On one side was a coach looking for an outlet to get his young team games under its belt before the real push begins.
On the other was essentially the same thing, only with a different definition of young.
In short, that’s how the University of Wisconsin and the University of British Columbia found each other for a groundbreaking set of exhibition games scheduled for Friday and Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Badgers coach Tony Granato and Thunderbirds coach Sven Butenschon are linked by more than just having played in the Olympics — Granato for the U.S. in 1988, Butenschon for Germany in 2010. Both went into the summer hoping to find an early start for programs that will take on a new look in the fall.
UW’s transformation has been well documented: A seven-person freshman class includes four players that were drafted in June — two of them in the first round — and another who’s a top prospect for next year. The majority of the class is 18. One player each is age 17, 19 and 21.
With UBC, the seven new players have a different career path. While the NCAA penalizes those who have played in the Canadian major junior system with ineligibility, Canada’s U Sports welcomes them.
So of those seven newcomers to the Thunderbirds, five are age 21 and two are 20. Six have played at least some of the last five seasons in the Western Hockey League, with a total of 1,393 games.
“The WHL has done a great job with their scholarship program so they’ve been able to play at a high level in the ‘Dub,’ chase their dream at that level,” Butenschon said. “Maybe those NHL contracts weren’t there when they’re done. But now they get to go to an elite school like UBC and so they’ve kind of done the best of both.”
Granato sought a way to give his players some experience before the season starts in October, and the one that the NCAA allows is with a foreign tour, permissible once every four years during the academic summer vacation. The Badgers have never before taken such an opportunity in men’s hockey; other UW sports have.
The UW coach approached athletic director Barry Alvarez, who pressed him for details before signing off.
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