The Wisconsin men’s hockey team doesn’t plan on seeing much rest after the holidays. With the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown and three WCHA conference series contests keeping UW busy, the cardinal and white receive merely a few days off.

Team Italy arrives in Madison tonight for an exhibition game against UW. The continuing association between the WCHA and international competition, which brought France to the Midwest last year, will see Team Italy play a five-game schedule that commenced Monday night against Minnesota with a 4-2 loss.

Last January, Wisconsin tied France 2-2 in a game in which former head coach Jeff Sauer started third-string senior goalkeeper Mark Baranczyk and used his entire roster by the end of the first period. Current head coach Mike Eaves may elect to use the same strategy so that his players can see additional ice time before heading to break.

The main concern for tonight is on the offensive side of the puck. Goals have been hard to come by for UW, and the exhibition contest may yield a relaxed situation in which the Badgers will be able to put a few goals in the net, boosting team morale and confidence.

“I think we’re doing things well in practice, and we can’t covert it to the games,” said senior Brad Winchester after facing Minnesota. “That’s pretty frustrating.”

After tonight’s action, UW will break until Dec. 29, when the Badgers travel to Milwaukee for the Bank One Showcase. The Showcase will pit Wisconsin against Colgate and Harvard against Northern Michigan the first night, with the winners and losers squaring off the next.

Colgate (7-7-1) brings a senior-laden squad to the Bradley Center. The Raiders, members of the NCAA Division III hockey, are led by seniors Scooter Smith, the team’s top goal-scorer with 10, and P.J. Yedon, the team’s leading assist man.

More important, however, is Colgate’s balanced attack that has seen six members notch three goals or more during the season. The goaltending is the major problem area for the Raiders, as the unit has conceded 3.43 goals per game this year while scoring just 2.67.

Monday’s competition could come from Harvard University or from Northern Michigan, the team that Eaves registered his first head-coaching victory against in early October.

The Crimson from Harvard (9-3) should be the likely matchup for the UW/Colgate victor. Harvard possesses an explosive offensive that averages four goals a game and is anchored in the net by Dov Grumet-Morris (92.1 percent save percentage, 2.28 goals allowed).

The key to stopping this veteran squad relies upon stopping its offense. In two of the Crimson’s three losses the offense has not gotten on the board. The most intriguing fact about Harvard is that the roster is owner of 13 NHL draft picks.

Northern Michigan fell to UW 4-3 but since has gone 9-4-1 in the CCHA. The offense has settled down with an amazing 18 players having scored a goal for the squad that averages 3.8 per game. The Wildcats are led by Mike Stutzel (10 goals, seven assists) and Chris Gobert (7-17).

After New Year’s, the Badgers reopen their WCHA schedule. Minnesota State (3-4-3 WCHA, 4-6-4 overall) takes to the Kohl Center ice the first weekend in January in what should be a great matchup for the Badgers.

MSU is led by super-sophomore Grant Stevenson, who is ranked fourth in the nation in points per game. Stevenson has racked up an impressive 13 goals and 15 assists, while his teammate Shane Joseph has been a nice complement. Joseph is second on the team with 10 goals and ties Stevenson with 15 assists. However, that is the extent of the Mavericks’ offense.

With the UW offense struggling, who better to face than a team with a plethora of goaltending tribulations? Jason Jensen has received the nod in goal but has struggled, averaging 3.2 goals allowed and saving only 89.6 percent of shots faced. Jensen is an improvement over the other two goaltenders, who have allowed 4.5 and 7.57 goals per game, respectively.

UW travels to Alaska-Anchorage the following weekend for a series against the Seawolves. The last time UW tangoed with UAA (0-8-3, 1-10-5) numerous fights and words were exchanged, making for an interesting series. The bottom line of the series: It pits two passive offenses against each other (UW averaging 2.12 and UAA averaging 1.75). The contests of Jan. 10 and 11 could give UW the wins it needs to make a strong second-half-of-the-season push.

Finally, Minnesota-Duluth makes the trip south to Madison Jan. 17 and 18. The overachieving Bulldogs (5-4-3, 6-6-4) have shown significant improvement from the past few years and currently sit in the WCHA’s fourth spot. Comprised of 10 underclassmen making contributions, UMD is led by sophomore goaltender Isaac Reichmuth, who has a 6-4-2 record in the net with 92.5 percent save percentage and allows only 2.13 goals a game.

The Badgers’ winter-break schedule is full. However, Eaves feels his players can use the short amount of time off before the holidays to get away from hockey for a few days before coming back after Christmas to rededicate themselves for the second half of the season. And with games against teams in the middle half of the conference standings, UW should be able to add a few wins to its record before students return.