Mark Johnson staying in Madison

When the architect of arguably the most successful program in the Wisconsin athletic department (certainly over the past 10 years) starts to flirt with leaving the school for another position, many start to search for the panic button. Take a rest Badger fans, Mark Johnson is coming back.

World renowned hockey analyst Bob McKenzie from TSN in Canada is reporting that Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky, not Johnson will be named the inaugural head coach at Penn State. The Nitany Lions will start varsity D-1 competition as an independent for the 2012 hockey season before joining up with Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan Sate, and Wisconsin to form the new Big 10 hockey conference for the 2013 season.

The concern set in when Wisconsin State Journal beat writer Andy Baggot first reported a few months ago that Penn State asked permission to speak with Johnson after Badgers season was completed. The conclusion of the season saw Mark Johnson and the Badgers capture their fourth National Championship in school history, all on Johnson's watch.

After multiple reports of Minnesota-Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin being the front runner for the Penn State position surfaced last week, Baggot reported on Friday that not only did Johnson interview for the job, but that he was possibly at the top of their list of candidates.

With the news that Johnson won't be taking the job at Penn State, Wisconsin fans can look ahead at the possibilities next season. While losing Patt Kaz winner Meghan Duggan and fellow seniors Mallory Deluce, Kelly Nash, Geena Prough, Ann Dronen, Maria Evans and Carla Pentimone will no doubt hurt, the Badgers will be the favorites to repeat. They will return two of the best forwards in the country with Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker and also rock solid netminder Alex Rigsby. Oh yeah...and that guy behind the bench certainly has a little magic in him as well...

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Photo by Michelle Stocker, The Capital Times

Pictures From Erie

Enjoy a smattering of pictures I took while at the 2011 Women's Frozen Four this weekend, helping to cheer on the Badger women to their fourth NCAA National Championship.

D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y

Photograph Credit: Brent Stoutamyer

Women's NCAA Quarterfinal Streaming Online

If you're stuck living in Ohio like me, or if you're someplace else where you have internet access but can't get to the Kohl Center tonight, I have good news. UWBadgers.com will be streaming live video of the women's NCAA Quarterfinal game between the Badgers and the Foreign Legion tonight. FOR FREE.

Click here to access the video stream and be part of the game in spirit. There's also a GameTracker with live stats here.

And as always, it's a great day for hockey!

Women's Hockey Wants (and Deserves) Your Help

I haven't been able to devote much time or effort to the Wisconsin men's team in the latter half of this season, but living in Columbus allowed me to see the lady Badgers in January and has put me within a four-hour drive of Erie, Pennsylvania, the site of this year's Women's Frozen Four. Unfortunately, this also means that I will not be able to get my loud, obnoxious self to the Kohl Center this Saturday for the women's national quarterfinal game against the Russian National Team University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. In my stead, I want to encourage each and every person who can possibly attend to do so.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the success that the women's team has had in recent years, and this year as well. Our #1 Badgers boast three of the top four scorers in the country in senior Meghan Duggan (2nd, 82 points), junior Hilary Knight, and sophomore Brianna Decker (T-3rd, 76 points each). Duggan is one of the three remaining candidates for the Patty Kazmaier award. The Badgers have a 2-1-1 record against the Bulldogs this year. And finally, our great fellow Wisconsin fans set the single-game women's hockey attendance record against the Gophers in January. This team wants your help, and they deserve it.

If you've never been to a women's hockey game before, you'll be impressed with what you see. One of these two teams has won the national championship each of the last five years, so there's no question that the level of play in this game will be astronomically high. There may not be any checking allowed, but that opens up the game for more skilled plays, with beautiful passing and excellent skating. And if you're not a hockey fan at all, first of all you've come to the wrong blog, but secondly you might never get another chance to see your team host an NCAA tournament game in any sport in your home arena.

So I beg of you: get to the Kohl Center any way you can on Saturday night. Walk. Drive. Bike. Take a cab. Even get one of those wacky bicycle-rickshaw things if you have to. Just go, be loud, and cheer the Badgers on to victory. Make this game a night to rememeber, and send our lady Badgers (and me) to Erie with the chance to win their fourth national championship. It's always a great day for hockey.

