Michigan Hockey vs. Wisconsin: This Time It’s on the Ice

After beat Wisconsin on the basketball floor, Michigan hockey will try to take down the Badgers on the ice.

The Wisconsin Badgers are the quintessential portrait of American college hockey. Tapping into the rich talent pool from Chicago north through the upper Midwest, the Badgers give the state a high level program without professional competition.

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Think Alabama football and Kentucky basketball. Just like those teams, the Badgers have a nice tradition on the ice. The school has won six national championships, the last one being in Milwaukee in 2006.

The Badgers hockey team shares the Kohl Center with the basketball program but they aren’t second fiddle. At the program’s peak, hockey sold out the Kohl Center every Saturday night. The aforementioned 2006 squad had attendance better than a dozen NHL teams.

The Badgers lost their way though, hitting rock bottom just as the team switched from the WCHA to the new Big Ten conference. In 2014-2015 the Badgers went 4-26-5. Yikes. Last season long time head coach Mike Eaves was shown the door and replaced by former Badger player Tony Granato.

Granato is familiar to Red Wing fans as he was an assistant coach with the team before returning to his alma mater. Granato’s first year has surpassed expectations.

After muddling through a pedestrian non-conference stretch the Badgers caught fire in the Big Ten portion of the schedule. They are currently second place to Minnesota and on the bubble as a NCAA Tournament team.

Are they for real? The Badgers were consistently inconsistent until the calendar flipped to 2017. They have a win against ranked BC and a loss. They beat ranked St Lawrence but lost to ranked Denver. They have two losses to Northern Michigan who, until a recent shutout streak began, was a basement dweller in the WCHA and one of the worst teams in the country.

Then they began to fly high before being swept at home by Penn State. I lean towards Wisconsin being legitimate but they are vulnerable.

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Michigan hockey has been more competitive lately, most of the time. They are 1-2-1 in their last four games but played very well two weeks ago against Ohio State when they picked up a split. Both nights they lost the oomph to close out strong or it could have been a nice building block for the struggling Wolverines.

Last weekend against MSU saw the team fade as the weekend rolled on. Michigan hockey won 5-4 at Joe Louis in a shootout but lost 4-1 Saturday night at Yost. Michigan State has two conference wins this year, both at Yost and by a combined margin of 7-1. That’s disappointing if you are a Michigan fan. In a rebuilding year, losses against better teams can be learning experiences but coming out flat at home against a rival who is also struggling isn’t Michigan hockey.

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Wisconsin scores and gives up goals at a high clip. Michigan will need Cooper Marody to show up this weekend. He had 6 points against OSU two weeks ago. He adds dynamism when involved.