Thrown sticks and dropped gloves covered the ice at the Kohl Center. A sea of cardinal and white rushed onto the ice. Fans who had left a few seconds early raced back to their seats. An aura of rage and frustration floated through the air. Fists were swung and obscenities were exchanged.
And in some eerie fashion, Saturday night’s post-game brawl literally symbolized what the Badgers will have to do the final month of the season.
Saturday night’s disappointing and controversial loss to Alaska-Anchorage, coupled with Colorado College’s impressive sweep over number-one-ranked Denver, has put the Badgers between a rock and a hard place heading down the final stretch of the schedule. Just three days after facing the possibility of moving into third place in the WCHA, the Badgers must now fight to protect their lock on fifth place, as their lead has slipped to just three points over Minnesota State.
Heading into Colorado College doesn’t make the task any easier.
“Right now they’re the hottest team in college hockey,” commented UW head coach Jeff Sauer on Monday. “They’ve been playing really well.”
In addition, Saturday night’s fiasco will leave the Badgers without winger Jake Heisler and defensemen Brian Fahay and Jon Krall for Friday night’s contest, dealing Sauer a tough hand as he must find a way to replace an already depleted group of defensemen.
“Right now we’re down to three defensemen who have been playing,” Sauer added. “This could put us in quite a bind.”
Fortunately for Sauer and the rest of the Badgers, it appears likely that some of the suspensions will be changed later this week as penalties may have been assigned to innocent players. Regardless of what may get changed from Saturday night’s scuffle, there is one thing that definitely will remain intact: a newfound rivalry between two of the middle-tier teams of the WCHA.
Consecutive physical nights, a war of words between and after the games and a controversial goal sparked the fire that ensued throughout the weekend series. Now separated by only four points in the conference standings, the Seawolves and Badgers will be competing with one another for home ice advantage in the playoffs.
Without looking too far ahead, a possibility in the near future is that Alaska-Anchorage could return to Madison in a month or so for the first round of the playoffs.
“That would be fun,” Sauer said with a grin. “That would be fun.”
Before Wisconsin can even think about its post-season opponent, it must first worry about the red-hot Tigers of Colorado College. This weekend’s series will mark Sauer’s final trip to Colorado Springs, and there would be nothing sweeter than upsetting his alma mater and moving ahead in the standings.
“This will be a special trip out to Colorado,” Sauer said.
With six games remaining in February, all six of which are against teams above them in the standings, the Badgers still remain in position to climb the conference ladder. They’ve proven they can play with the best teams in the country, and if the aggression they displayed on Saturday is any indication of their desire to win, UW could really make some noise heading into the tournament.
