things," Eaves said during a press conference Monday. "Because we are so young, that would be a good place to be because we would expect that the second half, based on our experiences, would be a better place to find that consistency level."

Having played such a daunting schedule early in the season, Eaves believes having exposure to top-notch teams has given the young Badgers a chance to sharpen their skills and gain experience.

"Seeing firsthand the level of play that you have to compete against at the top level in that the pace, the strength, the skill, the way the teams played tenaciously and played together, those are things that you can talk about in practice," Eaves said. "You can try to simulate, but to actually go and walk through the fire, you're going to afford yourself to be a better team based on those things. So hopefully, that has happened for us."

Turris gets back on track

After experiencing some struggles following his hot start to the beginning of his collegiate career, freshman Kyle Turris broke his nine-game scoreless streak with a goal Saturday night.

To help the freshman shed the slump, Eaves had Turris play on two shifts, the first and fourth lines.

"When a young man is going through a slump, you want to give him opportunities to get out of that slump, so by doing what we did this past weekend, him scoring is a good sign," Eaves said. "In a game filled with paw-playing and penalty-killing, you need to involve them because they are going to get cold on the bench."

During the time Turris was held in check, sophomore Blake Geoffrion picked up some of the scoring load for Wisconsin, especially this past weekend when he collected four points. Currently, Geoffrion has two multi-point games this season, one of which came Saturday night against the Huskies.

"I think it is interesting that he is being productive on an offensive scale when really he has been asked to play against another teams' best line to shut them down," Eaves said. "For him, good defense leads to offense, but you can see the confidence growing in him especially when he is holding onto the puck, making good decisions and taking what is given when it is there."

Badgers defense slowing down pace

After watching the team's defensemen play an aggressive attacking game earlier in the season, Eaves is pleased with improvements the unit has shown in making sure it doesn't push too far up the ice.

"We're getting better at it. We look at it, we use the term we want to get balance in our attack," Eaves said. "And by having our defensemen up there along with three forwards below the tops and circle does not present a lot of balance. We want our defensemen to be up on the play, and if they are, then we need a forward to give that attack balance by staying back a little bit."
The more defensive-minded approach should help the team that leads the WCHA in goals allowed this season.

"We can get up and down the ice," Eaves said. "It's finding that balance so you can do both."

Power play having difficulty

Wisconsin continued its power play struggles this weekend, unable to net a goal on any of its four opportunities with the man-advantage.

According to Eaves, the biggest problem is lack of opportunities and with that, repetition.
"This past weekend, we only get four power plays. … We never got any rhythm at all on our power play this weekend. And when we did get out there, it looked like we had worked on it, and we know very well that we had," Eaves said.

For the season the Badgers are converting at a respectable 21.5 percent of their power play chances. It’s the struggles of late that are the concern.

"I mean, we're going to continue to work on it," Eaves said. "We have switched personnel in the last two weekends, and we will continue to do what we do based on our opposition, but it'll come around. I have no doubt about that."

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