It was a successful weekend for Wisconsin hockey with both the men and women’s teams dominating.
The men started off their season on the right skate with a 10-1 home opener against the Victoria Vikes in an exhibition match. The team was clearly hungry for a win. The combination of the team’s drive and desire to bring home a W in addition to the new coaching staff and emphasis on offense resulted in a huge win for the the Badgers.
“You get a chance to start a season fresh, everybody’s 0-0 and I know this one doesn’t count, but you want to make a good impression,” head coach Tony Granato said. “You want to get off to a good start, you want to show your new staff and you want to show the fans, and you want have a positive start to the season.”
Granato and the new associate head coaches Don Granato and Mike Osieski are all returning to their alma mater, this time as coaches instead of as students and players.
The boys play Northern Michigan University in this weekend’s series in Green Bay at 7:00pm both nights. They return to the Kohl Center next weekend to take on Boston College on Friday and Sunday at 7:00pm and 3:00pm respectively.
While the men were home, the women beat St. Cloud State in Minnesota with back-to-back victories, 6-0 and 4-2, in their season opener.
Coach Mark Johnson explained after the first game of the series that he was pleased.
“It’s a good way to start, especially for some of the players who scored because usually when they score they become more confident,” Johnson said. “So it’s a good sign. Usually the first game of the year is the toughest from the standpoint that you’re not sure what you’re going to see on the ice.”
The pressure of the first game did not seem to bother Ann-Renée Desbiens, who picked up her 39th career shut out.
After the second game of the series and an incredible third period rally effort for the Badgers, Johnson explained that he liked the way we responded after being down.
“I thought the third period was the best period of the six that we played this weekend,” Johnson said. “We came out and we took the game to another level, competed real hard, created a lot of opportunities and it took a lot of opportunities to get a few goals today.”
Sophomore forward Sam Cogan, who scored twice in the second game of the series agreed with her coach.
“I think we showed that we are a team that doesn’t give up…no matter what happens,” Cogan said. “If we’re down a goal, we just keep playing our hardest.”
The women face Ohio State at home this weekend on Friday and Saturday, at 7:00pm and 1:00pm respectively.
As always, live stream and updates are available online. If you want to get closer to the action there are single game and season ticket packages available at www.uwbadgers.com.
Photo courtesy of uwbadgers.com.