Just one season ago, Minnesota traveled to the Kohl Center and easily won two games against Wisconsin, including a 9-2 beat down of a Badgers team that looked dejected with little confidence. As much as that loss hurt at the time, however, this new Badgers team, under a new coaching staff, feels much more prepared to not only keep the games close, but grab six points in the conference standings.
“Yeah, any time you lose like that it kinda sucks, and then it even being Minnesota, your rival, it stung for sure,” junior forward Cameron Hughes said. “I had a lot of family here, and I know a lot of other guys did too, so definitely one you want to forget about and move on.”
The rest of the team, like Hughes, has already put that loss out of their minds and is focused solely on preparing for this weekend’s matchup.
“I don’t know that there’s any carry over,” senior forward Grant Besse said, referring to whether or not there is a revenge factor still in play from last year’s crushing loss. “Obviously where we are at in the standings right now in the Big Ten, there is a lot of points riding on this game. They’re two games ahead of us and I think they swept last weekend so if we can get a couple points this weekend I think we would be putting ourself in a good position for the rest of the year.”
Like Besse, the rest of the Badgers are preparing for this Minnesota matchup like any other weekend throughout the season.
“I mean we’re preparing for the game and they’re preparing for the game,” Hughes said. “We’ve moved on from that and moved on from last year and we’re a new team and so are they, so we’re focused on us this year and looking forward to doing what we do this year.”
Still, even if it is just another game, playing Minnesota, the Badgers’ biggest rival, does provide some extra incentive to pull out a win.
“I mean, I think the right answer is no [there is no extra motivation], but yeah, I would say either when they come here or when we go there, obviously you want to play your best,” Besse said. “Obviously, any time Minnesota or Wisconsin plays each other in any sport there’s that rival factor that comes into play. I think that rivalry might be slacking a bit over that past couple years for us, just based on the way we’ve performed, but with this new team and our confidence in what we can do, I think it will be a good weekend.”
Aside from the extra drive that the Badgers will likely show this weekend, they also feel a lot more prepared going into this matchup than they did than last year. All season, head coach Tony Granato has preached confidence to his team, and just a few weeks into the conference schedule, Wisconsin looks like a team that believes they can win.
“I think we believe in ourselves and the coaches believe in us and as a group we know that we can do things that make us successful,” Hughes said. “So I think it’s just a general belief starting from the coaches that kind of trails down to us.”
For the seniors, like Besse, this will be the last time that they play Minnesota in the Kohl Center. Despite this just being two more games, this group of confident Badgers will be doing everything they can to secure two victories and avenge that 9-2 loss last season.
“Every game is important, so [we’re] just trying to treat this game like any other one,” Besse said. “But I think there might be a little bit extra in the tank for everyone this weekend.”
