Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves knew his team was in for a tough test to open the season as they traveled east to take on No. 1 Boston College and No. 7 New Hampshire. But after falling to the Eagles 5-4 Friday and the Wildcats 5-1 Saturday, Eaves was pleased with what he saw out of his freshmen over the weekend.

"I think the weekend for our freshmen overall was pretty good," Eaves said at his press conference Monday. "You take a look at the numbers, the numbers say the same things that we felt in terms of production. So from that standpoint, it was a good springboard for them. We need to continue to build on that."

Freshman Jordy Murray, who played for Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minn. (the same school as teammate Jamie McBain) contributed twice in the 5-4 loss to BC. His second-period goal Friday tied the game at 2-2, and he assisted on fellow freshman Eric Springer's goal that put Wisconsin up 3-2.

Ryan Little and Jake Gardiner were the other two freshmen on the scoring sheet for the Badgers. Little had two assists against the Eagles, while Gardiner got the helper on Patrick Johnson's first-period goal Friday.

It was tough for Eaves to single out one freshman as the top newcomer.

"You could put a blanket on several of them. I think that you go right down the list, Jordy Murray, Derek Stepan, Matt Thurber did his thing," Eaves said. "There were some times that the young defensemen actually did some very nice things in playing their first college game."

Eaves noted that their inexperience also showed over the weekend, however, as 10 goals were allowed in two games.

"We had three freshman defensemen in the lineup Friday night against the No. 1 team in the country," Eaves said. "We were kind of worried about that."