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As the Wisconsin men’s hockey team found out last weekend
with a series split against Michigan Tech, the WCHA season has arrived. The
schedule only gets tougher this weekend, however, as No. 3 North Dakota comes
to town.
The Fighting Sioux (4-2-1, 2-2-0 WCHA) began the season as
the top-ranked team but have since dropped two spots following a 3-1 loss to
Michigan Tech and a 4-1 loss to Colorado College in consecutive weekends.
For the No. 10 Badgers (4-2-0, 1-1-0 WCHA), the rankings of
the two teams means nothing, as games against the Sioux are always a battle.
"It’s North Dakota. They could not even be ranked, but we’d
be jacked up," defenseman Kyle Klubertanz said. "Every year it’s a rivalry
between us and them. They come in here and they play hard. The place will be
packed and ready to go."
"It’s just an indicator of what kind of team’s coming in,"
forward Ben Street said of the rankings. "On any given night, any team can beat
any other team. We know that, and we know that these guys are a good team. We
give them the respect they deserve."
Like North Dakota, Wisconsin came away with a split last
weekend, losing the series opener against Michigan Tech but rebounding to win
the second game.
"Friday, we were kind of slow coming out of the gates,"
Klubertanz said. "This weekend against North Dakota, we have to get out hard."
Leading the offensive charge for UND so far this season have
been forwards T.J. Oshie and Ryan Duncan. Oshie leads the team with five goals,
while Duncan, last year’s Hobey Baker winner, has eight points.
"They’re quick and they’re skilled," Klubertanz said. "We’re
just going to have to shut those guys down. They don’t like to be hit, so if we
do that, we’ll slow them down."
As talented as Oshie and Duncan are individually, UW head
coach Mike Eaves sees the duo as even more dangerous when they play together.
"When you have three good hockey players playing together,
it makes it really difficult to stop them because they feed off each other,"
Eaves said. "Part of their strength is that they’re able to use people around
them to their advantage."
North Dakota also brings with them the nation’s top
defensive scoring team, allowing just 1.29 goals per game. For a Badger team
that has averaged 4.67 goals per game offensively — second-best in the country —
and scored eight goals against Robert Morris earlier in the season, points will
likely not come easy against the Sioux.
"It might not even be an eight-goal weekend," Street said.
"We’re going to need to capitalize on our chances when we can, power plays and
that sort of thing. … We don’t expect it to be a shootout game."
Part of the stoutness of the defense is due in part to
goaltender Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux, who has started 32 consecutive games
between the pipes for North Dakota. Playing that many games in a row, Eaves
said, has given the Sioux a level of consistency on defense.
"From a coaching standpoint, you know what you’re going to
get; you’ve seen him play a lot and you have a feel for what you’re going to
get," Eaves said. "That gives you a level of comfort in that if you make a
mistake, chances are he’s going to stop it."
Lamoureux comes into the weekend with a 1.06 goals against
average — good for second-best in the nation.
"He’s a good goalie, there’s no doubt about that," Street
said. "In terms of us approaching it, we know that we’re not going to beat him
too many times on the first shot when he can see it. We’ve got to get bodies at
the net, we’ve got to bang in rebounds — there are not going to be a lot of
pretty goals playing against this team."
The team’s freshmen haven’t had a chance to play against
North Dakota, but they still understand the importance of the series early in
the season.
"This is definitely a big weekend," defenseman Cody Goloubef
said. "This is going to kind of teach us who we are and kind of be a character
builder."
For Eaves, it is tough to imagine a series better than the
one this weekend that will boast five first-round draft picks, last year’s
Hobey Baker winner and has been decided by one goal in nine of the last 12
games.
"Every time we play this team it is one of the best series
year, without question, whether it’s here or there," Eaves said. "Both teams
rise to the occasion, and this is terrific hockey."