GRAND RAPIDS, MICH — While a myriad of slow starts hampered the Wisconsin men’s hockey team throughout the second half of the season, especially in its 4-1 loss to Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Badger players and coaches took solace in the fact that they had learned numerous lessons that would translate into success next season.
“Everybody has to take a look at how young this team was and the lessons this team has learned over the course of the entire year,” senior Bernd Brückler said. “I think they are going to come back really strong and be a force next year.”
Going into an early February series with Minnesota, Wisconsin was looking to be a force this season. They were ranked No. 3 in the country, and the Badgers were trying to, as the coaches and players put it, “take the step from being a good team to a great team.” After beating the Gophers in the Friday night game and taking a 3-2 lead into the third period Saturday night, it appeared that Wisconsin was on the right track. However, a three-goal third period for Minnesota, which led to a Gophers 5-3 win, was the beginning of a late season swoon that eventually ended when Wisconsin was felled by Michigan.
That second-half collapse was tracked back to the slow starts that consistently plagued the Badgers. Those slow starts were in turn blamed on the youthful nature of the team. That trait was most apparent in the loss to Michigan, in which Wisconsin was out shot 18-4 in the first period and found itself trailing 2-0 heading into the first intermission.
“I wish we would have started better,” head coach Mike Eaves said after the loss, which ended Wisconsin’s season. “We’re talking about a group of young men that all year that’s been an issue, of not going out there and taking charge of the game, which is an indication of our age to a degree.”
Not showing up in the first period of the biggest game of the season was just another lesson that the young Badgers had to endure.
“After the game, Coach said, ‘Let’s learn our lesson from this,'” junior captain Adam Burish said. It apparently will be the last thing the Badgers learn from this season.
However, the Badgers have reason to be hopeful as all of the players who saw significant minutes this season, outside of Brückler and fourth-line wing John Funk, will be back next season. Those players were talking about learning from the experience of playing in the NCAA tournament and what they needed to do to take their game to the next level so that they could be a great team next season.
“There’s a moment in an athlete’s life when you can say the right things, ‘We need to play desperate, we need to do this,’ but an athlete has to experience that,” Eaves said. “I would believe after the things we’ve been through, and even this experience tonight, this is a big game for a lot of kids. They’re closer to being who they need to be, to be a good team.”
With Wisconsin at times sending out four freshmen on defense as well as three freshmen amongst the forward lines and adding another six sophomores to the lineup, the Badgers have plenty of room for growth. However, with seven of the top 10 scorers included in that young nucleus, there is plenty of hope that the Badgers will eventually take that step toward becoming a great team.
