The Wisconsin men’s hockey team will travel to Michigan for a second straight weekend, this time heading to East Lansing for a two-game series with the Michigan State Spartans.

Wisconsin (4-22-4, 2-12-2 Big Ten) will look to build momentum as their season nears the finish line with the Big Ten tournament on the horizon. This weekend’s series at Michigan State (14-14-2, 8-6-2 Big Ten) will be their last regular season road trip of the season.

For a team as young as the Badgers, the second half of the season can almost be like a new season because of how much freshman players grow in the first half of the year.

Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves believes that growth is starting to become apparent.

“Now you’re starting to see their individual talents shine through,” Eaves said. “We’re seeing that and that’s a good thing. When this all comes together we will have something special.”

Eaves said he is encouraged about the direction that his team is heading, citing their ability to stick together as a reason for their growth over the season.

“We have had to rely on each other, and I think we’ve had to be there for each other in terms of honest feedback, in terms of what we are trying to do in certain areas,” Eaves said. “I would say one of the reasons that we are having the continued growth that we have is because of the fact that everybody is there for each other.”

According to Eaves, Michigan head coach Red Berenson commented after the game that the Badgers seemed much improved since the last time the Wolverines played Wisconsin, despite losing the series by a combined score of 8-2. However, Eaves also added that losing is never fun and was hopeful the losses will make his team even hungrier to snap their three-game skid.

“You try to keep things in perspective,” Eaves said. “When you lose a couple games like that where you have a chance going into the third period and you come away empty, there is a taste in your mouth that is not pleasant.”

The Badgers and Spartans should be plenty familiar with each other considering they played each other just two weeks ago. Wisconsin took game one of that series 2-1 while Michigan State shut out the Badgers 3-0 the following night at the Kohl Center.

Despite playing Michigan State so recently, Eaves was skeptical of how much the experience will help his team more effectively combat Michigan State’s defensive, “pack it in” style of play.

“I hope it does, but having played against teams that play like this, it’s hard to not want to try to skate through them,” Eaves said.

Wisconsin will be spending plenty of time in the state of Michigan this month. When the Badgers play in the Big Ten Tournament in Detroit in a few weeks, it will be their third trip to Michigan in the month of March.

The Badgers sit at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, but have a chance to jump Ohio State and gain a higher seed in the conference tournament if they finish strong. The Badgers close out their regular season next weekend at home against the Buckeyes. However, Eaves said he is only focused on their next game.

“I haven’t even looked at [the standings],” Eaves said. “It’s about Friday night, us getting better and us playing our best hockey. I don’t care who we play. When we go to Detroit, it’s about trying to play three good games.”

Wisconsin and Michigan State will face off both Friday and Saturday night in East Lansing at 6:00 p.m.