While most students were unwrapping Christmas presents and enjoying their time away from school, Badger icemen Jake Dowell and Jeff Likens were trying to win a gold medal for the second straight year at the World Junior Championship of Hockey in Grand Forks, N.D.

A year ago, the United States came back in the third period to defeat Canada for gold. Dowell and Likens saw plenty of ice time throughout the tournament, which was held in Helsinki, Finland.

However, things did not work out quite as nicely this time around.

While both Dowell and Likens surpassed their point totals from a year ago (with three and four, respectively), the U.S. team, as a whole, came up a little short, losing consecutive games to Russia in a semifinal game and the Czech Republic in the bronze-medal game to end the tournament without a medal.

“It obviously wasn’t as great of an experience (this year),” Likens said. “Last year being my first year, winning a gold medal, it was unbelievable, an unbelievable experience just to be there, obviously winning the gold medal too. This year was a little disappointing. We thought we could have done a little bit better, but it was still playing against the top players in the world, so that was a good thing.”

This year, the pair of Badgers was without UW head coach Mike Eaves, who guided Team USA to its impressive finish in Helsinki. Minnesota-Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin took the reigns, and for Dowell and Likens, that meant adjusting to a very different style of coaching.

“Coach Eaves has a real intense style of coaching,” Dowell said. “He’s always talking, always … I don’t want to say in your face, but kind of that he wants us to play that style of hockey. Coach Sandelin was more laid back, and didn’t talk as much, and kind of watched us to kind of let us go.”

A familiar face for Likens was former Badger Ryan Suter, a Nashville Predators draftee who currently plays for the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. In addition to attending UW with Likens last season, the pair played together for the USA Hockey National Team Developmental Program prior to college.

“[Playing with Suter] was great,” Likens said. “He’s an unbelievable player and a great friend of mine. We played together for three years, and getting back with him was a lot of fun.”

Over the course of the tournament, Dowell played mainly with three players: Ryan Callahan of the Guelph Storm (OHL); Phil Kessel, a 17-year-old Madison native and a member of the U.S. National Under-18 squad; and Robbie Schremp, a first-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers.

“It was an awesome experience to play with guys with that much skill, and to be along other guys that [are] first round draft picks in the NHL,” Dowell said. “They make a lot of great things happen on the ice, so it’s pretty easy to play with them.”

While it was a great honor for both players to represent their country, coming back to Madison and reuniting with their teammates was a thrill in its own right.

“Getting back here, I was really looking forward to it toward the end of that tournament,” Likens said. “It’s a three-week grind out there (with the U.S. team). You see those guys you haven’t seen in a while, but these are brothers here. There’s a family. Not that they weren’t, but we’re a little tighter here.”

After competing in Grand Forks, the pair was thrust right back into the heat of the WCHA, with an away series against St. Cloud State just four days after the tournament. Dowell and Likens arrived in Madison the Wednesday prior to the St. Cloud series, only to jump on a bus the next morning to travel with the team. Both made an immediate impact, with Dowell assisting on five Badger goals in the weekend sweep and Likens posting a +2 total plus-minus rating.

“I kind of had to pace myself a little bit out there,” Likens said. “I think we played, at the end of the tournament, like seven games in 10 days or something like that, and then you add in those two games last weekend. That’s tough. I ran out of gas, but kept battling through it.”

Eaves gave the pair a day off last Monday to recuperate from an exhausting few weeks of non-stop hockey.

“I took Monday off and just kind of relaxed and watched TV and slept a lot of the day,” Dowell said. “I think that helped a lot too.”

With a tough stretch of games ahead, including series against fellow WCHA contenders Minnesota, Denver, Colorado College and North Dakota, Wisconsin will need Dowell and Likens rested, refreshed and prepared for the second half of the season.

“I feel great in practice now,” Likens said four days after the St. Cloud State series. “Getting out there today made me feel like I’m fully back and ready to go.”