MADISON – Twenty years ago, Joe Pavelski and his teammates at Wisconsin pulled off an unforgetable postseason run.
The Badgers men’s hockey team scored back-to-back shutouts in the regional semifinal and final to reach their first Frozen Four in 14 years. A coupe of weeks later they added wins over Maine and Boston College to capture the program’s last national championship.
This week, the retired veteran of 18 NHL seasons, gave this year’s team some advice as it prepared for the NCAA Tournament.
“His main message is sacrifice and what are you willing to sacrifice for one another to get this thing done?,” junior defenseman Joe Palodichuk said. “I think that really stuck with our group, and that’s the question we’re all asking each other. What are you willing to sacrifice?”
The Badgers (21-12-2) are in the tournament for the second time in coach Mike Hastings’ three seasons as coach, but they arrive in the postseason as a team that is hard to peg..
The last time we saw them they suffered their worst loss of the season, 7-1, to Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament March 11 The Badgers lost six straight games in January but rebounded to close the regular season by winning six of eight games that included three of four versus ranked teams.
Can UW get to that selfless play that resulted in some of its biggest successes this season?
“I think the most exciting thing for me is just that we have proved that we can beat anybody throughout the year,” captain Ben Dexheimer said on Selection Sunday. “I think good teams are able to get through those really deep valleys and also stay level-headed at the peaks.
“We have definitely had those this year, and I think being able to show our talent on the national level here next week is going to be something really special, and we’re ready.”
At 4 p.m. Thursday the Badgers, the No. 3 seed face second-seeded Dartmouth, in a NCAA regional semifinal at DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. The winner plays the winner of No. 1 Michigan State-No. 4 UConn Saturday for a spot in the Frozen Four.
The NCAA berth represents a chance for the Badgers to get their first NCAA Tournament win since they beat RIT in the 2010 Frozen Four and set up a potential rematch with Big Ten regular season champion Michigan State. The rivals split four games this season..
Can Wisconsin shake off 15-day layoff?
But first things first. The Badgers must shake off any rust from the 15-day layoff they’ll have between the Ohio State loss and the tournament opener.
Dartmouth won’t have that issue. It played Saturday, March 21 and defeated Princeton in overtime of the ECAC final.
The situation is like what Wisconsin faced in 2024. It had an 18-day wait until the NCAA Tournament first round matchup vs. Quinnipiac.
The Badgers lost that game, 3-2, in overtime. This year UW coach Mike Hastings looked back at that stretch with the program’s strength and conditioning coaches to see what could be done differently
“I thought we started off slow against Quinnipiac,” Hastings said. “Even though we found our legs and we weren’t too far out of it, we just want to have as good a start as we can.”
Dartmouth is one of tournament’s feel-good stories
Dartmouth (23-7-4) enters the tournament ranked sixth in the NCAA Percentage Index. Wisconsin is 12th. That said there is a Cinderella element to the Big Green’s tournament berth.
This is its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1980. Its 23 wins are a single-season record. Before this year the previous record was 21 wins set in 1941-42 and 47-48. Its last NCAA Tournament win came in 1949.
The Big Green rank among the top 10 in five major statistical categories: penalty killing percentage (.895, second), scoring defense (2.06, fourth), scoring margin (1.59, fourth), winning percentage (.735, fourth) and scoring offense (3.65, ninth).
Dartmouth also has its second-ever Hobey Baker top 10 finalist, sophomore Hayden Stavroff, who leads the nation in goals (29) and goals per game (.85).
“I just think when you play a team that’s got a guy that scores almost a goal a game, you better pay attention to him,” Hastings said. “He’s got a guy that distributes to him that can score also. But I’m also going to tell you this. They’re not a one-line team. They’ve got guys that are all committed to defending. They’ve got really good goaltending. Their special teams are good. That’s what you get in an NCAA tournament.
UW improved on both ends of the ice late in the season
During the eight games that preceded the Ohio State loss Wisconsin seemed to find itself on both ends of the ice.
The Badgers went from allowing five goals per game during their losing streak to 2.6 in the final eight regular season games. That average dropped to just 1.8 per game when counting only the ranked opponents. Meanwhile, the team’s scoring jumped from two goals to five.
Sophomore Gavin Morrissey (10 points), junior Quinn Finley (nine points) and senior Christian Fitzgerald (nine points) have been Wisconsin’s most active scorers during that stretch.
Freshman goaltender Daniel Hauser was in and out of the lineup due to injury during that stretch, but he has shown the ability to bounce back from tough outings. That toughness will be put to the test as he tries to bouce back from allowing five of Ohio State’s goals in the Badgers’ last game.
“The thing that I like about his history is when he’s been needed most, he’s done very well, and that’s previous to getting to Wisconsin,” Hastings said. “There were question marks. How is he going to be as a freshman with the work I put on his plate. (He) came off an injury this last summer and managed that very well and got off to a good start. We’re going to need him to be good tomorrow.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Will Wisconsin show the best version of itself in the NCAA hockey tournament?
Reporting by Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