Badger Women vs. aOSU

...as in "An" Ohio State University. In fact, as I learned yesterday on a drive to Toledo for business, there is at least one satellite OSU campus (further research shows that there are four). Which means that "the" Ohio State University is just one of many, and therefore has no right to use the word "The".

But I digress.

It's not that often that our beloved Badgers travel to Columbus, Ohio, especially for hockey. With the men's hockey teams in different conferences, I doubt that I'll see them make the 8-hour bus ride to my adopted neck of the woods in the near future. But the women's team is a different story, as they are in town this weekend to take on the Buckeye ladies. Maybe the word "ladies" is a little generous.

But I digress again.

This weekend, the Buckeyes will miss their top overall scorer (31 points), Laura McIntosh, and their leading goal-scorer (17), Natalie Spooner, this weekend. Both are playing for the Canadian U-22 team in Switzerland at the MLP Cup. Meanwhile, Wisconsin will be without four players, Stefanie McKeough and Brittany Haverstock on the blueline and Mallory Deluce and Carolyn Prevost at forward, all playing in the same tournament. Luckily for my viewing pleasure, the USA is not playing in this tournament, meaning Hilary Knight and leading scorer Meghan Duggan will both be with the team in Columbus. Also, if you can tell me what MLP stands for, you win a bonus life point, because I can't find it on my quick scan of the internets.

I'll be tweeting live from tonight's game starting at 7:00 Eastern, and hopefully at tomorrow's 4:00 faceoff as well, so keep your Twitter accounts locked to @TexWestern. It's a great day for hockey! ...Even if it is at the 1,000-seat OSU Ice Rink instead of the Kohl Center.

Badger Women In Familiar #1 Spot

With the return of Head Coach Mark Johnson, and forwards Hilary Knight and Meghan Duggan the Badger women's hockey program is back in a family place, undefeated and ranked #1 in the country. The perennial powerhouse program who played in four straight national championship games stumbled last season without the three previously mentioned.

The Badgers have looked outstanding this season so far blowing out RPI in a sweep and taking care of Bemidji State, a team who just beat last week's number 1 ranked team Mercyhurst. Pre-season WCHA Player of the Year Hilary Knight is averaging two points per game for the top ranked Badgers and blue chip recruit Brittany Ammerman has been better than advertised with 7 points in 4 games. Defensively the Badgers have only allowed an absurd 1 goal through 4 games. Goalies Becca Ruegsegger and freshman Alex Rigsby have been virtually perfect along the way.

Wisconsin hosts #10 ranked Ohio State this weekend and they are having multiple promotions. According to UWBadgers.com, Saturday's game against Ohio State is Breast Cancer Awareness Game. All fans that wear pink to the game will receive admission for $1 courtesy of UW Health. Fans arriving early will also receive a free Wisconsin Women's Hockey t-shirt courtesy of Becker Law Office, while supplies last. Finally, Saturday night also marks UW Student Day. UW students receive free admission with a valid UW student ID card and free pizza, while supplies last.

USCHO.com D-1 Womens Poll October 18th

1. Wisconsin (5) 137
2. Cornell (8) 133
3. Mercyhurst (1) 107
4. Minnesota-Duluth (1) 105
5. Boston University 86
6. North Dakota 84
7. Boston College 61
8. Minnesota 48
9. Harvard 22
10. Ohio State 21

Also receiving votes: Providence, Quinnipiac

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Overdue Women's Update

I think it’s high time that we had a little update about the Badger Women’s Hockey team.

Jessie Vetter has had a busy schedule since her dominate career ended w/ a 3rd National Championship and the Patty Kaz Award in March. The University of Wisconsin has nominated Jessie for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The requirements:

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors senior student-athletes for their collegiate achievements in service, leadership, athletics and academics. Nominees should have completed their primary sport eligibility and graduated before the 2009-10 academic year.

If you read the article, her list of accomplishments on and off the ice is a mile long and I won’t rehash those here. Women’s Hockey doesn’t get the attention that volleyball and basketball receive, along w/ softball, but Jessie has to be one of the top candidates in the nation and good luck to her. Sara Bauer was nominated in 2007.

