Wisconsin hockey might be having a surprisingly difficult start to the 2014 season but that doesn’t mean that Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky is overlooking the Badgers.
“You can see the improvement that they’ve been making,” Gadowsky said earlier in the week “I’m sure they’ve improved a lot since their first game, and they do have the talent. It takes time to learn a new system which the 12 (freshmen) are. Not surprising they started slow at all. It’s sort of a tough time to catch them.”
Penn State is coming off of a bit of a rough patch itself, losing the last two games after winning two straight in contests with No. 4 UMass Lowell and Michigan. The Nittany Lions are 7-4-2 on the year which is great improvement over the Badgers’ own 1-8-1 record.
Even so the Nittany Lions will continue to look for consistency tonight with a 9:00 PM puck drop in Madison. Penn State has strung together good games and has struggled to find that kind of performance the very next weekend. While Penn State is 1-1 in conference play the goal ultimately is to find and play a brand of hockey that will yield more consistent results even if the Nittany Lions still come out on the losing end.
The good news for a banged up Penn State roster halfway through a two month road trip, make it through this weekend and its a three week break to rest the legs.
“I hope we don’t have to address it,” Gadowsky said to staying focused on the task at hand. “We’ve had a pretty decent start to this season and for whatever reason we’ve had a number of guys out lately at key positions. It’s been tough.
Penn State won’t play against after this Saturday until December 29 at the Three Rivers Classic against Robert Morris. From there it will be nearly the entire month of January back in the friendly walls of Pegula Ice Arena for six straight at home.
“If we can get through this (stretch) and have some success, I think it’s going to be a tremendous boost,” Gadowsky said.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on ESPNews. Penn State fell 2-1 Wisconsin in the 2014 Big Ten Semifinals to the Badgers last season.
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