H 77°, L 54° | Tomorrow: 
H 82°, L 64°
After spending the last two weekends at home, the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team will travel to No. 9 Minnesota for a two game series against the Golden Gophers this weekend.
Playing in Mariucci Arena on Friday and Saturday nights, the No. 16 Badgers find themselves in the position to make some serious noise in the WCHA — or stumble in the rankings. The top of the conferences is so bunched up, UW, currently sitting in third place, could move all the way to first or drop all the way to seventh, depending on how the weekend plays out.
“Every weekend going down the stretch is the same thing — we have got to put points on the board,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “So that doesn’t change with the Gophers or North Dakota. We have to put points in the barn, so our task hasn’t changed at all.”
Last time these two teams met, Wisconsin was in the midst of a four game losing streak, a feat Minnesota didn’t help by taking away three points from the Badgers at the Kohl Center.
Considering that was back in October, however, Eaves doesn’t believe those games will have an effect on the upcoming pair this weekend.
“We are a different team than we were — as are they — from the first time we played them,” Eaves said. “Now we will come together and see how we match up.”
For the most part, the players agree.
“We might be thinking about it to get a little revenge, and take some points on their rink,” senior goaltender Shane Connelly said. “But it has been such a long time and we have been through so many other wars, that it is a little bit forgotten what happened in the past.”
The Gophers are coming off a tough weekend. They were swept in a home-and-home by Minnesota State. For a team that has been consistently rated in the top 10 all season, dropping two in a row is unfamiliar territory.
“It’s possible that they are kind of a wounded dog,” Connelly said, “But we threw away points on Saturday too, so I think you can find ways to get motivation in different spots. We are looking to go in there and push them around and they are looking to defend their home ice.”
The motivation Connelly refers to stems from a 1-0 loss at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth last weekend. The Badgers — who average 3.5 goals per game in conference play — devoted a lot of practice time to scoring this week to ensure they wouldn’t experience their second shutout in as many weeks.
“It is something that we have been working on this week in practice,” freshman forward Derek Stepan said. “There have been a lot of goal scoring drills. I think it had to do a little bit with on Saturday night we didn’t catch many bounces and we were kind of gripping the stick pretty tight.”
The trip will also serve as a homecoming for eight players. For four freshmen on the team, it will be the first time playing in Minnesota since they came to Wisconsin.
“I’m excited,” Stepan said. “Playing back in the home state, so it should be fun. I have never played in Mariucci before with a packed house, so it should be fun.”
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