For the Badgers, a win and a tie against Minnesota is always sweet, and this season’s early series success has gone a long way to show the character of the team. For Bernd Bruckler it’s a bit of a mixed blessing when Wisconsin matches up against Minnesota and Thomas Vanek.

For the two Austrian hockey stars, the matchup continues a trend that started half way around the world.

While Bruckler enjoys the chance to see Vanek, his former neighbor and childhood friend from Graz, Austria, Vanek is also one of the most dangerous scoring threats in all of college hockey.

This weekend’s outcome produced similarly mixed emotions for the Wisconsin netminder.

Bruckler lost the battle to Vanek, surrendering four goals to the Gophers’ hottest player in two games, but he and the Badgers won the war, as he stopped 71 of 77 Minnesota shots and UW took three of a possible four points.

While Wisconsin’s success against the Badgers made Vanek’s four tallies a little easier for Bruckler to swallow, the goalie admitted that giving one up to his buddy stings a little more than usual.

“[Our rivalry] also gets built up at home, and then I hear from it on the phone or per e-mail, and I don’t want to have that happen,” he said.

This season Bruckler has played an intricate role for UW, shutting down opposing teams in the closing minutes of games. As head coach Mike Eaves continues to gain confidence in Bruckler, his rebuilding of the Wisconsin men’s hockey program continues to evolve. Eaves hopes eventually to emulate the success of Minnesota, which despite struggling early in 2003-04, has won the last two national championships.

“They’ve got good players and good coaching,” Eaves said. “When you have that combination, it’s like a good horse and a good jockey ? you can win the big races.”

“You can have good players, but when you get to those big races you need a jockey who can get you in and out of all the pitfalls there. And if you’re a good coach [and] you don’t have a good horse, you’re not going to win the big races … They have both.”

Eaves obviously believes that UW has a quality coaching staff, even with the impending loss of John Hynes to the National Team Development Program, and he obviously believes that the Badgers need to continue to bring in talented players in the mold of Ryan Suter, Jake Dowell, Robbie Earl and others in order to get where the Gophers are.

“We have to find the best players that we can, because there’s certain things you don’t teach,” Eaves said. “You have to find those players who have magic and great character and great will. I like our coaching staff, and I think if we match the good players with our staff, then we can do some things.”