Undefeated Michigan Tech.
For those familiar with college hockey, the phrase is not only eerie, but timely, given that it’s Halloween weekend. The Huskies are 3-0-2 to start the season, after going just 5-30-1 in 2009-2010. In the past three seasons combined, MTU has just 25 wins, or three fewer victories than the Badgers finished with last season.
Regardless, it’s the Huskies who are undefeated as they take on the Badgers in a WCHA matchup at the Kohl Center this weekend.
While in the past this series looked like a given for UW, this weekend could pose a challenge. MTU is fourth in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 4.8 goals per game. However, they’ve been prone to get into goal-fests this season, giving up 3.2 goals per game, illustrated in 4-4 and 5-5 ties earlier in the year.
Despite the big goal totals, Michigan Tech isn’t doing anything fancy.
“We’ve got to try and block out, prevent them from getting to the net because they like to get to the net and we’ve got to block shots,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “They’re a pretty simple team, they get the puck back and they try to get it to the net – most of their goals have been rebounds and tip ins and stuff like that.”
The big battle could come on special teams, where MTU and UW are second and third nationally in power-play percentage. The power play has been a strength for the young Badgers, who have connected 13 times with the man-advantage.
Despite their recent success against the Huskies – the Badgers own a nine-game unbeaten streak dating back to 2007 against them – forward Podge Turnbull isn’t taking the series lightly.
“We’re expecting a 5-0 team,” he said. “They’re very strong and they’re a very hard working team. If you don’t respect that, it’s going to jump up behind you and bite you in the backside.”
Wisconsin sits at 3-2-1 after losing and tying at Denver last weekend. Friday night, the Badgers fought back to tie the game at two in the second period, but gave up two more goals in a sloppy 4-2 loss.
“I think Friday was kind of an eye-opener for a lot of guys, for a lot of the freshmen, just seeing how hard the WCHA is going to be,” senior goaltender Scott Gudmandson said.
Wisconsin held a 2-0 lead in Saturday’s game before giving up two to allow Denver to tie the game 2-2, which held up as the final score.
As a result, UW is next to last in the WCHA standings, although there has been just one weekend of conference play.
“I think the guys saw how quickly points can slip away on Saturday,” Gudmandson said. “That one point, even though it’s early in the season, can come back to haunt us.”
“Coming out of Denver with a point is okay, but we’re not real satisfied with that, we felt we let a couple games slip there,” Turnbull added.
Despite giving up the lead Saturday, the team felt it played much better than in Friday’s game. Freshman forward Mark Zengerle was a bright spot for the Badgers, taking over the team scoring lead with a goal and two assists against the Pioneers.
And while the Huskies own the edge in scoring, it’s the Badgers who are fourth in the nation in scoring margin. UW scores 2.17 more goals than it allows per game, compared to a 1.6 mark for MTU. Scoring margin is a good indicator of overall performance – the top four teams in that category last season were Boston College, Wisconsin, Miami and RIT, which, not coincidentally, made up the Frozen Four.
But it’s still early in the season and the focus now is getting points, especially at home.
“We’re at home this weekend and that’s a very good thing for us, because we’ve got to learn how to protect our house,” Turnbull said.
“We know that we need four points this weekend, that’s our goal for this weekend,” captain Sean Dolan added.
