The Badger hockey team?s (14-5-5, 8-3-5) nation-leading 15-game unbeaten streak came to a close with 2003. Dec. 28, the Badgers lost an emotional game at home to Ferris State in the Badger Showdown — the first loss for head coach Mike Eaves? squad in more than two months.
Ferris State, riding a six-game unbeaten streak of its own, out-powered the Badgers on the merits of a 38-save performance by Bulldog goaltender Mike Brown. After Wisconsin blew out Union College 8-1 in their first game of the tournament, the loss was their first of the season on home ice.
The Badgers got back on track quickly in the new year, taking five of six points in the three games following the loss. Playing in hostile territory, Wisconsin tied Minnesota State 3-3 Jan. 2 and beat them 6-2 Jan. 3. Sophomores Adam Burish and Tom Gilbert each recorded a pair of goals during the series.
The Badgers returned home to take down Michigan Tech for the third time this season in the first game of a two-game series. They appeared to be well on their way to recovering from the Ferris State upset. Unfortunately, the Badgers hit a bump in the road in their final game of the break, as Michigan Tech refused to give the Badgers any ground and surprised the No. 3 team in the nation with a 3-2 victory. Husky forward Chris Conner, one of the WCHA?s top scorers, tallied two goals in the upset.
?It was interesting the headlines in the paper: ?Last Place Michigan Tech Defeat No. 3 Badgers,?? Eaves told the media after the loss. ?I mean, it was one game; everybody stumbles. We?re just going to go back to work and get this thing going again. We don?t think that it?s any reason to panic. We know we?re a quality team, and we?ll go back to our roots — our work habit — and get going again.?
The loss to the Huskies marked the first WCHA setback for the Badgers since St. Cloud State took a pair from them in the first week of the season. Michigan Tech ranks last in the conference with a 2-8-2 record, but as Eaves pointed out, parity in the league makes any team dangerous.
?In the WCHA, from top to bottom, if you?re not ready to play every night, you can get beat,? Eaves said. ?They outworked us. We should have won both games.?
Senior captain Dan Boeser agreed.
?It wasn?t the outcome that we wanted,? Boeser said. ?We respect every team in our league. This is the best league in the country, and on any given night any team can beat anyone. They showed that.?
The Badgers currently sit alone atop the WCHA standings, with 21 points. But with an upcoming stretch that includes series at No. 11 Colorado College and No. 7 Minnesota and in Madison against No. 5 St. Cloud State and No. 1 North Dakota, the Badgers will need to get back in the habit of being the harder-working team if they plan to retain their lofty point of view.
?It just comes to us playing as a team and playing the way that we can,? Boeser said. ?We?re a team that has to play as 20 guys together. If we don?t do that we?re not going to win. These last few weeks we?ve had some lapses.?
Eaves said the setback may even help the Badgers refocus in the end.
?Sometimes you need to take stock and get a little bit of a reality check,? he said. ?We?ll go to work and get back to basics and get this thing going again. We?ll regroup and go back to some of our basic drills and reestablish those skills.?
Many Badger players said that it was hard to adjust to being the team that other teams gun for.
?Being ranked high in the country, a lot of teams come and play their best games with us,? Boeser said. ?That?s something we need to learn how to deal with … We need to come and play our best game, and that?s something we?re learning as a team right now.?
