BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — In one sense, Wisconsin men's hockey coach Tony Granato is having an easier time putting his game day lineup together.
"Because now I know the versatility of some players that I didn't know earlier," he said 30 games into his first season behind the bench at his alma mater.
Granato is better equipped to mix and match personnel from shift to shift, period to period and night to night.
For example, he's seen enough to know that junior Matt Ustaski is more impactful as a first-line left winger than a fourth-line center; that sophomore captain Luke Kunin is better served on the wing than at the pivot; that senior winger Aiden Cavallini is the most reliable performer in the dressing room regardless of which line he plays on; and that junior Jason Ford might be the handiest, sturdiest forward on the roster.
But Granato will tell you that piecing together his 20-person lineup from game to game remains difficult because someone worthy of ice time won't be getting any.
"That part's still not easy," he said.
That will be the case again on Friday and Saturday when the 16th-ranked Badgers play a crucial Big Ten Conference series at 11th-rated Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Second-place Wisconsin (18-11-1 overall, 11-5 with 33 points in league play) is not only trying to catch first-place Minnesota — 12-4 with 36 points — it's trying to build a stronger case for inclusion in the 16-team NCAA tournament field.
The Badgers began the week 13th in the unofficial pair wise rankings with four regular-season games remaining. They can't afford to stumble as they did during their last meeting with the third-place Nittany Lions when they dropped both ends of the series 6-3 and 5-2.
Granato and his staff — associate head coaches Don Granato and Mark Osiecki — are constantly evaluating the talent they have. That helps explain why most forward lines are in a state of flux and why 12 players have been healthy scratches at least once this season.
"We're still trying to fit things," Tony Granato said. "But what we know now is who can be on the ice in different situations, who complements who well, so that makes it way easier.
"At the start of the year we were going on last year's film and practices to try and figure it out. At least now we have 30-some games of things we've seen that will help us."
Two guys who make the lineup process complicated are sophomore defenseman Jake Bunz and sophomore center Jarod Zirbel.
After sitting 25 of the first 27 games, Bunz has appeared in three straight outings and made a strong impression on the coaching staff in the process.
"He's definitively showed that he's a better player than when he last played," Don Granato said, referring to the two games Bunz played in October before sitting 23 straight. "In many respects, he's more calm, he's more confident, he's more assertive."
Bunz has ideal size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) and strong skating skills to go along with above-average athleticism. He's at his best playing a simple, north-south game.
"We knew he had the thoroughbred-type attributes," Don Granato said. "It was more the process of gaining knowledge and confidence in those abilities."
Bunz, from Middleton, absorbed a lot from video sessions, practice and watching his teammates on the blue line manage game situations. Those insights have translated to on-ice acumen.
"He's made himself a better player," Don Granato said.
Bunz, whose father Garry was a top-six defenseman for the Badgers from 1984 to '87, played two of the first four games before a long stretch of idleness.
"It's tough, obviously," he said. "Everybody thinks they should be playing.
"It's tough, but you just have to keep working hard, keep getting feedback from the coaches on what you can do better. Then it's just waiting until you get your opportunity. Once you get that opportunity, you have to make the most of it."
Bunz said individual video sessions with coaches and extra work after practice have begun to pay off, allowing him to move up a depth chart that also has sophomore Patrick Sexton and junior Cullen Hurley jockeying for ice time among the top six defensemen.
"They want us all to get better," Bunz said of Granato and Co. "It's not like they pick and choose the top couple guys that they're working with every day.
"They're always pushing us to be better. They want the whole team to be clicking because it just creates more of a competitive nature on the ice."
Bunz, paired with senior Corbin McGuire for the last three games, looks much more comfortable now than he did when the season began.
"It was nerve-wracking," he said of his start on Feb. 18 against Michigan that ended his streak of down time. "But them giving me the chance to play and being able to prove what I can do out there for the team, it was awesome."
Granato has cultivated some impressive depth out of a young group, many of whom were part of UW teams that lost 45 of 70 games the last two seasons. The Badgers rank in the top 10 nationally in offense, power play efficiency and penalty-killing ratio. They also have won games despite not always having their top returning goal-scorer (Kunin), their point-a-game rookie center (Trent Frederic), their top returning point-getter (senior winger Grant Besse) and incumbent goaltender (sophomore Matt Jurusik) available for duty.
Bunz sympathizes with his head coach when it comes to deciding who plays and who sits.
"It's tough for any coach, but especially Tony because there are so many good players on our team," Bunz said.
Zirbel fits that description.
His numbers are modest — one goal, one assist in 17 outings while working mainly on the fourth line — but he brings an undeniable sense of energy to the mix and the Badgers are 10-6-1 when he's in the lineup.
Zirbel, from Green Bay, is on a bubble with winger senior Jedd Soleway and sophomore wingers Matthew Freytag and Dan Labosky. Their ice time was redefined last week when Ford returned after missing eight games with a concussion.
What's it like to move from the lineup to the sidelines?
"My dad asks me that a lot," Zirbel said of his father Chris. "My simple answer is that as long as we keep winning I'm happy with trying to fight for ice time.
"At times it can be frustrating, but you just have to keep working, putting your head down and doing the hard work."
Zirbel said Granato and his staff have been great about communicating their thoughts to him.
"As the week goes on you kind of figure out what line you're on, but they'll talk to you if they want something to change that you're doing," Zirbel said.
For example, Zirbel knows he must improve his puck possession skills, specifically protecting the puck.
"I just keep working hard," he said.
Tony Granato played 13 seasons in the NHL and remembers the first time he started becoming a healthy scratch. He was with San Jose in 1999 and his career was chugging toward its conclusion.
"I've been there," he said. "You're always wondering what more you can do."
Granato doesn't rehash those moments with his UW players as much as he gives them support and guidance.
"All you can do is tell them to hang in there," he said. "When you're out of the lineup, you work so that when you get your chance, you're ready for it."
