The Wisconsin men’s hockey team played some entertaining hockey last weekend against Minnesota, but once again came away from the series disappointed with the end results.
Coming off a loss to the Gophers last Friday, in which the Badgers gave up four goals in 100 seconds, and a last-second tie on Saturday, Wisconsin will be hoping for better luck away from the Kohl Center this weekend. For the first time in two months, Wisconsin (2-16-4, 0-6-2-2 Big Ten) will hit the road for a two-game series against the Penn State Nittany Lions (13-7-4, 5-2-1-0).
Back in early December, Penn State handed Wisconsin two losses at the Kohl Center, losing both games by a combined score of 9-4. Now, two months later, the Badgers are still searching for their first Big Ten win.
However, Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said he believes his youthful team is further along in their development since their last two meetings against the Nittany Lions on Dec. 5 and 6.
“We are at a different place than we were then,” Eaves said. “We’re looking forward to going back and seeing what we can do against them.”
Badger forward Grant Besse agreed with Eaves, saying he feels the team has grown a lot since then and expects them to play much better against the Nittany Lions this time around. After two goals this past weekend against Minnesota, Besse leads Wisconsin in both goals (nine) and points (16).
“We played them before the winter break and we’ve shown that we’ve been an improved team after the break,” Besse said. “So I think this time around it will be a better series for us.”
Penn State is currently second in the Big Ten standings, and if the last-place Badgers want to pull off a few upsets in State College, Pennsylvania, they will need Besse to continue his recent offensive surge. With five goals in Wisconsin’s last four games, Besse said his recent success has given him confidence that will allow him to score even more.
“When you start putting a few in the back of the net you’re going to want to shoot more and more,” Besse explained. “I think that will lead to even more production in the future.”
In addition to Besse, Wisconsin will also look to goaltender Joel Rumpel to keep the Badgers in the game by continuing to make big saves in big moments. Rumpel, who recorded 70 saves in the two-game series against Minnesota, praised the passion and intensity of Nittany Lion hockey fans, while adding he embraces the challenge of overcoming Penn State’s great home-ice advantage.
“Fans are always an issue. Penn State always has some great fans that really love their hockey,” Rumpel said. “It kind of gets me into it if anything. When I hear them giving me a hard time, it kind of gets me going and makes me a little bit more excited.”
However, win or lose come 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Eaves stressed that Wisconsin’s turnaround is not something he is counting on to happen overnight.
“It’s like a farmer planting a field with new seeds,” Eaves said. “You can go out there every day and see if they’ve grown at all, but it takes time.”
