Gophers head to Madison to take on winless Badgers

Fresh off a two-game sweep of one of their arch rivals, the Minnesota Golden Gophers now head east to take on arguably their biggest rival of all in the form of the Wisconsin Badgers, who find themselves riding a four-game losing streak heading into both team’s second WCHA series.

Despite the fact that the Badgers are winless in four games and have yielded nearly six goals per contest, one must remember that they have played three very good teams (one game vs. Boston College and New Hampshire and a pair vs. Denver) will all of the tilts coming away from the friendly confines of the Kohl Center.

With this weekend being both Wisconsin’s home-opener and homecoming for the Cardinal and White, the Gophers will certainly not have an easy path to another four-point weekend.

The larger concern for the Badgers might be the loss of senior center and assistant captain Ben Street, who hurt his knee vs. Denver and will miss at least three months and possibly the entire season. He was Wisconsin’s top returning scorer and had been centering the Badgers top line and was a vital part of both the team’s power play and penalty killing units.

As most fans know, scoring does not often come easy for the Badgers, so taking away one of their most consistent offensive threats could prove to be costly as the season goes on. With Street out of the lineup, the scoring onus falls upon players such as Podge Turnbull, Michael Davies, Patrick Johnson, and John Mitchell.

The Badgers can also expect to get some decent contributions from their freshmen forwards. The duo of Jordy Murray and Derek Stepan, who played together last season at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, are both capable of putting up good numbers as first-year players.

Even with Street, Wisconsin’s strength was slated to be its defensive core which is loaded with NHL talent. A pair of Twin Cities boys – freshman Jake Gardiner and sophomore Ryan McDonagh – were first round NHL draft picks over the past two seasons. Sophomore Brendan Smith can say the same thing, while fellow sophomore Cody Goloubef and junior Jamie McBain, who might be the best defenseman in the WCHA, were second round picks.

The Badgers are always strong between the pipes, and despite the rocky start to the season, senior Shane Connelly is expected to carry the mail again this season. He had very good numbers as a junior in taking over for Brian Elliott, as he posted a 2.44 goals against average with a .913 save percentage. Given the talent in front of him, those numbers could increase, though the loss of long-time goaltending coach Bill Howard could have an adverse affect on UW’s goalies moving forward.

For the first time in a long time, the argument could be made that the Gophers are in better shape in the net than the Badgers. Sophomore Alex Kangas picked up where he left off after his freshman season last weekend in turning away 49 of 52 St. Cloud State shots. Barring something unforeseen, the Rochester native will get the nod on both nights this weekend. He started both games the Gophers played at Wisconsin last season, with the team losing one and tying the other, but his save percentage was over 90 in the two games so he shouldn’t be intimidated by one of the wildest atmospheres in college hockey.

The skaters in front of him played very well last weekend vs. St. Cloud State. The all-junior line of Tony Lucia, Mike Carman, and Ryan Flynn combined for six points and were very affective in all sutations. Freshman Jordan Schroeder was dynamic as well, picking up three assists including one on Jay Barriball’s first goal of the season. The third member of that line, junior captain Ryan Stoa, made his presence felt by picking up a goal and two assists.

On the blueline, Minnesota was without junior David Fischer on Saturday night, and Minnesota head coach Don Lucia made it sound like Fischer could play this weekend but if he doesn’t he’d for sure be back for next weekend’s games vs. Minnesota State.

If Fischer doesn’t play, Wisconsin native Sam Lofquist will likely stay in the lineup, as the freshman replaced Fischer in Saturday’s game after not playing in Friday’s game. Fellow freshman Aaron Ness was very solid in both games, and the same could be said for sophomores Cade Fairchild and Kevin Wehrs. UW’s forward group probably isn’t as fast as SCSU’s but they will likely be more physical, so how Minnesota’s defensemen adjust to that is something to keep an eye on this weekend.

Friday’s game will air live on Fox Sports North, with the Saturday rematch also starting at 7 p.m. but airing on the Big Ten Network.