Sweep Anyone?

Friday:

Wisconsin 4, UNH 1- BOX, Recap

Saturday:

Wisconsin 6, UNH1- BOX, Recap








Photo by RedHeat15

A few Friday afternoon odds & ends

• Earlier this week, Jake Dowell played for the Blackhawks in their 3-1 win over the Wild. You might recall that in the 1st he dropped the gloves with Shane Hnidy. Here's the video:

• Apparently Mercyhurst might be considering an attempt to join the CCHA. I don't know how much credibility there is to this rumor -- it was relayed by Paula Weston in her weekly CCHA column last week, and I get the feeling that a number of the kids over on the USCHO fan forum don't think too highly of her. (Thanks to Goon for pointing out the story.)

• Props to Capo for spotting this article about Rene Bourque's hot start with the Flames.
  

• Thanks to Boscacci for pointing out this Angie Keseley article.
  

The end of the Badger Hockey Showdown and College Hockey Showcase?

Today, Andy Baggot tells us that this may be the last year for the Badger Hockey Showdown and the College Hockey Showcase.

Yeah, yeah, I know the Badger Hockey Showdown has been on a decline since it moved from Milwaukee. Attendance is lousy, and it's hard to get good quality opponents, especially since there are a ton of holiday tournaments these days. And I've been pretty outspoken (perhaps not here, but in person to those who would listen) in lamenting the weak opponents of the Showdown in recent years. But I really like being able to go to a holiday tournament and see 4 games, and I'd have a hard time making a holiday tourney road trip. So I'm pretty bummed about this.

Baggot tells us that the nature of the PWR formula and the .500 criteria are driving forces behind the scheduling changes, but I gotta tell ya, this logic makes absolutely no sense in regards to the Badger Hockey Showdown. (In all fairness to Baggot, he's repeating what the UW staff has told him.) The opponents win percentage was recently (sometime in the past couple years, not sure exactly when) given less weight in the PWR, and ya gotta have a .500 record to make the NCAA tourney. So the coaching staff has talked about needing to schedule cupcakes (my word, not theirs, of course) to ensure that .500 record. But the Badgers are more likely to play cupcakes in their own holiday tourney (which has recently featured cupcakes, not that it has guaranteed wins, however) than if they go to someone else's holiday tourney where they might have to play the host team, which is usually a top team (or at least better than many of the invitees).

And then Eaves says that rather than a holiday tournament, they'd like to "get a quality team in here at Christmas time where we can play two games and (Badgers fans) can see the same team back-to-back, that will be fine." So, no cupcake? Or is "quality team" a code phrase for cupcake?

And I don't understand how nixing the College Hockey Showcase makes any sense. Baggot tells us that it has to do with getting Ohio State in the mix. So they're going to nix a perfectly good showcase to add 1 team into the rotation? Sounds stupid to me.

And if the UW wants to schedule softer teams, well then sure, OSU will probably be easier to beat than UM or MSU. But that doesn't change that we'll still have to play both UM and MSU some years, and once again there goes the logic of scheduling non-conference cupcakes to try to get a .500 record.

I might be an idiot, but something about all this logic just doesn't seem logical to me . . .

It's Friday, I'm in Love

I don't care if Mondays black
Tuesday, Wednesday - heart attack
Thursday, never looking back
It's Friday, I'm in love

Both the Badger Men and the Badger Women are at home this weekend, the Men with a non-conference Fri/Sat series v. UNH and the women with a Fri/Sun afternoon series v. conference rival minnesota.

By the way, Freakfest is Saturday, and the UW has issued a travel advisory.


BADGER MEN v New Hampshire: FRI 7 PM / SAT 7 PM (Kohl Center)


Featured on this week's tickets are senior winger Andy Bohmbach and junior defenseman Brendan Smith. Bohmbach (BOHMBER!) has looked pretty good this season so far, and ya know we love him. And Smith, after a rough opening weekend, was quite good this past weekend at Mankato.

