Found myself laughing a couple of times at these videos so I figured it was worthy of sharing with you all. Pretty funny stuff.
Check out the other video's on there too. I like the one with Kane and Toews campaigning to get into the all star game against each other and the one where Kane has a figuring made after himself for winning the Calder Trophy.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Weekend Review: Everybody Sweeps!
Both the Men and Women swept their opponents this week! Both are also in 1st place in the WCHA, though the Men do have several games in hand, but following the 0-6-1 start, it feels really good to say it.
"It's quite an accomplishment for this group from where we were," UW coach Mike Eaves said. "The thing that we as a staff are the proudest of is the fact they stayed together through tough times and persevered."
I don't have much to add for the Men's series, the beat Alaska Anchorage 3-2 on friday and 7-2 on saturday. Chuck did a nice job w/ the live blog. Nice weekend for the PP going 4-13 and the PK allowing 1 goal on 14 UAA PPs.
On friday night, UAA really came to play out of the gate. Wisconsin owned the 2nd period scoring all three goals, but didn't respond well in the 3rd following Blake Geoffion's injury. I was a little worried saturday night, but the team came to play and really took it to the Seawolves. Nice play all around on saturday, a little lazy late letting in those 2 late goals. Connelly played well all weekend, he's really heating up.
Some other top preformers for the weekend: Michael Davies had a great weekend w/ 2 goals and 2 assists. After calling Cody Goloubef out (in a positive way) last week for playing great w/ out the big numbers, he goes out and has two game winners. Jamie McBain continues to lead the team in scoring adding 3 assists. Finally, Derek Stepan continues to quitely play well on the ice w/ a goal and 3 assists.
Some reading:
Friday's game:
TCT (Milewski): Injuries, performance mar UW victory
Ice House: Game Day Post
WSJ (Baggot): More pain than pleasure in UW's 3-2 win
uwbadgers.com: Badgers beat out Seawolves 3-2
Saturday's game:
TCT (Milewski): UW closes first half with resounding victory
Ice House: Game Day post
WSJ (Baggot): Worst to first as UW atop WCHA
uwbadgers.com: UW takes first in WCHA with 7-2 win over UAA
Daily Cardinal: Wisconsin unbeaten in last five after home sweep
Badger Herald (Bleach): Despite captains’ injuries, Wisconsin stays on track
Badger Herald (Mason): UW sweeps UAA in weekend series
The Women's Hockey team remains unbeaten on the season as they head into break at 18-0-2. The Women beat St. Cloud 7-0 on friday and 6-2 on saturday. Jessie Vetter notched her 33rd career shutout in the win friday and the win saturday gave her her 75th victory as a Badger tying her for the school record w/ Jackie MacMillan.
The Women really took it to St. Cloud on friday, they started slow, but had a huge 2nd period. On saturday, St. Cloud brought a much better effort, but were again no match for the best team in the country.
My favorite moment of the weekend was when all the freshman skaters combined for a goal saturday as Brooke Ammerman (the Freshman Sensation) scored w/ assists from Brittany Haverstock (Nova Scotia's finest) and Carolyne Prevost (the Cardinal and White Ninja).
Top performances on the weekend for the Women: Brooke Ammerman had the biggest weekend w/ 3 goals and 2 assists. Not far behind was the top goal scorer in the country Hilary Knight w/ 2 of each. Erika Lawler had a playmaker on saturday along w/a goal.
Friday's game:
TCT (staff): Vetter gets another shutout
uwbadgers.com: Vetter does it again with shutout victory
Saturday's game:
TCT (Carey): Wisconsin Badgers women's hockey unbeaten at the holiday break
Daily Cardinal (Savide): With sweep of St. Cloud, Badgers undefeated heading into break
Badger Hearld (Donohue): Wisconsin leads nation in most statistical categories en route to unbeaten 1st half
Badger Herald (Mosgaller): UW near perfect at midway point
uwbadgers.com: Badgers give fans a good show overtaking Huskies 6-2
In the coming weeks off the blog will review the 1st half for both teams, take a look at some stats, and have a few polls for mid-season awards.
"It's quite an accomplishment for this group from where we were," UW coach Mike Eaves said. "The thing that we as a staff are the proudest of is the fact they stayed together through tough times and persevered."
I don't have much to add for the Men's series, the beat Alaska Anchorage 3-2 on friday and 7-2 on saturday. Chuck did a nice job w/ the live blog. Nice weekend for the PP going 4-13 and the PK allowing 1 goal on 14 UAA PPs.
On friday night, UAA really came to play out of the gate. Wisconsin owned the 2nd period scoring all three goals, but didn't respond well in the 3rd following Blake Geoffion's injury. I was a little worried saturday night, but the team came to play and really took it to the Seawolves. Nice play all around on saturday, a little lazy late letting in those 2 late goals. Connelly played well all weekend, he's really heating up.
Some other top preformers for the weekend: Michael Davies had a great weekend w/ 2 goals and 2 assists. After calling Cody Goloubef out (in a positive way) last week for playing great w/ out the big numbers, he goes out and has two game winners. Jamie McBain continues to lead the team in scoring adding 3 assists. Finally, Derek Stepan continues to quitely play well on the ice w/ a goal and 3 assists.
Some reading:
Friday's game:
TCT (Milewski): Injuries, performance mar UW victory
Ice House: Game Day Post
WSJ (Baggot): More pain than pleasure in UW's 3-2 win
uwbadgers.com: Badgers beat out Seawolves 3-2
Saturday's game:
TCT (Milewski): UW closes first half with resounding victory
Ice House: Game Day post
WSJ (Baggot): Worst to first as UW atop WCHA
uwbadgers.com: UW takes first in WCHA with 7-2 win over UAA
Daily Cardinal: Wisconsin unbeaten in last five after home sweep
Badger Herald (Bleach): Despite captains’ injuries, Wisconsin stays on track
Badger Herald (Mason): UW sweeps UAA in weekend series
The Women's Hockey team remains unbeaten on the season as they head into break at 18-0-2. The Women beat St. Cloud 7-0 on friday and 6-2 on saturday. Jessie Vetter notched her 33rd career shutout in the win friday and the win saturday gave her her 75th victory as a Badger tying her for the school record w/ Jackie MacMillan.
The Women really took it to St. Cloud on friday, they started slow, but had a huge 2nd period. On saturday, St. Cloud brought a much better effort, but were again no match for the best team in the country.
My favorite moment of the weekend was when all the freshman skaters combined for a goal saturday as Brooke Ammerman (the Freshman Sensation) scored w/ assists from Brittany Haverstock (Nova Scotia's finest) and Carolyne Prevost (the Cardinal and White Ninja).
