The Wisconsin Men’s Hockey team is six games into it’s 2nd half and they currently hold a 5-1-0 record to start out this half of the season, sweeping both home series’ and splitting it’s one trek out west to Mankato. The competition hasn’t been the highest of levels, but the results are much different than the 1st half of the season and it very well could be a signal that one of the conference’s youngest teams is growing up before our very eyes.
None other than Mike Eaves thinks so.
“We watch video, and we’re connecting the dots, understanding systems better, winning more one-on-one battles, doing the things that we have been trying to improve in practice, we’re seeing results in the game now.” said Eaves. “It has helped us to have the record we have right now.”
That record is now above .500 as the Badgers currently sport a 12-10-2 overall record after sitting 5 games under .500 for the 1st half of the season.
With just 10 games left there is little room for error if Wisconsin wants to achieve it’s stated goal: home ice for the playoffs.
Currently the Badgers sit all alone in 9th place in the WCHA standings with 16 points and have already managed to leapfrog Bemidji State in the standings. They are only 1 point back of the two teams in 7th place (Michigan Tech and St. Cloud State) and are just 2 points away from this weekend’s foe in North Dakota for that 6th place spot.
One of the keys to the Badgers growth this season has been the emergence of goalie Joel Rumpel. “Well I think it’s a couple of things. I mean, his growth is kind of like our forwards and defensemen,” said Coach Eaves. “In his position, he’s got better at moving the puck. He’s got better at his rebound control. He’s raised his level of intensity in terms of detail work to his area as a goaltender. And as a result, it’s helped him get better numbers.”
So, what has turned the table for this team? Well, growing up from the freshman helps and that’s only a natural part of anything, doing something at a new level for the first time is different and the more you get used to it the better you become. But, it’s also been through the help of some of the veteran guys, guys like Justin Schultz.
“First of all, the type of person he is.” said Eaves in a press conference. “He is probably our hardest working, if not the, if one of them on our team on a day-to-day basis in practice. And if you’re a younger guy, and you’re looking at this guy who is so skilled, and he’s our hardest working, then I want to take that lead as well. So he teaches without even saying anything.”
It’s that type of leadership and the natural growth of young players that have made this Badgers team a force to be reckoned with down the final 10 games of the regular season.
Young players like Jake McCabe and especially Joseph LaBate have really picked things up going into the 2nd half of action. McCabe came in to the 2nd half with no goals and only one assist, mainly due to a wrist injury that kept him out since early October. But since coming back in the 2nd half he has put up 3 goals and 2 assists already, showing the game has really slowed down for him. LaBate on the hand showed that he was ready out of the gate, scoring 3 goals and 9 assists in the 1st half. Those numbers are good, but so far he’s eclipsing them with 2 goals and 4 assists in the first six games of the 2nd half. For the year he sits 5th of the team in points with 18 and has a +7 rating for the season.
Those are two great examples of the “light going on” experience that truly special young players have and they will be a key to the quality depth of this team down the stretch. But make no mistake about it, this weekend at North Dakota will tell us a whole lot about where this team really stands in terms of growth.
“We as a staff are very much interested to see how we respond and see if we can play in that atmosphere because that’s the kind of atmosphere you’re going to play at when it comes time to win, or try to win a championship,” stated Eaves.
With Wisconsin having the goal of a home ice playoff series in front of them this test will help a lot in determining if this team really has grown up before our eyes or not.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
