After a weekend of invigorating hockey at the Kohl Center, the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team finds itself alone in third place in the WCHA. Head coach Mike Eaves believes that with some improvements in the team’s power play, the Badgers can be even better. UW has had its share of struggles with an extra man this season, but Eaves is pleased with the opportunities his squad created this weekend against St. Cloud State.

“We took a look at the video and actually, we had more chances this weekend than we had any other weekend beforehand,” Eaves said. “When you take a look at goals and assists and whether or not you put the puck in the net, the first thing you look at is, are we creating scoring chances? And, yes we did.”

The Badgers are ninth in the WCHA in power plays, converting only 14.7 percent of the time.

“In those moments of truth again and in the power play, we didn’t put the puck away,” Eaves said. “We show them (the kids), you made the good plays and continue to do that, and let’s just find a way to finish it off.”

Eaves was impressed with the performance of his team’s other specialty unit, the penalty kill.

“We did a nice job with that,” he said. “We lined up, blocked shots, cleared the puck. We had some poise and confidence … we had some confidence in that area, and it grew as the weekend went on.”

The Badger head coach hopes he can get a similar effort from his team every weekend. Wisconsin’s penalty kill currently ranks seventh in the WCHA.

“It’s a matter of consistency,” he said. “You know, we’ve talked about that before, the fact that if we continue. I thought that we did a great job in our forecheck that limited the time that St. Cloud was in our zone. Why do we do it one time, and why do we do it one game and not versus others? Consistency factor.”

Trip to Anchorage could be playoff preview

The Badgers will travel to Anchorage this weekend for a series against the Seawolves, which could prove to be a possible WCHA playoff first round meeting.

“If things ended now, we would play them,” Eaves said. “I’d rather have it that way because I think one of the strengths of our staff is to take a look at the other team and break it down. Find things that we could do to counteract what they do.”

If the playoffs were to begin today, the third place Badgers would take on the eighth place Seawolves. This weekend will be the two teams’ only meeting of the season.

“We’re playing playoffs right now,” Eaves said, “so that when the time comes for us to get involved in the real playoffs, that we are in that mind set, that we have that intrinsic understanding of what it is going to take to win.”

Dowell’s status

Freshman forward Jake Dowell suffered an ankle injury against North Dakota two weeks ago, and Eaves hopes to receive word on his availability for the Alaska-Anchorage series in the next day.

“We find out this morning,” Eaves said. “He’s been having treatment. He’ll put his skate on, go on the ice, see what it feels like. If it’s not good, then he won’t play because this is not an injury you play through.”

In 20 games played this season, Dowell has tallied four goals to go along with ten assists.

Brückler turning heads

Wisconsin junior goaltender Bernd Brückler has put together an impressive season. Considered one of the best players in the WCHA, Brückler has begun to garner support for the conference’s MVP award. That argument, however, is one that his head coach will stay out of.

“That’s not for me to say,” Eaves said. “That’s got to go to the other coaches. I know in terms of our team, he’s been a main factor why we’ve had the year we’ve had. As the year has gone on, I’ve heard that comment from other coaches when they play us. They’ve been very impressed with his efforts. He’s been a foundation for us.”

Eaves himself has been impressed with the way the veteran netminder has led a youthful Badger squad.

“We’ve talked about the fact that we have such a young team, and he has allowed our young players to make mistakes and have short-term memories and forget about those mistakes and continue to play on,” Eaves said. “He’s been really important for us, whether he is MVP of the WCHA, and that depends on how the other coaches view it, would be my answer.”

Brückler’s WCHA-leading .924 save percentage has made him a possible all-American and Hobey Baker Award candidate.

Wisconsin tied St. Cloud State in an overtime game on Friday and shutout the Huskies 3-0 on Saturday. Saturday’s shutout was Brückler’s second career shutout. He stopped 47 of 48 shots against the Huskies.