Top performances on the weekend for the Women: Brooke Ammerman had the biggest weekend w/ 3 goals and 2 assists. Not far behind was the top goal scorer in the country Hilary Knight w/ 2 of each. Erika Lawler had a playmaker on saturday along w/a goal.
Friday's game:
TCT (staff): Vetter gets another shutout
uwbadgers.com: Vetter does it again with shutout victory
Saturday's game:
TCT (Carey): Wisconsin Badgers women's hockey unbeaten at the holiday break
Daily Cardinal (Savide): With sweep of St. Cloud, Badgers undefeated heading into break
Badger Hearld (Donohue): Wisconsin leads nation in most statistical categories en route to unbeaten 1st half
Badger Herald (Mosgaller): UW near perfect at midway point
uwbadgers.com: Badgers give fans a good show overtaking Huskies 6-2
In the coming weeks off the blog will review the 1st half for both teams, take a look at some stats, and have a few polls for mid-season awards.
Several Current and Future Badger Women busy during Holidays
The Badger Women don't play a regular season game again until Jan 9th when they travel to the DUMP in Duluth, but a few Badgers (and future Badgers) will be busy during the holidays away from Madison. Reminder: the US Select Team plays the Badger Women in an exhibition on Jan 2nd, 2 PM @ the Kohl Center.
Brooke Ammerman, the freshman sensation, will be heading to Blaine, MN for the 2008 USA Hockey Women's Holiday Camp.
North of the border, Malory Deluce and Brittany Haverstock will be joining Canada's U22 Team, as they travel across the pond to Ravensburg, Germany for the 2009 MLP Cup (formerly the Air Canada Cup). This event occurs Jan 2-6.
Finally, two 2009 recruits will be joining Canada's U18 Team for the 2009 Worl d U18 Championshps in Fussen, Germany. Breann Frykas and Saige Pacholok both played for Canada's U18 this summer in a three game series against Team USA. Speaking of Team USA, Mark Johnson will be coaching the Team USA U18 Women, which includes 2009 Brianna Decker. This event occurs Jan 5-10.
GL to all the Badger Women playing in Germany early in the New Year.
Brooke Ammerman, the freshman sensation, will be heading to Blaine, MN for the 2008 USA Hockey Women's Holiday Camp.
North of the border, Malory Deluce and Brittany Haverstock will be joining Canada's U22 Team, as they travel across the pond to Ravensburg, Germany for the 2009 MLP Cup (formerly the Air Canada Cup). This event occurs Jan 2-6.
Finally, two 2009 recruits will be joining Canada's U18 Team for the 2009 Worl d U18 Championshps in Fussen, Germany. Breann Frykas and Saige Pacholok both played for Canada's U18 this summer in a three game series against Team USA. Speaking of Team USA, Mark Johnson will be coaching the Team USA U18 Women, which includes 2009 Brianna Decker. This event occurs Jan 5-10.
GL to all the Badger Women playing in Germany early in the New Year.
Kyle Turris' 1st NHL Fight
No video on this yet, but since I saw it in person I need to post about it.
Last night the Phoenix Coyotes got rolled by the Chicago Blackhawks 7-1. W/ one second left in the game, there was an altercation in front of the net. Kris Versteeg and KT went off to the side of the net away from things and the next thing I know, the gloves are off.
At this point I was very worried, worried that Kyle was going to get his ass kicked. Overall he held his own and connected a few times on Versteeg's face, taking a few to the chin himself. Congrats to KT on his first (and possibly last) 5 minute fighting major. Versteeg collected an instigator and two game misconducts. Seems reasonable, because I'm sure KT didn't really want to drop the gloves.
I was out of my seat cheering for KT, I was quite excited, since his play throughout the game didn't leave me much to be excited about.
Edit: Here is a link to the video, thanks to Milzie for posting the link. The view was better from my seat.
Last night the Phoenix Coyotes got rolled by the Chicago Blackhawks 7-1. W/ one second left in the game, there was an altercation in front of the net. Kris Versteeg and KT went off to the side of the net away from things and the next thing I know, the gloves are off.
At this point I was very worried, worried that Kyle was going to get his ass kicked. Overall he held his own and connected a few times on Versteeg's face, taking a few to the chin himself. Congrats to KT on his first (and possibly last) 5 minute fighting major. Versteeg collected an instigator and two game misconducts. Seems reasonable, because I'm sure KT didn't really want to drop the gloves.
I was out of my seat cheering for KT, I was quite excited, since his play throughout the game didn't leave me much to be excited about.
Edit: Here is a link to the video, thanks to Milzie for posting the link. The view was better from my seat.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wisconsin 7, Anchorage 2
After the first period I decided I'd give live blogging a chance. We'll see how it works out.First Period-Mike Davies gets the Badgers on the board. Jordy Murray made a crafty backhand pass to Davies who buried it. Badgers are up 1-0.
So far Davies has recorded 2 goals and 2 assists in the 4 games he's played since he was benched by Eaves. Mike Davies is now second on the team behind Jamie McBain in points per game.
Ben Grotting went down with an undisclosed knee injury. Hopefully he's alright since we are going down like flies. To me it looked like a possibility of a deep thigh bruise but that's purely speculation.
Shots were 16-9 in favor of Wisconsin in the first period.
Rob Andringa rips on the Minnesota student section for being worthless...classic Andringa!
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Second Period-Podge Turnbull makes it 2-0 Wisconsin after an awesome goal on a 2 on 0. Turnbull picked up the puck in the nuetral zone and with McDonagh joining the rush had no one between them and the net. Turnbull fed it over to McDonagh and he one timed a pass back over to Podge who burried it to give Wisconsin a 2-0 lead. Thurber also picks up a helper on the play.
Connelly just made a very nice glove save on Backstrom who got a nice feed from the side of the net from Beloit native Sean Wiles.
After the Badgers get a man advantage, Don Adam makes a ridiculous penalty call on Brendan Smith. Andringa is steamed. 4 on 4 hockey.
GOOOOOAL GOLOUBEF!!! Tommy Gorowsky beats the UAA defenseman on a 2 on 2, catches the other defenseman sleeping and Goloubef is left wide open in front of the net to one time it home. 3-0 Bucky.
1-2-3 WE WANT MORE
Seawolves go on the PP. UAA is 0-5 on the power play so far tonight but they have closed the gap on shots 19-16.
Badgers Kill off penalty, 7:37 renaming in the second. Shots are 20-16 Badgers. McDonagh makes a nice move to get a shot on net right after his penalty ended.
Anchorage fans on USCHO are already predicting their team to go into a swoon after this weekend.
3:12 left in the second, little bit of action back and forth.
