Although River Falls will likely finish the 2022-23 regular season well below .500, it won’t stop the Wildcats from potentially making a lengthy run through the Division 2 postseason bracket starting in the second week of February.

The Wildcats have spent the first two months of the regular season sharpening their metaphorical iron against some of the best Division 1 programs in the state including Hudson, Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire Memorial, all of which are ranked as top-six teams as of Monday, Jan. 23, according to WisconsinPrepHockey.com.

River Falls’ lackluster 4-11 record is in large part because of the brutal schedule that the Wildcats have to play in the Big Rivers Conference. Upon first glance, a casual observer would assume River Falls doesn’t have a chance to do anything notable when the postseason begins.

However, River Falls won’t be in the Division 1 bracket with Memorial, Hudson, Chi-Hi, etc. The Wildcats instead compete in the Division 2 bracket against similarly-sized schools from their respective section. River Falls has played four games this year against opponents from their playoff section and is 3-1 in those contests.

The Wildcats’ three victories include a 6-1 drubbing of West Salem, a 3-1 win at home over Baldwin-Woodville and a 2-1 thriller against Somerset. The lone loss was a 1-0 defeat at home against Menomonie, a game in which the Mustangs’ sophomore goaltender Jack Drout stood on his head and saved all of the Wildcats’ 35 shots on goal.

For River Falls head coach Cam Wilken, the overall record isn’t indicative of what the Wildcats could be capable of in the upcoming playoffs. He spoke about the lone loss to Menomonie and how his team is playing with less than a month left until the playoffs begin.

“We should be 4-0 (in section games), but Menomonie’s goalie won it for them. He made like 40 saves,” Wilken said. “I think we’re playing better hockey than we were last year at this time. The thing is, we’re not playing Ashland and Rhinelander this year. We tried to get some Minnesota games and we made a trip to North Dakota which was a great experience, but we don’t have the layup game anymore.”

Throughout the first two months of the season, River Falls has taken its lumps from the perennial powerhouse Division 1 programs that they regularly have on the schedule in the Big Rivers. However, with upcoming section games against Rice Lake and Regis/ Altoona/McDonell, River Falls will have a chance to gain even more confidence for the upcoming postseason.

“Oh yeah, the guys absolutely feel like there is postseason hope,” Wilken said. “We expect to be right there at the end. If you look at how our section matches up, we’ve beaten everybody that we should. We kind of laid an egg in the Menomonie game and that will hurt our seeding, but we match up great against everyone and we should be there. I’m not saying we’re going to win, but there is nothing that says that we can’t.”

While River Falls has won its fair share of defensive, grind-it-out style games, the Wildcats continue to struggle offensively. The Wildcats are averaging just 1.53 goals per game and have been a pedestrian 8.6% on the power play this year, compared to last year’s approximately 30% clip.

River Falls just simply doesn’t have a 30goal type of player on the roster. Because of that and how successful the Wildcats have been defensively – especially in goal – Coach Wilken built a defensive-minded team for the 2022-23 season.

“We struggle offensively and we don’t have a guy that can get 30 goals. It’s not good or bad, we just don’t have it on the roster,” Wilken said. “We decided to go this (defensive) route because we have Jayden Serene in net. So if we even play OK defense, he’s not going to let them in. It limits our offensive chances, but we just don’t have the guys to (play that aggressively) this year.”

The Wildcats have also had to weather storms throughout the first half of the season – both literally and figuratively. Injuries and illness have hampered some of the team’s potential success this year. Senior forward Teddy Norman is the most notable affected player, as he missed the first month of games with a lingering hand injury and just recently returned to action.

River Falls also struggled with the flu, which made its way through the team in the last several weeks. Snow and weather cancellations have also taken a toll on the team. Coach Wilken spoke about some of the uncontrollable variables that have impacted the program.

“It didn’t help that Teddy Norman was really banged up,” Wilken said. “We also had the flu go through us for a while. Everything so far this year that could stack up against us has happened. The reality is that we’re not that great at handling adversity yet, because they’ve never had to be. All of the other sports with football or baseball are really good (at RF). It’s been a learning curve.”

According to Wilken, the roster appears to finally be getting back to full health, as the Wildcats have weathered the flu and Norman is back to nearly 100%. For Coach Wilken, having a healthy roster reaching its stride in the coming weeks could make River Falls a dangerous team come playoff time.

The Wildcats are back on the ice on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at home against New Richmond. Puck-drop for that game is slated for 7 p.m. at the Wildcat Centre.

Junior forward Andrew Amundson of the River Falls Wildcats gains control of the puck and passes it up the ice to a teammate during the first period of the road game against Hudson on Tuesday night. Photo by Reagan Hoverman