UW: 1-2-1 overall, 1-2-1 WCHA
UNH: 2-2-1 overall, 2-0-0 HE (last weekend 4-2 win over Northeastern and 5-2 win over Maine)

Gameday Links
TV:
- Live - Friday TVW Ch 14 (Madison), Saturday WISC Ch 3 (Madison), both nights Charter Extra Channel 87 and Time Warner Cable
- Tape delay - The Wisconsin Channel (11 PM game day and 6 PM the following day)
Radio: WIBA 1310 (Madison)
Audio webstream: insideBADGERSPORTS ($9.95/mo) , unhwildcats (free, I think)
Video webstream: The Wisconsin Channel's live stream (tape-delay 11 PM game day and 6 PM next day)
Live stats: CBSSports gametracker - Friday, Saturday
Live blog: Worgull (BN)*

* I don't have the direct blog link, but it should be linked on the BN front page at game time.

Weekly Shooutout Winner
This week, one of my new favorite defensemen won the shootout. Yep, you got it, it's JUSTIN SCHULTZ!

Here are the previous winners and how they did that weekend:
Wk 2: Mike Davies (0-2-0, 6 SOG, and sounds like he played really well)
Wk 1: Podge Turnbull (0-0-0, 5 SOG, and despite being held off the scoresheet I thought he looked really good)

Badger Lines
Bohmbach - Geoffrion - P Johnson
Murray - Stepan - Davies
Mitchell - Street - Lee
Turnbull - Bendickson - Grotting

McDonagh - Gardiner
Goloubef - Schultz
Smith - Ramage

Bennett
Gudmandson

C Smith is out with a 2 game suspension, and Michael Davies moves up to take his spot on the 2nd line. Derek Lee has been cleared to play and takes Grotting's spot from last week on the 3rd line, with Grotting moving down to the 4th line.

The defensive pairings remain the same. Bennett gets the start in goal tonight, and I'd imagine we'll see Gudmandson tomorrow.

Wildcat Lines
Speelman - LeBlanc - Butler
DeSimone - Block - Sislo
Thompson - Borisenok - Moses
McCarey - Burke - Henrion

Campanale - Kessel
Krates - Kipp
Beck - Hardowa

Foster

Doesn't look like we'll get to see Scott Pavelski this weekend; too bad.


Series Previews
uwbadgers: series preview, game notes
unhwildcats: series preview, game notes
Baggot (WSJ): UW Men's Hockey vs. New Hampshire
Baggot (WSJ blog): It's been a while since New Hampshire came to town
Holt (Badger Herald): Halloween, UNH don't scare UW
Gabriel (Daily Cardinal): Badgers look to get season going against Wildcats
Graff (THN): UNH to battle skilled Badger team


Other Articles/Links
Gabriel (Daily Cardinal): Behind Geoffrion, power play threatening
Holt (Badger Herald): Badger goalie took road less traveled to Madison
Baggot (WSJ): All quiet on the Eastern front?
Breiner (Daily Cardinal): Time for hockey to return to glory
Edwards (CHN): Burke returns to UNH
Howe (INCH): Red hot Kessel returns to hometown this weekend


The Usual Suspects
CHN: Tale of the Tape
USCHO: This Week in the WCHA
INCH: Friday Four-cast (national notebook)
Goon's World: Weekend Match-ups (Sioux 7)


BADGER WOMEN v. minnesota: Fri 2 PM / Sun 2 PM (Kohl Center)

Just a reminder, Friday is Kid's Day at the Kohl!