Wisconsin is going on the Power Play. Boarding on Backstrom.
GOOOOAL Bohmbach! 4-0 Bucky. Smith throws a shot on net, there was a mad scramble in front of the net, and Bohmbach puts it home. Power Play goal. Jamie McBain also gets an assist but I think that may be changed to the other forward in front of the net who I believe was Davies.
1-2-3-4 WE WANT MORE.
WE WANT ICE CREAM. Shots are 27-18.
4-0 Wisconsin after 2 periods of play. Man we are rolling right now.
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Third Period-Wisconsin needs to come out firing on all cylinders and put this game out of reach.
Wisconsin has scored a Power Play goal in 13 of their last 16 games. Wisconsin is 18.1 % on the power play this season.
Is it just me or does Connelly try and make every save look ridiculously dramatic? He's starting to remind me too much of Lamoureux. Oh well, I guess as long as he stops it I don't care too much.
Shots are 28-21 Wisconsin.
UAA getting the better of the action for the last few minutes. Wisconsin getting a bit sloppy.
Just as I say that Wisconsin starts to control the zone. UAA changed goaltenders after the second period. Christiansen is now in the nets for the Sea Pups.
For the second time tonight Wisconsin goes on the power play only to have it washed out by a penalty only seconds into the man advantage. 4 on 4 hockey.
Pat Johnson gets a good opportunity off a feed from a 2 on 1 with McBain but can't convert. Christiansen poke checked him.
11:51 left in the game, 4-0 Wisconsin. Andringa is calling for Ice Cream.
Power Play goal by the Badgers 5-0! Smith shot it and it was tipped in by a Anchorage forward. McBain will get a helper. Stepan gets an assist as well. It's Stepans second of the night and 9th of the season.
Before I can even finish my post Dolan scores to make it 6-0. It's Dolan's first goal of the season. Un-assisted.
Good to see the Badgers finish off Anchorage. Wisconsin is the hottest team in the nation right now after a poor start against a brutal schedule. Like PB says, it's impressive what they are doing with the injuries they have right now. 9:16 left in the third period, still 6-0 good guys.
Badgers get lazy and let up 2 goals in a matter of minutes. Eaves isn't going to be happy. UAA is a good squad. 5:16 left in the game.
Davies proves why he should never be taken out of the lineup. The kid can just flat out score goals. It's his second goal of the game and 5th point in 4 games since Eaves 6 game benching. After picking the puck up in the neutral zone on a turnover, Davies bought enough time to bury the puck from the slot.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7 WE WANT MORE.
1:52 left in the game. Students are calling for the old people to get on their feet.
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7-2 is the final score. SWEEP, SWEEP, SWEEP, SWEEP, SWEEP.
-------------------------------------
First Period Scoring:
14:21-UW-Mike Davies (Jordy Murray, Derek Stepan)
Second Period Scoring:
2:28-UW-Podge Turbull (Ryan McDonagh, Matt Thurber)
7:49-UW-Cody Goloubef (Tom Gorowsky)
17:59-UW-Andy Bohmbach (Brendan Smith, Jamie McBain)
Third Period Scoring:
8:39-UW-Brendan Smith (Derek Stepan, Jamie McBain)
8:50-UW-Sean Dolan (Unassisted)
12:54-UAA-Tyler Moir (Nils Backstrom)
14:18-UAA-Tommy Grant (Paul Crowder, Sean Wiles)
15:39-UW-Mike Davies (Unassisted)
3 Stars of the game:
Third Star-Shane Connelly. Con's was solid all night minus a little 2 minute span in the third period. This team will only go as far as Connelly takes them. Ended up with 29 saves on 31 shots.
Second Star-Jamie McBain. Another solid night for Bainer. Could be potentially putting up a Hobey campaign if he continues putting up games like this every night. Finished with 2 helpers.
First Star-Mike Davies. Davies started the scoring in the first and capped it off in the third. He has 3 goals and 5 points since he was benched. He really picked up Geoffrion's slack tonight.
Photo from USCHO.com
Badger Injury Update
I don't have any definate links, but between Buckyville and the USCHO forum, word has it that Blake Geoffrion has a high ankle sprain and that Jake Gardiner has a concussion. Mike Eaves labeled the both as "major injuries" and Geoffrion is definately out for tonight's game, probably for many weeks.
The injury to Geoffrion occurred right in front of me, the way he was holding his shin/ankle I was worried he has broken his leg. While a high ankle sprain is a significant injury, a broken leg would have been worse.
This puts the Badgers down both their captains w/ Ben Street out indefinatley following successful knee surgery.
Update as more information becomes available.
The injury to Geoffrion occurred right in front of me, the way he was holding his shin/ankle I was worried he has broken his leg. While a high ankle sprain is a significant injury, a broken leg would have been worse.
This puts the Badgers down both their captains w/ Ben Street out indefinatley following successful knee surgery.
Update as more information becomes available.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wisconsin picks up NTDP defenseman
Thanks to an anonymous commenter, we have learned that Wisconsin has picked up a commitment from USA NTDP U-18 defenseman John Ramage. John will be on full scholarship and will enter the University of Wisconsin next fall. (2009)Ramage will be joined by Justin Schultz from the BCHL to presumably replace Jamie McBain (Carolina Hurricanes), and Ryan McDonagh (Montreal Canadians) who are expected to turn pro after this season.
Ramage is a 6'1, 190 pounder who hails from Chesterfield, MO. Previous to this season he played in the NAHL for the St. Louis Bandits and also for the St. Louis Junior Blues AAA program.
The NTDP is pretty terrible at tracking stats for the most part. As of 11-25-08, Ramage is credited with 4 assists in 20 games for the red, white, and blue. He has recorded 26 penalty minutes. Last season as a junior in high school, he had 4 goals and 5 assists in 45 games for the Bandits in the NAHL.
In the summer of 2007, Ramage was selected by the USA to compete in the U-17 5 Nations Tournament. Players are selected after their performances in the USA Select 16 festival. Ramage was tied for the most points for defensemen with Minnesota recruit Nate Schmidt at Select 16's.
Last January, Ramage was invited to join the U-17 NTDP in the 4 Nations tournament. USA sends the NTDP U-17 squad to the 4 Nations tournament, but always adds a few players from outside of the program for added depth. He was added along with Current Badger Derek Stepan.
Chris from the Western College Hockey Blog had this to say about Ramage at this summer's Select 17 festival. "John Ramage-Big defenseman that skates really well. Of the defenseman that played Jr. A last year, Ramage was probably the best."
John Ramage is the son of former NHL'er Rob Ramage. Ramage had an illustrious NHL career spanning 15 seasons. He played for St. Louis, Calgary, Toronto, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Montreal before finishing his career in Philladelphia.
