The story for Andy Wheeler is all in the name.
The UW men’s hockey team captain has come a long way since being widely regarded as the “third wheel,” behind his two front line teammates on his high school team in Duluth, Minn.
Still, in perhaps due to direct testament of his unassuming attitude, Wheeler is the one who continues to play and impress.
“[Wheeler]’s an interesting kid,” Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer said. “He played on one of the greatest high school lines in Minnesota. The other two guys on the line got all the publicity, but Andy is the only one still playing hockey.”
Since first stepping on the ice for the Badgers, Wheeler has proven himself to be a worthy competitor. Notwithstanding the oft-expressed fact that he seemingly lacks any inborn greatness, Wheeler has demonstrated that his dynamic work ethic can offset any thought of a Division I talent deficiency.
And through that hard work, Wheeler has set a standard for himself by consistently succeeding. In fact, he has a laundry list of awards and accolades as proof.
Wheeler has garnered Wisconsin’s Jim Santulli Seventh-Man Award for two years running. He also was presented with the Felton Kelsey Jr. Most Competitive Player Award by his Badger teammates last year. Yet, his greatest honor may have come this off-season, when Wheeler was elected as the sole captain of this year’s senior laden team.
“It shows that the team respects you on and hopefully a little off the ice,” Wheeler said. “There is no greater honor. Words can’t explain it.”
Sauer expressed his own confidence in his starting left wing.
“The fact that [Wheeler] is the elected captain didn’t surprise me at all,” Sauer said. “It would have surprised me had the vote come in a different way. I probably would have had to throw my endorsement in there or counted the votes a little bit different. The bottom line is that he’s paid a price, continued to work, and now it’s all paying off for him.”
Wisconsin (2-2, 1-1 WCHA), under Wheeler’s guidance, has enjoyed solid success this far into the season. The Badgers pulled out a 3-2 win last Friday for their first victory at North Dakota since 1998 and were within one goal of tying the Sioux on Saturday. In fact, with the score knotted at two goals apiece on Friday night, it was Wheeler who pulled through and scored the game-winning goal at 15:12 in the third period to give the Badgers the victory.
“The biggest thing is when we really need [Wheeler] to come up big, he’s been able to do that,” Sauer said. “When you put a guy out there to get the job done in a critical situation, he needs to take care of the challenge. That’s the key, and that’s what [Wheeler] can do and does do.”
Yet, Wheeler’s main job isn’t to impress with his skills, but rather to help the other members of his line, mainly Kent Davyduke and Rene Bourque, impress with theirs. His unselfishness sparks his line’s success. But it is his leadership that initiates the team’s.
“Wheeler is not a gifted goal scorer, although he will tell you differently,” Sauer said. “He’s not the most skilled player ? gifted player size-wise ? but he gets everything out of his body, every shift that he is on the ice. He’s been an integral part of the team for four straight years and he’s doing a fabulous job as a leader this year.
Although NHL teams have already drafted seven of his current UW teammates, Wheeler has not been and probably will not be drafted. Instead, Sauer indicates that Wheeler has explored playing hockey in Europe, as his father once did, or Wheeler might, perhaps, play elsewhere. Even Sauer expresses a firm doubt that Wheeler, who will graduate from Wisconsin in December, is or will ever be good enough to make it in the National Hockey League.
It is this doubt that triggers an eerily similar situation to that of Wheeler’s original high school predicament. Scouts and critics underestimated him, and those reservations may have been a catalyst for Wheeler’s strong work ethic and newfound notoriety.
And if Andy Wheeler again defies all expectations and somehow manages to make it to the NHL, the only person deserving of credit will be himself.
His name will have nothing to do with it.
