MADISON – When thinking about Wisconsin’s fiercest men’s hockey rival, one traditionally would look northwest to Minnesota.
These days, though, given rankings and recent history, the team with that honor might reside across Lake Michigan rather than the Mississippi River.
It’s tough to top Wisconsin vs. Michigan State.
The second-ranked Badgers and fourth-ranked Spartans will meet in a Thursday-Friday series at 8 p.m. Jan. 15 and 7 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin swept their first pair in November in East Lansing.
“The one thing about playing in the Big Ten now – and this is my third year as a coach – is you better be on point, no matter who you’re playing,” UW coach Mike Hastings said in his weekly media session Jan. 13. “And until somebody knocks them off, they’re two-time league champions. So they’ve got some pedigree to them.
“They’re good at what they do and so we want to judge ourselves against the best. The best way to do that is play them. We’re playing at a very important time for both of us. So it’s a great opportunity for us to look at a mirror a little bit, and see where we’re at.”
Wisconsin (15-3-2, 8-2-0 Big Ten) jumped a spot and Michigan State (15-5-0, 6-4-0) dropped two places in the USCHO.com rankings after the Badgers swept a home series against Alaska Anchorage and the Spartans split at Ohio State.
The top of the Big Ten standings has been a jumble throughout the first half of the season based both on balance and on which teams were playing nonconference games at any time. Entering the week, Michigan sat on top with 26 points and a 9-3-0 record, although Wisconsin had a better winning percentage.
Now all three teams play Big Ten games exclusively through the end of the regular season in February, with only top-ranked Michigan having a weekend off.
For Hastings, the series against Alaska Anchorage provided a good opportunity to reset for the sprint to the finish.
Winter break is strange in general, but the Badgers also played a holiday tournament in Milwaukee without top-line forward Quinn Finley, who was at the Spengler Cup, defensemen Luke Osburn and Logan Hensler, who were at the IIHF World Juniors, as well as defenseman Jack Schultz, who suffered a serious leg injury in December. Then they lost forward Visaly Zelenov to a leg injury in Milwaukee.
Although Schultz and Zelenov will be out for the foreseeable future, Finley, Osburn and Hensler have returned. Finley scored a pair of goals in the second game against Anchorage to cap a three-point weekend, Osburn had a goal and an assist in the series and Hensler recorded an assist.
“There are three important pieces that have a tendency to move guys down [the line chart],” Hastings said. “Those guys come in, and we’ve gotten back to just a little bit of a rhythm. I know school isn’t in session yet, but from the hockey piece I’ve liked how our power play has come back and continued to contribute. Our goaltending’s come back and played well.
“Our depth has been a strength, and we’re gonna need that over the second half.”
Finley moved into a tie with Christian Fitzgerald as the Badgers’ leading goal scorer. Partly out of necessity and partly stemming from his growth, defenseman Ben Dexheimer ranks third in points (18 on five goals, 13 assists) behind Gavin Morrissey (21 on three goals, 18 assists) and Finley (19 on 10 goals, nine assists).
Michigan State has one of the most productive top lines in college hockey this season with former Badger Charlie Stramel (12 goals, 14 assists) between Daniel Russell (4 goals, 16 assists) and freshman Porter Martone (14 goals, 11 assists). Goaltender Trey Augustine leads the country in save percentage (.938) and ranks second in the country in goals-against average (1.725).
“They’re veteran led and they’re very, very well coached,” Hastings said. “If you have cracks in your foundation, they’ll shine a light through it. They’ll try and expose that.
“So I think you’ve got two very good teams that are excited about playing at this time of the year playing against each other in two very meaningful games.”
Even last season when Wisconsin was struggling and Michigan State was ranked No. 1, the Badgers played the Spartans tough. UW won the opener at the Kohl Center 4-0 and played MSU within a goal in each of the remaining games, including overtime losses in Madison and at Wrigley Field.
Wisconsin was ranked No. 7 and Michigan State No. 1 when they faced off in November. UW came back from a two-goal deficit to win the first game 5-4 and then prevailed 2-1 in the second on Dexheimer’s goal in overtime.
“In my three years now being here, they’ve probably become our biggest rival,” defenseman Joe Palodichuk said. “Getting to play them means so much because you know it’s going to be a good game and be tight.
“It was an amazing series to go into their building and win two. It means a lot for our team and our program just to build that confidence early in the year.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin, Michigan State on for college hockey rematch at Kohl Center
