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Border Battle continues

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Also by Tyler Mason:

Wisconsin comes from behind to tie (February 25, 2008)
Border Battle continues (February 22, 2008)
3-pointers propels Wisconsin (February 21, 2008)

by Tyler Mason

Friday, February 22, 2008

This weekend’s men’s hockey series between Wisconsin and Minnesota is a tale of two teams. The Badgers (14-12-6, 10-10-4 WCHA) continue to exhibit strong play down the late stretch of the season, having lost just twice in their last 11 games. The Gophers (12-13-7, 6-11-5), on the other hand, have continued to slide in the rankings and have struggled to find a rhythm. They haven’t won in their last six games and have been victorious just once in their last 10 tries.

But this is WCHA hockey. Throw all that out the window.

“You can never underestimate a Gopher team,” said UW forward Aaron Bendickson, a native of Thief River Falls, Minn. “They’re going to come to play, and we’re going to come to play no matter what.”

The two rivals faced off once already this year, with Wisconsin earning three points on the weekend. In Game 2 of the series, the Badgers fell down 2-0 after the first period but battled back as they have done many times before to earn a tie and, more importantly, a point in the standings.

“Every point is crucial. The WCHA is so tight,” said defenseman Ryan McDonagh, another Minnesota native. “Whether it’s working hard to come back and get a tie and scramble for a point or obviously win, we just want to get as many points as possible at this point.”

Indeed, every point counts from this point on for Wisconsin, as they sit deadlocked with Minnesota State at fourth in the WCHA. The Badgers faced the Mavericks last weekend at home but were unable to create separation in the standings, making the team’s last two series — road trips to Minnesota and St. Cloud State — that much more important.

“Any time you go into a rivalry game like this, the team who’s going to outwork each other is going to win the series,” Wisconsin goaltender Shane Connelly said. “We beat [Minnesota] up a little bit here, so they’re going to come out ready to charge us out of their building. The main thing is we need to outwork them as hard as we can every shift, every play of the game.”

If Wisconsin can remain in the top five teams in the conference standings, it will earn the right to host the first round of the WCHA playoffs at the Kohl Center. In the grander scheme of things, however, NCAA playoff implications are also on the line. The top 16 teams make it to the postseason tournament; the Badgers are currently 12th in the Pairwise Rankings.

“We’re fighting for home ice and fighting for the NCAA tournament,” Bendickson said. “It’s the biggest time of the season. We want to be playing the best hockey right now.”

Minnesota has seen its share of lows this season; injuries have plagued the Gophers — namely the loss of junior forward Ryan Stoa for the season — and the NHL took away perhaps their best player when Kyle Okposo left school early to go pro.

The Gophers’ biggest playmaker since the departure of Okposo this season has been Blake Wheeler, a junior forward who has 13 goals and 13 assists on the year. Wheeler scored the team’s only goal in Minnesota’s 3-1 loss in the first game of the series against Wisconsin.

“They’ve struggled a little bit this year, but they’re going to make plays,” Connelly said. “Their ice is huge; they’ve got a lot of space out there. So I expect them to make a lot of plays (and) get a lot of pucks at net.”

“They play hard. They know their systems. They give themselves a chance to be successful because of the way they do play hard,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “Right now, they’re missing a little magic, and I think every team in our league would like to say they could go out and find a little bit more magic.”

Instead of looking over its shoulder, all Wisconsin can do now is play its own game. It controls its own destiny from here on out and can’t be worrying about what the rest of the WCHA is doing down the stretch.

“Right now we know we just have to do our part to win, and that’s all we can really control,” Bendickson said. “And that’s just coming out and winning the last four games of the season.”

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