A year ago at this time, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team was still trying to get used to a new coach and the new attitude that goes with a coaching change. Unfortunately for the team, those changes were not welcomed by all, and UW struggled through one of the toughest seasons in the program’s history.
A year later, familiarity is breeding success despite the relative inexperience of the team. With seven freshmen and seven sophomores slated to play extensively for the Badgers, coach Mike Eaves looks to turn youthful talent into a successful season.
“We’re further ahead in the curve because we’ve had a year with most of our guys, except the freshmen, and even some of them are coming from similar systems, so it’s kind of exciting,” said Eaves.
The Badgers will again face stiff competition in the WCHA, which is one of the country’s premier hockey conferences. Back-to-back defending NCAA Champions Minnesota will again have a strong team led by preseason player of the year Thomas Vanek and top defenseman Keith Ballard.
North Dakota, another perennial hockey power, will be Minnesota’s toughest competitor for WCHA supremacy. The Fighting Sioux are led by explosive forward Zach Parise. Defending WCHA regular-season champion Colorado College is expected to battle with Minnesota-Duluth for third place, while Denver and Minnesota State-Mankato will battle for home ice in the playoffs, awarded to the top five teams. Wisconsin is picked for seventh while St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage round out the preseason coaches’ poll.
The Badgers can easily improve on the preseason expectations if the freshmen live up to their top-recruiting-class billing. With so much talent, but little previous experience, expect inconsistent play all season long. The Badgers will probably record some big wins over some of the conference heavyweights only to suffer setbacks against some of the teams at the bottom of the standings.
Coach Eaves has set his sights on home ice in the playoffs but knows that it will take hard work and season-long improvement to reach that goal.
“We need to go through some tough times and hang in there together and bond and move forward,” Eaves said. “And as this season begins, it will go through phases and we will find out how improved as we go along.”
One of the keys to the Badgers’ success this year will be how quickly the younger players can develop. This is especially key for Wisconsin’s offensive attack, where senior Rene Bourque is the only proven offensive weapon. Sophomores Ryan MacMurchy and Nick Licari showed a lot of promise toward the end of last season and will be expected to shoulder more of the load for this year’s team.
Freshmen Robbie Earl and Andrew Joudrey have demonstrated a lot of promise at their previous stops but still have to prove that they can translate past successes into offensive dividends for the Badgers.
“The talent is there, we just need a couple of these guys to step up and be pleasant surprises,” Eaves said.
On the defensive side, the Badgers return five players who saw extensive ice time last season. The group is led by senior captains Dan Boeser and Andy Wozniewski. The defensive unit was the strength of the team last year and will only get better with the addition of players like freshman Ryan Suter. Suter was drafted seventh overall in the 2003 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators, and he was also named the preseason rookie of the year in a poll of the WCHA coaches. The position is deep, with talented sophomores Tom Gilbert and Tom Sawatske playing important roles, along with senior Jon Krall and freshmen Jeff Likens and Matt Olinger.
“We’ll be stronger than last year; we’ve got five solid guys returning and three pretty good freshmen coming in,” Boeser said.
“The defense is our strength. We’ll start from there and work our way out,” Eaves added.
In goal for Wisconsin will be junior Bernd Bruckler. Bruckler split his time with Scott Kabotoff last season, but will see a majority of the action this year after Kabotoff’s departure. Freshman Brian Elliott will serve as Bruckler’s understudy this season, with Eaves calling him an early surprise. Like seasons past, the net minders should be strong.
The Badgers will get their first test this weekend as they travel to Omaha, Neb., to play in the Maverick Stampede. Wisconsin’s first game will be against the hosts, Nebraska-Omaha. With just one game under their belts, the Badgers will face either the Gophers of Minnesota or the Black Bears of Maine; either team will present the young Badgers with a tough early test.