Yeah, it's Friday . . .
Yeah, it's Friday, and I'm in Love, but unfortunately I'm also very pressed for time, as I have to finish up some stuff and get ready to go to Madison in time to make the women's game today.
So, this week's edition will be abbreviated quite a bit.
Badger Men v. UAA - Fri/Sat 7 PM CST
Gameday
TV: Friday FSN live, WHA tape-day; Saturday WISC live, WHA tape delay
Radio: WIBA 1310, yahoosports ($4.95 online)
Livestats: uwbadgers.com gameday
Lines
P. Johnson - Geoffrion - Gorowsky
Mitchell - Thurber - Grotting
Murray - Stepan - Davies
Bohmbach - Bendickson - Turnbull
Smith - McBain
McDonagh - Goloubef
Gardiner - Springer
Connelly
Gudmandson
I gotta tell ya, I'm happy to see Springer in the lineup tonight. I thought he did a pretty good job last Friday, and I'm looking forward to seeing him play tonight. Of course, I imagine that we'll see Little on Saturday, as that seems to be how things are going, and that's all right, too.
Series previes / articles
I don't have time to link everything, but I'll direct you to a few sites. Looks like Todd and Andy have had some nice stuff lately, so I'd check them out.
uwbadgers.com
TCT (Todd)
Icehouse (Todd)
WSJ (Andy)
WSJ Badger Blog (Andy)
Badger Herald
Daily Cardinal
Badger Women v. St. Cloud - Fri/Sat 2 PM CST
Uwbadgers will have livestats and a live video webcast, and you can find the links here.
uwbadgers.com
Badger Herald
Daily Cardinal
I haven't been covering the women (or anything, lately) as much as I should have, but Gandalf has been trying to pick up the slack (thanks, Gandalf), and if you didn't catch this recent post, go ahead and check it out. Good stuff. In the post, Gandalf links to this article by Andy Baggot, and I gotta give props to Andy for giving some love to the Badger Women.
Oh, and I gotta give a belated congratulations to one of my favorites, Meghan Duggan, for earning WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors. Nice work, Meghan! (Gandalf says that Hilary Knight is the bomb, but I don't know, I think it might be Meghan . . . )
So, this week's edition will be abbreviated quite a bit.
Badger Men v. UAA - Fri/Sat 7 PM CST
Gameday
TV: Friday FSN live, WHA tape-day; Saturday WISC live, WHA tape delay
Radio: WIBA 1310, yahoosports ($4.95 online)
Livestats: uwbadgers.com gameday
Lines
P. Johnson - Geoffrion - Gorowsky
Mitchell - Thurber - Grotting
Murray - Stepan - Davies
Bohmbach - Bendickson - Turnbull
Smith - McBain
McDonagh - Goloubef
Gardiner - Springer
Connelly
Gudmandson
I gotta tell ya, I'm happy to see Springer in the lineup tonight. I thought he did a pretty good job last Friday, and I'm looking forward to seeing him play tonight. Of course, I imagine that we'll see Little on Saturday, as that seems to be how things are going, and that's all right, too.
Series previes / articles
I don't have time to link everything, but I'll direct you to a few sites. Looks like Todd and Andy have had some nice stuff lately, so I'd check them out.
uwbadgers.com
TCT (Todd)
Icehouse (Todd)
WSJ (Andy)
WSJ Badger Blog (Andy)
Badger Herald
Daily Cardinal
Badger Women v. St. Cloud - Fri/Sat 2 PM CST
Uwbadgers will have livestats and a live video webcast, and you can find the links here.
uwbadgers.com
Badger Herald
Daily Cardinal
I haven't been covering the women (or anything, lately) as much as I should have, but Gandalf has been trying to pick up the slack (thanks, Gandalf), and if you didn't catch this recent post, go ahead and check it out. Good stuff. In the post, Gandalf links to this article by Andy Baggot, and I gotta give props to Andy for giving some love to the Badger Women.
Oh, and I gotta give a belated congratulations to one of my favorites, Meghan Duggan, for earning WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors. Nice work, Meghan! (Gandalf says that Hilary Knight is the bomb, but I don't know, I think it might be Meghan . . . )
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Badger Men news and notes
Andy Baggot talks about how the Badgers are loaded w/ dmen.
Unless you live under a rock, Wisconsin does have one of the most talented blue liners anywhere. It didn't show in the first 7 games of the season (at least defensively), but the turn around has been excellent. Only the Florida Panthers boast as many 1st and 2nd round NHL picks. Baggot points out that the blue line is at the top of many stats this season. McBain leads in points and assists (Smith and Gardiner right behind) and Springer is tops in +/-.
We already covered that Ryan McDonagh is headed to the WJC, but there is a chance he'll be joined by Brendan Smith and Cody Goloubef, who have been selected to attend Team Canada's WJC camp. They have some very steep competition, but I think there is a chance one of them could make it. If by chance both do, Wiscosnin would be down to 5 dmen for the Showdown and against N. Michigan.
In other news, Todd Milewski talks about the balance of the UW forwards. Its not so much that the Badgers score by commitee that they have a lot of good talent on all the lines. While Blake Geoffrion and Tom Gorowsky pace the team in goal scoring, a lot of other guys have chipped in, especially during the run in November. UW doesn't have a dominate line, but they can role out 3 or 4 lines each night that can score goals. Even last week's 4th line of Davies/Bendickson/Turnbull definately has some scoring ability. The one thing I will disagree w/ Todd on is that Kyle Turris was not a top scorer for the Badgers. Sure he was the top scorer (points) last season, but down the list a little in goals. He never really dominated the game either, like a top scorer (Joe Pavelski or Nathan Gerbe) does.
Lastly, Wisconsin was named College Hockey News team of the week for turning things around after the horrible start.
Unless you live under a rock, Wisconsin does have one of the most talented blue liners anywhere. It didn't show in the first 7 games of the season (at least defensively), but the turn around has been excellent. Only the Florida Panthers boast as many 1st and 2nd round NHL picks. Baggot points out that the blue line is at the top of many stats this season. McBain leads in points and assists (Smith and Gardiner right behind) and Springer is tops in +/-.
We already covered that Ryan McDonagh is headed to the WJC, but there is a chance he'll be joined by Brendan Smith and Cody Goloubef, who have been selected to attend Team Canada's WJC camp. They have some very steep competition, but I think there is a chance one of them could make it. If by chance both do, Wiscosnin would be down to 5 dmen for the Showdown and against N. Michigan.
