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“You have to look at the big picture this time of year, and you can’t be focused on a couple of exhibition games at the end of August,” he said Wednesday. “But at the same time, we want to perform and showcase our program and show that we can compete with Wisconsin. And if we do that, other powerhouse NCAA teams will want to come here.

“We’re going to see where we’re at by rewarding good camps and giving those players bigger roles. We want to win these games and it’s going to be good.”

The T-Birds realize Alberta and Saskatchewan will be formidable foes again this season, and finishing ahead of Calgary and Mount Royal (Calgary) is a legitimate goal. But hosting the Badgers doesn’t hurt recruiting and it could also lead to other initiatives.

The Badgers are allowed one international trip every four years. This junket came to fruition because of Butenschon’s dogged determination and Wisconsin’s ability to handle the considerable financial and travel commitment.

“For years, I wrote emails to NCAA schools and cold-called just to see if there was some way we could come down there for some exhibition games,” recalled Butenschon. “They (Badgers) have a substantial budget compared to us and it never really went anywhere. But Wisconsin was always good at communicating.

“It started to get some momentum in the spring and instead of us going there, (coach) Tony Granato kind of turned it around and asked, what if we came up there? That was even better for us.