Monday Morning Link Roundup

-Many of you are already familiar with former Badger and current Chicago Blackhawks forward Jake Dowell's family history. His father John, and brother Lucas both suffer from Huntington’s disease, which results from genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells in certain areas of the brain. Eventually walking, and intellectual ability decline until it eventually costs you your life.

Ken Campbell from The Hockey News sat down with Jake and they did a phenomenal two part interview. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.

Dowell talks about how the disease has affected his father and their relationship. He also talks about the prospects being tested for the disease himself where he has a 50/50 chance. Make sure you check it out.

-Future Badgers Jake McCabe and Nic Kerdiles from the United States U18 team who are playing in the World Championships won an intense 4-3 game over Russia on Sunday afternoon. The United States scored the game winner with only :23 seconds remaining to snatch the victory. Chris Peters from the United States of Hockey who is over covering the tournament in Germany has a full recap.

-Speaking of internationally play, the United States is participating in the Women's World Championships. Former Badgers Jessie Vetter, Meghan Duggan, and Molly Engstrom are all on this years squad along with current Badgers Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker. USA won game 1 5-0 over Slovakia. The Badgers represented well Sunday, Knight had a goal and an assist, Duggan had a goal, Engstrom had an assist, and Decker had 2 goals and 1 assist and was named the player of the game.

-Famed goalie coach David Marcoux said that North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell has been offered a two year contract by the Montreal Canadiens. UND is also expected to lose Brett Hextall and possibly Ben Blood and Jason Gregoire. If all four go, UND could be in trouble next season. They better hope Grimaldi is the real deal. UPDATE: Dell has tweeted that he plans to return to UND next season.

-Andy Baggot has a fantastic article up with former Wisconsin goalie Kirk Daubenspeck who was critically injured in a car crash. Daubenspeck sounds like he's doing phenomenal and is appreciative of the outpouring of support. Dauber even mentioned that he could possibly be driving in the next month. That's amazing.

-Baggot also spoke with UW centerman Craig Smith who was recently tabbed by USA hockey for the Mens World Championships, a rare honor for a college player. The biggest info in the article is Smith reiterating plans to return to Wisconsin for his junior season. As a Sophomore Smith was second on the Badgers in points and led the team in goals.

-Wisconsin assistant Gary Shuchuk joined twitter has been tweeting recruiting updates. In the past few weeks he's been in Connecticut for the Tier 1 USA Hockey U18 and U16 Nationals, and recently across the Northern border recruiting in British Columbia.

-The NHL Playoff action has been excellent so far. Many former Badgers have been putting points on the board so far. Monday night you can catch former Badgers Kyle Turris of Phoenix taking on Brian Rafalski and Detroit at 9:30 on Versus. The Coyotes are down 2-0 in the series. Turris has a goal in the series and Rafalski has 2.

-The Wisconsin high school seniors finished 1-2 at the Minnesota NIT over the weekend which was a bit of a disappointment after winning it last season. Ryan Dau (Hudson) led TW in scoring and tied for the tournament lead with 6 points in 3 games. He's visited Princeton and Holy Cross. Wisconsin recruit Brad Navin had 5 points (4 goals). UW forward Jefferson Dahl's brother Alex also had 5 points for Team Wisconsin. Potential UW recruit Eddie Wittchow from Burnsville who played for the Minnesota senior all-stars did not record a point on the weekend.

chuckschwartz(at)live.com
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Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife

Thanks @Djtuttle for the tip.

lol I am literally laughing while writing this blog. Apparently, on Tuesday afternoon, some local police horses got spooked by a train outside of the Kohl Center and went on a rampage damaging three cars.

One of those cars was a Dodge Charger that belongs to our new men's assistant coach Gary Shuckuk. Lol according to the report the horse kicked the first car, jumped over it, and hit the Charger.

"I was more worried about the horses," Shuchuk said. "But I was told by others that my insurance guy was going to love this story."

Oh Shuey, I'm sure he'll get a nice kick out of it.

chuckschwartz@live.com
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Shuchuk, Butters are new assistants

Mike Eaves has hired two assistants to replace Kevin Patrick and Mark Osiecki, and they are Gary Shuchuk and Bill Butters.

Shuchuk led the Badgers to the 1990 NCAA Championship and played part of 5 seasons in the NHL. His most recent work includes coaching Team Wisconsin's U16 team which he guided to a runner up finish in the Tier II National Championship this past Spring. He has strong connections to WI and western Canada, which should help for recruiting.

