Back in October, the UW football team got a chance to bounce back from its suck-at-everything loss in East Lansing. The scenario was clearly laid out: Win both games in a brutal two-week stretch and the Badgers prove they really are a BCS-worthy team.

Obviously they succeeded. Wins over Ohio State and Iowa were redemption for that poor performance against Michigan State.

So now it’s November and the men’s hockey team faces a similar two-week murderer’s row of opponents. Except head coach Mike Eaves’ squad isn’t out to redeem itself. The difference is, the Badgers get a chance to see if they actually are any good at all.

Also, it’s really a four-week murderer’s row.

Anyway, just like the football team, the hockey team started the slate off with Minnesota. For Bret Bielema’s squad, the Gophers served as a tune-up game. For Eaves’ team, the series at Mariucci Arena was a measuring stick. Regardless of how much we Wisconsinites might believe the Gophers suck, Minnesota still has a roster with 19 NHL draft picks. And UW did a lot of growing up this past weekend.

See, it’s been beaten into any UW hockey fan’s head how young and inexperienced this team is. Seven seniors gone, four underclassmen leave, blah, blah blah. Wisconsin had seven freshmen in its lineup at Minnesota this weekend and took three out of four points.

It was big because it was a much more consistent effort – Eaves’ biggest goal is to see growth and consistency from his team – than the Badgers’ previous road trip to Denver. UW lost and tied in that series, but took a lot of teaching points back to Madison.

Teaching points that seem to be sticking.

Wisconsin is 6-2-2 now. Last year’s veteran squad was 6-3-1 after 10 games. To say UW’s performance this season has been surprising is a mild understatement. A lot of preseason experts picked the Badgers to do anything from struggle to flat-out suck. Instead, they’re on track for a pretty good season.

Of course, three of those wins came against the likes of Alabama-Huntsville and Holy Cross. Another two came against a Michigan Tech team that hasn’t played since the Badgers swept them.

That leaves UW with a 1-2-2 mark against the quality opponents it has played. I define those as Boston University (No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll, a 4-3 loss), Denver (4-2 loss, 2-2 tie, No. 15) and Minnesota (6-0 win, 3-3 OT tie, No. 19).

Despite the overall record and tie for second in the WCHA standings, we don’t really know how good the team is. I wrote weeks ago we would know more after the Badgers’ trip to Denver. I was kind of wrong. The current squad is better than the one that went out west, and there was really only a two-week gap between the series.

So we still don’t know how good this team is.

That brings us to the next two-week stretch: Home series against North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth, and a visit from No. 8 Michigan and No. 16 Michigan State the week after that.

NoDak was the preseason favorite to win the conference, especially with the return of stud defenseman Chay Genoway. Genoway was lost for the season last November after a concussion. The Fighting Sioux might be 5-4-1, but they still have eight points – same as UW – in the standings and a No. 10 ranking. UND has faced the likes of No. 5 Maine, Denver and UMD, so none of those losses were bad losses.

Speaking of the Bulldogs, they’re alone in first place in the WCHA with nine points and a 7-1-2 overall record. UMD is No. 2 in the nation and has probably the best first line in the country as well, with Jack Connolly (3-10-13), Justin Fontaine (6-8-14) and Mike Connolly (7-9-16).

The two Michigan teams will visit the week following over Thanksgiving. UW split with the Wolverines last season, losing at Yost Arena, but putting on quite the show in Camp Randall a couple months later. Wisconsin thrashed MSU in the two teams’ only meeting last season.

But again, that was last season.

November marks the toughest month of the schedule. As Eaves likes to say, the schedule “is what it is,” much to Nick Toon’s delight and Michael Bleach’s chagrin. Meaningless clich?s aside, these six games coming up will be the truest test of UW’s mettle maybe all season. Wisconsin can either take steps forward or find itself overwhelmed under the might of some of the nation’s best teams.

Or maybe it turns out UW is one of the nation’s best teams.

We can have this discussion for real once December rolls around. The Badgers could win all six games, lose all six or do something in between and it wouldn’t surprise me. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Adam is a senior majoring in journalism. Excited to see if the Badgers can stand up to UND and UMD? E-mail him at [email protected] or tweet @adamjsholt.