The game of hockey at its highest, most professional level is quick, precise and detail-oriented day-in and day-out. Disregarding outliers, the professionals are crisp and businesslike in their approach to mastering their craft.
At the college level, although the athletes' main goal is to become as clean as the pros, the game is much more sporadic. College hockey is defined by quick changes in momentum and high-energy bursts that lead to, if nothing else, passion and excitement.
In the Badgers first regular season series of the year, new head coach Tony Granato saw firsthand the energy and momentum of college hockey. Still, contained in all this excitement was the fact that this Badgers hockey team has a much higher ceiling now than in recent years.
The Badgers finished out their first series of the year with a 3-2 loss and a 6-5 win against Northern Michigan in back-to-back games in Green Bay. Although ultimately presenting different results, each game had a similar storyline.
Specifically, the two contests were defined by huge changes in momentum. Northern Michigan scored 19 seconds into the first period of the opener and Wisconsin’s senior defenseman Corbin McGuire pulled the Badgers within one goal just 35 seconds into the third period of that same game. Both teams were truly battling it out, taking advantage of gaps in focus early in periods.
Still, what highlighted the changes of momentum even more than the early, back-and-forth scoring was the incredible amount of time that each team spent in the penalty box. Over the span of the two-game series, Wisconsin took 30 minutes in penalties, while Northern Michigan spent 36 minutes of their own with at least one man in the penalty box.
“It was exciting,” Granato said after the Badgers' first win of the year. “The penalties and the momentum of games in college hockey shifts a lot more than it does in the NHL.”
Still, despite the excitement that the power plays brought to the games, Granato knows that UW has to be more disciplined and better on special teams if they are going to show any real improvement this season. Despite ultimately scoring one more goal on special teams than they gave up, the Badgers still conceded two short-handed goals in the second game alone that each tied the game up for the Wildcats. Both were scored by Robbie Payne, who was clearly out there just to create offensive chances.
“We can’t give up short-handed goals,” Granato said. “That kid who had all the points tonight, I don’t know who he is, but he’s a heck of a player. We have to get better in that area, making sure we know the risk especially when there’s a player like that on the ice.”
Granato did not love the way the Badgers were attacking in the zone throughout the duration of the weekend. Despite totaling eight goals in two games, Granato wants the Badgers to be more efficient attacking the ice from the outside in.
“We didn’t recognize some situations as well as I would have liked us to,” Granato said. “But it’s just the second game of the year, and we’re not in midseason form.”
Even without the perfect crispness and detail in the offensive zone, the Badgers were flying through the neutral zone, a solid starting place for long-term success. If the Badgers can move through the middle of the ice effectively, they will have plenty of time to work on their early offensive zone mishaps, and will continue to score in bulk throughout the rest of the season.
In the Badgers' first series of the season last year, they tied Northern Michigan twice in the Kohl Center, a result not much different than the start of this season. That 2015 Badgers team then went on to disappoint throughout the rest of the campaign.
Still, despite similar results, this season has the potential to be much different. With a solid foundation of quick play through the neutral zone, if Wisconsin can improve discipline and offensive zone puck movement, Granato’s Badgers will only continue to get better in the coming weeks of the season.
