With the Sauer legacy ending, a new legacy at the University of Wisconsin is beginning. Former Head Coach Jeff Sauer has left the reins of the men's hockey team to new Head Coach Mike Eaves. The team is kicking off its season for the first time in 20 years with a new head coach. Eaves is up to the task of getting the Badgers to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2000 season.
The Badgers have not won the national title since 1990. Eaves says winning a national championship is an ultimate goal for all teams, including this one, but they realize \we have intermediate goals to get there.""
Wisconsin, picked to finish sixth in the conference, finished 12-13-3 and in fifth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association last season. UW finished with a 14-18-4 overall record and looks to improve that record this season.
Eaves, a 1978 UW graduate, is the Badgers' all-time leading scorer. He went on to play for the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota North Stars, and coached the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL. For the past two seasons, he coached the U.S. Hockey National Team Development Program, which helps train hockey players under the age of 20 for college programs. Recently, USA Hockey named Eaves as the 2002 Developmental Coach of the Year. He led the 2001-'02 U.S. National Under-18 Team to the gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship in Slovakia last April.
Eaves believes coaching on the National Development team may help in recruiting players to play with the Badgers' hockey team.
""[My coaching staff has] a good handle on the best talent of young players in the United States,"" Eaves said. ""That's a big advantage. We have to work at going up into Canada a little bit and finding out what the talent level is out there.""
Players including junior defenseman Dan Boeser and junior forward John Eichelberger said with their new coach at Wisconsin, their practices have become more intense.
""This September with Coach Eaves, we were working out as a team basically every day,"" Eichelberger said. ""We were more team-oriented.""
Eaves said that they are not as prepared for the beginning of the season as they should be. Since Eaves is a new coach, he has to teach his system not only to the incoming freshmen but also to the upper classmen.
""Most of the teams in the country have about 75 percent of the players who know what is going on in terms of system, but we have zero percent. It will take a while to get where we want to be, but we are where we should be right now,"" Eaves said.
After last season, the hockey team is losing players who used up their four-year eligibility. Among the players the team will have to replace are captain Andy Wheeler, assistant captains Kent Davyduke and forward Matt Doman, along with leading scorer Matt Hussey and defenseman Rob Vega.
With the departure of the seniors, the seasoned players are going to have to step up and take the place of the outgoing players. Eaves will likely rely on players such as senior center Brad Winchester, sophomore center Alex Leavitt and goaltenders Scott Kabotoff, a senior and Bernd Bruckler, a sophomore.
The Badgers will play host to the Ice Breaker Tournament this weekend. The Badgers will be hosting RPI, Boston University and Northern Michigan at the Kohl Center Friday and Saturday nights. UW will play RPI at 7:35 p.m. Friday and the championship game is Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