In other news, Todd Milewski talks about the balance of the UW forwards. Its not so much that the Badgers score by commitee that they have a lot of good talent on all the lines. While Blake Geoffrion and Tom Gorowsky pace the team in goal scoring, a lot of other guys have chipped in, especially during the run in November. UW doesn't have a dominate line, but they can role out 3 or 4 lines each night that can score goals. Even last week's 4th line of Davies/Bendickson/Turnbull definately has some scoring ability. The one thing I will disagree w/ Todd on is that Kyle Turris was not a top scorer for the Badgers. Sure he was the top scorer (points) last season, but down the list a little in goals. He never really dominated the game either, like a top scorer (Joe Pavelski or Nathan Gerbe) does.
Lastly, Wisconsin was named College Hockey News team of the week for turning things around after the horrible start.
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.
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.
Around the WCHA Dec 5 & 6
After a pretty full week of non-conference action for the majority of the WCHA it’s back to four full series of action. First a look back on last week:
UW swept the Showcase!
North Dakota split w/ Cornell at home
minnesota lost to Michigan and tied State (pathetic)
DU beat Colgate and handed Air Force their first loss
CC beat Colgate, but lost to Air Force
Mankato won and tied @ Bowling Green
Tech was swept by Bemijdi State
Duluth beat St. Cloud on Saturday
Overall the WCHA went 7-5-2 in non-conference action last week.
The WCHA standings are starting to come together.
In points/game Wisconsin is tied w/ UAA in 5th. That adds to this series as a Badger sweep could get them above 1 pt/game, which will be needed to land home ice for the WCHA playoffs.
I’m 8-8 on the season, time to make some predictions for this weekend:
UAA @ Wisconsin – Badger sweep, I picked it in the drive for .500, have to stick w/ it
St. Cloud @ Mankato – Split
Duluth @ CC – CC sweeps, they play well at home
Denver @ Tech – Denver takes 3 pts
North Dakota @ Harvard – Split, for the WCHA’s sake we need to cheer for the Sioux
UW swept the Showcase!
North Dakota split w/ Cornell at home
minnesota lost to Michigan and tied State (pathetic)
DU beat Colgate and handed Air Force their first loss
CC beat Colgate, but lost to Air Force
Mankato won and tied @ Bowling Green
Tech was swept by Bemijdi State
Duluth beat St. Cloud on Saturday
Overall the WCHA went 7-5-2 in non-conference action last week.
The WCHA standings are starting to come together.
In points/game Wisconsin is tied w/ UAA in 5th. That adds to this series as a Badger sweep could get them above 1 pt/game, which will be needed to land home ice for the WCHA playoffs.
I’m 8-8 on the season, time to make some predictions for this weekend:
UAA @ Wisconsin – Badger sweep, I picked it in the drive for .500, have to stick w/ it
St. Cloud @ Mankato – Split
Duluth @ CC – CC sweeps, they play well at home
Denver @ Tech – Denver takes 3 pts
North Dakota @ Harvard – Split, for the WCHA’s sake we need to cheer for the Sioux
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Ryan McDonagh named to Team USA
USA Hockey has announced the roster for the U-20 World Junior Championships that will be held December 26th through January 5th in Ottawa. Wisconsin Sophomore defenseman Ryan McDonagh has made Team USA. Last season, McDonagh was surprisingly passed over for the team USA and they failed to Medal. Big things are expected of Team USA this season. They decided to go with a veteran defensive stable choosing all defenseman who are in their last season of eligibility.McDonagh will miss the Badger Hockey Showcase for sure, and if Team USA finds it's way to the medal round, will miss the home series versus Northern Michigan as well.
Here is a list of other NCAA players that were selected:
Minnesota-Cade Fairchild, Mike Hoeffel, Jordan Schroeder
Notre Dame-Ian Cole, Teddy Ruth
New Hampshire-Blake Kessel (Madison), James van Riemsdyk
Wisconsin-Ryan McDonagh
Boston University-Kevin Shattenkirk, Colin Wilson
Boston College-Jimmy Hayes
Michigan-Aaron Palushaj, Matt Rust
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Linkorama
Not often I do one of these, but there is a lot to cover and most of it is odds and ends type stuff. One of these days 60 will return from her current hibernation, and the linkorama will return in full force.
- The Badger Women completed the sweep on sunday over Mankato 7-2. Kyla Sanders, Meghan Duggan and Brooke Ammerman each had 2 goals, while Angie Keseley made it 7 total. Jasmine Giles had a playmaker and Mallory Deluce had two assists in the winning effort. Other articles from the TCT and the Daily Cardinal.
- The Women remain #1 in all the land, and for your enjoyment get to know Meghan Duggan.
- There are several Badger Men weekend review type articles: Eaves press conference, TCT, Badger Blog (Lebler is a goon), Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald.
- Jake Gardiner was named WCHA co-Rookie of the Week, and I think its quite deserved.
- The Wisconsin Men have started a new streak in the USCHO poll, receiving votes again this week following the big sweep in the Showcase. The LetsGoDu SuperPoll has Wisconsin #6, and INCH puts UW at #20 in their power rankings. Notre Dame takes over the #1 spot. Jeff Jackson must promise those kids something to come play in that crappy facility.
- Thanks to Goon's blog for finding this video at Hockey Buzz. Toward the middle of the first episode of "Julie Loves Hockey", Julie talks about the Badger dmen being a large part of the scoring and the Badgers in general being goons for all the penalty minutes. Sure the Badgers are #2 in the nation in PIM/game, but does too many men on the ice really make players goons? A bonus is Julie is kinda cute and she likes hockey.
- Dpalya over at HIW is reporting that Wisconsin is interested in Ashwaubenon's Wes Wauters. Wes made an unofficial visit this past weekend. He is a senior this year, and was the 2nd leading scoring for Team Wisconsin in the HS Hockey Elite League (11th overall). I saw Wes play early in September in Verona, and he had a couple nice goals. Apparently several other DI schools are interested as well.
- If you remotely interested in WI HS Hockey head over to HIW and check out Dplaya's team previews. He's previewing 22 teams across the state, and has 21 of those up.
- The Waterloo paper had an article recently about future Badger Craig Smith. Craig has come a long way from his high school hockey days in Madison, to growing as a player in the USHL to being the Captain of Team USA at the Junior A Challenge (and all tourney honoree). The hype will continue until next October.
- Last but certainly not least, here is an article on one of my favorite Badger alums Tom Gilbert. After a slow start, Tommy is starting to put together another nice season w/ the Edmonton Oilers. About a week ago over on the Lowetide blog, Lowetide had quarter grades for all the Oilers players. Sounds like Tommy has been having to pick up the slack for a less than stellar blue line partner, much like last season.
