After a hot start to open the season, the Wisconsin Badgers hockey team seemed like it was cooling way down as conference play got under way. But, things have turned around a bit over the last three series for the Badgers.
Following a weekend sweep of Big Ten bottom dwellers, Michigan State, the Badgers (8-7-3, 4-3-3-1 B1G) now sit tied with the Ohio State Buckeyes atop the Big Ten standings with 16 points each.
UW ended its first two series of Big Ten conference play with a 1-3-0-0 overall record — splitting a home series with rival Minnesota and being swept by Ohio State.
To say the team wasn’t looking like a contender in the conference was not too far a stretch at all.
“We weren’t happy with the outcomes of the North Dakota and Ohio State weekends,” head coach Tony Granato said following the series sweep of MSU this weekend. “Not necessarily that we lost, but we just didn’t play well. We didn’t play the way we thought we were capable of playing. So we had this stretch coming up, going to Michigan and coming home to Penn State, two ranked teams, and then coming back to a scrappy team here today. We thought that if we’re going to make a push this season and get anything out of it, we’ve got to get going right now.”
The tides have turned since that loss on Nov. 17 to the Buckeyes, as Wisconsin hasn’t lost a regulation game since. UW earned points in a strange way over the course of the next three games — earning ties with Michigan twice and Penn State in that series opener. UW only got extra points in a shootout win over Michigan and lost in a 3-on-3 OT period in that series opener as well as a shootout in the Penn State series opener.
Wisconsin put on a clinic this weekend against the Spartans, winning 8-5 and 5-3 to sweep a series for the first time since the season-opening matchup with Boston College.
It all adds up to a team who hasn’t lost in six straight contests and is on a three-game win streak as they head in to the winter break.
“Playing six games in a row in our conference, playing the way we did and not losing in regulation says a lot about our goaltending, about the play of our defense and about the contributions of all four lines,” said Granato. “That’s been the most fun thing to see, is how each of the lines has found ways to contribute in lots of different ways.”
Can that momentum carry over in to the second half of the season? UW will get former WCHA rival Denver on Jan. 4 to start the second half before a return to Big Ten play.
That means there will be little time to ease back in to things and overcoming challenges seem to be UW’s specialty this year. But, considering how the last few seasons trended when things got tough, this team appears set to be different.
Can it add up to a contender for its first Big Ten regular season title? That will be answered by UW’s ability to turn ties against top teams in to wins.