On May 13th, she also flew to Los Angeles for a photo shoot in preparation for the Winter Olympics. Check out the photo gallery, pretty cool. Jessie joined four other Team USA players at the shoot and the pictures will be used in promotions by USOC and NBC leading up to the Olympics, which I’m really looking forward to. Reminder, Team USA will play an exhibition against the Badgers at the Kohl Center in January prior to the beginning of the Olympics.

Also, USA Hockey awarded Jessie w/ the Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year Award. She’s going to need a second house just to accommodate all of her hardware. The award is given by USA Hockey to the top player in NCAA Division I Women’s ice hockey. The awards banquet is in Colorado Springs, CO this Wednesday June 3rd. Jessie if the first Badger to win this award.

The Daily Cardinal also named Jessie UW’s top Women’s athlete, and the Women’s Hockey team the top Women’s team of the season, but I’m unable to find the links at the current time.

The team also had the honor of visiting the Governor’s mansion this Spring. The Governor showed them his model train collection which brings high speed transportation from one side of the mansion to the other at extraordinary cost to taxpayers. Per tradition, the team will also be visiting the White House at some point in the future.

Lastly, not Badger news directly, but will affect the team in the future. The Lamoureux twins (Jocelyne and Monique) have decided to transfer from minnesota to North Dakota. Assuming they both make the Olympic team, they will redshirt the upcoming season (similar to Hilary Knight and Meghan Duggan when they make Team USA), and will suit up for the …. well whatever they are going to named since Sioux is being retired this Fall, in 2010/11. Really either way they’ll sit out next season, if they make the Olympics or not. This is significant because both young women took the WCHA by storm last season, finishing first (Monique) and 3rd (Jocelyne) in overall scoring. Second, was da Bomb, Hilary Knight.

There has been a lot of chatter on USCHO about this. They are two of the dirtiest female players in the WCHA, so it only makes sense they head back to North Dakota. One of the required classes they could take online next season is English 201, WCHA Apology Letter Writing. Joe Finley had to take the class several times and his graduation status is still uncertain.

Baggot wonders about Women's attendance

Before I get to the main point, I want to point out that Meghan Duggan was named WCHA offensive player of the week.

To the main point of this post, today Andy Baggot of the WSJ shared some thoughts wondering why the Women's team doesn't see bigger attendance numbers at their games. He makes a lot of good points, and I have wondered this exact same thing myself this season.

Here are some of Baggot's points:

• The Badger Women are the best thing going in terms of Wisconsin sports. No one touches their unbeaten record of 16-0-2.
• Baggot considers Jessie Vetter to be one of the five most dominant, most clutch student-athletes in school history, men or women. Her stats definately back this up this season and throughout her career. 8-1 in the NCAA tourney w/ two National Championship and there is a good chance she'll be the top netminder for Team USA in the Olympics next winter.
• If Jessie isn't enough, Erika Lawler, Meghan Duggan and Hilary Knight are three of the best Women's hockey players in all the land and possibly Olympians themselves in Feb 2010. Hilary Knight is the bomb. Throw in Brooke Ammerman, Malory Deluce, Angie Keseley, Jasmine Giles and Carolyne Prevost too (I could name several more), they aren't too bad.
• Mark Johnson, enough said.

If you actually link over to the article there are a lot of comments from different people, all w/ some merit on why they don't draw better. Here is a brief summary:

• People don't like Women's sports. Roughly 50% of the populace is female, can this blanket statement really be true?
• Schedule, its mentioned many times and I think is the main reason for low attendance on fridays.
• No checking, the game is too slow. I can understand if you've only seen Men's hockey all your life that no checking would be odd, but I don't think the game is that slow. W/ out the checking it really opens things up, and well the Badgers are talented and it shows.
• Competition isn't great. Sure'll I'll give anyone that. Other than minnesota and Foreign Legion of Duluth, the rest of the WCHA is no match. Not the women on the ice's fault that other schools suck.
• One person even said foul language. Sieve is far from foul, its the cold hard truth.

