What happens when a team leads its conference in scoring offense and scoring defense? Well, the goals against tend to be overshadowed by the goals scored.

So when the Wisconsin men’s hockey team shut out Michigan Tech Saturday, it wasn’t until five questions into the postgame press conference that the ‘0’ on the scoreboard was addressed.

“Yeah, I mean, when you win 6-0, you obviously want to talk about all the guys that are scoring goals,” goaltender Scott Gudmandson said of the focus on the Badgers’ offensive success. “And we’re just trying to do our work back there in the D zone and quietly go about our business.”

“I think the majority of the fans out there look always at goals first. It’s just natural, it’s part of the game, an exciting part of the game,” tri-captain Ryan McDonagh added. “I know us as a D corps, we’re focusing on keeping shots down and goals against low.”

Although UW is first in the WCHA and second in the nation in goals per game (4.12), the Badgers are also tied for fifth nationally, giving up just 2.00 goals per game. As a result, UW is second in the nation with a 2.12 scoring margin.

And even though the Badgers shut out only two opponents this season, they’ve given up just one goal in five games and four or more in just two. In those two games, only the 5-2 loss to Minnesota was justifiably a poor defensive effort — the Badgers’ 4-1 loss at St. Cloud State was a two-goal game until an empty netter and garbage time score in the last minute of play.

Part of the reason UW keeps opponents off the scoreboard so well is the Badgers do a good job of not allowing the other team to get shots on goal. In seven games this season, UW allowed 20 or fewer shots on net; for comparison, Wisconsin has never totaled fewer than 27 shots on goal in a game.

Gudmandson only needed to make 15 saves against MTU Saturday — including just two in the third period. For him, there’s a key to the success the UW defensemen have had.

“Blocking shots. Blocking shots and boxing out, those are the two best things they do,” he said. “Anytime there’s any traffic, they push it to the side and I can always see the puck.”

Shot blocking is something UW assistant coach Mark Osiecki drills into his players defensively from the moment they become Badgers. For a player like junior Brendan Smith, it was something that took some getting used to.

“It was hard my first year, I was like, ‘This is nuts; this is retarded.’ Sometimes it really hurts when you take a slap shot to the wrist or something,” Smith said. “But as the year’s gone on, it’s just engraved in me, it’s a habit.”

“It hurts and it’s a character thing — it helps out so much because the next time that forward comes down on you, he’s not going to shoot, he’s going to fake it and you can take the puck off him,” he added. “Sometimes it gives him hesitation and it gives you more time to react to what they’re going to do.”

That hesitation the shot blocking causes allows the Badgers to come away with turnovers and get the puck up the ice. Once UW has possession again, the defense gets to flex its other strength — its offensive capability.

Led by Smith’s 24 points, the Wisconsin defensive corps has scored 37 percent of the team’s points. Smith was the WCHA defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week and one of two Badger defensemen to score goals last weekend.

“[Our offensive ability on defense] just adds an extra element to the game that teams have to worry about. I know we’ve played different teams over the season and my career here that don’t really have that element, and it’s something you don’t have to worry about,” McDonagh said. “With our team, everyone can skate well, and it’s just another threat to put in our repertoire.”

No small part of the Wisconsin defense’s success is the individual talent on the team. Five of UW’s six starting defensemen were drafted in the first or second round of the NHL draft. McDonagh, Smith and sophomore Jake Gardiner are all first round picks, while Cody Goloubef and Justin Schultz were taken in the second round. Freshman John Ramage, the only regular defenseman who wasn’t drafted, was selected to the 2010 US Junior Team preliminary roster along with Gardiner.

“Well, anybody will tell you that there’s not another defensive corps that has the draft picks that we have on the blue line,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “And that speaks to the potential that these young men have in the National Hockey League.”

But potential isn’t everything.

“Potential and about 75 cents is going to get you a cup of coffee. Our job is to help them develop that potential, to reach that potential.”

Eaves is especially pleased with the development of freshmen Schultz and Ramage, noting the two “don’t play like freshmen.” While UW has shuffled its offensive lines on almost a game-to-game basis, Eaves has trotted out the same defensive pairings almost every game this season — why fix what isn’t broken?

And despite how much the ‘D’ corps will be praised for scoring points, its focus will remain on keeping the other team off the board.

“I think the first thing is, we look at eliminating everybody, not letting anyone score,” Smith said. “And then second to that is our offensive ability.”