Gameday Links
TV: none
Radio: none
Audio webstream: WSUM (free) - no confirmation, but I'd expect they'll be broadcasting, gophersports ($4.95/mo)
Video webstream: bigtennetwork ($2.99/game)
Live stats: CBSSports gametracker - Friday, Sunday
Live blog: none (away games only)

Series Previews
uwbadgers: preview, game notes
gophersports: preview, game notes
Baggot (WSJ): Slow start hasn't spooked UW women's skaters *
Savidge (Daily Cardinal): Badgers look to right ship against rival minnesota

* The WSJ has the series incorrectly listed as Fri/Sat series in the text box, although they have it correctly listed as a Fri/Sun series in the actual article. The Women's team will be at the football game on Sat and will be introduced between quarters (not sure which).

Boscacci reports that Becca Ruegsegger is starting in net.

Other Articles/Links
Jakiel (uwbadgers blog): Border Battle Weekend
uwbadgers: Join Women's Hockey and Women's Basketball at Saturday's Badger Bash

Around the WCHA: The refs suck

Last week’s results:

Denver swept minnesota: 3-0, 3-0
UW split @ Mankato: 6-0, 2-3
St Cloud took 3 pts from Duluth: 3-3, 4-2
North Dakota split w/ UAA: 5-0, 1-2
CC swept Tech: 4-1, 8-5

The gophers have scored three goals this season (sorry to the whiny commentor, 1 or 3, they still suck) and Jordan Schroeder has been non-existent. CC takes the early lead in the WCHA standings.

WCHA Top Performers from last weekend:

G Marc Cheverie (DU): Shut out the gophers both nights.
F Bill Sweat (CC): One goal and six assists on the weekend as Tech forget to play defense.
F Rhett Rakshani (DU): Three goals to lead the Pioneers on the weekend.
D Brendan Smith (UW): A pair of goals and assists, I think he got the message following his benching.

This week’s schedule:

New Hampshire @ UW – 3 pts for the Badgers
UAA @ minnesota – Split
Mankato @ Denver – DU sweeps
Clarkson @ Duluth – I don’t know much about Clarkson, Duluth wins/ties.
St Cloud @ Tech – Tech salvaged a point at home

Expansion Corner:

Bemidji tied and shut out (3-3, 5-0) against N. Michigan. They travel to Alabama to play CHA foe Huntsville this weekend.

Nebraska Omaha had the weekend off and now open CCHA play hosting Bowling Green. They have a really easy schedule to start the season, which isn’t hard in the CCHA.

WCHA Women:

UW split w/ Ohio State: 3-4, 5-3
minnesota swept St Cloud: 4-0, 7-0
Northeastern swept Bemidji: 2-1, 3-2
Duluth Foreign Legion swept North Dakota: 4-1, 3-1

Standings so far.

This weekend…

minnesota @ UW
North Dakota @ St Cloud
DFL @ Mercyhurst
Wayne State @ Bemidji
Mankato @ Ohio State

You wouldn’t think 6 games into the season that the Badger Women are at a must win place, but they are. The lady gophers haven’t lost yet, and have already swept the DFL in a series. UW needs points (a sweep would be best) to stay in the chase for the WCHA regular season, because falling anymore behind the gophers will likely be too much to make up. I know that sounds weird, but last season minnesota won the WCHA w/ a 23-2-3 record, and I don’t expect much change this season as they are beating people down. The Badger Women need to hit their stride ASAP to stay in the race.

Hey, lookie, it's Todd Milewski . . .

While I wasn't paying attention, Todd Milewski has apparently started doing USCHO's "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" feature with Jim Connelly. Excellent!

Here are the installments from Oct 20 and Oct 27.

(You need to have USCHO Extra to access the items. Extra costs $15/year and has the nice bonus of no advertisements. Ooh, and additional stats pages which come in handy for things like Tom Gorowsky Week, Andy Bohmbach Week, etc . . . )

A clarification of Smith's suspension

Andy Baggot has kindly clarified who had handed down the additional game suspension for Craig Smith. Looks like the UW was proactive in handing down the punishment themselves, and Baggot indicates that if the UW hadn't given the additional punishment, the WCHA would likely have done so.

