INSIDE MEN'S HOCKEY BY PAUL CAPOBIANCO @BadgerMHockey SCHEDULE
Last Five 10/7 10/8
This Week Friday
Northern Michigan L, 3-2 Northern Michigan W, 3-2
at Michigan Tech Saturday at Michigan Tech
Next Five Oct. 21 North Dakota Oct. 22 North Dakota
6 p.m. 6 p.m.
7 p.m. 7 p.m.
Oct. 28 Nebraska Omaha 7 p.m. Oct. 29 Nebraska Omaha 7 p.m. Nov. 4
at St. Cloud State 7:30 p.m.
WCHA play opens with
trip to Michigan Tech First road swing takes Badgers to the U.P.
I
t seemed that the ques- tion everyone wanted an-
swered as the Badgers start- ed the season last weekend against Northern Michigan was how would the Badgers' new goaltenders perform. It is a long season, but the freshman duo of Landon Peterson and Joel Rumpel helped calm the nerves of
Badgers fans with solid per- formances. Peterson opened the sea- son and made 16 saves in a 3-2 overtime loss, but was universally credited with a good game, while Joel Rum- pel overcame some early nerves to make 31 saves in a 3-2 Badger comeback vic- tory.
Long time, no 'G' » The Badgers will look for contri- butions from everyone offensively this season, but players like Derek Lee, Michael Mersch and Tyler Barnes will need to be at the top of the list. All three scored goals in last Saturday's win for the first time in a while. Lee's game-win- ning goal stopped a 32-game goal- scoring drought, while Mersch's goal ended a 15-game drought and Barnes' tally stopped a 13-game streak.
Setting LaBate » Freshman forward Joseph LaBate, who stands 6-4 without skates, made a good first impression for the Badgers. The Eagan, Minn., native sent Friday's game to OT with a late third-period goal, then set up Saturday's game-winning tally to finish with a goal and two assists in his first college weekend.
