The University of Wisconsin-Madison men’s hockey team has six days to prepare for their two-game away series against Denver University after being swept at home by the Ohio State Buckeyes.
With a 1-3 record on the season, head coach Mike Hastings and the Badgers will take the road this weekend to play in Colorado. Currently, the Denver University Pioneers hold the number one spot in the NCAA, boasting a 4-0 record.
“We are physically and mentally prepared,” Denver University head coach David Carle said on having a successful and dominating hockey team. “The better they get to know each other, the more they believe in and trust one another and the better they are going to perform on the ice.”
While physical strength is crucial in a rather aggressive sport, trust is important when it comes to a winning team, and understanding the emotional support you have from your teammates is even more so.
What can the Badgers focus on to flip their record around?
"There's a lot of things you can nitpick and wish that you did better at,” captain forward Owen Lindmark said after the opening series against Lindenwood. “The most important thing is to flush that, come to the rink in the morning ready to go and make sure that it doesn't happen again."
"There's an effort that has to come with creating your own success, and tonight we didn't have that,” Hastings noted.
After suffering a loss during the season opener against Lindenwood, Wisconsin was able to tie the series as they came around for a win in game two.
“One thing I want our guys to take from this game is that they stayed with it and they were rewarded for it," Hastings said following the win.
Taking the mistakes from game one, addressing them, fixing them and applying these corrections to game two resulted in this success for the team.
But why couldn’t the Badgers maintain this winning streak? Just days after the win, the Badgers were swept by the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Kohl Center.
One word that Hastings constantly repeated in a post-game interview was effort.
The Badgers aren’t putting in the effort other teams are giving them. With the Buckeyes scoring only 21 seconds into the game, the Badgers were off to a rocky start.
“Effort can get in the way of execution when they're not tied together,” Hastings said.
This week, as Wisconsin goes up against Denver, the main focus for the Badgers must be communication and effort. While this may seem rather patent for the success of a team, when it's not translated during game time, it can result in a devastating loss for Wisconsin and its fans.
“It's time to rally behind each other. The only way we are going to get through it is if we rally together as a team,” Lindmark said to the press when asked about the team's focus for next week. “We'll just go to work on Monday, figure out the details we need to improve on and get ready to go against Denver.”
The Badgers suffering a tough 1-3 record in the first four games have posed a challenge. Mike Hastings and the rest of his team haven’t truly shown what they’re capable of. Such a start can push the Badgers to work harder and flip their record around. The efforts of the team should not be dismissed, and now that a lack of communication is seen, the Badgers may be able to come back and defeat the No. 1 Denver University Pioneers.
