The Badgers needed this weekend … badly.
It's hard to believe it took so long for the defending national champs to earn their first home sweep of the season and just their second series victory at the Kohl Center in their ninth attempt.
It may have been Wisconsin's breakthrough weekend of the season — with respect to that surprising road sweep of North Dakota back in December — though UW head coach Mike Eaves won't say his team has turned a corner just yet.
But even if this wasn't the season's highlight so far for Wisconsin (13-15-2, 10-11-1 WCHA), there were a few individuals who will look back with fond memories at the Feb. 9-10 weekend sweep of Alaska-Anchorage (11-16-3, 7-16-1).
Brian Elliott has been the unluckiest player in the WCHA during the 2006-07 campaign. The conference's preseason Player of the Year came into this series with a misleading record of 8-15-1, despite relatively decent numbers (2.32 GAA and .917 save percentage, both ranked in the NCAA Top 20).
The senior netminder kept the Seawolves completely off the board for more than 110 minutes until a deflected goal got by him with nine minutes remaining in Saturday's third period.
Besides his individual effort, it made Elliott even more pleased that his team gave him some much-needed offensive support with seven goals in two games.
"That's comforting when we're getting some goals, when you're not facing a lot of shots, it's tough," said Elliott, who needed to make just 15 saves Friday for his 15th career shutout. "I think our defense played well, didn't really make any mistakes; we just got it out and got in the offensive zone."
Eaves was glad to see his Hobey Baker candidate get some more "run support" — as the coach has called it before — and regretted the fact that Elliott hasn't had better luck in his final collegiate year.
"The only talk I've heard about Brian lately is that he's having an off-year. His numbers are still darn good," Eaves said. "It's like that good starting pitcher in baseball that's not getting any run support; we just haven't been able to give Brian that goal support that would give him more W's and fewer L's and probably because of that, his other numbers would be better."
On the offensive side, freshman Michael Davies had scored just once since Thanksgiving weekend — one goal in 13 games — but had his breakthrough game of the season on Friday, helping the Badgers clinch the win with his team's third and fourth goals en route to a 4-0 win.
Eaves, who has been tinkering with his top two lines all season, may have found something this weekend, placing Davies on the wing with senior forwards Jake Dowell and Ross Carlson.
"Mike prides himself on being an offensive guy; he's been an offensive guy all his life. Tonight was an excellent night for Michael and his linemates," Eaves said. "We talk about offense, [the question is] can we keep that momentum going with those young men so they can provide something that we desperately need."
"We just found each other," Davies added. "We were cycling the puck, we were moving around getting shots on goal, and that's what we needed to do tonight and carry into tomorrow night."
Davies did carry that momentum into the next night, adding a power play assist in Saturday's 3-1 win. That gave him three points on the weekend, his highest-scoring series this season.
And just to make the weekend a little sweeter, the Badgers finally got Eaves his 100th win at Wisconsin, after failing to do so in their three previous games.
"We always give a game puck out after a win to who we think played the best," Dowell said. "Tonight, [team captain] Andrew Joudrey asked for the puck from coach, and [Joudrey] gave it to him to celebrate his 100th win. Everyone was excited."
Eaves said the milestone is best represented by the success this program has achieved over the past five years.
"From where we started to where we've gone now and where we would like to continue to keep this program, that averages out to be 20 victories a year," said Eaves, in his fifth year as the Badgers' head coach. "That's not bad. It's a lot of work, and we need to keep continuing to push and trying to get better, have these kids improve.
"Because you know what, that's where we should be," Eaves continued. "We should have 20-plus victories a season because this is the University of Wisconsin."
