Amid a three-game winless streak, the No. 6-ranked University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team (21-10-3 overall, 16-8-2 WCHA) travels north in the regular season’s final weekend to face unranked Minnesota-Duluth (14-15-5 overall, 10-13-3 WCHA) in a Friday-Saturday series.
Last season, the Badgers hosted the Bulldogs in the two teams’ regular season finale and entered the weekend trailing UMD by three points. A sweep would have launched Wisconsin into second place in the WCHA standings, but the team tied and lost to Duluth and finished third.
This year, the Badgers once again have a chance to move from third to second, but could also potentially drop to fourth. Wisconsin can secure at least third by earning two points this weekend. UW can also clinch third place with a Minnesota loss or a pair of Gopher ties at Michigan Tech.
“The big focus, at a minimum, is to get that third place locked up; and a maximum, if we play well and other teams trip a little bit, then we can get as high as second,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “We just want to play well, because that will carry us into the playoffs, bottom line.”
Wisconsin’s second-place hopes lie partially in Colorado this weekend. While UW needs to win both games in Duluth, Denver also needs to sweep Colorado College. If both of those situations occur, UW and CC would tie for second with 38 points. The two teams’ conference goal differentials would serve as a tiebreaker (UW’s currently stands at +31, while CC’s is +34).
More importantly, Wisconsin will be looking to break out of its recent slump. The Badgers have won just one of their last seven games and are hoping to head into the conference playoffs on a positive note.
“Just getting points out of games here and going in if we get momentum going into the playoffs, it’s huge,” sophomore defenseman Jeff Likens said. “We don’t want to be slumping a little bit in the playoffs and have to get out of that then. But we’ve been working on it, and we should be fine.”
UW’s struggles have centered in the offensive zone. Eaves’ squad has scored only four goals in its three consecutive losses.
“We have to manufacture some goals right now and those are things that we can control, just like stopping in front of the net, being a little more tenacious in front of the net to get rebounds and tip-ins,” Eaves said. “We need one to go in off of somebody’s fanny that the referee won’t waive off, and then we’ll be all set to go. But it’s coming. We’re getting closer, I can feel it.”
Duluth, on the other hand, has had its share of struggles this season as well. Picked to finish first in the WCHA in the conference’s preseason poll, the Bulldogs currently stand sixth. Duluth swept CHA-opponent Bemidji State last weekend, but has lost three out of its last four conference games. The poor showing thus far by an experienced Duluth team has been a shock to all of college hockey.
“They’ve got so many older guys and so much maturity on that team,” center Andrew Joudrey said. “They were winning last year and they know what it’s like to get deep into the playoffs. I don’t know if it’s an issue with chemistry or being on the same page, but I really can’t say. It’s kind of funny, I think the whole league is kind of surprised because everyone expected them to be up there at the top.”
Though he has seen his point total drop this season, as many of the Bulldogs have, senior forward Evan Schwabe leads the Duluth attack. The Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan native has totaled 44 points this season, nine more than any other Bulldog.
“[Shwabe]’s a great player,” Likens said. “He’s just a little guy. He does the same thing that guys like (Marty) Sertich and (Brett) Sterling (of Colorado College) do. Maybe if [Duluth] was having a little better year, he could have been right up there with them points-wise. He was last year, and he’s a good player. He makes plays and scores goals.”
Juniors Marco Peluso and Tim Stapleton each have 35 points on the year. However, only one other Bulldog (senior Brett Hammond) has exceeded 20 points.
Following its struggles in the regular season’s final weekend a year ago, Wisconsin fell to Alaska-Anchorage at home in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. This year, Eaves and company are looking to avoid a similar fate.
“I think what’s out there in terms of the carrot makes these games a little bit more worthwhile than even I think they were last year, if I remember correctly,” Eaves said. “So, there’s a little bit more, and I think being on the road, you’re not as comfortable as you are at home in my opinion. We’re in a little bit of a … striving to get out of a funk, if you will, offensively, which is a little bit more incentive for us too.”
