Sports: Men's Hockey

Wisconsin finally hits home ice

After a tough four game road trip, the Wisconsin hockey team returns home to the Kohl Center this weekend to host a pair of games against border-rival Minnesota.

For the Badgers (0-4, 0-2 WCHA), the home ice couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Everyone is excited,” senior goalie Shane Connelly said. “One more weekend on the road would have been tough for this team. I think it is the perfect time to come home.”

“Oh, definitely the team is excited about it,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “When the seniors leave here and they are asked by the athletic director, ‘What is your greatest memory?’ They talk about playing at home in front of the crowd here.”

UW has dug itself into a hole early this season, losing to Boston College, New Hampshire and twice at Denver. Although all three of those teams are ranked among the top four, the Badgers feel they are overdue for a win.

“I am four saves away from being 2-0,” Connelly said. “That is the biggest thing that bothers me, just two extra saves a game. Stats don’t mean anything — I just want to put a win in the win column.”

The Gophers (2-0, 2-0 WCHA) swept their season opener against WCHA opponent St. Cloud State, and stack up evenly with the Badgers in many categories. Last season UW and UM split the series 1-1-2.

The Gophers averaged 2.4 goals per game last season and have scored five goals in two games this season. The Badgers’ young defensemen have struggled to keep the puck out of the net this season, but shutting down a consistent offensive team might provide the boost in confidence they need.

“I can’t tell the future,” Eaves said. “But it comes down to us controlling what we can control. … The Saturday night game in Denver was the biggest leap we have seen in their ability to shut things down and do the right things that the coaches are trying to teach them, so that was really encouraging. We are going to have a huge test this weekend, because we are playing a highly offensive team on a big sheet of ice.”

Eaves has split time between Connelly and sophomore goalie Scott Gudmandson this season, starting each of them for two games.

Connelly says he is hoping to play both games against the Gophers.

“I have done a lot of conditioning over the summer,” Connelly said. “And the goal of that is to be able to go back-to-back nights. I really want to get a shot after these losses on Fridays and help the team come back on Saturday. … I am really hoping that I will get a win on Friday and then come back on Saturday and hopefully get the sweep.”

Eaves, however, was unwilling to commit to starting Connelly for both games.

“I don’t know,” Eaves said about Gudmandson. “We will play Mr. Connelly on Friday, and then as our policy has been, we will see how things feel on Saturday morning when we come back.”

Despite starting the season 0-4, the Badgers remain upbeat about how they have played thus far.

“I think that we are still pretty loose,” Connelly said. “We are not fighting for our lives yet. We know that we need to start to win, and we know that we need to win this weekend. This is the biggest game of the season so far, and we don’t plan to go 0-5.”