A few Wednesday evening links

• It doesn't matter who handed down the extra game suspension to Craig Smith; it's appropriate. But I think it's interesting, as pointed out by reader Todd, that Baggot indicates the WCHA handed down the additional punishment whereas the WCHA says that the UW handed it down. The UW press release concurs with the WCHA release, but I'm sure there's a lot of politics going on here. Especially given what DPlaya heard about the WCHA looking for a longer suspension.

  But Eaves said he was notified by the WCHA that Smith has had another game added to that punishment. Eaves didn't disagree with the action because Smith didn't appear to slow down when he crosschecked Mankato left winger Geoff Irwin into the boards in the third period of a 3-2 loss. [Baggot's Tuesday blog post]
  
  Meanwhile, UW coach Mike Eaves was notified by the office of WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod that freshman right winger Craig Smith would have to miss both games against New Hampshire for the major penalty he was assessed Oct. 24 at Minnesota State-Mankato. [Baggot's Wednesday WSJ article]
  
  The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department has decided to have Smith sit out an extra game to reinforce the learning experience for the local area product. [UW press release]
  
  "The WCHA fully concurs with the additional one-game suspension handed down today by the University of Wisconsin," said WCHA Commissioner Bruce M. McLeod. "We appreciate the University's initiative on this matter and their pro-active approach in creating a learning experience out of a difficult circumstance." [WCHA press release]
  
  10/28-1:30 PM Edit-From what I'm being told it sounds like the WCHA may have been looking for a 4-6 game suspension, so the Badgers and Craig Smith are lucky that he will instead serve a 2-game penalty. [DPlaya, HIW]

• Uwbadgers has a mid-week release regarding the Badger Women's upcoming home series v. minnesota, and it includes a video with Jasmine Giles and Brooke Ammerman.

• INCH's First Shift entry for this week is somewhat WCHA-centric, and it's hard to silently pass by this mention of the minnesota golden gophers:
  

  “They outworked us at times but I think we deserved at least one this weekend.”—Minnesota captain Tony Lucia, to Roman Augustovitz of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune following Denver’s second shutout of the weekend at Mariucci Arena Saturday.

  When Lucia the younger says “one”, is he referring to a win or a goal?

• Chris on WCH mentions Blake Geoffrion as one of his favorite WCHA players to watch and picks him as his dark horse candidate for the WCHA's best player:

  Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin: Kind of a dark horse pick, but one of my favorite players in the WCHA to watch. He'll probably only score in the point per game range, which won't put him among the leaders, but he's as tough a player as there is in the league.

• Friday is Kids Day at the Kohl. The event starts at 11AM and precedes the Badger Women's 2PM game v. minnesota. Looks like the event is free and includes free admission to the game. Nice!

• The UW has issued a reminder about Camp Randall / Kohl Center policies regarding carry-ins.
  

Smith suspended for an additional game, Lee cleared to play, & other news

• In addition to sitting out this Friday's game v. UNH due to his game disqualification associated with his check-from-behind on Mankato's Geoff Irwin last Saturday, Craig Smith will also be sitting out this Saturday's game, as the WCHA handed down an additional game suspension yesterday. Andy Baggot writes about it in his blog and the WSJ, and here's the uwbadgers release. Shane Frederick reports that Irwin will miss both games at Denver this weekend due to an upper body injury.

• Derek Lee has finally received clearance to play by the NCAA. Baggot writes about it in the same blog post and WSJ article linked above, and here's the uwbadgers release.

• Mike Eaves and Tracey DeKeyser addressed the media Monday in their weekly press conferences.

• Andy Baggot has 5 good minutes with Brett Bennett.

• Olivia Jakiel returned to her blog this week.

• Tom Hager of the Badger Herald has a nice article about Lauren Unser, as well as an article about the Badger Women's early struggles and goaltending battle.

• The Badger Herald finally has a recap of the Badger Men's games last weekend.

