It's Almost Friday Linkorama: Badger Men

• Milewski has a feature article in TCT on Jordy Murray, Rink Rat. I gotta tell ya, I like this Murray kid. I like the way he plays, I like the goofy video they put up on the jumbotron when the introduce him in the starting lineup (nice hair, lol), and I like this article.

• Gandalf previously linked Milewski's blog post about Mike Valley. Here's the UW release and Baggot's blog post. The Daily Cardinal also has an article that includes quotes from Eaves, Valley, and Connelly. Valley seems to be pleased with Connelly's play so far this year.
  

• Jake Gardiner is at the top of THN's The Hot List. (I like Jake's scoring ability as well as anyone, and I'm a big fan of his ability to bring the puck into the offensive zone. But it's seems THN is just looking at stats, because I'm not sure they'd put him at the top of the list if they had watched his defensive game.)

  1. Jake Gardiner, D – Wisconsin Badgers (WCHA): High school draft picks make some scouts squirrelly, but Gardiner has been a madman since arriving in Madison for his frosh NCAA campaign. How does five points in six games from the blueline strike you? Drafted 17th overall by Anaheim in 2008.

  In case you're interested, CC's Richard Bachman is #3.
  

• This is a week old, but I think I neglected to post it earlier. Last week Ryan McDonagh talked to the Pioneer Press about Montreal/Minnesota trade rumors and about the Badgers' then 0-4 record.

• DPlaya has video of Badger recruit Craig Smith's OT game-winner on Saturday.

• INCH has a column about shootouts. Scott Owens, Don Lucia, and George Gwozdecky don't like 'em, for WCHA play, anyway. Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald has an article in which Dave Hakstol says shootouts would be good for the WCHA. I was a bit surprised by that, because I recall reading earlier that the coaches' vote against the shootout was unanimous. (I'm not positive where I read that, but I think it was in a Pioneer Press article that is archived and no longer available for free.)

• It's a couple months or so before the Badgers play Northern Michigan, but you might be interested in this CHN article about the Wildcats. And it's even longer than that 'til the Badgers host CC (we only play 'em once this year), but you might be interested in Puck Swami's profile of the Tigers.

• USCHO has an article about coaches who are coaching at their alma maters -- accordingly, the article includes Mike Eaves and Mark Johnson.


• Mike Chambers of the Denver post has an article about the new icing rule implemented in the WCHA this year. I use the term "implemented" loosely, as apparently the officials have had a bit of trouble with it. OSU's coach John Markell admitted to throwing lines out there so the players could rest while the refs sorted things out, and Denver's George Gwozdecky was livid about an injured player not being allowed to leave the ice after an icing, even though the rules allow injured players to be replaced.