UAA vs. Wisconsin Preview

There are two possible ways to beat Bucky this weekend in my view. First would be to beat them at their own game. Their game is to play a flawless (or as close to flawless as possible) defensive game combined with great goaltending. Coach Eaves has basically perfected this game plan over the last couple of years. If you take the puck behind the net to set up when you break out you'll find a a nice box in the neutral zone designed to deny you all parts of the ice. If you get into their zone you'll find a regimented dedicated and highly effective team defense that limits shots. I'd think trying to beat them at their own game would best be left to teams like St. Bob that already play the neutral zone trap. Brian Elliot is nothing but solid solid solid in his net. He's positionally very good and always squared up to the puck. His D gives him a good look at the puck and if he gives up a rebound they are on top of it. The offensive losses the Badgers had from last year to this, left many a Madisonian scratching their heads wondering where their goal scoring would come from. So far this season Jake Dowell has been THE guy scoring 6 of the Badgers 17 goals. They'll be without Jack Skille who is their most dynamic player; senior forward Ross Carlson is also injured. But with 5 other NHL draft picks it isn't like UAA won't have to play a solid defensive game.

I said there were two possible ways to beat them and since UAA isn't going to begin to match something that it's taken Eaves two years to perfect the other option is to play the uptempo game that Coach Shyiak has put in place; but it will have to be played at its highest level possible. Passing will have to be crisp and accurate. UAA will have to outwork Wisconsin on the boards and win more than their share of pucks in the open ice. The Seawolves size advantage isn't as great as with some other teams they've played but they'll need to make that pay dividends this weekend. UAA will have to be excellent in their own end and zero goaltending errors will be necessary.

There's not much chance that Eaves will have a real good scouting report on UAA so a couple of guys might be surprises and hopefully UAA can gain some advantage there. The first guy I'd look to surprise this opponent would be Kevin Clark. I don't think UAA fans really have seen what I believe this kid is capable of doing. One reason for that of course is the fact that twice now Kevin has taken himself out of games by hitting someone from behind. Even if he can't read a players name he still oughta be able to see the big numbers on their backs and not repeat that mistake again this season. Twice is enough. Next surprise for Bucky would be Paul Crowder who often surprises me with his excellence when the puck is on his stick. He reminds me of Ales Parez but I think he has more of a nose for the net. He's dynamic, strong and talented. Another surprise for Bucky is how good UAA has been bringing the puck up the ice. After the last couple of years I think this is the biggest turnaround for the 'Wolves. Smith, Anderson, Robinson, Hunt, Backstrom and big Luke are all more than very capable skaters and have all contributed to this new valuable asset for UAA. It's clear at this point of the season that there is zero quit in the upperclassmen this year. Props for those efforts should go to Bourne, Kronschnabel, Tarkir and Waldrop who kept hitting and competing for pucks regardless of the score last weekend. They'll all have to continue that sort of play against Wisconsin for UAA to earn some WCHA points. Lastly, a good PK and a PP that clicks will (as always) be important this weekend.