After a 5-4-1 start to the season, Wisconsin – Eau Claire has found their formula for winning hockey as the Blugolds are unbeaten since early December and are preparing for the WIAC conference battles to come in the second half.
“We have started to play some really good hockey,” stated head coach Matt Loen. “Right before the break I thought we had played our best hockey of the season so far in taking two games against Stevens Point before the break. We weren’t quite at that level when we came back for another win against the Pointers, but played well against an experienced MSOE team on the road and kept the winning formula going. We have shown some good depth scoring, pretty good team defense and we rely a lot on Max [Gutjahr] in the net who gives us a chance to win every game. Things are trending in a good direction, but I still think that some of younger defensemen and forwards have some room to grow and help us in the second half.”
Gutjahr has started every game for UWEC this season and currently shows a 1.92 goals-against average; .928 save percentage and has recorded four shutouts in his fifteen starts including a 1-0 overtime victory over MSOE last weekend. The senior netminder is an important piece of the team’s leadership group and adds his voice to help the young players develop and contribute to the team’s success.
“Max works so hard at his craft every day,” noted Loen. “He is a terrific asset to the locker room and maybe not the typical goaltender in that he wants to be part of the group and the larger process. We added him as a captain in recognition of his voice with the rest of the team and his ability to be a calming influence not only in the game situations but off the ice and in practices too. He already holds the school records for games played and shutouts and I think there are probably a few more he will move to the top of the list on before he finishes his four-year career here this season.”
The Blugolds have been very good at even-strength hockey and have exhibited good balance with multiple lines and players contributing offensively making it difficult for the opposition to key on a single line or player. Nine players have two or more goals with sophomore Nolan Grier leading the team with seven and first-year forward Luke Lavery chipping in with six goals so far this season. While the scoring depth has been a positive, it has been needed to overcome a power play that has produced only two goals in forty-one chances to date.
“Nolan and Luke along with Kade [Peterson] are some of our bigger body guys that can get to some hard-to-play areas and get goals,” stated Loen. “We have a mix of some size and smaller guys with speed, and they are all kind of meshing together and contributing on the scoresheet. With a player like Max in goal we may not need to score a lot, but we have the 5-on-5 game going in a good direction and now need to figure some things out on the power play.”
“I was hoping you weren’t going to ask about the power play,” laughed Loen. “We are getting chances but not getting any bounces or goals yet. I think when I was a player the man-up was my specialty and as a coach I think it is my specialty too. We practice it every day and talk about it all the time so maybe we’ll take a different approach and not practice it and let the guys just go play and see if we can get some results for the effort and chances we have been producing.”
This weekend the Blugolds play host to a pair of MIAC schools when St John’s and Hamline come to Eau Claire for single games on Friday and Saturday. Those two games are the final non-conference games left on the schedule as the final five weeks sees WIAC teams that will determine playoff seeding for the conference tournament.
“The conference changed its format this year to single elimination games in the tournament so everything we can do to play those games in our rink will be important in our remaining schedule,” said Loen. “We have a lot of solid pieces already in place and I still think our best hockey is coming ahead.”