• As expected, with the the Hawks off until Thursday, Jake Dowell was sent back to Rockford yesterday. The Icehogs play tonight @ the Chicago Wolves.
  

A few alumni links

Here are some blurbs on Dowell/Skille/Burish from various Blackhawks blogs over the past couple days, as well as a Kyle Turris article I stumbled upon:

• Turris learning while bidding for for an NHL return

• Second City Hockey (Oct 26): It was nice to see the fourth line generate a little bit of pressure and physicality tonight, with Jake Dowell getting into an obligatory scrap with Shane Hnidy

• Chicago Blackhawks Examiner (Oct 26): Jake Dowell should stay up in Chicago, even when Toews comes back. Working a rotation with Fraser, Ebbett and Dowell would bode well for the Hawks, who can chose for a player based on the team they would be playing and the level of physicality. If Dowell, the Rockford IceHogs captain, is too valuable to the AHL to be kept up as an NHL scratch, then the Hawks should call up a player like Rob Klinkhammer or Bryan Bickell to fill the role of de-facto enforcer and fourth liner. Also, I sure hope that Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook don't need as much time as Ben Eager to recover from a concussion. I understand that the Eager has a history of concussion problems, but Jake Dowell's AHL/NHL status might as well be how Ben Eager is feeling that day. If it's bad, Dowell is in the NHL, good, Dowell is in the AHL. Overall, I'm not sure why the Blackhawks don't put a timetable on Eager so they can stop stringing players between Rockford and Chicago. Then again, this is the team that refuses to put Adam Burish and Marian Hossa on the long term injury lists, so logic isn't exactly first priority.

• Fifth Feather (Oct 25): The much maligned Hawks fourth line put together a respectable performance with some solid forechecking and pressure. I would venture to guess Jake Dowell will probably get to stick around a bit this time even when Toews returns. Not to take away anything they did tonight, but they were playing Nashville. The true tests will come when they play better teams.

• Jesse Rogers - ESPNChicago (Oct 25): Toughness vs. Fighting. There is a difference. When Toews got lit up at center ice by Willie Mitchell, it once again brought up a decade-old question: Do the Hawks have enough toughness? A heavyweight is nearly meaningless in this day and age. The rules have changed. There really are no more goons. At least not on great teams -- they can't afford to carry them. And I don't mean because of the salary cap.

  I said that when Adam Burish went down, we would start looking back and saying, "Man, we could have used Bur in that situation." I think we can name about four or five situations already. It's not the heavyweight they miss. It's the energy and toughness that Burish and Ben Eager brought last season. They bring that partly because they can skate. Stan Bowman said as much on the Hawks' radio flagship after Saturday's game. He said the Hawks would consider replacing that toughness if they could find someone who can play a regular shift. Bowman said you can't hit what you can't catch, and he's right. Those guys are not as easy to find as you might think.

WCHA refs' jersey numbers . . .

You might have noticed that the powers-that-be have decided that the officials will simply have numbers on their jerseys rather than names.

So that you can "offer your assistance" to the appropriate ref while enjoying the game, here's a list of their numbers. (Thanks to RichManitoba on buckyville for typing this out.)

At the KC opening weekend v. CC, we had the "pleasure" of watching Todd Anderson and Brad Shepherd. Brad must've gotten a promotion from Daddy, b/c last season he reffed the women's games and was an AR for the men's games.

3 -- Derek Shepherd
4 -- Todd Anderson
5 -- Justin Brown
7 -- Don Adam
8 -- Tom Sterns
9 -- C.J. Beaurline
10 -- Peter Friesema
11 -- Tim Walsh
12 -- Butch Mousseaux
14 -- Brian Thul
15 -- Marco Hunt
17 -- Craig Welker
18 -- Max Battimo
20 -- Brad Albers
22 -- Bill Mason
23 -- Matt Ulwelling
24 -- Jon Campion
25 -- Mike McCreary
27 -- Jonathan Morrison
29 -- Scott Bokal
31 -- Brett Klosowski
33 -- Brad Shepherd

Dowell back up to Chicago

Looks like Jake Dowell was called back up to Chicago for tonight's game v. the Wild. Yay!

