[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]When taking in a Wisconsin men's hockey game at the Kohl Center, Matt Olinger is probably not the first player you notice on the ice. In fact, he may be the last.

But if you ask him and his coaches, the junior defenseman is actually playing his best hockey if you don't even notice him at all.

"A compliment you would like to give a defenseman like Matt is: 'I didn't notice you all game,'" UW head coach Mike Eaves said.

There are not a lot of times that an athlete would consider a statement like that much of a compliment, but Olinger is the perfect example. And he doesn't try to use any sort of smoke and mirrors in describing his role for UW.

"I'm a third line D-man — just go out there and my job is not to get noticed," the junior blue liner said. "If I don't get noticed out there, that means I've done my job. If I am getting noticed, I'm making mistakes."

Being a stay-at-home defenseman also means taking a hit on the statistic sheets.

Olinger has played in all but one of Wisconsin's 24 games so far this season yet doesn't have a single goal or assist to show for it. In his 78 career games as a Badger, he has four assists.

For his teammates, those numbers are fine.

"He's doing a great job, we couldn't ask for any more out of him," assistant captain and fellow defenseman Tom Gilbert said. "He's fundamentally sound, he's tough, he wins one-on-one battles."

But while UW needs scorers like Robbie Earl and Joe Pavelski, it's not always about the goals and glamour.

"[My role] is fine with me — I've grown into it the last three years," Olinger said. "[Coach Mark Osiecki] and Coach [Troy] Ward have helped me fit that role and I think I'm doing a pretty good job right now."

"I think you have to play to your strengths," Eaves said. "He recognizes what his strengths are. His strength is getting the puck into the hands of the scorers and letting them do their thing."

But it hasn't always necessarily been quite that way. While he has never been an offensive-minded defenseman, his numbers show that playing on the blue line didn't always keep him from scoring.

The Madison native had 40 points in 68 games while playing for the Madison Capitols in the 1999-00 season. But his shift towards more of a defensive presence occurred in his three years with the USHL's Cedar Rapids Rough Riders.

There, he had just 31 points in 156 games.

"Ever since I've played, I've tended to lean that way," Olinger said of his defense-first mentality. "Ever since I came here, it is even more that way now."

Even though he didn't post big numbers in the USHL, that didn't keep him from winning awards as the Cedar Rapids' best defenseman, most dedicated player and the Rough Rider Award after the 2002-03 season.

But his shift towards being a stay-at-home defenseman was just part of his story, a journey which began with a young Olinger growing up watching the Badgers and has ended with him donning the cardinal and white himself.

"Since I was a little kid, I've been coming to these games," Olinger said. "I've seen the 1990 team win the national championship, I've seen all the goaltenders in net — it's just a dream come true."

The road to his dream was one that he had never even thought about as he went through high school.

He was happy just playing Midget hockey for the Capitols and knew barely anything about junior hockey. Things changed quickly.

"A lot of the junior teams came and watched me play, but I didn't know much about it," Olinger said. "I started talking to coaches, and I started learning about this whole other world of junior hockey."

Soon after, he found himself trying out for Cedar Rapids and Des Moines and received yet another surprise when he was actually picked up by the Rough Riders.

"I wasn't expecting to go," Olinger said.

The move meant leaving Madison Edgewood High School a year early to move away from home, living with a whole new housing family and taking on the rigors of playing junior hockey while finishing high school.

If you thought leaving for college after graduation was bad, imagine leaving a year earlier when you least expected it.

"I wasn't ready for that right away," Olinger said. "I thought I was going to be here in Madison, going to Edgewood for my senior year, and then all of the sudden, I'm leaving. It was a big change in my life."

It's an interesting change that most high-school kids — and most athletes for that matter — don't even have an opportunity to have but one that Olinger embraced and used to mature both on and off the ice.

He parlayed that experience into quick success at and away from the rink at UW.

"I had a chance to go out and learn how to be responsible," Olinger said. "I had already been away [from home]. It helped me transition into playing college hockey and living on my own."

Those few years helped Olinger achieve his childhood dream, and despite his lack of scoring, hasn't disappointed in his three-year career.

He won the award for Most Improved Player his freshman year and hasn't looked back. He has taken on more of a leadership role and has become more of a voice in the locker room this season.

"He's come full circle already, both on and off the ice," Wisconsin senior captain Adam Burish said. "His first two years here, he wouldn't say a word. Now every game he's in there saying stuff, which is good. And on the ice, his confidence level has risen."

This weekend Olinger, who grew up loving the Badgers and hating the Minnesota Gophers, will write another chapter into his fairy tale at the Kohl Center.