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While his team returned to Madison 0-2 after losses to Boston College and New Hampshire over the weekend, Wisconsin hockey coach Mike Eaves felt his players learned a lot from the two games — especially the freshmen.

“I think the weekend for our freshmen overall was pretty good,” Eaves said in his press conference Monday. “You take a look at the numbers, the numbers say the same things that we felt in terms of production. So from that standpoint, it was a good springboard for them. We need to continue to build on that.”

UW saw several of its newcomers contribute on the scoring sheet in the opening weekend. Forward Jordy Murray had a goal and an assist in Wisconsin’s 5-4 loss to Boston College, while fellow freshman Ryan Little added two assists — including one on Murray’s second-period goal. Eric Springer also collected his first collegiate goal, and Jake Gardiner and Derek Stepan contributed an assist each.

With a balanced output from his freshmen, Eaves couldn’t pinpoint just one player who stood out in their first series.

“You could put a blanket on several of them. I think that you go right down the list, Jordy Murray, Derek Stepan, Matt Thurber did his thing,” Eaves said. “There were some times that the young defensemen actually did some very nice things in playing their first college game. It’d be tough to have one young man step out because they do different things; they play different positions.

“I just think overall it was a very pleasant surprise and a good start for them.”

With that in mind, there were also times when the inexperience showed, Eaves said.

“We had three freshmen defensemen in the lineup Friday night against the No. 1 team in the country. We were kind of worried about that,” Eaves said.

“Giving up the 10 goals was a combination of young defensemen, and Saturday, quite honestly, in the third period we did look a little tired.”As good as some of the freshmen looked, it was the returning members that seemed to struggle for Wisconsin on the road. Defenseman Jamie McBain finished the weekend at minus-five; juniors John Mitchell and Blake Geoffrion had eight and six penalty minutes, respectively; and only two upperclassmen (Mitchell and co-captain Ben Street) scored goals in the two games.

“They just struggled this weekend. I think they know it,” Eaves said of his veterans. “They feel bad about it, and they’re very thankful we play this weekend. They get a chance to play at the level that they know they can.”

Gudmandson gets start in Saturday’s loss

Senior netminder Shane Connelly started the season against Boston College Friday for Wisconsin, giving up five goals but making 32 saves in the process.

“Shane Connelly did exactly what we hoped he’d do and bought us some time by making some big saves,” Eaves said. “Shane played very well.”

But Eaves chose to go with sophomore goalie Scott Gudmandson, who made just six appearances all of last year, going 1-1-2.

Gudmandson faced 33 New Hampshire shots Saturday, allowing five goals in his first road start. Still, his coach liked what he saw in the young goaltender.

“In talking to Scotty on the way home, he knows that he played well. He looked very sharp,” Eaves said. “The first goal was kind of unfortunate because it went off the glass, he didn’t know where it was, and it ended up on their stick and in the net. And then they scored within a minute later. That one wasn’t his fault, but the third one he’d like to have back.

“[It] was good to see him play like that. He played like a big-timer in that first period, and that’s something he can build on.”

Replay system gets facelift

As Wisconsin prepares itself for the upcoming series at Denver this Friday and Saturday, thoughts of last year’s contest between these two teams come to mind.

When the Badgers traveled to face the Pioneers, they were the victims of an officiating mistake by referee Randy Schmidt. After it appeared that Matthew Ford scored the game-tying goal just before time expired, Schmidt reviewed the replay and said the clock was at zero when the puck crossed the line.

With a new video review system, different angles of the new will now be used and multiple officials will view the replays.

“The league responded to a situation. Will that be sufficient enough? We hope,” Eaves said. “Time will tell us in terms of if something similar does happen, will the steps they put in alleviate some of the things that we had to deal with? That is the hope.”