I, however, just figured out that I don't get Versus anymore on Directv, so I guess I won't be watching the game. Bummer.

EDIT: Oooh, wait, I *can* watch, via this link courtesy of the kids on the Hawks message board. :-)

EDIT: Video keeps freezing up on me; I'm using the radio link from the Hawks website now. :-(

UPDATE -- In 5:11 TOI (4:35 EV, :36 SH), Dowell was held off the scoresheet but had 3 hits. Oh, and 5 for fighting, as already mentioned by HatchetJoe. Hawks win 3-1.

Monday morning odds & ends

• Todd Milewski is trying out a new weekly installment on his USCHO From the Press Box blog, and I gotta tell ya, I like it. In this week's "What I Think", Milewski talks about minnesota being shutout in 2 consecutive games for the 1st time since 1930 (0-0 tie w/ Tulsa Athletic Club and 2-0 loss to Wisconsin), defending national champ BU's opening season losses to Notre Dame, George Gwozdecky's 500th win, Wisconsin's terrible CFBs, Michigan Tech's brutal PK (60% overall), and his Top 20.

• Andy Baggot covers some of the same ground in his "The weekend that was in the WCHA" blog post. Baggot chose to look at the bright side of things regarding Tech's brutal PK and their being swept by CC this weekend. CC converted on 8 of 14 PPs, but hey, at EV, Tech outscored CC 5-2. Go TECH?
  

• The campus papers have some coverage of the Men's and Women's games this past weekend:
  Gabriel (Daily Cardinal): Penalties cost Badgers chance at road sweep
  Donohue (Badger Herald): DeKeyser's squad continues to struggle in 1st game
  Hager (Badger Herald): Wisconsin splits weekend series with Ohio State
  Skurzewski (Daily Cardinal): UW continues trend of splits against Buckeyes

• I missed a couple of Jake Dowell and Jack Skille blurbs over on the Rockford Icehogs blog last week:

  10/21/09
  Lead By Example: Since being named team captain on Friday, centerman Jake Dowell has taken over the team lead in points and assists, a spot the third-year pro is not used to being in. In the last two games, Dowell has factored in on 71% of Rockford goals, recording two helpers on Friday and three on Saturday. Before this season, Dowell had five career multi-point games (one in 2006-07, two in 2007-08 and two in 2008-09). The Eau Claire, Wis. native now has three in 2009-10.
  
  Jack Skille will also go tonight for Rockford and he’ll be my first intermission guest. Some interesting stuff and for a sneak peak, click here. Say what you want about Skille, he’s been great through this whole up and down process with the Blackhawks and is carrying a great attitude.

• Baggot has an article about Mark Johnson's sabbatical from the Badgers this year. Dang, I really need to do an update of the Women's National Team and the Qwest Tour, don't I?
  

• Back in September, Baggot had an article about the plans for the new UW hockey rink being in jeopardy. And the same topic is in the news again this month. (Thanks to DPlaya for the heads-up on the 2nd link.)

• I've been AWOL in my coverage of TW because I simply don't have time. But DPlaya and Walby have been terrific (thanks, guys!), so I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you to check both of their sites for TW Major and TW Minor updates. Go TW!
  

• Speaking of DPlaya and Walby, they are also in the process of previewing HS hockey teams, so check that out. DPlaya also has Fri and Sat USHL updates from this past weekend, Wisconsin players on the NHL Central Scouting list, Wisconsin players in the USHL, and Wisconsin players in the NAHL.
  

