Halloween started a little early for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team when the Joker joined the Badgers for an end-of-practice shootout Thursday.
While assistant coach Mark Osiecki wasn’t able to score in his “Dark Knight”-influenced costume, the display kept the team loose as it prepared for tonight’s series opener against New Hampshire.
The two-game set begins a three-week homestand for UW, and senior captain Blake Geoffrion said it will be good to return to Madison after splitting two games in Mankato, Minn., last week.
“Coming back to the Kohl (Center) is always a nice thing after being on the road,” Geoffrion said. “And I say this every year, we’ve got the best college hockey fans in the world. [We have] a great student section — it should be interesting to see what kind of costumes we see this Friday and Saturday.”
Halloween in Madison won’t be a distraction for Geoffrion and UW, though.
“Not for me anyways. … I think the guys feel the same way, you know, we don’t really look [at] it as Halloween,” he said. “It’s just another day at the rink, another day at the job.”
The Badgers (1-2-1) faced the Wildcats last year, losing a 5-1 decision in Durham, N.H. But tonight’s game will be just the second time the teams have met this decade. UW holds a 14-3 series lead, though New Hampshire has won the last three meetings.
Geoffrion said taking on a non-conference foe would be a nice change of pace after beginning the season with two series against WCHA teams.
“It’s always cool to play other teams than the ones you usually play every single year. UNH, we played them last year,” Geoffrion said. “They’re a good team, real skilled. It’s going to be a lot of fun to play a team from out east, and I’m looking forward to it.”
“It’s good, but as much as conference games are important, the non-conference are important in the long-run for the NCAA Tournament,” junior captain Ryan McDonagh said. “Even though this is out of the conference, it’s still two very important games.”
The 2-2-1 Wildcats enter the series on a two-game winning streak and are led by sophomore defenseman Blake Kessel. The Madison native and younger brother of NHL-er Phil Kessel leads New Hampshire with three goals and seven assists.
The Badgers won last weekend in Mankato for the first time since 2004. Wisconsin scored four power-play goals, and the power-play unit will be a key component once again against New Hampshire.
“Anytime you get your special teams going, it’s huge. I think it’s one of our strengths as a team, our power play,” he said. “We get a lot of momentum off that from either getting goals or just momentum [from] getting chances. Special teams is going to be a huge thing this weekend — [the] power play, I think it’ll be good for us.”
Another factor that could help the Badgers is that freshman forward Derek Lee gained his eligibility and will see ice time this weekend. UW head coach Mike Eaves said this series will be a good measure of Lee’s readiness.
“He’s got some things you like as a hockey player, and we’ve got to put him in a situation to see what he can do under the fire of the game,” Eaves said. “With the speed and the strength of the game, can he handle all that?”
In partially answering his own question, Eaves noted the way Lee dealt with not being able to practice with the team said a lot about his character.
“There’s no question — we talked about the way you handle one situation is the way you handle every situation,” he said. “And the way [Lee] handled that off-the-ice [situation] is probably an indication … he’ll be pretty comfortable out there.”
Brett Bennett will make his third consecutive Friday night start in net for Wisconsin.
Bennett got his first win as a Badger in last Friday’s 6-0 win over Minnesota State. While at Boston University, he went 0-2 with a 4.06 goals against average in his two starts against New Hampshire.
Eaves considers the series against the Wildcats a good challenge and said the lack of familiarity between the two teams should make the games interesting.
“I just think that it’s a good quality opponent that has a rich tradition. And we get excited about that,” Eaves said. “We don’t know them as well, so there’s a level of unsure-ed-ness that you have that kind of creates a more exciting atmosphere, so to speak.”
