Midpoint Metrics: Badgers building winning mindset for Big Ten
December 24, 2016 | Men's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Wisconsin is halfway through the season and preparing for conference play with notable positives
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Members of the Wisconsin men's hockey team will tell you they've seen major progress during the first half of the regular season.
There's ample evidence to back that up.
The Badgers are 8-7-1 overall, notable given they won 12 times combined the previous two seasons.
They've won four road games, which equals their totals from 2014 to '16.
They're among the top 20 clubs nationally in shots on goal per game, power-play conversion, penalty killing ratio, face-off success and scoring offense.
They won consecutive road games — at St. Lawrence and Clarkson — for the first time since March of 2014.
They beat perennial power Boston College, ending a six-game losing streak in the non-conference series, and knocked off defending Big Ten Conference tournament champion Michigan on the road, ending an eight-game skid in the series.
No wonder first-year UW head coach Tony Granato and his staff, associate head coaches Don Granato and Mark Osiecki, maintain they're ahead of schedule when it comes to reconfiguring the program.
All those developments bode well for the second half, which features 18 Big Ten assignments and opens on Jan. 6 with a four-game home stand at the Kohl Center vs. Michigan State and Minnesota.
But if the growth spurt is to continue, the Badgers are going to have to refine a major aspect of their game.
"They don't realize they can win now to the extent that they fully expect that," Don Granato said. "We're trying to get to that point."
Nearly half of the current roster — 11 of 26 — saw action during the previous two seasons when Wisconsin won only 12 times in 70 games and twice finished last in the Big Ten.
The group is not only learning how to win, but learning how to do so consistently. Those are two major undertakings.
"It's an odd feeling for them just to expect to win and I think that's cost us games, just not having that," Don Granato said.
Here's a snapshot of that phenomenon: The Badgers have won the first game of a weekend series five times, but followed through with a victory the next night only once.
They startled Boston College 3-1 in the opener, but allowed a goal on the first shift of the second game and went on to lose 8-5.
They defeated Merrimack 3-2 to open the series, but were outshot 16-7 in the first period the next night while allowing the game-winning goal and losing 2-0.
They knocked off Colorado College 2-1, but were outshot 20-9 in the first 20 minutes and allowed first-period goals 2 minutes, 17 seconds apart to Denver on the way to a 6-5 setback.
They whipped Michigan 7-4 in the Big Ten series opener, but allowed two goals in 73 seconds the next night on the way to dropping a 4-1 verdict.
"Good teams just find a way," Don Granato said. "We're good enough to find a way. We're just not there believing that we can find that way."
Senior defenseman Corbin McGuire insists he and his teammates know how good they can be.
"To see the results we're having is really promising," he said. "I don't believe there's any reason we can't win right now."
UW players look at the standings and see they held BC, one of the most potent offenses in the nation, to one goal in 60 minutes. They see they scored five goals on the road against Denver and St. Lawrence, clubs currently situated among the top 10 in the country in scoring defense. They see they're 3-3-1 against schools with winning records.
"I don't think we lose because we're getting out-skilled or anything like that," senior winger Aidan Cavallini said.
Wisconsin is 4-2 in one-goal games (8-10 the last two seasons), is 2-1 when tied after two periods (2-7-3 the last two seasons) and is 4-7-1 when trailing after the first period (0-22-8 the last two seasons).
"There's really not one of those games we lost that this coaching staff and team didn't feel we could win," sophomore center and captain Luke Kunin said.
Perhaps, but that trend of inconsistency from one night to the next is hard to overlook.
Is it possible that veterans on the team subconsciously settle for three periods of weekend success because it's more than what they've been used to? Remember, the Badgers failed to experience victory in 24 of the 34 regular-season series from 2014 to '16.
"When you look at how the weekends have gone, that's kind of the reality of it," McGuire acknowledged.
"We have to find this mentality that just because we won on Friday — that's a better outcome than we've had in year's past — you've got to turn it around and find a way to win on Saturday."
Why hasn't it happened?
"It's part of growing, part of learning," McGuire said. "The team you play Friday night, they're going to change things up on Saturday and be a completely different team. You have to have that mentality as well."
Cavallini said everyone in the lineup has to be on the same emotional page.
"It's just expecting to win every game and going with that killer mindset, so when we do win on a Friday night we don't loosen up," he said. "We stay intense and stay focused and concentrate."
The only time the Badgers won both games on a weekend was during a rare trip to the East Coast in October. They knocked off St. Lawrence 5-2 and Clarkson 5-4. Both opponents have fared well since — the Saints are 10-5-4 overall; Clarkson is 9-7-3 — which makes the decisions all the more impressive.
McGuire outlined the degree of difficulty — hostile buildings, good teams, debuts for five freshmen — while pointing out the obvious benefits of the sweep.
"To know what it feels like to win on the road is big," he said, no doubt mindful of the fact Wisconsin was 4-21-4 in true road games the previous two seasons.
Now UW players must find a way to expand on those emotions and become more consistent.
"Our willingness to win is there," Kunin said. "We just have to bring it every night."
Cavallini is one of five current Badgers players who were on board in 2013-14 when UW won the inaugural Big Ten tournament title.
"Kind of see glimpses of that now," he said.
Those expecting the Badgers to make gradual upgrades underestimate how the new coaching staff wants things done.
"They expect to win," Kunin said. "They're winners. They're competitors. Nothing but winning sits well with them and I think that's trickling down.
"We don't want to wait a while to be winners. We want to win right now."