Patrick Johnson owns (insert name) vs UAA
One last series before Christmas and coming to town are the Seawolves of Alaska Anchorage. Last week, we learned the CCHA is lame (well we didn’t learn that so much as reminded ourselves of the truth). That played out well over the weekend, as Lower Michigan came to town and was promptly swept back across Lake Michigan. While Patrick didn’t have anyone in particular to own (based on the weekly poll), he definitely found a few wolverines. #8 Aaron Palushaj and #2 Greg Pateryn found themselves flat on their backs Saturday night w/ a #10 3rd jersey looming over them.
That’s old news though. The Badgers are likely considered the underdog this weekend since UAA is ranked #15 in the USCHO poll. Their fans have been talking an awful lot of smack so far, which is fine since I’ve seen them be able to take it while giving it back out (minnesota and Michigan fans should make some notes). I’m not sure what is up w/ Alaska in general, combined their two schools are 15-9-4. Perhaps it’s the glacial ice melting, improving the overall water quality in the Anchorage/Fairbanks areas. Or perhaps the players are improving their endurance by cornering grizzly bears and then having them chase them around the backcountry.
UAA doesn’t have the big names like North Dakota or minnesota, but we have four solid choices this week.
Options #1 – Paul Crowder, he leads the Seawolves in scoring w/ 8-10-18. Did anyone on their roster have 18 pts last season? While in the BCHL he was teammates w/ Kyle Turris for a season w/ Burnaby. If KT was still around he could hand out his first WCHA body check, but instead Patrick will have to fill in for his former linemate.
Option #2 – Tommy Grant, he leads the Seawolves in goals w/ 10 and is second in points w/ 17. He had a whole 7 points all of last season, so quite the improvement for the young forward. W/ that kind of improvement a player can get a big head, maybe Patrick should bring him back to reality.
Option #3 – Jeremy Smith, I don’t know a damn thing about this kid, but some UAA fan warned us last week that Smith likes to kick ass and take names. I’m not sure if this fan has a copy of the WCHA media guide, but kicking ass and taking names is Patrick Johnson’s middle name. You’ve been warned.
Option #4 – Sean Wiles, continuing the on going trend, Sean is a Beloit, WI native who played his high school hockey at Beloit Memorial before heading to the USHL. The sophomore deserves the proper homecoming in his first game at the Kohl Center, and who better to welcome him back to Wisconsin than Patrick Johnson.
That’s old news though. The Badgers are likely considered the underdog this weekend since UAA is ranked #15 in the USCHO poll. Their fans have been talking an awful lot of smack so far, which is fine since I’ve seen them be able to take it while giving it back out (minnesota and Michigan fans should make some notes). I’m not sure what is up w/ Alaska in general, combined their two schools are 15-9-4. Perhaps it’s the glacial ice melting, improving the overall water quality in the Anchorage/Fairbanks areas. Or perhaps the players are improving their endurance by cornering grizzly bears and then having them chase them around the backcountry.
UAA doesn’t have the big names like North Dakota or minnesota, but we have four solid choices this week.
Options #1 – Paul Crowder, he leads the Seawolves in scoring w/ 8-10-18. Did anyone on their roster have 18 pts last season? While in the BCHL he was teammates w/ Kyle Turris for a season w/ Burnaby. If KT was still around he could hand out his first WCHA body check, but instead Patrick will have to fill in for his former linemate.
Option #2 – Tommy Grant, he leads the Seawolves in goals w/ 10 and is second in points w/ 17. He had a whole 7 points all of last season, so quite the improvement for the young forward. W/ that kind of improvement a player can get a big head, maybe Patrick should bring him back to reality.
Option #3 – Jeremy Smith, I don’t know a damn thing about this kid, but some UAA fan warned us last week that Smith likes to kick ass and take names. I’m not sure if this fan has a copy of the WCHA media guide, but kicking ass and taking names is Patrick Johnson’s middle name. You’ve been warned.
Option #4 – Sean Wiles, continuing the on going trend, Sean is a Beloit, WI native who played his high school hockey at Beloit Memorial before heading to the USHL. The sophomore deserves the proper homecoming in his first game at the Kohl Center, and who better to welcome him back to Wisconsin than Patrick Johnson.
Monday, December 1, 2008
McDonagh "Probable" for UAA series
As Todd at TCT reports, Eaves said at practice today that while Ryan McDonagh didn't participate that he was probable for the upcoming series w/ the Seawolves of UAA.
This is great news following the cheap hit he endured by Michigan's Brian Lebler during saturday's game. There has to be someone in the CCHA looking for a one game suspension; bust the kid in the face and you'll have lots of new fans.
This is great news following the cheap hit he endured by Michigan's Brian Lebler during saturday's game. There has to be someone in the CCHA looking for a one game suspension; bust the kid in the face and you'll have lots of new fans.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
BCHL 1st Stars
Big weekend for our BCHL recruits.
On friday, Justin Schultz was named 1st star after helping the Westside Warriors to a 4-1 victory w/ 2 goals. On saturday night he added an assist in a 3-1 loss. Justin is having another fine season in the BCHL leading all defensemen in scoring w/ 7-20-27 (37th overall). Due to a few injuries and the Junior A challenge, Justin has played 6 or so fewer games than everyone else.
Last night, Mark Zengerle scored the game tying and game winning goals to help the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to a 5-4 triumph. He also had an assist and for his efforts was named 1st star. Mark is 4th in the BCHL in scoring w/ 19-29-48 including 6 PP goals.
Also last night, Derek Lee had a goal and an assist on his way to being named 1st star in the Victoria Grizzles' 4-1 win. Derek is 25th in scoring in the BCHL w/ 7-23-30.
The BCHL is about half way through their regular season. W/ the upcoming break from Badger Hockey, I hope to catch a few BCHL games on their PPV.
On friday, Justin Schultz was named 1st star after helping the Westside Warriors to a 4-1 victory w/ 2 goals. On saturday night he added an assist in a 3-1 loss. Justin is having another fine season in the BCHL leading all defensemen in scoring w/ 7-20-27 (37th overall). Due to a few injuries and the Junior A challenge, Justin has played 6 or so fewer games than everyone else.
Last night, Mark Zengerle scored the game tying and game winning goals to help the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to a 5-4 triumph. He also had an assist and for his efforts was named 1st star. Mark is 4th in the BCHL in scoring w/ 19-29-48 including 6 PP goals.
Also last night, Derek Lee had a goal and an assist on his way to being named 1st star in the Victoria Grizzles' 4-1 win. Derek is 25th in scoring in the BCHL w/ 7-23-30.
The BCHL is about half way through their regular season. W/ the upcoming break from Badger Hockey, I hope to catch a few BCHL games on their PPV.
