The Wisconsin men’s hockey team takes its show up north tonight, facing a young and surprising Minnesota-Duluth club.
In the shadows of a bye week, UW (0-2-0 WCHA, 4-4-0 overall) looks to rebound from its conference opener on the road. However, playing the Bulldogs at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center has been more of a home away from home, just with more snow. The Badgers have owned the series while playing in Duluth as of late, holding a ten-game win streak over the heads of UMD, who have not trounced UW since Nov. 11, 1995 and do not plan on extending an olive branch any time soon.
Given the past seven years, this season’s UMD team (2-2-2, 2-3-3) is no longer a
‘gimme’ for the Badgers. The most adept comparison between the two foes would be Denver University. Wisconsin’s only conference games saw them play well against the defending WCHA champion Pioneers for most of the games yet both resulted in a pair of losses. Minnesota-Duluth, having just played Denver one week ago, was able to stun the Pioneers on the road, splitting the series at one game apiece.
“I feel like we’re getting there, but we still have a ways to go,” Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin said. “I think we’ve had a pretty good start; we’ve played good hockey.”
Entering his third year as head coach, Sandelin’s team has been the laughing stock of the WCHA for the past two seasons finishing last and next-to-last. This year’s group at UMD relies upon youth and is home to 19 freshmen and sophomores.
Underclassmen have already amassed solid contributions, led by sophomore winger Tyler Brosz who has notched five goals, matching last year’s mark and is currently tied for the top spot in the category.
More impressive has been the play of true freshman goalie Isaac Reichmuth.
Reichmuth was slated as the backup goalie to the returning senior Rob Anderson but proved his worth getting the victory against Denver, allowing just two goals on 43 shots. The UW skaters figure to get a glimpse of Reichmuth tonight, after he proclaimed that he is ready for the collegiate scene just a week ago.
The play of UMD underclassmen has been echoed for the cardinal and white. Of the
25 goals scored for UW, freshmen have been involved a total of 17 times.
Freshman forward Ryan MacMurchy tallied two goals against DU, while first year defenseman Tom Gilbert has had a hand in seven scores during the course of the year.
Last season UW received promising performances against the Bulldogs from now senior Scott Kabotoff. Kabotoff’s record against UMD has been perfect, going 3-0-0 and only allowing a sole goal per game. It was Kabotoff’s performance in Duluth last year that earned him WCHA Player of the Week and recognition throughout the conference.
Offensively for the Badgers, senior Brad Winchester and junior Rene Bourque have been the leaders. Both Winchester and Bourque lead the team in goals with five, and both lead the team in career points against Duluth.
The major aim is not to allow more than three goals versus UMD; UW has lost all four games after granting more than that mark.
Erase the past history of this series because it is now irrelevant given that both teams are breaking away from prior molds. If UMD is able to take the pair of games, the season looks promising and a swing in the program is apparent. For UW, a sweep of this series would show that the Denver contests should have resulted in at least one legitimate victory and a moral boost. Two losses would result in a 0-4 start in the conference, sending the confidence and hopes of a successful season into the doldrums of mediocrity.
After dominating UMD for the past seven years, why should UW expect anything less than two wins; especially at “home.”
