The last time the Wisconsin men’s hockey faced Denver, the Badgers skated off the ice feeling as though they should have left with more than just a moral victory.
Denver (15-7-4 overall, 6-6-4 WCHA), the defending WCHA champions and ranked ninth nationally, earned a sweep Nov. 1 over the Badgers with a pair of 5-3 wins and second. Wisconsin (8-15-3, 1-12-3), which yielded a pair of empty-net goals at the end of both contests, felt as though the differences between the squads were rather slim.
“I don’t think we’re far behind,” Alex Leavitt said afterward.
Nearly three months later, tonight’s series-opener pits a struggling Wisconsin team (1-4-3 in the last 8 games) against a floundering Denver squad (2-4-1 against WCHA teams on home ice). Much like the first meeting, the series will take a strong offensive showing on UW’s part to keep it close, which has been easier said than done this season.
If Wisconsin has hopes of breaking its current six game slide against DU it will take more than two goals, a phenomena that has been seen only once on the road this season. UW head coach Mike Eaves will be relying on the line of Rene Bourque, Ryan MacMurchy and Leavitt, UW’s most effective line in the month of January. Bourque, who single-handedly carried the offensive load the past eight games, had his scoring streak come to an end last Saturday. He remains the leading offensive weapon for the Badgers on the road with five goals and leads the team in career scoring against DU.
Senior captain Brad Winchester, who has appeared nonexistent in the last two months, has shown life in the past four games, including the game-winning score Jan. 17 against Duluth. Winchester, the leading scorer a year ago, has been looked toward to take pressure off of Bourque’s line; however, production has been limited (6 goals, 4 assists).
Denver, which hasn’t played since Jan. 18, has received offensive strength from two senior leaders in forward Kevin Doell and defenseman Aaron MacKensie. Doell leads the team in scoring with 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists) while MacKensie, who anchors a solid defense, has become a power-play specialist with 4 of his 7 conference goals coming via the advantage.
Once again, the difference in the series will likely be UW’s power-play efficiency. The power play of Wisconsin has been silent in the past 10 games (0-35) and hasn’t been a factor on the road against WCHA competition, failing to score a goal all season. It is the special-teams area that has burned the Badgers throughout the year. UW has seen 19 games decided by two goals or less and in only seven of those games have the Badgers emerged victorious (7-9-3).
“That’s a frustrating thing as a coach when you outnumber people and you’re still not getting those victories,” said Eaves. “It’s just about [the players] getting it done at the moments of truth.”
The Badgers, who can gain ground on the eighth position in the WCHA with a successful series, need not only to put the pieces together for an entire 60 minutes, but need to find a way to put the pieces together in every area of the game.
“When the pressure is on,” said Eaves, “you have to perform.”
