As finals week looms, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (10-5-1) is gearing up for its toughest test of the season. The 11th-ranked Badgers are hitting the road to take on No. 3 North Dakota (9-5-2) in a pivotal WCHA series this weekend.
UND undoubtedly presents the toughest challenge to date, but the Badgers are coming into the series full of confidence.
Wisconsin throttled Michigan Tech last weekend as the Badgers found their groove offensively. Senior forward John Mitchell got himself back on track, scoring two goals, but he wants to make sure the Badgers stay levelheaded after such a dominating performance.
“The thing that can fall apart is our work ethic,” Mitchell said following last Saturday’s win over MTU. “Last week, we went into the week and we worked out hard and battled in practice because we were going to come in demanding two wins from ourselves, and given how many goals we scored, we need to be careful and make sure to do the same thing we did last week this week.”
After sweeping the Huskies, head coach Mike Eaves said he was pleased to see his goal scorers find the back of the net, knowing the type of boost this can give his team.
“It’s good confidence,” Eaves said. “As much as we talk about a goaltender needing to stop pucks to get confidence, I think for goal scorers, to have that feeling that they can score is real important. And we had a productive weekend this weekend with a lot of guys contributing — that’s a good feeling to go into next week with.”
The Badgers are hoping to keep that good feeling against UND. The Fighting Sioux are the No. 3 team in the country thanks to a balanced offensive attack, and head coach Dave Hakstol boasts one of the most talented rosters in the nation.
Mitchell knows full well how good North Dakota is and understands wins in Grand Forks demand fine-tuned efforts.
“North Dakota is one of those top-ranked schools that’s always hard to play against, and we can’t let down because we had two wins this weekend,” Mitchell said. “We have to come with the same attitude up at North Dakota.”
The Badgers are hoping they play with that same intensity on Friday night, but they’ll look a little different in net. Junior goaltender Scott Gudmandson will start both games this weekend due to a shoulder injury Brett Bennett suffered earlier this week in practice.
This will be the first time Gudmandson starts on Friday this season, and it will be his first opportunity to play on back-to-back nights. Bennett has started each series opener all year, but his injury gives Gudmandson a chance to play the entire series.
Fortunately for UW, both goaltenders have plenty of in-game experience and both have put together impressive seasons. Gudmandson’s 1.39 goals against average is the top mark in the WCHA.
Gudmandson will get his opportunity to prove himself, and as a collective unit, the
Badgers are looking to do the same.
“We just want to prove that we’re [better] than what we are ranked,” junior defenseman Brendan Smith said. “We think we’re a lot better — we want to prove that to everybody.”
The Badgers are looking forward to this matchup between two historic programs, but the objective for this team is not just to play well against the third best team in the country but to beat them.
“We love playing North Dakota; it’s a great series, and we love playing up there,” Smith said. “It’s definitely my favorite series, so I’m looking forward to going up there and trying to steal two games and four points.”
