Men’s hockey
Coming off a two-game sweep at Penn State (2-15-1 Big Ten, 6-24-2 overall), the Badgers (12-5-1, 21-9-2) still have a chance of winning the Big Ten regular season title.
They trail first place Minnesota by five points with two games to play. Wisconsin clinched at least second place, and will have a bye in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Head coach Mike Eaves is already preparing for the postseason before heading into the regular season finale against Michigan State this weekend.
“We think our second, third and fourth lines can still contribute more,” Eaves said. “That’s what we’re trying to [do] this weekend and even going to the Big Ten Tournament, every weekend we’re going to try to get better, so we’re looking at those type of things that we can get from our kids.”
The Badgers played their last home game three weekends ago, and Eaves believes finishing on the road can help them gain experience as they prepare for both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, hosted at neutral locations.
“We look at it as the fact that we get to go on the road and play. We’re going to play on the road when it comes to the Big Ten Tournament, when it comes to Regional, when it comes to hopefully the Frozen Four,” Eaves said. “So it’s just as we’ve used the term ‘dress rehearsal’ before to get in that mindset, so, yes, we look at it as a positive.”
Women’s hockey
The women’s NCAA tournament kicks off this weekend, and the Badgers (21-5-2-1 WCHA, 27-7-2 overall) will get to play at home after picking up one of the top four seeds. They play a strong Harvard (16-3-3 ECAC, 23-6-4) squad Saturday.
“I guess [we are] certainly excited to get an opportunity to host a quarterfinal game,” head coach Mark Johnson said. We’ve had that opportunity in the past, and then certainly looking for the first ever quarterfinal game at our new arena.” “It should be a good atmosphere. History tells us the community supports us, especially when you get into tournament games in the NCAA quarterfinal games.”
The Badgers enter the tournament having been shutout in two of their final three games, something that Johnson believes is more of an outlier than cause for concern.
“You look at the different areas, our last two games, neither team has gotten a power play,” Johnson said. “There haven’t been penalty calls in our last two [games]. And so you look at that statistic, and that normally doesn’t happen over the course of a couple of games.”
Swimming and diving
The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships are quickly approaching, with each featuring its fair share of Badgers.
The men’s national meet will take place three weeks from now in Austin, Texas, where seven UW swimmers will compete over the course of the three day competition.
Among them is junior Drew teDuits, who will be looking to finish another solid season by defending his national title in the 200-yard backstroke.
“It’s always different having the target on your back,” head coach Whitney Hite said. “I think he’s done a really nice job. It’s part of his maturing process and part of the process [where] we talk about all the steps that you need to take as an athlete.”
Wisconsin will send six swimmers to the women’s national meet, which kicks off in Minneapolis, Minn., a week from Thursday. Wisconsin’s contenders include superstar junior Ivy Martin and several relay teams.
Martin won the Big Ten titles in both the 50 and 100-yard free at last month’s conference meet, and will head to Minnesota looking for her first national title.
“I’ve done a lot of talking with her about just allowing herself to be great,” Hite said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. When you get to this level, just allowing yourself to dream a little bit and to focus on what you can do and all positive thoughts.”
Track and field
Wisconsin will send six men and one woman to Albuquerque, N.M., to compete in this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
“We’re bringing some big guns to the meet,” director of cross country and track and field Mick Byrne said. “The six men are all in good position; they’re all ranked within the top 10. So hopefully, if things go our way, we can score some big points.”
The national meet will take place just two weeks after the UW men’s track and field team won its second consecutive conference title at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, thanks to victories in the heptathlon, weight throw and 5,000 meters on the final day of the meet.
Senior Reed Connor and junior Michael Lihrman enter the NCAA meet as the top seeds in the 5,000 meters and weight throw, respectively. The Badgers as a team are ranked No. 4 in the country heading into Albuquerque.
“I don’t spend a lot of time analyzing the rankings,” Byrne said. “I know if we go into the meet and our kids put their best foot forward and compete the way they have been all season, I think we can score some big points.”
