After beating the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 team in an exhibition game last Friday, the Badgers head out east to face Clarkson (3-2-1) and St. Lawrence (3-3-0) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Unlike a normal road trip, the Badgers do not know what to expect out of both of these teams. Both Clarkson and St. Lawrence have had relatively up-and-down seasons, but have both played well against some top-notch hockey programs.
Amidst both of their fluctuating results, Clarkson and St. Lawrence have each beaten teams that the other has fallen to. St. Lawrence took down the New Hampshire 6-2, while Clarkson took a 3-5 loss against the Wildcats. Conversely, Clarkson toppled No. 5 UMass-Lowell 4-3, while St. Lawrence succumbed to the River Hawks 2-5 earlier that weekend.
Accordingly, with each team playing well against different teams, there will be a lot of uncertainty heading into this weekend for the Badgers.
Not only will the they face uncertainty regarding game planning for their opposition, there is still some internal uncertainty that Wisconsin faces before dropping the puck on Friday. Specifically, after the Badgers’ win last weekend, head coach Tony Granato said that he has not yet come to a final decision on his line pairings moving forward.
“We’ll mix this week. I’m not sure what we’ll go with next week,” Granato said after the game against the USNTDP. “When we go to Clarkson and St. Lawrence we’ll have a week to put some lines together to get ready for them.”
A lot of how the lines come together will depend on the health of the Badger players. Junior forward Cameron Hughes went down last week after blocking a shot, and sophomore forward Seamus Malone missed the game recovering from a minor injury the week before. Both players skated at practice, and Granato said that they are likely to play this weekend.
Malone and Hughes are major point-producers for this Wisconsin team, and having them on the ice will be crucial to creating space and attacking the zone with speed from the outside.
Still, even with all the uncertainty going into the weekend, the Badgers feel certain that they have a big advantage over both of these teams on the powerplay and the penalty kill.
The Badgers’ powerplay has been flying to start the season, scoring on over 26 percent of their opportunities, good for sixth in the NCAA. Clarkson is killing 85 percent of their penalties (No. 28 in the nation) and St. Lawrence is only killing 81 percent (No. 37), both of which are relatively low marks. If the Badgers can get to the powerplay, they will likely put up a few tallies with the man advantage.
Similarly, Wisconsin is again in the top 10 in the nation in penalty-killing percentage, while Clarkson and St. Lawrence have struggled early this season with the man advantage–especially St. Lawrence, which is No. 48 in the nation, only converting on nine percent of its powerplay opportunities.
This weekend will be another chance for the Badgers to prove themselves against solid hockey programs that have had a lot of recent success. If the Badgers can figure out some line combinations that don’t compromise their defense and can convert on their special teams, Wisconsin will have a chance to earn two big wins this weekend.
The game with St. Lawrence will begin Friday at 6 p.m. and the Clarkson matchup will start Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