The Women are averaging 1,440 people/game so far. As a few commentors pointed out the volleyball team draws 3 to 4k, while the basketball team draws 8k, sometimes more. Both are much more mainstream sports in HS for young women to play, I can see how they would be attended because likely more people participated in them at a younger age.

Really I think people are missing out, and missing out in a big way. Last season I attended my first Women's game, 1st round WCHA against Mankato. I had always said I would make a game, and always put it off. Not long into the 1st period, I knew I would be in a seat come this season when I could make it. Hilary Knight put a sick move on one of the land cow players scoring a sweet goal. No checking, you say, I'm glad becasue you would never see a talented player in the Men's game do that, or at least not often, maybe on a breakaway. I'm very happy I've made 7 of 10 so far this season, and look forward to St. Cloud this weekend.

Men's and Women's hockey are like night and day to me, I enjoy them both for that reason. As Baggot was saying, this team is loaded w/ talent, loaded!

I will admit that schedule is a big deal. I have a job where I can leave friday afternoons and head to the KC, but a lot of people don't and kids are still in school. But the price is definately right, $5/game or $30/season ticket is a steal, especially for what you get in return in entertainment value.

For those who have been to a game and don't like it for whatever reason, that is fine, the play doesn't suit everyone. If you haven't been to a game, I recommend making a point of picking a saturday for a doubleheader, and form an opinion for yourself. I think the Women's team would be a great place for young girls to come and watch hardworking, confident young women play their sport, and maybe give them some good role models to aspire to.

I'm not sure if Andy Baggot is saying the Women should get 10,000+ in attendance or he just expects better. I would be happy to see 4,000 at every game, and maybe that will come if UW builds a new rink for practice and Women's game. Maybe their own rink will help their schedule too.

This weekend is another chance for Badger fans to see the Women in action. Come to the Kohl Center at 2 PM Friday and/or Saturday, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Badger Women Sweep

The Badger Women went to North Dakota and came back w/ 2 wins remaining unbeaten on the season, 12-0-2. On saturday the Badgers won 5-1 behind two goals from Jasmine Giles, a playmaker (3 assists) by Hilary Knight, and two assists each for Erika Lawler, Meghan Duggan and Mallory Deluce. Jesse Vetter was in net for the win.

Earlier today, the Badgers won 4-0 behind another shutout by Jesse Vetter and another hat trick by Hilary Knight. A 6 point weekend for Hilary! Jasmine Giles and Erika Lawler each assisted on two goals, notching 4 point weekends for themselves. Brooke Ammerman had two goals on the weekend as well continuing the great play by the frosh.

The Badger Women travel to Fort Myers, FL this weekend for a series against New Hampshire. GL to them and if its not too much to ask bring back some warmer weather when you return.

The Badger Women are 22-0 all-time against the North Dakota Women.

Badger Women Dominate National Stats

The Badger Women are off this weekend, which makes sense w/ a large part of the team playing in the Four Nations Cup. The Badgers are about 1/3 of the way through the season, good time to take a look at how the Women are doing Nationally and in the WCHA. Hilary Knight, Jesse Vetter, Brooke Ammerman and Erika Lawler head the naitonal statisics.

Totals Pts Nationally
1 - Hilary Knights 13-6-19 (tied for 4th in WCHA)
3 - Brooke Ammerman 12-5-17 (tied for 2nd in WCHA)
6 - Erika Lawler 4-11-15
t10 - Jasmine Giles 3-10-13 (tied for 6th in WCHA)

Goals Nationally
1 - Hilary Knight 13 (tied 1st in WCHA)
2 - Brooke Ammerman 12 (tied 1st in WCHA)
Kyla Sanders (10th in WCHA)

Assists Nationally
1 - Erika Lawler 11
t2 - Jasmine Giles 10 (tied 3rd in WCHA)
t7 - Brittany Haverstock 9
Kelly Nash (tied 3rd in WCHA)
Brooke Ammerman (tied 9th in WCHA)
Alycia Matthews (tied 9th in WCHA)

