The Wisconsin men’s hockey team (0-2-0 overall) will look to bounce back from an opening-weekend sweep as it hits the road to take on Minnesota-Duluth (2-2-0) in its first WCHA series of the season.
The Badgers began the season ranked No. 15 in the country but fell off after back-to-back losses against Northern Michigan. Wisconsin had the lead in the third period of both games but let each one slip away.
“I think we just got away from what we got the lead from—getting pucks in deep, getting pucks on goal,” freshman defenseman Kevin Schulze said. “So we’ve been working on conditioning and getting pucks on the net.”
While the outcome was disappointing for the players, the UNM series did serve to help the Badgers. With the games played in Green Bay, younger Wisconsin players got their first taste of life on the road.
“It wasn’t a complete road series because it was only two hours away from here, but it was definitely a good stepping stone to get used to the actual environment of a road game,” Schulze said.
“It definitely got me into the mode of what a road series would be like—you bus, you stay in a hotel, you play in a different rink,” freshman forward Morgan Zulinick said. “I kind of know how the pattern works, so I’m more prepared for this one.”
Minnesota-Duluth has split each of its two series so far this season with Ohio State and Notre Dame, and is looking to gain some consistency heading into conference play.
The Bulldogs are led by senior winger Mike Seidel, who is tied for sixth in the country with six points (three goals, three assists), and freshman winger Austin Farley, who has started off strong with four points in his first three games.
“They are a very aggressive team, whether it’s special teams or five-on-five,” freshman defenseman Eddie Wittchow said.
“We’re going to play harder than them,” Zulinick said. “We’re going to have to play more physical than them. And we’re going to come out looking for two wins.”
The Badgers are trying to gain some stability of their own. The team scored just three goals in its first series of 2012-’13 after averaging 2.84 goals per game last season.
Head coach Mike Eaves decided to split time in net against Northern Michigan, starting sophomore goalie Joel Rumpel in game one but replacing him with fellow sophomore Landon Peterson for the second game.
Rumpel was the presumptive No. 1 goaltender for the team this season, taking over the reigns as the starter late last year with an impressive stretch of games to close out the season. Peterson, however, has also shown off his ability to provide quality starts when given the chance.
“It doesn’t really matter who’s in net, we have three great young goaltenders,” Peterson said. “Whoever’s in net we’re all behind them and we all have faith in them.”
