=46rom Thursday's (1/18/96) Minnesota Daily:
 
Wisconsin coach weathers critics' storm
 
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
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By winning the national championship his first year as hockey coach
at the University of Wisconsin in 1983, Jeff Sauer set a high standard for
himself and his teams.
 
And for the most part, Sauer's teams haven't disappointed. The Badgers won
another national title in 1990 and have reached the NCAA tournament each of
the past eight years. More recently, Wisconsin won the WCHA playoff
championship last March.
 
But this year, for the first time in Sauer's 14 seasons at UW, the Badgers
are seriously struggling. After finishing no worse than fourth in the WCHA
over the last 13 years, Wisconsin is currently sitting in seventh place with
a record of 7-12-1.
 
"It hasn't been a disappointing year," Sauer said. "More than anything, it's
been a frustrating year."
 
Many factors have played into the Badgers' rough season. The defense lost
four seniors from last year's team and has been forced to play four freshmen
in their places. Wisconsin especially misses Brian Rafalski and Maco
Balkovec, who generated much of the team's offense in transition from the
back.
 
The reduction in transition scoring and the inability of the forwards to
come up with big goals have combined to lower Wisconsin's goals per game
average from 4.00 last year to 3.25 this season. The team's schedule, which
forced it to play 10 of its first 12 games on the road, was another factor
in Wisconsin's rough first half of the season.
 
The usually-supportive Badgers fans haven't helped matters much either. The
boisterous crowd at the Dane County Coliseum is still showing up (8,500
average attendance, 98 percent capacity). But the fans credited with
originating the "Sieve!" cheer have recently added booing to their
repertoire.
 
"We've spoiled the people here and they're not allowing us to have a bad
year," Sauer said. "That's understandable. Fans are fans. You have to live
with that because that's part of the job. But it's a bit disappointing
because we have had a lot of success. We've done a lot of positive things."
 
The upset mood of the fans has even spurred some of them to call for Sauer's
firing.
 
A poll at a Madison newspaper in December asked readers to call in their
explanations for what was wrong with the Badgers this year. The majority of
the responses blamed coaching and many of them said the St. Paul native
should be let go.
 
"I don't pay much attention to that," Sauer said. "But I'm disappointed in
that too. Through all of the years of basketball and football having such
problems, we were always there. Now all of a sudden we're having a tough
time and people turn on you pretty quick. But that's the nature of the
business."
 
Gophers coach Doug Woog said the Badgers' struggles have primarily been a
result of an uncommonly-depleted roster, not Sauer.
 
"Every program goes through stages," Woog said. "After all the success his
program has had, you'd think that would count more. It's kind of like a bank
account. After years of putting deposits in, during the lean years you
should be able to draw out of that a little bit."
 
The Badgers come into this weekend's series against the Gophers on a bit of
a hot streak. After starting the year 3-12-1, Wisconsin has won five of its
last eight games and four of its last six in the WCHA.
 
The Gophers are by no means taking their rivals lightly. The consensus in
Minnesota's locker room is that the border battles will always be
hard-fought -- regardless of what the teams' records may be.
 
"Every guy on this team has followed Minnesota hockey since birth," Gophers
forward Dan Hendrickson said. "And since birth we've all seen the rivalry
between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
 
"Points-wise it's not the same as beating Colorado College, but emotionally
there's nothing better."
 
Note: Saturday's 8 p.m. game at Target Center will be broadcast tape-delayed
on Midwest Sports Channel following the Gophers men's basketball game at
Ohio State.
 
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=A9The Minnesota Daily
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!
 
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