BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com

MADISON, Wis. -- The essence of leadership isn't always bold, or even apparent. Eddie Wittchow is proof of that.

He's a senior defenseman and co-captain of the Wisconsin men's hockey team whose subtle act of selflessness during the off-season helped set the stage for a unified tone in the dressing room.

Wittchow could have embraced the life of an upperclassman and immersed himself in familiar people, places and things.

Instead he literally threw open the door to a pair of newcomers and has gone about taking them under his wings.

"It's worked well,'' Wittchow said.

The original plan called for Wittchow and fellow senior, goaltender Adam Miller, to share their apartment on West Washington Avenue with sophomore defenseman Jack Dougherty.

But when Dougherty elected to turn pro in late July – signing with Nashville, the NHL club that drafted him in the second round in 2014 – Wittchow initiated a unique process.

First he called Jayne Lindauer, the program assistant for men's hockey, and asked if any of the 10 incoming freshmen needed housing.

"I'd much rather find teammates of ours to live with, to fill that spot in our apartment, rather than try to go and fill it with some random person," Wittchow said.
Instead of injecting his veteran influence into the matter, Wittchow turned things over to Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves.

"We left it up to coach to decide which ones he wanted to be with us," Wittchow said.

Matt Jurusik, a goaltender from LaGrange, Illinois, and Jarod Zirbel, a winger from Green Bay, now share an address with Wittchow and Miller.

It's a good place to learn if you're paying attention. Outside of having campus awareness and time management skills honed over four years, Wittchow is a two-time academic Big Ten Conference selection majoring in economics and Miller is a biology major currently seeking to enroll in medical school.

"I think it's rubbing off on them," Wittchow said of the new guys.

Wittchow, listed at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, is coming off an eye-catching weekend in Boston. Though the Badgers lost two games – 6-0 to Boston College and 4-1 to Boston University – he did things that define his role going forward.

Eaves noted that Wittchow led the club in hits, made strong plays in all three zones and struck a poised pose throughout.

"He was a captain," Eaves said. "He was a leader. And that's the way we hope he plays a lot this year. I think that makes people around Eddie play better."

The next step in that progression will come Friday and Saturday when the Badgers (0-2-2 overall) play their first-ever non-conference road series vs. Ferris State (1-2-1) in Big Rapids, Michigan.

Wittchow appreciated the sentiment, but was quick to point out that he spent too much time in the penalty box for his tastes – three visits overall that led to three opposing power plays – and could have been sounder on the rush.

"I definitely fell short in some places," he said.

Wittchow suggested some of the calls were iffy, but that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. He's ranked among the top penalty-takers on the team the last two seasons and he's determined to address that flaw.

"I don't want to be that person," he said. "I think it takes away momentum. When I go to the box, I like to think we have one of our more experienced penalty-killers unavailable."

Wittchow knows his physical presence is needed on the ice as much as possible. He's one of two seniors on the blue line – co-captain Kevin Schulze is the other – and with age comes more defined responsibilities.

To that end, Wittchow has been asked to focus on the defensive end. He came into the season with 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 91 games – he was point-less in 25 outings last season – so he was not seen as an offensive whiz.

But sometimes Wittchow tries to do too much and slides out of his comfort zone. Before this season began, he saw down with Eaves and his new staff of assistants – Luke Strand and JB Bittner – and it was decided Wittchow would simplify his game.

"A rock defensively," is how Wittchow described his role this season. "Just keeping pucks out of our net is what they need from me."

It's been an interesting college career for Wittchow, a sixth-round NHL draft pick of Florida in 2011 who turns 23 later this month.

He experienced back-to-back championship seasons as a freshman and sophomore – the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff title in 2012-13 and the inaugural Big Ten Conference playoff crown in 2013-14 – before enduring  a 4-26-5 season as a junior in 2014-15.

Is this the most challenging moment of his life?

"I definitely say it's up there, especially now," Wittchow said.

"Just two years ago Kevin and I were the young guys on teams stacked full of older guys with experience, so it's definitely been a challenge. But I think we see positives so far.''

During the first two weeks the Badgers have rallied in the third period twice to claim overtime ties vs. Northern Michigan, but also been taken to task by a pair of top-10 outfits in Boston. According to Wittchow, the message heading into the Ferris State series is to shoot for a .500 record heading into a home series with NCAA Division I upstart Arizona State on Halloween weekend.

"Obviously you want to take it game by game, but we want to be 2-2-2,'' Wittchow said. "We're going to take it night by night and go from there."