With the Wisconsin men’s hockey team traveling to Denver for a critical WCHA series, the Badgers will get a first-hand look at instant replay, which is being tested at the Pioneers home, Magness Arena.
Wisconsin’s head coach Mike Eaves is certainly a fan of the replay system.
“Why not have [instant replay]?” Eaves said. “[The replay is] there, you take a look, [the puck is] either in or it’s not, you move on and you have it right. I am a proponent of that.”
What Eaves does not like about the current system is that replay is only available in a few select locations that the NCAA is using for a trial. With the speed of hockey and the technology being readily available, Eaves sees no reason why the WCHA and the NCAA should not adopt the system league wide.
“I wish that we would have [replay] in place right now,” Eaves said. “I just think that the game is so fast and so much is on the line that if we have the capabilities to do it, why aren’t we doing it?”
According to Eaves, having a trial run in a few select locations “just delays what I think is the inevitability of the fact that [replay] has to be in place.”
Defense leads to championships: Denver is the defending national champion, largely because they played such stout defense during their championship run late in the season. While this year’s version of the Pioneers is currently tops in the nation in scoring, they are only the No. 20 team in defense. If Denver continues to rely on simply outscoring opponents they may find repeating last season’s feat awfully difficult.
“You’re going to win championships with defense,” Eaves said. “Yes, [Denver is] scoring numbers now, but those numbers always seem to fall when you get to the tournament.”
The Badgers, who currently sport the nation’s fifth best defensive record, have put themselves into position to have a successful stretch run. When asked whether or not he would like to see his team enter the post-season with its current defensive prowess, Eaves reiterated his point that defense generally goes hand in hand with winning.
“When you take a look at every championship team, I don’t care what sport it is, offense wins games, defense wins championships,” Eaves said. “To answer your question, absolutely, if [defense] is one of our strengths going into post regular season play, that is something we’d like on our side.”
First look at Denver: At first glance, the one stat that really sticks out about the Denver Pioneers is their incredible scoring balance. DU has seven players with 10 or more goals, the most of any team in the WCHA. With those seven players spread across all four lines, the Pioneers pose quite the matchup problem for their opponents.
“Who do you cover?” Eaves said. “If you focus on one line, another line’s going to come through.”
What makes the Wisconsin/Denver series so interesting is that the Badgers have probably the second most balanced scoring attack in the WCHA behind the Pioneers. With both teams possessing the ability to score on every shift, it should make for an intense weekend.
“I think their balance is a strength of theirs as it is ours, so it should be a real good matchup in terms of those commodities,” Eaves said. “Both teams are balanced and we’re going to go head-to-head with that aspect in mind.”
