The Wisconsin men’s hockey team is prepared to compose the third chapter in its long and storied program with new head coach Mike Eaves at the reigns. Eaves is only the third coach to ever grace the bench at UW, following two of college hockey’s most renowned head coaches, Jeff Sauer and Bob Johnson.
For Eaves, taking over UW’s collegiate dynasty in the hockey ranks is a very serious situation, and he intends only to heighten the perception of the program.
In doing so, Eaves’ has closed the doors to the media during the weeks preceding the 2002-03 season, because they are “going to be very hard.” Eaves also proclaimed that preseason practices would be a time of extreme individual training, best suited to take place around the privacy of teammates. The doors to the team’s practices will once again be opened after the season opener against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this Friday in the Ice Breaker Tournament that also includes Boston University and Northern Michigan.
Picked to finish sixth in the WCHA by the conference’s head coaches, Wisconsin looks to improve upon their 12-13-3 conference finish that was good for fifth place. Fortunately for UW, a lot can happen during the course of the year, and a preseason rank echoes connotations that are usually proved irreverent by the conclusion of the year. Without further ado, here’s a look at your 2002-2003 Badger hockey squad.
OFFENSE
Key Losses: Captain Andy Wheeler, Assistant Captains Kent Davyduke and Matt Doman, leading scorer Matt Hussey
Additions: Adam Burish, A.J. Degenhardt, Brent Gibson, Nick Licari, Ryan MacMurphy, Pete Talafous, John Funk
Eaves, a forward, played his collegiate career at UW under Johnson in 1974-78 and is the program’s all-time points leader. Ironically, the Badgers’ weakest component in the 2002-03 season is the forward position. The Badgers had six players depart due to graduation, therefore losing a large chunk of the offensive arsenal from a season ago. Sans the six who no longer don the cardinal and white, the Badgers are without 60.9 percent of their goal scoring.
The Badgers do return their leading scorer in senior center Brad Winchester. Winchester, who was second in goals, scored and tied for the top spot in game-winning goals with three last season, has added another 10 pounds onto his 6’5″ frame. Aiding the intimidating Winchester will be Alex Leavitt, who is coming off a respectable freshman campaign. Leavitt, who began his career as a Badger at the age of seventeen, saw playing time in all 39 contests and scored 11 goals during the course of the season.
Junior winger Rene Bourque also figures to be an integral part of Eaves’ offense. Bourque has posted consecutive double-digit goal totals the past two seasons with 10 and 12, respectively, and will only see his numbers increase with the substantial amount of playing time he should see.
Most importantly, it will be the upperclassmen’s ability to step into the leadership role and their knack for instilling confidence into their young linemates after losing all three captains from last season.
The wild card in the hand of the offense relies upon the production UW will benefit from its five incoming freshmen, sophomore transfer Pete Talafous and redshirt freshman John Funk. Talafous, a transfer from Alaska-Anchorage, led the Seawolves’ freshmen in scoring en route to being named the team’s rookie of the year.
UW’s season hinges upon the ability of both newcomers and upperclassmen to not only gel but find ways to put goals on the board, a characteristic that at times last year was a difficult task.
DEFENSE
Key Loss: Rob Vega
Additions: Tom Gilbert, Tom Sawatske
The Badgers’ defensive unit, having lost only Rob Vega, remains nearly identical. Junior defenseman Dan Boeser, despite his recent bout with cancer and the subsequent treatment, is the anchor and doesn’t plan on missing a single game. Boeser led all defensemen last season scoring 28 points, but more impressive has been his ability to stay out of the penalty box. Boeser has played in all 80 games the past two seasons and yet has seen the “sin bin” only three times to date.
Junior Andy Wozniewski and senior Brian Fahey ranked as the No. 2 and No. 3 points leader on UW’s defense. Fahey has missed a total of five games his entire career at UW, and Wozniewski has further honed his skills after having four two-point contests last year and looks to give the young UW offense a boost from the back line.
With six of seven defensemen returning, the Badgers’ defensive unit will be hard to rattle and even more difficult to slip a goal by, especially with the men between the pipes.
GOALTENDING
Key Loss: None.
Additions: None.
Wisconsin’s goaltending is the strongest asset to this year’s squad. With arguably the best tandem in the WCHA just one year ago, UW returns both of their goalies, who logged all but 14 minutes of last season. Senior Scott Kabotoff, the team’s MVP from last year, was tied for the school record with a save percentage of 92.0 and registered the tenth-best goals-against-average in school history with 2.87 in 24 contests. Stats aside, Kabotoff’s most endearing characteristic is his ability to keep the Badgers in every game.
The second half of the duo is sophomore Bernd Bruckler, who saw action in 18 games. Bruckler was named to the WCHA All-Rookie team and led all league rookies in nearly every category. The Austrian-born goaltender ranks fourth all-time with a save percentage of .917.
