As the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team heads into the stretch run of its season in legitimate contention for the WCHA regular season title, it’s easy to praise the Bernd Brucklers and Robbie Earls of the team. Bruckler has been solid in goal thus far, and his track record indicates his play will only improve as the season draws near its end, while Earl continually makes jaw-dropping plays and highlight-reel goals.
When looking at Wisconsin’s season stats, the big names stand out. Earl with 32 points. Joe Pavelski with 31. Ryan MacMurchy with 26. Ross Carlson with 23. Jake Dowell with 22. All familiar names.
Dowell played in the World Junior Championships. MacMurchy entered the season as the team’s leading returning scorer. Carlson scored nearly one point per game after joining the team in WCHA play a year ago. And, of course, Earl. The sophomore from Los Angeles routinely hears his name chanted by the Kohl Center student section. Bruckler, sporting a nice 15-6-0 record, repeatedly stands tall in net, causing the UW students to bow.
All of these players deserve the praise they receive. Earl is immensely talented. Pavelski scores and routinely wins face-offs. MacMurchy provides plenty of physical play. Carlson is as consistent a player as you’ll find in the WCHA. Dowell grinds and scores. However, hockey is predicated on personal sacrifice for the good of the team, or as head coach Mike Eaves says repeatedly, “paying the price.” No player on the Badgers embodies this mentality more than junior captain Adam Burish.
Burish leads a list of several “unsung heroes” on the UW roster, including left wing Nick Licari and center iceman Andy Brandt, along with every other player who has logged time on the fourth line.
Burish’s numbers are nothing to simply brush aside (eight goals and six assists), but they certainly don’t scream “All-American.” The Madison native plays on a line with Earl and Pavelski, and while his point total may not be half of either of theirs, Burish’s hard work allows the two underclassmen to produce those lofty numbers.
Over the course of a game, Burish spends significant time on the ice, whether it be killing penalties or pleading the team’s case to the officials. And nobody embraces the role of captain more than Burish.
Captains do not need to be the most talented or best player on a team. Rather, an effective captain is a player who makes his or her presence felt on both a physical and emotional level. A captain sets a standard for others to follow.
Perhaps no player in sports better exemplifies this attitude than New York Yankees star shortstop and captain Derek Jeter. Jeter simply makes positive things happen. He comes up big in the clutch. And he’d run through a wall for the 24 other guys in pinstripes.
In fact, that is pretty much what Jeter did last year in a midseason game against the Red Sox. Boston’s Trot Nixon sent a pop fly toward the stands in shallow left field. Jeter charged after the ball and dove into the stands to make the catch, bloodying his face in the process. That is the type of play a captain makes.
Burish may not have a signature moment that ranks with Jeter’s, but there is one that comes to mind. In the second period of a 5-2 Badger win over North Dakota, UW defenseman Tom Gilbert’s stick broke with the puck deep in the Wisconsin zone. Burish handed Gilbert his stick, and then laid out to block a Fighting Sioux shot, taking the puck straight off his face shield.
If only his fellow WCHA team captains cared so much for their squads. Prior to the season, Alaska-Anchorage captain Lee Green punched teammate Brett Arcand-Kootenay. Not surprisingly, the assault cost Green his captaincy. Just last month North Dakota suspended captain Matt Greene after the junior failed a sobriety test on a traffic stop.
Though he is a junior, Burish sure acts like a senior. He is never one to point fingers or deflect blame. Rather, Burish usually absorbs the bulk of any criticism the team takes, letting UW’s younger players move on. The Badger captain did exactly that following Wisconsin’s disappointing 4-0 loss to Michigan State in the College Hockey Showcase.
“I’m willing to take a lot of the blame for that,” Burish said in regard to the Badgers’ poor start against the Spartans. “Coming out of the first period, there wasn’t much said in there, there wasn’t much life, and being the captain of this team, shame on me for not going in there and throwing some garbage cans around, or getting in some guys faces.”
In today’s world of sports clichés and players lying through their teeth about being team-oriented, Burish might sound flat out corny. But he means every word of it.
