While school is out of session for Christmas break, the No. 2 Wisconsin men’s hockey team (13-5 overall, 10-4 WCHA) won’t have as long a break, with three weekends of competition during the next month.
After this weekend’s split at Minnesota State, the Ice Badgers will have almost three weeks before their next contest when they host the Badger Hockey Showdown Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Wisconsin opens the four-team competition against Yale before taking on the winner of Ferris State and Clarkson’s Friday night game. Over the years, the Badgers have compiled a 13-5-2 record against the three schools.
Yale hails from the ECAC Hockey League, and after a 12-19 season a year ago, the Bulldogs have struggled out of the gates to a 1-11 record. The lone Yale win was a 7-1 thrashing of Princeton. The Bulldogs have struggled in every facet of the game this season, ranking last in the conference in defense (yielding a robust 4.7 goals per game) and 10 out of 12 teams in offense (2.3 goals scored per game). Special teams have also hampered Tim Taylor’s club. Yale ranks second to last and last in the conference, respectively, on the power play and penalty kill.
Clarkson, another ECAC opponent, has not fared much better. The Golden Knights lead only Yale in the conference standings, with a record of just 4-11-2, but are coming off a successful weekend against a tough Ohio State team, posting a 3-3 tie and a 3-1 win.
Ferris State, last year’s Showdown champion, currently sits in a tie for last place in the CCHA. The Bulldogs rank dead last in the conference in power play, with just eight man-advantage goals in 79 chances.
Wisconsin will hit the road the next weekend to resume WCHA conference play at St. Cloud State (8-9-1 overall, 4-8 WCHA). UW will be looking for revenge in the National Hockey Center after being swept by the Huskies on the road a year ago. St. Cloud has struggled thus far in conference play and is tied for eighth place. Outside of the conference, head coach Craig Dahl’s club has posted a 4-1-1 mark.
The forward trio of Dave Iannazzo (16 points), Billy Hengen (14 points) and Joe Jensen (12 points) lead a Husky offensive attack that has played poorly, averaging just 2.42 goals per contest. The goaltending duo of sophomore Tim Boron and junior Jason Montgomery have played well, answering a major question marked that faced the Huskies after the graduation of Adam Coole. Boron and Montgomery both have posted save percentages of at least .910 thus far, and Montgomery ranks fifth in the WCHA in goals against average.
A mediocre power play and a young defense on the blue line have hurt St. Cloud State in 2004 and could prevent the team from posting a winning record after six straight years over .500 under Dahl’s direction.
In their final weekend series before spring semester begins, Wisconsin returns home to welcome conference foe Alaska-Anchorage (6-9-1 overall, 4-8 WCHA). Earlier this season, the Badgers swept the Seawolves in Anchorage 4-1 in both contests. Prior to those losses, UAA’s record stood at a solid 5-4-1 mark. Since welcoming UW to Sullivan Arena, the Seawolves have won just one game.
Two weekends ago, head coach John Hill’s squad split at second-place North Dakota, an encouraging sign, but last weekend Colorado College came into Anchorage and thrashed UAA by scores of 6-1 and 7-2. Colorado victimized UAA freshman goaltender Nathan Lawson, who yielded 12 goals just a weekend after stopping 72 Fighting Sioux shots. The last time the Seawolves played in the Kohl Center, however, they handed the Badgers a pair of losses to knock UW out of the WCHA playoffs.
Wisconsin will look to maintain its slight conference lead over North Dakota and Minnesota, who sit just one and two points back, respectively.
