Expectations were low for the 2011-12 Badgers Hockey team due to a depletion of their roster to the NHL and a youthful core left behind, but the team set a home playoff series as their goal this season.
This weekend marks the last home series for the Men’s Hockey team in the regular season and with the way things have shaped up this could very well be their last appearance at the Kohl Center as their chances of a home playoff series have dwindled to the slim and none category.
Just a few weeks ago a home playoff birth wasn’t out of reach or even inconceivable as they actually controlled their own destiny. Heading into the North Dakota series Wisconsin stood 9th in the standings, but just a mere two points away from the Fighting Sioux with 16 points.
Fast forward two weeks and the Badgers still sit on 16 points having been swept at North Dakota and at home by St. Cloud State. That leaves the Badgers in 11th place in the WCHA standings heading into the weekend series against Denver at the Kohl Center.
Four straight losses to teams sitting right above them no longer allows the Badgers to control their own destiny in the race for playoff position and means that Wisconsin must find a way to make up an eight point deficit on the Sioux who sit in the drivers seat for the 6th and final home playoff spot with 24 points.
Wisconsin must also get help in the form of multiple losses by Michigan Tech, Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, and Minnesota State. The only one of those teams that Wisconsin has left is Bemidji State, which sits on 21 points and tied for 8th with the Huskies of St. Cloud State.
“… the fact that our chances for home ice are slimmer now,” said Head Coach Mike Eaves when asked about his teams fading home ice hopes. “We’re going to need help if we’re going to get some.”
The Badgers road isn’t easy down the stretch either as they face two of the top 3 teams over the next three weekends and face Bemidji State in between the Denver and Minnesota series’.
However, the coaching staff and team isn’t giving up on their season just quite yet.
“The quote that comes to mind is by Charles Swindoll,” said Eaves. “That 10 percent of life is what happened to us, and 90 percent is how we react to it. We have a choice now. We can just kind of roll over and play dead, but that’s not human nature.”
It’s unlike the Wisconsin hockey program to finish at the bottom of the WCHA standings, in fact it’s only happened once in program history, the 1975-76 season. Technically it was a tie at the bottom with 3 other teams, but nonetheless they all finished with the least amount of points. That was also when the WCHA looked much, much different in it’s make up, as you see below:
1975-76 |
|||||||
| School | GP | W-L-T | PCT | PTS | |||
| 1 | Michigan Tech. % | 32 | 25-7-0 | .781 | 50 | ||
| 2 | Michigan State | 32 | 20-12-0 | .625 | 40 | ||
| 3 | Minnesota % $ | 32 | 18-13-1 | .578 | 37 | ||
| 4 | Michigan | 32 | 17-15-0 | .531 | 34 | ||
| 5 | Notre Dame | 32 | 15-15-2 | .500 | 32 | ||
| 6 | Colorado College | 32 | 15-16-1 | .484 | 31 | ||
| 7 | Wisconsin | 32 | 11-19-2 | .375 | 24 | ||
| Minnesota-Duluth | 32 | 12-20-0 | .375 | 24 | |||
| North Dakota | 32 | 12-20-0 | .375 | 24 | |||
| Denver | 32 | 12-20-0 | .375 | 24 | |||
*courtesy of the College Hockey Historical Archives.
Since then the Badgers have finished only lower than that 7th place finish just twice in their history. The 1979-80 season saw the Badgers finish 9th out of 10 teams and they finished 8th in the 2002-03 season on 18 points in a WCHA that featured 11 teams.
Without positive results in the next three series Wisconsin is looking at it’s worst regular season in the modern era. The task at hand now is to avoid that and try to get the most favorable matchup possible in the playoffs.
It’s also clear that this team sees the upcoming series as opportunities to grow and learn for the seasons ahead.
‘This team is in the middle of growth, and because of that fact, are we going to quite growing, or are we going to continue to push and get better day by day and control what we can,” asked Eaves. “And knowing these guys, and who they are, and what they’re about and just human nature, I think that’s the path that we’re going to follow.”
He went on to say, “… all we can do right now is get ready for Friday night, and I think that we’re looking ahead to this season, and what we can accomplish and the growth of this young team.”
If history teaches us anything about this program and the few times that it’s been at the bottom of the league it’s this: They’ve bounced right back the next season. With a young team that could be the very direction the Badgers head to in the final season of the WCHA in 2012-13.
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