'Anything's on the table' for teetering Wisconsin men's hockey
The Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team rematches the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as UW's injury misfortune continues
Being swept by the worst Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team in a generation was a blunder for Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey, as it dropped its fifth and sixth games in a row. It would be an unmitigated disaster, however, if the Notre Dame Fighting Irish skated out of the Kohl Center with a sweep over UW this weekend.
Needless to say, it is far from an opportune moment for Wisconsin (15-9-2, 8-8-0 Big Ten) to lose a first-round NHL Draft pick to long-term injury and be in the midst of a goaltending controversy.
From the beginning to the end of January, Wisconsin fell from solid NCAA Tournament footing to a precarious position on the tournament bubble.
After sweeping the Fighting Irish on the road (and scoring 16 goals in the process) in early December, the Badgers welcome Notre Dame (5-18-3, 1-13-0 Big Ten) to Madison, as Wisconsin tries to avoid giving Notre Dame just its second conference win of the season and stop an extended slide from becoming a total collapse.
“We’re in a results-based piece here. Our process has to continue to go in a good direction,” UW head coach Mike Hastings said in a press conference on Tuesday. “The guys’ mentality has been good this week, and we’re gonna focus on what we’re gonna control moving forward while learning from last weekend.”
Who to watch: Can Quinn Finley break a scoring slump?
Formerly Wisconsin’s leading goal scorer, forward Quinn Finley is in the midst of a six-game stretch without finding the back of the net. The junior, who has tallied ten goals and nine assists this season, has not scored a goal since Wisconsin’s last series against Notre Dame.
“Nobody wants to score or do well more than [Finley],” Hastings said. “And it’s for himself; it’s for the team. He feels a responsibility that way.”
A quick skater with tremendous stickhandling talent and an impressive shot to boot, Finley is perhaps the most critical player to Wisconsin’s offense. His struggles have, in turn, led to team struggles.
During the Badgers’ six-game losing streak, UW has scored fewer than three goals four times. This season, Wisconsin has played eight games against teams currently ranked in the top five of the national polls, amassing a 3-5 record in those contests. Finley has been held scoreless in all eight of those games.
“It’s about him just getting back to his process and understanding what makes him good and what doesn’t,” Hastings said of finding ways for Finley to find his offensive groove. “And going out and contributing in other ways.
“Scorers, you need them to score, but they also need them to be able to go out and do a lot of other things. Because as we’re gonna call on him over this back half of the season, we need his entire game, not just the idea of him contributing offensively. He knows that, understands it, and no one’s got greater expectations on Quinn than Quinn does.”
What to watch: Anything Wisconsin hockey can do to improve defensively
In last weekend’s series finale against the Gophers, Badgers forward Christian Fitzgerald finally snapped a streak spanning over four games in which Wisconsin had failed to score a 5-on-5 goal. Although Minnesota only outscored Wisconsin 3-2 at equal strength, that game remained out of reach for the Badgers throughout as the Gophers scored four power-play goals.
On the weekend, Minnesota converted on six of its seven power play opportunities, doing significant damage against a Wisconsin PK unit that ranks in the bottom ten nationally.
Hastings listed the penalty kill among the things that “obviously” did not go well for his team against the Gophers.
“And that starts with your goaltending, and so we’re dealing with that,” Hastings also noted.
In recent weeks, Hastings has tried both Daniel Hauser and Eli Pulver in net as things have gone sideways in Madison. Hauser started the first 12 games in net this season for the Badgers, but Pulver has continued to push for playing time.
“Anything’s on the table right now. Just because it’s an opportunity that, I think, all three of them are trying to compete for,” Hastings said of trying to find a reliable solution in net, also alluding to the possibility of Anton Castro making his second-career start. “And really, it’s about evaluating where you’re at and then earning the opportunity to get the next start. When we started at the beginning of the year, it was a little bit of that; Daniel took the ball and ran with it.
“And we need somebody to take that ball right now and just be a little bit more aggressive in their mindset as well as our team without—from our team standpoint—without going to the box. But I do think having a more aggressive mentality from our goaltender is something that’s important for us to be successful on the weekend.”
Adding injury to the mix, Wisconsin Badgers defenseman and Ottawa Senators first-round NHL Draft pick Logan Hensler “won’t be available for a while” after suffering a lower-body injury against Minnesota, Hastings confirmed. The injury will lead to Jack Horbach moving from forward to defense, as Hastings has done in other games this season when he has had a limited number of players available on the blue line.
Why to watch: The Badgers need to improve right now
For at least one piece of good news, Hastings said, in no uncertain terms, “Zelenov’s back.”
Vasily Zelenov, the freshman forward, missed the last eight games after suffering a lower-body injury during UW’s matchup with Western Michigan in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off title game. Before being sidelined, he had tallied only two goals and seven assists in 15 games, but was seemingly finding his stride with six points in his previous five outings for the Badgers.
If Zelenov were to return with that same level of success, perhaps Wisconsin would improve its recently lackluster 5-on-5 production right away. Maybe Zelenov, UW’s second-line center, was the missing piece all along. Maybe having him and top-line center Gavin Morrissey out for multiple games at the same time was always a recipe for disaster.
Regardless, this is a series in which Wisconsin needs to re-find itself, regardless of who remains sidelined and who is in the net. After this weekend, UW closes the season with matchups against Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. The Badgers have a combined 2-4 record against those opponents this season.
When, where, how to watch, stream, listen to Wisconsin hockey vs Notre Dame:
Where: Kohl Center — University of Wisconsin-Madison — Madison, WI
Game 1
When: Friday, February 6th, 7:00 p.m. Central
Watch/Stream: Big Ten Plus
Listen/Radio: 1310 AM WIBA / Varsity Network (Play-by-play: Brian Posick; Analyst: Ian Perrin)
Game 2
When: Saturday, February 7, 7:00 p.m. Central
Watch/Stream: Big Ten Plus
Listen/Radio: 1310 AM WIBA / Varsity Network (Play-by-play: Brian Posick; Analyst: Ian Perrin)
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Still can’t get any women’s Hockey YouTube content. Not that I am bitter.
The serious comment, hockey seasons are long and streaks happen. Add in these players being tough too tough sometimes, and they get tired. They are kids.