This weekend the Wisconsin Badgers travel to Ralph Engelstad Arena to play the 10th ranked Fighting Sioux in a pivotal WCHA series. To say this weekend series is important is an understatement. The Fighting Sioux must get points if they want to stay in the WCHA race. The Fighting Sioux also need wins to stay off the bubble in RPI/PWR rankings. Right now the Sioux sit in about 13th place and risk the change of staying home for the NCAA playoffs if they don’t start winning games.
As I stated earlier on USCHO: right the Fighting Sioux are not getting good play from their goaltending, there is no sugar coating it our special teams and goaltending suck, one could say that there is no where to go but up. On the penalty kill the Fighting Sioux are really having a down year as far as rankings on the penalty kill go, traditionally a strong point for Fighting Sioux hockey teams. Right now the Fighting Sioux are killing about 77.6% of the penalties they have taken that’s good for a 9th place ranking in the WCHA and a national ranking of 52nd over all in the NCAA rankings (there are only 58 teams in Division I hockey). In comparison WCHA teams like the C.C. Tigers are killing 88 percent of their penalties, while the Minnesota Golden Gophers are sitting at 87 percent. While the Sioux are killing 77.6 percent of their penalties which I stated is not very good. There is room for optimism, UND is ranked 7th in the nation on the power play so the Sioux can and will make the opposition pay for their mistakes.
The reason I am saying that the goaltending and defense have not been good this year is the Sioux have a poor goals against average, the Fighting Sioux have given up 4 or more goals 7 times in 15 games (if you count the game against the under 18 team). If that problem remains true to form this weekend the Fighting Sioux are going to be in trouble because the defensive minded Wisconsin Badgers do not give up 4 goals in a game very often, the chances of the Wisconsin Badgers giving up 5 or more goals in a game this weekend aren't very good at all. It’s paramount that UND stays out of the penalty box. The speedier Sioux are also going to have to get to Elliot early because the Badgers are not a run and gun team, and they don’t play that well when they are behind in a game. The Badgers also won't give up many offensive opportunities. The Badgers will plug up the neutral zone and fore check hard, the front of the Wisconsin net will be well guarded, almost like a fortress.
Check out Todd Milewski’s Article on this Weekend’s Series
Captial Times sports writer Todd Milewski seems to think the Badgers are more cut out for games played on NHL sized rinks. Todd Milewski Milewski also says that the Badgers are healthy for this series. Should be a good tilt.
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