The Badgers enter the weekend after earning a home sweep over Alaska Anchorage. The UW offense got contributions from nearly everybody in 5-1 and 6-2 victories. Leading the way were senior forwards Aaron Bendickson and Ben Street, who each posted two-goal games last Friday and Saturday, respectively.

It is a new week, however, and the Badgers return to the National Hockey Center, where they split a series with the Huskies during the 2008-09 campaign. The Badgers dropped a 6-2 contest to SCSU almost exactly a year ago, before winning 1-0 to salvage a split.

The National Hockey Center has been a familiar place for the Badgers in recent years as each of the previous three series between the Badgers and Huskies have been played in the building. The Badgers have gone 2-4-0 in those contests.

It is expected that Brett Bennett will start in goal for the Badgers on Friday, while the rest of lineup will look very similar to Wisconsin’s lineup from last weekend.

The Badgers hope to success similar to last weekend, as well. The Badgers are outshooting opponents 39.4 to 21.8 on average this season and in victories have outscored opponents 31-7. The team owns a 38-19 in all contests.

Helping the edge in shots and goals has been the most balanced scoring attack in the nation. Nineteen different Badgers have scored goals this season, more than any other school in the nation. Junior Patrick Johnson and freshmen Craig Smith and Justin Schultz each collected their first goals of the season last week to give every Badger who has played at least two games a goal.

This weekend’s games air live in Wisconsin on Charter Extra 87, a channel on Charter’s digital service. A video stream is available for a fee at b2livetv.com. The games will air live on the radio on the Wisconsin Radio Network with Brian Posick and Mike Cerniglia. Friday’s game can be heard in the Madison area on WIBA-AM 1310, while Saturday’s contest airs on WTSO-AM 1070. A live audio stream is available for a fee at UWBadgers.com.

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The American women’s team will play a series of exhibitions across North America before Olympic competition begins against China on Feb. 14.

“I’m getting more excited and ready every day now, it feels like we’ve turned a corner and the Olympics are in our vision,” said Cahow. “We’re working very hard every day to be as ready as possible. Getting to the Games and to play for the gold is the reward for everything we’ve all put into this for so long.”

The U.S. roster stands at 23 players, and will be cut to 21 by Christmas. Coach Mark Johnson has the tough task of cutting those two players for the final Olympic team.

Team USA won bronze at the 2006 Turin Games after being upset in the semifinals by Sweden, something that still doesn’t sit well with the players.

“We have much higher goals for ourselves,” said Cahow, who was on the 2006 Olympic team. “We’re setting our sights for the gold and are driving for that. We know we’re going to have to play the best hockey ever because the competition is so tough. I know the cuts are going to be hard because we’re so close as a team. But it has to happen to get down to the roster limit.”

Johnson said he’s pushing the team hard right now in tough practices at its Blaine, Minn. training camp. His goal is to turn the team into a cohesive unit, both on and off the ice.

“You have to know how far to push the players to get them out of their comfort zones and into a new level of being a better hockey player and team,” said Johnson, who also coaches the University of Wisconsin women’s team. “That’s what we are doing right now, working on ways to take these women to the next level. We want to be firing on all cylinders when we step off that plane in Vancouver, ready to play our best hockey of the year. We don’t want to peak now, we’re building to peak in February.”

The U.S. team lost, 5-2, to arch-rival Canada in the final of the Four Nations Cup in Finland Nov. 7, something that doesn’t bug Cahow much. The Americans defeated Canada, 3-2, in an earlier round of the tournament.

“We played well three of the four games, just had a bad game in the final, it happens,” Cahow said. “The main thing is, we’re getting sharper in every way every time out. That’s the goal.”

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Look no further than the Ottawa Senators, who have seen 11 of their first 16 games this season decided by two goals or less. Still, it’s hard not to sit up and take extra notice when this team scans the list of teams that will visit Scotiabank Place during a crucial five-game homestand.

Start with the New York Rangers, who supply Saturday afternoon’s opposition (2 p.m., CBC, Team 1200), then follow it up with the provincial rival Toronto Maple Leafs (Nov. 17), Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins (Nov. 19) and the Buffalo Sabres (Nov. 21), before finishing it off with an appearance by Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals (Nov. 23).

For the 8-6-2 Senators, who are still in the process of trying to figure out exactly what type of team they’ve got, it can be seen as an early-season measuring stick, indeed.

“It’s definitely a challenge for us, with the teams that are coming in,” Senators defenceman Chris Campoli said after the team’s practice earlier today at Scotiabank Place. “But it doesn’t really change how you prepare. There’s so much parity in the league these days and no matter who it is, you pretty much have to be on the ball at all times.

“(But this) is a good opportunity for us to see where we’re at and it’ll be a good challenge for our club.”

The opportunity is also there for the Senators, who currently sit ninth in the Eastern Conference, to bank some of the points they’ll need to make a run at a return to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“We’re playing teams that are ahead of us (in the conference) and we’re playing teams that are in our division,” said centre Jason Spezza. “Those are the games (that allow you) to separate yourself a little bit, because they don’t get a chance to make up points on the same night. So they’re important games.”

As the Senators also know, the home-heavy schedule they’re playing not has to turn the other way at some point. In other words, there’s no better time than the present to make the most of home-ice advantage.

“It’s very important,” forward Chris Neil said of the upcoming homestand. “We’re going to pay for it later on when we go on the road and when you go into other teams’ buildings, it’s tougher to play, for sure. We want to establish a good atmosphere in this building and we want visiting teams, when they come in here … we don’t want them to want to come in here.

“We want to be hard to play against and we want to know we’re relentless out there. We just keep coming at them. That’s the identity we want and we’ve still got some work to do before we get there, that’s for sure. But we’ve made some steps in the right direction.”

Added Campoli: “You definitely want to win 75 per cent of your home games. My old junior coach told me 75 per cent at home and .500 on the road and you’re a pretty good hockey club. If we can do that, I think we’ll be happy.”

Thursday’s 5-1 road setback at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers wasn’t one of those steps, but there’s little time to dwell on it with the high-flying Rangers and top-flight goaltender Henrik Lundqvist coming to town.

“They’ve got good goaltending, (Marian) Gaborik scored another last night … he’s an elite goal scorer,” said Senators head coach Cory Clouston. “They’re a pressure team. They come at you hard in all three zones, and they’re very aggressive on the penalty kill.”

The Senators would surely love to give the latter more of a test. They’ve only enjoyed three power-play chances in the last three games, a situation that hasn’t exactly given a jolt to the team’s attack. Mike Fisher scored only Ottawa’s lone extra-man advantage against the Flyers.

“I think we’re at (a) 21 per cent (success rate) over the last six or seven games,” said Clouston. “We just haven’t had enough power plays for it to be a real big impact on our games.”

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