The Wisconsin men’s hockey team is in the driver’s seat, controlling its own playoff destiny against Minnesota-Duluth. One win all but guarantees another weekend at the Kohl Center; anything less means the Badgers won’t be seen again in the state of Wisconsin until next fall.
Wisconsin (12-17-4 overall, 10-13-3 WCHA) faces the Bulldogs in a must-win situation if hopes of a home-ice playoff series are to become a reality.
Winless in the last seven games, going 0-6-1, UW will get a pleasant change from the past three weeks in not having to face an opponent ranked in the top 10, much less one with a winning record. UMD, swept by the Badgers in early November and pulls into Madison with its post-season destination waiting only on Denver and St. Cloud’s weekend results.
Duluth (13-20-3, 6-17-3), having rebounded from a horrendous beginning, has turned fortunes around, going 5-3-2 in its past 10 games.
However, UMD has fallen dormant in Madison, winning only twice in the past 20 contests. The Bulldogs’ past infidelities give UW such an obvious upper hand that Minnesota head coach Don Lucia couldn’t let the subject pass without comment.
“That’s the scenario you want,” said Lucia. “Going into the last weekend, you win at home, and you get home ice.”
A much improved UMD squad, led by senior winger Judd Medak (7 goals, 23 assists, 30 points in WCHA play), has pulled off a win against Minnesota, tied Denver on the road and swept Alaska-Anchorage–all in the last 10 games. It is the power-play efforts from defenseman Andy Reierson, who has chalked up eight of his 12 goals on the advantage, which have provided an intricate spark for the Bulldogs.
Duluth will most likely split the nights in goal, sending Adam Coole (2-11-3, 3.81 goals against average, 89.0 save percentage) to the net for one game and Rob Anderson (4-6-0, 3.79, 89.3 percent) for the other.
“If we keep playing the way we did [last Saturday], I think we’ll be okay,” said Alex Leavitt, who averages 1 goal every four shots. “I think we’ll be able to get a few wins against Duluth and hopefully get on a little bit of a roll.”
As for Wisconsin, goalie Scott Kabotoff (7-7-1, 3.02, 91.9 percent) will be relied on between the pipes. During the earlier series against UMD Kabotoff stopping a combined 82 shot attempts and was impressive enough to receive WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Offensively, senior Matt Murray has been on an unprecedented tear as of late.
In the past eight games at the Kohl Center Murray has elevated his game, scoring eight goals and assisting in three others. Senior Matt Hussey owned Duluth in the earlier clash at UMD, accumulating three goals and aiding in a pair of scores.
The senior class, in what could be the grand finale of its career, has called into question its ability to provide leadership to younger teammates during the current slide.
“The captains have taken care of [the issue]; it’s a close-knit team,” said head coach Jeff Sauer. “I’m comfortable with the leadership of the team. It’s a good group of guys.”
Andy Wheeler, Duluth native and team captain, should supply the much-sought-after guidance due not only to the weekend’s significance of playoff implications but also the possibility of a last appearance by the senior class and Sauer in Madison.
“I think we’re a better hockey team today than we were three weeks ago,” Sauer said. “Now we have to go out and prove it. I just want to make sure we get home ice.”
With destiny knocking on the door it is up to UW to take the initiative to schedule a home-playoff series against Minnesota State, giving the UW general one last stand.
