Back on Nov. 7, things were not going well for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team. The Badgers were already coming off a home sweep at the hands of Colorado College to drag their record down to 1-4-1, when third-year assistant coach Bill Butters decided to leave the team in order to spend more time with his family and his ministry.
Head coach Mike Eaves and his staff embarked on a two-and-a-half week search for Butters’ replacement, which ultimately culminated in the hiring of current interim assistant coach Matt Walsh.
“As soon as I found out coach Butters resigned, I actually called coach Eaves and left him a voicemail and said ‘If you’re interested, I’d like to come in and talk to you about the position,’” Walsh said. “[Eaves] told me exactly what the position entailed [and] what his expectations were.”
Two weeks later, the job was his.
The Madison native already has an extensive hockey history in his hometown, as he walked on to the Wisconsin men’s hockey team in 1982, won the NCAA Championship in 1983, and began his coaching career in the area right out of college in 1986.
Walsh has put in time coaching as an assistant at Madison Memorial and La Follette high schools, and he also served as the head coach at Stoughton high school in the mid-’90s. In addition to putting in time locally, Walsh also has history coaching on a national level.
“I finished school and got into a lot of different coaching, and I’ve been coaching ever since,” Walsh said. “I also worked with USA Hockey for 18 years as a coaching chief for the central district… so I was in charge of running all sorts of different coaching seminars.”
In his time with the Badgers thus far, Walsh has primarily been in charge of handling the team’s defensive unit, where he preaches that a “solid defense makes a good offense” and specializes in breaking down his players’ performance through film study. The changes have already been noticed on the ice.
“I’m conscious about some of the things he’s teaching us—little things with stick position and our gap control,” sophomore defenseman Jake McCabe said. “It’s good to see him sharing with us his experiences with what he has learned from the past. It’s good to see him jump in right away and he’s making a difference.”
Those “little things” may not have made a bigger difference than in last weekend’s series at then-No. 5 Denver. The Badgers held the nation’s No. 3 offense to just two goals on the weekend, lowering the Pioneers’ average goals per game from 4.17 to 3.71.
Not surprisingly, with Denver struggling to put the puck in the net, Wisconsin was able to find some success, earning a 1-1 tie and a 3-1 victory in their most impressive series of the season.
“Quite honestly, I have seen things in practices and games as I’m watching drills where the guys are doing those little things that add up to big things during the game,” Eaves said Monday during a press conference when addressing Walsh’s impact. “I think that he’s already had some ripple effect there, and it’s going to continue.”
While he does have the ever-ominous “interim” tag in from of his title, Walsh is open to helping the Badgers in any way he can, whether it is short or long-term.
“We haven’t had any discussions, but I would have some interest,” he said of staying with UW into the future. “I have to see if this is something I want to do, and obviously coach Eaves [has to decide] what direction he wants to take the program, so I think that’s where it stands now.”
“My focus right now is for the interim—if I can help the team in any way I want to contribute.”
If the Badgers can put together more weekends like the one they had against Denver, there is no reason to think that Walsh won’t be around for the long haul.
