Steve Fetch is FanSided’s college hockey expert and the Lead Editor for The College Hockey Blog. He also writes about Kansas sports at Rock Chalk Talk. At my behest, he presents his take on the state of Wisconsin Hockey here:
Wisconsin has had a bit of an inauspicious start to the WCHA campaign, dropping a pair of overtime decisions to Michigan Tech, who had just two WCHA wins all last season. And it doesn’t get any easier, as the Badgers host defending WCHA champions North Dakota this weekend.
Still, the word of the day in Madison has to be patience. Over the past few years Mike Eaves has turned the program into a factory for NHL talent. Jake Gardiner’s exit was foreseeable: he is now getting major ice time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that is a tough guy to replace. But they did lose a pair of forwards unexpectedly. Jordy Murray signed in Switzerland, taking advantage of a loophole that let him not be classified as an import player (Murray began his hockey career there when his father coached a team). There was the possibility of this loophole closing, so his leaving school a year early became almost a necessity.
Their other surprising loss was a far greater one. Craig Smith led the team in goals and was second in assists last year, and he played with the United States at the World Championships last summer. His strong performance there led to speculation that he would sign with Nashville, but he insisted over and over that he would not. Still, he ended up signing a little over a month later and now is on the NHL roster (and my fantasy team). The loss of those two are why Wisconsin has been outshot on the year, and why they’ve scored more than two goals only once.
It’s going to take the Badgers a while to get going this year: they have just one senior on the roster, and only three juniors. 10 of their top 11 scoring Forwards so far are freshmen or sophomores, and both of their goaltenders are freshmen. They have seven NHL picks on the roster, so there is plenty of talent, but it is going to need some time to develop.
One thing Badger fans can hang their hats on is junior defenseman Justin Schultz. He was a Hobey candidate a year ago, and had 18 goals and 47 points, both of which led all defensemen. This year he has five points (all assists) through the first four games of the year, but he is going to need some help. Undrafted sophomore Tyler Barnes has three goals, but no other Badger has multiple tallies. Scoring was always going to be a concern with the Badgers, who only returned Schultz in terms of double digit goal scorers. Mark Zengerle had 36 points last season, but 31 of those were assists, and it’s tough to get assists without good forwards to pass too. It will be interesting to see whether Barnes’s increased output is for real, as he had only five goals in 41 games last year. Still, he jumped from 9 goals in his first full year with Waterloo of the USHL to 35 in his second, suggesting an increased output could be coming.
Wisconsin probably can’t keep Justin Schultz on campus another year. Anaheim’s 2008 second rounder is one of the best prospects in hockey and could probably step right onto an NHL blueline whenever he wants. Still, even if he leaves, the Badgers will have plenty of talent to make a run next year, and will also get a scoring infusion in the form of Nic Kerdiles, one of the better college bound 2012 NHL Draft prospects.
The future is very bright on the ice in Madison, but it might be better to focus on Russell Wilson and Jordan Taylor when looking for a Wisconsin team to do big things nationally this year.