ST. CLOUD, Minn. — To the list of important life projects that don't come with an instruction manual and should — parenthood, marriage and friendship instantly to mind — Blake Geoffrion would probably add another.

He's the junior center and leading goal scorer for the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team, a stand-up guy in the midst of a career-best production streak.

Geoffrion is also the de facto captain of the Badgers, an on-ice role he inherited when senior center and co-captain Ben Street went down last month with a likely season-ending knee injury.

There is no how-to booklet on being the chosen leader of a high-profile operation. Geoffrion has been an assistant captain and member of leadership councils at previous stops along the way — including Culver (Ind.) Military Academy, the National Team Developmental Program and the U.S. junior national team — but never looked down and seen this much on his plate.

"I've been around leadership before obviously," he said this week, "but I've never been captain, the No. 1 guy."
Like most life experiences, there is a learning process involved. What's interesting is the track Geoffrion has followed this season parallels the way UW has performed heading into its Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with St. Cloud State tonight and Saturday night at the National Hockey Center.

Early on, Geoffrion fretted about every detail of every problem that came to life inside a dressing room inhabited by 28 players, five coaches and a half-dozen support staffers.

"I think early, even when I was still playing, he was trying to do a little too much, trying to be almost a little too official about it," said Street, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Oct. 18 at Denver.

It seemed to carry over onto the ice, where Geoffrion had one goal in the first seven games as the Badgers lurched to a program-worst 0-6-1 start. Usually a thoughtful, funny, extroverted kid, Geoffrion always seemed to appear stressed.

"I was kind of worried about even the little things," he said, "like if a guy got in trouble or if a guy was late for a meeting, or wasn't on time on the ice or wasn't doing his job on the power play. I was like, 'Whoa, should I be (addressing) that?'

"Early on I was trying to be someone I wasn't at all. I wasn't that fun guy that was having a good time all the time. ..."

A series of developments prompted a change in Geoffrion and, not coincidentally, the Badgers.

There was a meeting of the upperclassmen after Street got hurt, where everyone vowed to elevate their games and carry some extra weight. That group included two newly appointed assistant captains in junior defenseman Jamie McBain and sophomore defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

There was the day that Geoffrion happened upon an old magazine clipping where Chris Drury — a revered captain with multiple NHL teams — discussed his growing pains in that role at Boston University.

Then there was that Nov. 1 game at North Dakota where Geoffrion scored a pair of third-period goals to help rally the Badgers for a 5-2 win that kicked off their current five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1).

In between, Geoffrion picked the brains of recent UW captains — Davis Drewiske, Jake Dowell and Adam Burish — about everything from attitude to protocol.