Baggot: Five takeaways from series vs. Michigan
December 11, 2016 | Men's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Expecting to win is learning process for UW entering winter break
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Five takeaways from the Wisconsin men's hockey team following its Big Ten Conference series with Michigan:
One: It was good to have freshman center Trent Frederic back in the lineup, even though his outings against the Wolverines were somewhat uneven. He had a goal and an assist in the opener, a 7-4 win, and was held without a shot and minus-3 in the series finale, a 4-1 loss, though he did hit a post on the power play. Put simply, the Badgers are a much better team with Frederic in the lineup. They were 2-3-1 and averaged 2.83 goals a game while he was recovering from a hand injury. With Frederic available for duty, UW is 6-4 and averaging 3.8 goals per outing.
Two: Asked to identify the most consistent player heading into the semester break, UW associate head coach Don Granato said it was Frederic, who has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 10 games. "He's been good every night," Granato said. "He has been great, but if you pull any one of our scoring-type guys out, we almost go down to two (high-end) lines from three."
Three: Which UW player has improved the most since the season began Oct. 1? Granato took a blanket approach. "You could run the whole gamut," he said, mentioning senior winger and top scorer Grant Besse as a candidate. "They're all improving. It's incredible how much they've improved." Granato ultimately locked in on a cluster that includes senior winger Aidan Cavallini, junior wing/center Jason Ford, sophomore winger Matthew Freytag and sophomore center Jarod Zirbel. "Those guys have figured out how to be effective and play consistent," Granato said. "Now we're going to see if they have another level for that. They've helped us, no question."
Four: The Michigan series marked the fourth time this season the Badgers have won the opening game on a weekend and lost the second. Granato said that reality is part of the ongoing transformation from a team that hopes to win to one that expects to win. "I think the biggest component upon observation of this group behind the scenes is they don't realize they can win now to the extent that they fully expect that outcome," he said, referencing the fact UW had won only 12 of 70 games the previous two seasons. "It's an odd feeling for them just to expect to win. I think that's cost us games. … We're good enough to find a way. We're just not there believing that we can find that way."
Five: The Badgers have the sixth-best power play in the nation with a conversion rate of 23.0 percent (23-for-100). They already have more man-advantage goals than they had all season in 2015-16 (22), '14-15 (15) and '12-13 (18). UW had 25 conversions in '13-14. Wisconsin has scored at least one power-play goal in 13 of 16 outings.