PP Goals Nationally
t2- Hilary Knight 5 (tied 3rd in WCHA)
t4 - Brooke Ammerman 4 (tied 1st in WCHA)
t9 - Carolyne Prevost 3 (tied 3rd in WCHA)
t9 - Meghan Duggan 3 (tied 3rd in WCHA)
t9 - Kelly Nash 3

Goaltending Nationally
2 - Jesse Vetter 9-0-2, 0.858 GAA, 0.960 Save %, 4 Shutouts (1st)

Sure the Badgers kinda beat down some easy non-WCHA opponents, but they are doing very well in the WCHA. Brooke Ammerman is a standout frosh for the Badgers, her goal on friday night against the Foreign Legion of Duluth was outstanding, going top shelf while being tripped.

Here is a look at the Women's WCHA standings:

1 - Wisconsin 6-0-2-1, 15 pts
2 - minnesota 6-1-1-1, 14 pts
3 - North Dakota 4-1-1-0, 9 pts
4 - Minnesota State 3-2-1-1, 8 pts
5 - Duluth 2-4-2-0, 6 pts
6 - Ohio State 2-6-0-0, 4 pts
6 - St. Cloud St. 1-4-1-1, 4 pts
8 - Bemidji St. 0-6-0-0, 0 pts

The extra column in the record is for shootout wins.

Carolyne Prevost Link-O-Rama

Following recruiting for the Badger Women is a bit tougher than following recruiting for the Badger Men, simply because there's less media coverage. Which is really too bad, as I'd like to know more about our future Badgers. I find Carolyne Prevost especially intriguing, as she's a 7-time Canadian national champion in 3 sports (2 hockey, 1 soccer, 4 tae kwon do).

When Prevost committed to the Badgers, Mark Johnson said the following:

“Carolyne is just a very gifted athlete, which you can see by the fact that she’s a fourth-degree black belt and a Canadian tae kwon do national champion. She is dedicated, disciplined, hard-working and unbelievably quick. She’ll bring a lot of energy to our team.”

Here are some highlights from the past few seasons:

2007-08 season
Prevost won a silver medal (with future Badger Brittany Haverstock) with Team Canada in the 2008 IIHF World Women's U18 Championships (Jan 2008). In 5 games, she had 6 goals and 3 assists and finished +8. (Future Badger Brooke Ammerman won the gold with Team USA.)

Prevost won a gold medal with Ontario Red in Canada's 2007 U18 National Championships (Nov 2007).

2006-07 season
Prevost won a gold medal (along with Badger Mallory Deluce) with Team Ontario in the 2007 Canada Winter Games (Mar 2007). The 2007 CWG website has a really nice profile of Prevost.

2005-06 season
Prevost won a silver medal with Ontario Blue in Canada's 2005 U18 National Championships (Nov 2005). She was named Most Sportsmanlike Player for Ontario Blue.


In case you didn't feel like clicking on all the above links, I'd just like to emphasize her CWG profile. I think you'll like it. And if anyone has any more info about Prevost to share, please email me at sixtymin@gmail.com.

Badger Women's Team News

Someday in the future (distant or near) nubeetle will start doing his part to cover our outstanding Women's Hockey team, I guess for now you are stuck w/ me and 60min.

This is older news, but Mark Johnson has been selected to coach the U.S. Women's U18 team.

Also the Women's team handed out awards. I've only recently seen how enjoyable the Women's team is so I'm still learning the players, but Hillary Knight was named Rookie of the Year. The one game I did attend this season, she made a sick move to score a goal, I instantly became a fan.

I'm really looking forward to becoming a regular attendee of Women's game next season. For how good they are they need more support, and I urge all Men's fans to use your ticket stub from a friday night game and attend a Women's game on saturday when the schedule falls allowing such to occur. Or hell just show up regardless!

Future Badger Carolyne Prevost

Dplaya turned up an article in the Sarnia Observer about future Badger Carolyne Prevost. I don't know how DPlaya finds all of this good stuff, but I'm glad he does. Prevost sounds pretty impressive, and I'm looking forward to seeing her play. She'll be joining the Badgers for the upcoming 2008-09 season. Go RED!