The Wisconsin men’s hockey team lost almost 75 percent of its scoring from last season. The 2010 edition of the Badgers were going to have to rely on solid defense and goaltending, because who knows what kind of offense they would be able to generate. UW was supposed to take a while to click and figure out who was going to put the puck in the net.
The Badgers didn’t get the memo.
Picking up where they left off last season, UW lit the lamp 12 times in 7-0 and 5-2 wins over Alabama-Huntsville this weekend. Seven of those goals came on the power play.
Surprising? Not for head coach Mike Eaves.
“To be really honest, in watching them in practice, it was pretty good indications that we were going to do good things,” Eaves said.
The Badgers were effective on the man-advantage last season once every player on the unit knew his role. Defensemen Justin Schultz and Brendan Smith quarterbacked the power play, while Blake Geoffrion sat in front of the net. Michael Davies and Derek Stepan used their vision to create opportunities.
This season, the only holdover from the first unit is Schultz, who scored twice on the power play Friday night.
“I think we’re all just familiar with each other,” Schultz said. “We’ve been doing well in practice, and things are just carrying over into the game. We feel really confident right now.”
Junior Jordy Murray has settled into Geoffrion’s old role, and Craig Smith has played well after being on the Badgers’ second unit last season. One of the key cogs in the 2009-2010 power play units was No. 9 – and still is.
Freshman winger Mark Zengerle, who has a goal and six assists playing on the top line with Smith and Murray, has more in common with Davies than just his jersey number. The Rochester, N.Y. native looked uncannily familiar in finding Jake Gardiner across the crease for a one-timer from the right circle.
“He’s exactly like Mike last year; he sees the ice so well,” Schultz said. “He can read those lanes perfectly, just like Mike did last year. He’s the perfect guy to be in that spot this year.”
“We were hoping that Mark could be that guy down on the goal line like Michael Davies, who has good hands and sees the vision,” Eaves said.
The early success on the man-advantage – UW is converting at a 37.9 percent clip on the season, third best in the nation – seems to be a good sign, especially for a young team. The Badgers’ 11 power-play goals are best in Division I, and four different Badgers have two power-play tallies.
With offense being much less of a worry four games in than before, the confidence in the power play has been a boost for UW’s young team.
“It’s definitely a confidence-builder. Starting the season like this, we’ve had a lot of success,” senior captain Sean Dolan said. “We know it’s a long season, we’re going to have ups and downs but guys are working hard right now and their hard work is starting to pay off.”
“Confidence is something that you always would like any team to have, especially a young team. We’re seeing and we’re starting to believe the things we can do, the things that we talked about, they execute and they say it does work,” Eaves said. “If we can continue to grow that reservoir of confidence – because we’re going to hit moments in the season where it will be tough – then we’ll have to draw on that reservoir of confidence. So the more we can get now early, the better it will serve us later.”