Butters is a gopher, but we won't hold that against him while he coaches the Badger blue liners. After college, Butters played a few NHL games and a solid minor league career. Under Doug Woog he returned as an assistant from 1985 to 1995, and helped produce a solid group of future NHLers. He has coached in a few places since then, and has a strong recruiting connection to minnesota. Hopefully he can talk some sense into those young dmen over there in realizing Wisconsin is the place to be (if Tom Gilbert, Jamie McBain, Ryan McDonagh and Jake Gardiner aren't good enough examples). He served as recruiting coordinator under Woog, so he has a lot of experience in that area.

Eaves seems to know what he is doing, so we'll see how these additions to the staff shake out.

Badger Men's Catch-up

Several items that have been accumulating over the past several days . . .

• In a previous post, I lamented that nubeetle hadn't sent me a link to a Bernd Bruckler interview. I have since updated that post to include the link, but I thought I'd better post the link here as well for those who might've missed it. In the interview, Bruckler talks about going to the KHL and about what he's been working on this summer. (Thanks, nubeetle!)

• PredsTV has a Badger-gopher rivalry video featuring Blake Geoffrion and Craig Smith. (Thanks to Capobianco for the heads-up.)

• Canada's Olympic Orientation Camp began yesterday. Dany Heatley is the Badgers' sole representative . Mirtle breaks down the camp roster into "locks", "contenders", "long shots", and "not going to happen"; he has Heatley as a "contender".
  

• As pointed out by DPlaya, American Junior Hockey has been "introducing" players for USHL's Youngstown Phantoms, including future Badgers Cody Strang and Jefferson Dahl.
  

  Cody Strang
  Ht/Wt: 5-8/160
  DoB: 8/25/1990
  Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
  Previous: Madison (Wisc.) Edgewood High School
  Acquired: Fifth-round selection in USHL Entry Draft
  Scoop: A tremendous athlete, Strang was honored as Wisconsin’s Mr. Hockey 2009 this spring. Was a sleeper in the draft due to his size, but smarts and agility make him an impact centerman. Likely to develop into top scorer, both in this league and when he gets to his hometown University of Wisconsin in the fall of 2011. Played on Edgewood’s state champion golf team.
  Coach Says: “Another dynamic player with skill to spare. Cody sticks his nose in all the battles and wins more than his share.”
  
  Jefferson Dahl (DOLL)
  Ht/Wt: 5-9/175
  DoB: 9/13/1989
  Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
  Previous: Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)
  Acquired: Selected in USHL Expansion Draft
  Scoop: Voted Mr. Hockey for the state of Wisconsin in 2008, Dahl netted 15 goals and 26 points for a good Green Bay team last year. Although smaller in stature, Jefferson is a skilled playmaker and a responsible two-way center. Acquiring Dahl was one of the highlights of the Phantoms’ expansion draft. A personable young man with a smile on his face, he has committed to the University of Wisconsin at Madison for next fall.
  Coach Says: “(Jefferson) is a dynamic two-way forward. He’ll provide a lot of energy and we’ll look to him for some big goals.”

• Not that I can find anything on the official WCHA website, but CC's beat writer blog has a blurb on the WCHA's new official timeout policy.

• Walby reports that the WEHL schedule opened this past weekend. WEHL offers "before and after" programs for both boys and girls in Wisconsin. Badger alum Gary Shuchuk oversees coaching and development and serves as Madison GM.
  

How many shoes would a Shuchuk chuck if a Shuchuk could chuck shoes?

Kind of a silly question. Because the question implies that a Shuchuck couldn't chuck shoes, whereas I'm pretty sure that a Shuchuk could chuck shoes, and with pretty good aim. I'm not gonna test this hypothesis -- for 2 reasons -- I have slow reflexes and no faith that I could duck fast enough, and I have complete faith in all of Shuchuk's abilities. Honestly, who questions Gary Shuchuk??

Anyway, our good friend tdd (thanks, tdd!) was kind enough to pass along this USA Hockey Magazine article about Gary Shuchuk and his TW U16 team that advanced to the National Championship quarterfinals (and won the WAHA and Central District championships) in his 1st year behind the TW bench. In addition to mentioning his 1990 NCAA Championship with the Badgers and that he played with Wayne Gretzy and Stevie Y during his NHL career, the article also mentions Shuey's "sick hands", furthering my assertion that he really could chuck shoes. Seriously though, the kids have some nice things to say about Shuey, and by all accounts his players like him a lot. Nice to see Shuey doing well, and I can't tell you how happy I am that he's coaching youth hockey in Wisconsin!

Team Wisconsin weekend scores

Yesterday, TW Major defeated MN SE 6-3 and lost to MN SW 3-2. Today, TW Major tied SSM 4-4.

I can't find game stats, so I don't know who scored the goals. But of course you'll remember that future Badgers Cody Strang and Matt Paape play for TW Major. And TW Major is coached by Badger alumnus Tony Scheid!

