Although it’s only November, this weekend’s home series against the Michigan Tech Huskies looms large for the Badger men’s hockey team.
Coming off a series sweep of the Bulldogs of the University of Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, the Badgers find themselves in fourth place in the WCHA, trailing only the hockey powerhouses of Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Denver.
A home sweep of the 0-5-1 Huskies this weekend and an impressive showing two weeks from now at seventh-place Alaska-Anchorage would put the Badgers near the top of the most challenging conference in the country heading into the second half of its schedule.
And although it’s still early to be looking too far ahead, early-season series do have ramifications come the end of February.
“Our next four WCHA games are against teams that we hope to be above come season’s end,” UW head coach Jeff Sauer said Monday. “We try to use these games as a way of separating us from the bottom of the league.”
Michigan Tech, near the bottom of almost every team statistic in the conference, with the exception of penalty minutes, looks to be the springboard the Badgers need to clearly put some distance between themselves and the lower tier teams of the conference.
This weekend’s games will be the first home series against a WCHA team this season for Wisconsin, which doesn’t necessarily carry the benefits one would immediately assume. So far this year the Badgers are 3-1 on the road and only 2-2 at home, an oddity for a college hockey team.
“Most coaches like to split on the road and sweep at home,” Sauer explained. “We’ve had some problems at home but I don’t think that it’s anything to be concerned about. I guess our players just feel more comfortable on the road.”
Comfortable would be an understatement if last weekend’s series was any indication of the Badgers’ style of play on the road.
The Badgers dominated the Bulldogs in all aspects of the game, led by the courageous performance of junior goaltender Scott Kabatoff. Kabatoff, who stopped 82 of the Bulldogs 84 shots in the series, has put himself above all other goalies in the conference with a .966 save percentage.
“Scott has definitely been one of the keys to our success so far this season,” Sauer commented. “Added with the improved play of our defense and I’m really impressed.”
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of last weekend’s series was the break-out play of the Badgers’ forwards, most notably the line of Matt Hussey, John Eichelberger and Brad Winchester, who combined for 11 points in last weekend’s series.
“That line is really starting to gain some confidence,” Sauer said. “They play well together and are moving the puck around nicely.”
Equally impressive has been the surprising depth at the forward position.
“People underestimate our depth at the forward position,” Sauer said. “We’ve been getting a lot of success from many different people. Twelve or 13 different guys have put points on the board so far this season.”
A hat trick of objectives awaits the Badgers as they head into the Kohl Center Friday and Saturday night. Along with continuing their offensive surge and defensive dominance, the Badgers hope to put together a sweep on their home ice and escalate themselves towards the top of the WCHA as they head into the tougher part of their conference schedule.
“I like our chances in these next weeks to come,” a confident Sauer said. “I just hope we can take advantage.”