Tom Bardis, Ice Muskie

Apparently former Badger Tom Bardis is now an Ice Muskie. Or as TH might say, HE'S A FREAKIN' HOCKEY FISH. (I actually knew this last weekend but forgot to post it. Sorry!)

The Ice Muskies' website leaves a bit to be desired, as does the AAHL website. So I can't actually find Bardis on the roster. But I know he had an assist in their first preseason game on Oct 16 (9-3 win over Chicago) b/c it's mentioned in the recap, and I know he played in the first regular season game on Oct 23 (8-7 SO loss to Evansville) b/c bucky15 saw him play and mentioned it on uscho.

I was surprised that in the recap Bardis was referred to as a former Badger defenseman. I thought he was a forward at both SLU and UW. I know he practiced with the D during the year he sat out due to transferring, but I thought he played F during the few games that he played last season. (I know my memory stinks, but I can't imagine I'd screw that up.) I'm assuming he's playing at F for the Muskies and that the defenseman reference was an error, but what the heck do I know?

EDIT: On uscho, uwbadgers14 indicated that Bardis was moved to D in the middle of Friday's game because "the D was so brutal Friday night".

Dowell reassigned to Rockford / Adam Burish interview

Called up for 1 game with the Hawks last night, Jake Dowell was sent back to Rockford today. Bummer. Rockford's next game is Wed @ Chicago Wolves.

Adam Burish talked about his knee injury and rehab (and some other stuff) in this HawksCast interview -- skip to 12:20 or so and listen through 24:40.

(photo from icehogs.com)

Jake Dowell recalled to Chicago

The Icehogs captain was called up to Chicago today and played in Hawks' 2-0 win over the Preds tonight. He saw 7:26 of ice time (6:50 EV, 0:36 SH) and recorded 3 SOG. In case you forgot from preseason, Dowell is now wearing #28 for the Hawks (same as for the Icehogs), rather than the #49 he wore last year.

MHKY G4: Mavericks 3 - Badgers 2

2 thoroughly disgusting checks from behind from Wisconsin in less than 5 minutes tonight, and Mankato takes the lead on the second. Karma. -- Todd Milewski via twitter

I don’t think we came with the same fire we had last night. -- Mike Eaves

It's disappointing because we didn't do the things that we needed to do. Our expectations are high and we didn't get done what we needed to do. -- Mike Eaves

You know, when the game was tied at 2, I thought the Badgers were going to win. They didn't come out with as much intensity as the night before, but I thought maybe they were starting to grab the momentum. Then they took 2 consecutive CFB penalties, and nothing good can come of that. Along with the 5-min majors, C Smith got a 10-min game DQ and will be out next Friday, whereas McDonagh just got a 10-min misconduct. (On the radio, Oz said he thought McD should've gotten a DQ as well, and in the game recaps Eaves basically says the plays were stupid and that penalties were deserved.)

3 stars of the Game per Cerniglia/Posick
1. Brendan Smith - 1 G 1 A
2. Blake Geoffrion - 1 G 1 A
3. Austin Lee

Subway Sub(s) of the Game per Cerniglia/Posick
- 6 Mankato players (5 skaters who didn't play Friday and goaltender Austin Lee)

In case you missed it
I don't have Charter so I didn't see the game, but apparently in the 2nd period Podge Turnbull had a goal that didn't count, even though it went in the net before the play was whistled dead. “He (Beaurline) told me he was in the act of blowing the whistle and that’s a rule,” Eaves said. “If it’s his intent to blow the whistle, the play is dead. Judgment call.”