3rd Jerseys
thanks to HockeyFan for posting these on buckyville
Since there was in inquiry, here are the 3rd jerseys that Wisconsin wore for the Showcase over the weekend and will again wear for the Showdown between Chirstmas and New Year's.
IMO, they certainly aren't as bad as last season. I own one of those, damn. I like that they are Cardinal, since I really enjoy the road uni's the few times a year I might get to see them.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wisconsin 3 Michigan 0
Lower Michigan has been vanquished; this hasn't changed since last night.
November was a great month for Badger Men's Hockey. Following a 0-6-1 October, the Badgers responded w/ a 7-1-1 November. As Baggot points out in his article (see further down) the Badgers were outscored 33-20 in October, while outscoring their opponents 30-15 in November. This includes the 6 goal beatdown St. Cloud handed us. Take that game out, and Wisconsin is allowing a little over 1 goal/game this month, including three shutouts. While our competition hasn't been as tough as October, these teams are far from pushovers either. The defensive turnaround has been meteoric (ok maybe that is a little extreme).
As for the game last night, things weren't looking good for Wisconsin right out of the gate. Michigan came to play and outskated and outplayed the Badgers for the majority of the 1st period. The rest of the game was a different story though, as the Badgers took control in the 2nd, and they didn't score until the 3rd period, dominating the game.
In the 3rd, the Badgers finally found the back of the net as Michael Davies began redeeming himself w/ a PP goal. I said the PP needed Davies and Davies needed the PP. From TCT article:
"I just kept working hard in practice. That's really all I could do," Davies said. "I'm definitely getting better 5-on-5 in practice. It helped tonight, even this weekend. I thought I did a lot better this weekend and we were generating a lot of chances."
About half way through the 3rd period, Brian Lebler of Michigan took a cheap shot at Ryan McDonagh, and for his pathetic actions received a 5 mniute major for clipping. McD was helped from the ice and the status of his injury is unknown at this time. Lebler is the same player who ended minnesota's Ryan Stoa's season a year ago w/ a low hit. It took the Badgers about 4 minutes to finally gain the zone during the PP, but when they did Tom Gorowsky sent home a Jamie McBain rebound for a 2-0 lead.
Tom Gorowsky whiffed on a few open nets on friday, he made up for it in a big way to open up some breathing room. From the Ice House Gorowsky had this to say:
"I did miss more than my fair share of chances last night. It was tough to sleep. I don't think I've had that many chances since high school and not scored. In terms of Ryan taking a big hit there, it was really disappointing and frustrating for us. Anytime you get a five-minute power play you have to at least get out of there with one otherwise, even if you had chances, the penalty kill gets the momentum. It was definitely important for us to get one in the net. They were running around; they were playing really aggressive. So it was just going to be a broken play or just going to have to catch them off-guard. I was able to just chip that in after McBain made a great play and almost had it in there."
After Michigan pulled their ultra-sieve Billy Sauer, Jordy Murray notched his 4th of the season w/ an ENG on a beautiful pass from Jake Gardiner. I thought Jake Gardiner had one of this best games of the season. His skating ability on a breakaway led to a hooking call early in the 3rd, and the following PP Davies scored the eventual game winner.
Some reading:
TCT (Milewski): Showcase sweep for UW
Ice House Blog: Gameday post
WSJ (Baggot): Memorable month ends with a flurry
uwbadgers.com: Great Lakes sweep
7-7-2 never looked so good as it does right now. There is still some work to do to finish the 1st half strong as Alaska Anchorage comes to town for a pair next weekend. UAA is a better team than in seasons past, and their fan base is talking all sorts of smack because of it. No time for a let down, finish strong and head into the 2009 portion of the schedule w/ a head of steam. There is no reason the Badgers can't win their next 6 games at home.
Lastly, I want to point out three things. Michigan only had 3 PPs last night. This is a good thing for Wisconsin. While our PK units are outstanding the amount they have worked this season is unreasonable; good to see the Badgers stay out of the box saturday night, a trend that I hope continues. Secondly, I think Cody Goloubef deserves some recognition. Cody doesn't have the big numbers of his fellow top draft pick blue liners, but I think he is putting together quite a season. His play is consistent, consistently good. Though Cody has played 50+ games as a Badger, he just turned 19, and has a lot of potential in front of him. Also, Eric Springer deserves nod too for his play friday, 60 was really impressed w/ him, and it should be mentioned he leads the dmen in +/- w/ +8.
November was a great month for Badger Men's Hockey. Following a 0-6-1 October, the Badgers responded w/ a 7-1-1 November. As Baggot points out in his article (see further down) the Badgers were outscored 33-20 in October, while outscoring their opponents 30-15 in November. This includes the 6 goal beatdown St. Cloud handed us. Take that game out, and Wisconsin is allowing a little over 1 goal/game this month, including three shutouts. While our competition hasn't been as tough as October, these teams are far from pushovers either. The defensive turnaround has been meteoric (ok maybe that is a little extreme).
As for the game last night, things weren't looking good for Wisconsin right out of the gate. Michigan came to play and outskated and outplayed the Badgers for the majority of the 1st period. The rest of the game was a different story though, as the Badgers took control in the 2nd, and they didn't score until the 3rd period, dominating the game.
In the 3rd, the Badgers finally found the back of the net as Michael Davies began redeeming himself w/ a PP goal. I said the PP needed Davies and Davies needed the PP. From TCT article:
"I just kept working hard in practice. That's really all I could do," Davies said. "I'm definitely getting better 5-on-5 in practice. It helped tonight, even this weekend. I thought I did a lot better this weekend and we were generating a lot of chances."
About half way through the 3rd period, Brian Lebler of Michigan took a cheap shot at Ryan McDonagh, and for his pathetic actions received a 5 mniute major for clipping. McD was helped from the ice and the status of his injury is unknown at this time. Lebler is the same player who ended minnesota's Ryan Stoa's season a year ago w/ a low hit. It took the Badgers about 4 minutes to finally gain the zone during the PP, but when they did Tom Gorowsky sent home a Jamie McBain rebound for a 2-0 lead.
Tom Gorowsky whiffed on a few open nets on friday, he made up for it in a big way to open up some breathing room. From the Ice House Gorowsky had this to say:
"I did miss more than my fair share of chances last night. It was tough to sleep. I don't think I've had that many chances since high school and not scored. In terms of Ryan taking a big hit there, it was really disappointing and frustrating for us. Anytime you get a five-minute power play you have to at least get out of there with one otherwise, even if you had chances, the penalty kill gets the momentum. It was definitely important for us to get one in the net. They were running around; they were playing really aggressive. So it was just going to be a broken play or just going to have to catch them off-guard. I was able to just chip that in after McBain made a great play and almost had it in there."
