Andy Bohmbach Week: Before he was a Badger

In case you missed it yesterday, this week is Andy Bohmbach Week! Yesterday we briefly mentioned Bohmbach's career before he was a Badger; today I thought we'd better take a little closer look.

As a junior, Bohmbach helped lead Hudson to a WIAA state championship. In the championship game, Bohmbach scored Hudson's second goal in their 2-0 upset of Superior.

The Hudson boys hockey team has played too well lately for anybody to call its 2-0 victory Saturday against No. 1-ranked Superior in the WIAA state championship game a miracle.

But how about a major upset? A shocker? An inspired performance? Yes, yes and yes.

It's not every day a team with a regular-season record of 11-7-2 beats Superior, the most tradition-laden program in the state. The Spartans have won 11 state championships, three more than any other school.

And the talk in Superior for much of the year was that this could be the best team in school history.

The Spartans had dominated their competition in Wisconsin all season. Their only setback was a 5-1 decision against Duluth Marshall (Minn.).

"I can't really believe it," Hudson junior Andy Bohmbach said. "It's pretty sweet to come in as an underdog and upset them."

In the quarterfinals against Sauk Prairie, Bohmbach had a hat trick as the Raiders came back from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Eagles 6-3. In the semifinals, he had an assist on the Raider's lone goal in their 1-0 victory over Wisconsin Rapids.

Looking at the tourney preview, it appears Bohmbach was the Raiders' leading scorer (25-11-36).

Oh, and let's not forget that Bohmbach earned 1st-Team All-State Honors that year.

As a senior, Bohmbach left Hudson to play for the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL. In his first season with the Blackhawks, Bohmbach had 1 goal, 4 assists, 45 SOG, and finished -8 in 50 regular season games. In 3 post-season games, he was held off the scoresheet but finished +1. In his second season with the Blackhawks, Bohmbach had 13 goals, 19 assists, 120 SOG, and finished -1 in 59 regular season games. The Blackhawks did not make the playoffs that year. Also, in the 2005 Buc Bowl, Bohmbach had 2 goals and 2 assists in 3 games.

I had a hard time finding any interesting articles from Bohmbach's time with the Black Hawks. So instead I'll just give you the descriptions of a couple of Bohmbach's goals during his 2nd season:

Blackhawks 3 - Stampede 1
O’Handley had placed an emphasis on jamming the net to create scoring chances all week in practice, and Bohmbach’s goal was a direct result of that work. After receiving a nice pass from Matt Arhontas, Bohmbach flipped a shot on net. Stampede goalie John Murray made the initial save, but the rebound came right back to Bohmbach. Bohmbach followed his shot and didn’t waste the extra opportunity beating Murray five-hole. “That was the biggest positive tonight,” said O’Handley of his team concerted effort to get to the net. “Three goals was good, but we jammed the net hard. That was the focus all week and the guys responded, thrived on it.”

Stars 4 - Black Hawks 1
Hogan stoned Waterloo on several golden scoring opportunities and the lone blemish came following an outstanding individual play by the Black Hawks' Andy Bohmbach. Bohmbach split a pair of Star defenders and beat Hogan with a point-blank wrist shot at the 17:19 mark for a power-play goal. It was Bohmbach's eighth goal of the season.

I also stumbled upon this list of Black Hawks Players of the Week, in which Bohmbach received the honor for the week ending Feb 6. 2006.

Week ending Feb 6
Offensive: Andy Bohmbach
Bohmbach had a very good weekend for the Hawks, creating offensive opportunities in both games and scoring a great goal against Green Bay in the 3-1 Hawks win.

(Photo from Waterloo Black Hawks)