Shootout winner revisited
This week, Michael Davies won the weekly shootout, and it seems that he played pretty well this weekend. Last week, Podge Turnbull won and played pretty well v. CC. I kind of like this trend. (Of course, I'd like the trend a whole lot more if the Badgers were getting some more W's.)

box: uwbadgers, collegehockeystats, uscho
recaps: uwbadgers, msumavericks, Baggot (WSJ), Frederick (Mankato Free Press), Berhow (USCHO), Worgull (BN, premium content), Wodon (CHN)
game blogs: Capobianco (uwbadgers), Worgull (BN), Frederick (Mankato Free Press)
postgame interviews: uwbadgers*

*I don't see a postgame link yet, but I'll try to add it in later

WHKY G6: Badgers 5 - Buckeyes 3

"In a physical battle, Wisconsin downed OSU 5-3 to split the series 1-1." -- Boscacci via twitter

"I was impressed with the emotion--both players in the game and our bench. It showed our level of emotion and it helped us stay composed under pressure. They didn't let it get in their heads, but they responded and kept battling." -- Tracey Dekeyser

Becca Ruegsegger made 17 saves for the win. Brooke Ammerman scored the 1st penalty shot goal in Badger Women's Hockey history.

box: uwbadgers, collegehockeystats
recaps: uwbadgers, ohiostatebuckeyes, WSJ

Saturday Night Lineup: Gudmandson In Goal

Same lineup tonight for the Badgers as they take on Minnesota State looking for a sweep with the exception of Scott Gudmandson in goal. It looks as if we're going to see Bennett on Fridays and Gudmandson on Saturdays at least for the near future. I think that's smart move at this point of the young season. Ton's of changes for Mankato tonight. Here is the lineup per Andy Baggot.

Wisconsin

F Andy Bohmbach-Blake Geoffrion-Patrick Johnson
F Jordy Murray-Derek Stepan-Craig Smith
F John Mitchell-Ben Street-Ben Grotting
F Michael Davies-Aaron Bendickson-Podge Turnbull

D Brendan Smith-John Ramage
D Cody Goloubef-Justin Schultz
D Ryan McDonagh-Jake Gardiner

G Scott Gudmandson

Minnesota State Mankato

F Geoff Irwin-Rylan Galiardi-Mike Louwerse
F Adam Mueller-Zach Harrison-Jerad Stewart
F Mouillierat-Andrew Sackrison-Eriah Hayes
F Brett Peterson-James Galrupp-Tyler Thompson

D Ben Youds-Tyler Elbrecht
D Channing Boe-Joe Schiller
D Nick Canzanello-Cameron Cooper

G Lee

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also of note, if you have Charter digital cable in the state of Wisconsin, try channel 87 which is Charter Extra. They carried the game last night and may be doing the same tonight. Go Bucky.

A few alumni updates

• While the Sharks are nearing the end of a 6-game road trip, Joe Pavelski has been skating at Sharks Ice in San Jose while rehabbing an lower body injury. When the injury was announced on Oct 5, he was expected to be sidelined for a couple of weeks. No word on current expectations for his return.

• Speaking of Pavs, he recently took part in the Reading is Cool program, stopping by a San Jose middle school to read to and talk to some 2nd-graders

  “If I can’t be on the road with the team, I’m glad I was able to get out into the community,” said Pavelski, who is currently sidelined with minor lower body injury. “It’s not something I get to do very often and the kids were awesome.”
  
  “Those kids were all over the place. They wanted to be doctors, artists, pilots and teachers. It was great! It reminded me about my own dreams growing up and how lucky I am to have been able to achieve them,” Pavelski noted.

• It's no surprise that Dany Heatley is not concerned with public perception, but hey, I'm glad he likes it in San Jose.

• Tom Gilbert now has 7 TVs in his basement and dressed up as a cowgirl for the Oilers Halloween party. Good ol' Tom's blogs are always, ummm, interesting, but I think he's funny. Luv ya, Tom!

• Chris Chelios made his Wolves debut on Friday in the Wolves' 1-0 shootout loss to the Manitoba Moose. I can't post the picture here, but Ross Dettman (who I had the pleasure of chatting with when we went to the Rockford/Wolves game) has a fantastic pic of Cheli during Wednesday's practice. It's picture 23 (2nd to last pic) of the Wolves' Week in Pictures.