After Michigan pulled their ultra-sieve Billy Sauer, Jordy Murray notched his 4th of the season w/ an ENG on a beautiful pass from Jake Gardiner. I thought Jake Gardiner had one of this best games of the season. His skating ability on a breakaway led to a hooking call early in the 3rd, and the following PP Davies scored the eventual game winner.
Some reading:
TCT (Milewski): Showcase sweep for UW
Ice House Blog: Gameday post
WSJ (Baggot): Memorable month ends with a flurry
uwbadgers.com: Great Lakes sweep
7-7-2 never looked so good as it does right now. There is still some work to do to finish the 1st half strong as Alaska Anchorage comes to town for a pair next weekend. UAA is a better team than in seasons past, and their fan base is talking all sorts of smack because of it. No time for a let down, finish strong and head into the 2009 portion of the schedule w/ a head of steam. There is no reason the Badgers can't win their next 6 games at home.
Lastly, I want to point out three things. Michigan only had 3 PPs last night. This is a good thing for Wisconsin. While our PK units are outstanding the amount they have worked this season is unreasonable; good to see the Badgers stay out of the box saturday night, a trend that I hope continues. Secondly, I think Cody Goloubef deserves some recognition. Cody doesn't have the big numbers of his fellow top draft pick blue liners, but I think he is putting together quite a season. His play is consistent, consistently good. Though Cody has played 50+ games as a Badger, he just turned 19, and has a lot of potential in front of him. Also, Eric Springer deserves nod too for his play friday, 60 was really impressed w/ him, and it should be mentioned he leads the dmen in +/- w/ +8.
Badger Men and Women win on friday
High time we have a post following a friday game instead of a weekend recap.
The Wisconsin Men's hockey team were winners last night over Michigan State 3-1. The Badgers outshot the Spartans 53-12, and basically dominated the whole game. Typing that, I think it was one of the wierder games I've been to at the Kohl Center. The crowd was kinda weak due to Thanksgiving and students home for the holidays. While the Badgers dominated it took them a good long time to sneak one past State goalie Jeff Lerg. It happened later in the 2nd when Ben Grotting scored his first of the year. John Mitchell added one in the third, then the Spartans got one back on a 5x3 PP. At this point I was nervous, becaues Michigan State had no business being in the game, yet down one goal they were a lucky bounce or deflection away from tying the game. W/ a few minutes left to play Matt Thurber notched his 2nd goal of the season, easing the anxiety. The Mitchell-Thurber-Grotting line had the collective hat trick on the night. Giving credit where its due, Jeff Lerg had a hell of a game for State, and while he had some puck luck, he stood on his head many times, otherwise it would have been a blowout. Good to see Michael Davies back in the lineup on the 4th line, I even saw him check someone into the boards.
Wisconsin needs to bring their best effort against Michigan tonight, who will surely test Connelly more than State did.
Some reading:
TCT (Milewski): Overwhelming shots advantage, second line carry UW
Ice House: Gameday Blog
WSJ (Baggot): UW dominates MSU but settles for 3-1 win
uwbadgers.com: Badgers thankful for a homecoming win
The Badger Women remain unbeaten after an 8-0 victory over Mankato friday afternoon. I missed the 1st period, but I was there for the fireworks in the 2nd as the Badgers scored 6 goals. Jessie Vetter recorded her 32nd career shutout in the win. Hilary Knight, Erika Lawler and Angie Keseley each had two goals. Mallory Deluce and Brooke Ammerman found the back of the net as well. Knight also had three assists, which was matched by Carolyne Prevost, while Lawler had two helpers.
The Women complete their series sunday afternoon at 2 PM. The Packers are going to lose anyway, make the wise choice and head to the Kohl Center to watch the best Women's hockey team in the nation!
Some reading:
TCT (???): UW routs Minnesota State, 8-0
WSJ (Staff): Unbeaten streak reaches 17
uwbadgers.com: Badgers blow past Mavericks 8-0
...the Badgers (15-0-2 overall, 9-0-2 in the WCHA) stretched their unbeaten streak to 17. The run is the longest to start a season since the NCAA began recognizing the sport in 1999-'00.
The Wisconsin Men's hockey team were winners last night over Michigan State 3-1. The Badgers outshot the Spartans 53-12, and basically dominated the whole game. Typing that, I think it was one of the wierder games I've been to at the Kohl Center. The crowd was kinda weak due to Thanksgiving and students home for the holidays. While the Badgers dominated it took them a good long time to sneak one past State goalie Jeff Lerg. It happened later in the 2nd when Ben Grotting scored his first of the year. John Mitchell added one in the third, then the Spartans got one back on a 5x3 PP. At this point I was nervous, becaues Michigan State had no business being in the game, yet down one goal they were a lucky bounce or deflection away from tying the game. W/ a few minutes left to play Matt Thurber notched his 2nd goal of the season, easing the anxiety. The Mitchell-Thurber-Grotting line had the collective hat trick on the night. Giving credit where its due, Jeff Lerg had a hell of a game for State, and while he had some puck luck, he stood on his head many times, otherwise it would have been a blowout. Good to see Michael Davies back in the lineup on the 4th line, I even saw him check someone into the boards.
Wisconsin needs to bring their best effort against Michigan tonight, who will surely test Connelly more than State did.
Some reading:
TCT (Milewski): Overwhelming shots advantage, second line carry UW
Ice House: Gameday Blog
WSJ (Baggot): UW dominates MSU but settles for 3-1 win
uwbadgers.com: Badgers thankful for a homecoming win
The Badger Women remain unbeaten after an 8-0 victory over Mankato friday afternoon. I missed the 1st period, but I was there for the fireworks in the 2nd as the Badgers scored 6 goals. Jessie Vetter recorded her 32nd career shutout in the win. Hilary Knight, Erika Lawler and Angie Keseley each had two goals. Mallory Deluce and Brooke Ammerman found the back of the net as well. Knight also had three assists, which was matched by Carolyne Prevost, while Lawler had two helpers.
The Women complete their series sunday afternoon at 2 PM. The Packers are going to lose anyway, make the wise choice and head to the Kohl Center to watch the best Women's hockey team in the nation!
Some reading:
TCT (???): UW routs Minnesota State, 8-0
WSJ (Staff): Unbeaten streak reaches 17
uwbadgers.com: Badgers blow past Mavericks 8-0
...the Badgers (15-0-2 overall, 9-0-2 in the WCHA) stretched their unbeaten streak to 17. The run is the longest to start a season since the NCAA began recognizing the sport in 1999-'00.
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