No explanation is needed for why a series with Minnesota is important. But for a struggling Badgers hockey team, these two games against heated rival Minnesota could mean the difference between a disappointing season with a high point or a total disaster.
“It’s a game that’s easy to get up for,” said senior goaltender Joel Rumpel. “You learn to hate the Gophers.”
When the Badgers (0-5-1 Big Ten, 2-15-3 overall) take on the rival Golden Gophers (2-2-2, 11-9-2) this weekend, there are three key things to watch for that should decide the outcome: Minnesota’s strength on the power play, sophomore forward Grant Besse’s recent goal-scoring hot streak and the return of UW junior defenseman Eddie Wittchow.
Minnesota is far from the highest scoring team in the Big Ten, sitting 25 goals behind the leader Michigan. However, the Gophers’ winning advantage this year has come when they’re on the advantage: they have the most power play goals (22) in the Big Ten.
While that seems impressive, what makes it more impressive is that they don’t have the most power play opportunities in the Big Ten, resulting in their percentage of goals to chances (.256) being the best in the Big Ten.
When you compare this to the fact that Wisconsin is the worst penalty killing team in the conference, you’ll see that Wisconsin has to fortify a weakness to nullify Minnesota’s strength if the Badgers hope to grab a win this weekend. The Badgers did exactly that when they beat the Gophers in a shootout two weeks ago, holding them scoreless on the power play on five chances for the game.
Sophomore forward Grant Besse came into the season with expectations to be one of the offensive leaders for the Badgers, being one of the few returning players on a young team. Much like the rest of his team, Besse struggled early on, but he has recently come into the form people expected him to have.
Over the last four games, against Michigan and Minnesota, Besse has scored four goals in regulation, as well as a game-winning goal in a shootout against Minnesota two weeks ago. When you consider the fact that he has seven goals on the season, you see that more than half of his scoring has come in one-fifth of the season. His stats are even more impressive when you consider that the Badgers were shut out in one of the four games, meaning Besse really has scored five goals in three games.
Besse believes his recent success lies in a simple game plan.
“A big reason I’ve been able to score a couple goals the last couple weekends is just putting shots on goal and [finding] openings,” Besse said. “If I continue to do that, I’ll be able to be successful.”
Wittchow is the Badgers’ best and most physical defenseman, yet he has only played in half the team’s games. This has been due to a number of injuries, and most recently being suspended last weekend for an altercation in one of the games against Minnesota.
The Badgers have struggled this season for many reasons, but one of them has surely been the lack of star power on defense, and Wittchow’s return will provide the team with some of that.
“Eddie is one of the top defensive guys in the league, so when he’s out of the lineup it’s obviously a little harder out there to fill his void,” Rumpel said. “It helps… knowing you’ve got a guy like Eddie back there to help you out if you make a mistake.”
The Badgers and Golden Gophers face off Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin fans are encouraged to take part in a “white out” for the rivalry series.