I can't find game results for TW Minor on their website, but No Sleep Til Madison is reporting that they won the 1st Saturday game v. West Metro 7-4, the 2nd Saturday game v. 1A/AA 5-0, and lost a close game today v. 6A/AA 2-0 (EN). Perhaps TW Minor has some future Badgers, and (you must know this by now) they're coached by Gary Shuchuk.

Team Wisconsin Minor ranked # 2 in the nation

I think this is pretty exciting. MYHockeyrankings has ranked Team Wisconsin Minor #2 in the nation.

Team Wisconsin GM Bill McCoshen tells me that this is the highest TW Minor has EVER been ranked.

And don't forget, TW Minor is coached by Badger Gary Shuchuk.

Team Wisconsin Minor Mad City Shootout

Team Wisconsin Minor (U16), coached by Badger alum Gary Shuchuk, won the Mad City Shootout this weekend. This is Shuchuk's first season coaching TW (he had previously coached in the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League (WEHL)), and TW GM Bill McCoshen told me that Shuey is doing a great job for them and that all the kids love him. Nice to hear!

Anyway, I had a chance to make it to a couple of the games this weekend, and I gotta tell ya, it was a good time. (I wore my gameworn Shuchuk jersey. It was a big hit, lol.) TW was pretty dominant -- I looked at the standings before the last game, and TW had already wrapped up the festival. They won all 4 of their games and outscored their opponents 21-2. Nice! Here are the results from the Caps website:

EDIT - I can't explain it -- some of the numbers in the below table that I copied and pasted don't show up very well. But if you highlight the table, you'll be able to see all the numbers!

The Mad-City Shootout Scoring

The Mad-City Shootout will be scored in a festival format. Teams will be awarded points as follows.

4 points for a game win

2 points for a game tie

2 points for each period won

1 point for each period tied

1 bonus point for a game shutout

	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Total Points
Madison Capitols	1	7	3	1	12
Russell Stover	10	0	1	2	13
Team Wisconsin	11	9	11	9	40
Affton Americans	0	0	3	8	11
Milwaukee Jr. Admirals	10	10	7	0	27

Shootout: if the score is tied at the end of regulation there will be a 5 round shootout to determine the winner. If the teams are still tied at the end 5 rounds each team is awarded 2 points for a tie. A player may only shoot once during a shootout.

US Hockey rules and penalties will apply to all games.

Games are 15-15-20 minute stop time periods, 5 minute warm-up and one resurface between the second and third periods. If a team is ahead by 6 or more goals in the third period it will be running time for the balance of the game. Each team will be allowed a single one (1) minute timeout per game.

For all games, the home team listed shall wear its home, light colored jersey and the visiting team listed shall wear its away, dark colored jersey

Mad-City Shootout 2008, U16 Division September 26-28
Madison Capitols		Milwaukee Jr. Admirals
Team Wisconsin		Affton Americans
Russell Stover
Friday	Home		Visitors
7:30 PM	Milwaukee Jr. Admirals 5	vs.	Affton Americans 1	Rink A
9:30 PM	Russell Stover 3	vs.	Madison Capitols 0	Rink A
Saturday
8:30 AM	Affton Americans 0	vs.	Team Wisconsin 7	Rink A
10:30 AM	Russell Stover 2	vs.	Milwaukee Jr. Admirals 7	Rink A
2:20 PM	Madison Capitols 3	vs.	Affton Americans 1	Rink A
4:20 PM	Team Wisconsin 5	vs.	Russell Stover 1	Rink A
8:10 PM	Milwaukee Jr. Admirals 3	vs.	Madison Capitols 2	Rink A
Sunday
8:00 AM	Affton Americans 6	vs.	Russell Stover 2	Rink A
8:10 AM	Team Wisconsin 5	vs.	Milwaukee Jr. Admirals 0	Rink B
2:10 PM	Madison Capitols 1	vs.	Team Wisconsin 4	Rink A

Moving along . . . Team Wisconsin Major (U18) had a nice weekend as well, winning all 3 of their games. As you know, TW Major includes future Badgers Cody Strang and Matt Paape. Their head coach, by the way, is Badger alum Tony Scheid. Badger alumni everywhere! (Too bad I don't have a gameworn Tony Scheid jersey!)

Hartmeyer Arena renovations

If you were wondering what Badger Alumni Gary Shuchuk was doing these days, he is the executive director of Madison Ice, Inc. Madison Ice manages Hartmeyer Arena on Madison's north side which is currently going through a renovation.

I happened upon Gary's career stats and he was still playing pro hockey in 2004 in the AHL.