The official start of practice for the Wisconsin men's hockey team may still be more than a month away, but preliminary small group practices are already underway.

The team cannot practice in full due to NCAA rules, but can practice with one assistant coach in four-man groups and captain's practices. These small-group sessions help the players maintain strength and conditioning as well as work on small aspects of the game before they can piece everything together at the start of official practice, just one week prior to their opener with St. Lawrence Oct. 7.

The start of these small practices is also giving the team's newest coach, Kevin Patrick, a chance to bond with the players and acclimate himself to a new team and different coaching style.

Patrick joined the Badgers less than a month ago on Aug. 23, weeks after UW head coach Mike Eaves fired his associate head coach and longtime friend Troy Ward. The move surprised players and left Eaves and his staff in a time-crunch to find another assistant for this season.

"We didn't see it coming," Badger captain Adam Burish said. "[Ward] is a guy we had a lot of respect for and a guy that we're going to miss. At the same time, guys understood that, at some point, he was going to leave here, whether it be this year or in three years, because he's that good."

Luckily for the Badgers, they found a solid choice in former Bowling Green assistant Patrick, who said the Wisconsin job was just too good to pass up.

"Well, the big thing is that the University of Wisconsin hockey program is one of the elite in college hockey," Patrick said. "It's one of four or five in the country that if there is an opening and an opportunity there, you have to look seriously at it no matter where you are."

Now Patrick has just a few weeks to learn the ropes and become acquainted with the Badgers, and he will have to do so while periodically going on the road to recruit. He was in Ann Arbor, Mich., last week.

Perhaps the biggest expectation that Patrick must fill in taking over for Ward is befriending the players. Ward was known to sit down with any player whenever necessary to talk about anything that was on the player's mind.

"One of the most important things [Ward] did was sit down with us," Burish said. "If guys had troubles with school or with family or with girlfriends, or if they weren't happy with the way they were playing."

But in that aspect, too, Patrick seems like the perfect replacement. Having gotten his start at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, Patrick has worked with players of all ages and has an almost identical policy to Ward when it comes to player relations.

"Originally I started my coaching career coaching at the prep school level. At the boarding school I ran a dorm," Patrick said. "So, it's always been part of my career to become not only a mentor, but a friend and have an open-door policy and develop that relationship where guys felt comfortable being able to come in and talk about anything."

"It wasn't just about hockey, it was about life and growing up, and that's something that I have done in the past and I think is my personality and style to bring that to the job."

It sounds like it won't take Patrick long to bond with the players, and he already has a connection to the coaching staff. He was an assistant coach with the Green Bay Gamblers in the 1997-98 season when current Badger assistant Mark Osiecki was head coach of that USHL franchise.

"Because of his experience, Kevin will be able to hit the ground running," Eaves said after announcing the hiring of Patrick. "He knows the recruiting world. Within three years, his teams have made notable improvements wherever he has been. He is a good match to Coach [Mark] Osiecki and myself and will be a great addition to our coaching staff."