Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves and his squad will hit the ground running this season.
The Badgers will hold their first official practice on Saturday, to be followed by a game against the U.S.A. U-18 team at the Kohl Center that evening.
The team has met unofficially for its allotted two hours per week for the last few weeks. Eaves and his staff have split the two hours into three 40-minutes practices per week. They will have been together 10 times prior to Saturday.
The veteran head coach likes the change in scheduling.
“I think, what it has done is highlighted this first game,” Eaves said. “These practices actually have a meaning and a purpose because our very first official day, we play at 8:00 that night. So I'm interested to see how that pays off. “
Eaves said that the urgency has led to a heightened sense of focus among his players.
“I think the attention has been raised to a higher level because of the fact we have that carrot there. We're playing our first date. So we need to be ready,” Eaves said. “We need to stay focused, even the brief time we have as players and coaches has been very well received, and there's been a good attention level.”
Though the 40-minute sessions may not last long, the brief snapshots have allowed the coaching staff to begin introducing some key concepts.
“I've never seen 40 minutes go by so fast. It seems like 10 minutes, and we're looking at the clock, and we have to get off the ice,” Eaves said. “At least we've been able to get to most of our systems and plant seeds and remind guys of what their jobs are.”
The informal practices have also provided the Eaves and his staff to assess their large crop of underclassmen.
“The interesting thing about this type of year as opposed to last year or the year before, our freshman class and our sophomore class, they're so big,” Eaves said. “Now we have two forwards and two defensemen and a goalie and a young man that's kind of going between defense and forward.”
“So they're able to go to the back of the line and watch several times as to how things are being done and have a better idea when it comes to up to their turn. “
Eaves made it clear that the early sense of urgency will set the tone for a program who feels that they must make the most its opportunities sooner, rather than later.
“If you look at history, you would say these are the two years we need to harvest our crop, so to speak,” Eaves said. “That's what we need to do.”
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