Saturday, September 30, 2006

UW Women Win Opener 3-0

The UW Women's Hockey Team raised their championship banner, and raised their record to 1-0 last night at the Kohl Center. The women defeated Quinnipiac 3-0.

I had the chance to watch bits and pieces of the coverage online for free last night and was impressed. The picture window opens very large, and although it is not the clearest picture in the world, is good enough to watch. The audio didn't blow me away, but hey, it is from the college radio station, and it was the first game of the year. You can access the webcasts right from the women's page on uwbadgers.com.

Buc Bowl-Day Two

Day two of the Buc Bowl did not bring a whole lot more scoring for Wisconsinites. Justin Cseter had the best performance in Green Bay's 6-2 victory over Sioux Falls with a goal and an assist. Mike Sislo for Green Bay and Jake Drewiske for Sioux Falls also got on the score sheet, Drewiske with a goal, Sislo with an assist. Matt Thurber had an assist in Omaha's game, as did Brett Olson for Waterloo and Nathan Lawrence for Chicago.

The penalty barrage continued at the Buc Bowl, with 40 penalties called in the Lincoln-Waterloo game.

UW recruit Chris Hickey was listed on the scoresheet for Tri-City in their first game originally. Now his name does not appear on the scoresheet, but his stats for that one game are listed under Tri-City's team stats. The stats show him not having a good first game, finishing -2....assuming he was there! It's very strange as the scoresheet does not have his number from Pointstreak (27) as being on the ice for any goals, nor are there any numbers that they list as being on the ice for goals that are not accounted for by their stat sheet. I might actually just think I was crazy for thinking I saw it on the scoresheet, were it not for the fact that his stats are listed for the team in Poinstreak.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Two Badgers Named College Hockey News Pre-Season All-Americans

College Hockey News has released their pre-season College Hockey All-American list. Two Badgers have been named to the list-defenseman Kyle Klubertanz and goaltender Brian Elliott.

Wisconsinites at the Buc Bowl

The USHL season got underway yesterday at the Buc Bowl. At last count there were 22 Wisconsinites in the USHL, although I discovered that Adam Hammerbeck, who has been with Alexandria in the NAHL, is currently on Waterloo's roster, and Luke Lucyk is on Tri-City's roster.

There were not a lot of Wisconsinites or UW recruits that had good games yesterday, at least on the scoresheet. UW recruit Scott Gudmandson let in 5 goals on 30 shots, and Omaha lost in a shootout with 2 of 4 shooters beating Gudmandson. Kyle Ensign was -2 in Tri-City's loss to Green Bay. There were a few exceptions, however. Keegan Meuer, Craig Smith and Blake Kessel all notched goals for Waterloo in their victory over Sioux City. Mike Sislo had a goal for Green Bay in their 5-2 win over Tri-City and defenseman Derrick LaPoint was +1 in the game. Patrick Tiesling scored a goal, with an assist going to Sam Zabkowicz in Sioux Falls' loss to Indiana. Luke Lucyk had an assist in Tri-City's game.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Madison Capitols Updates

The Madison Capitols finally put up their Boys U16 Midget roster on their website.

The Capitols had promoted that they were going to have a U19 girls team if enough players tried out, but they still don't have anything on their site about a girls U19 team, leading me to believe they may not have gotten enough kids at tryouts to field a team...

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Holy Smokes....Wisconsin Girls Hockey Site Gets Update!

The Wisconsin Girls Hockey website has gotten an update, and is now similar in look and functionality to the boys site. Congratulations to Trasher and his crew for rebuilding that site better than ever to serve the growing population of girls hockey in Wisconsin.

UW Article Picked up by Yahoo

Yahoo picked up an article written by the Daily Cardinal regarding students waiting in line for over a week for the best hockey seats. Click here to check it out.

Keegan Meuer Scores in First USHL Exhibition

Keegen Meuer notched a power play goal in the Waterloo Blackhawks first exhibition game this season against the Green Bay Gamblers.

The USHL Buc Bowl begins tomorrow.

The USHL site has gotten a nice looking facelift in honor of their tenth anniversary.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Elite League Updates

The Upper Midwest High School Elite League week four complete results and stats are posted here. Nate Condon and Justin Johnson continue to be knotted in scoring, this week with 15 points each. Condon has 11 goals and 4 assists while Johnson has 6 goals and 9 assists. They are tied for third overall in Elite League scoring.

UW recruit Ryan McDonagh is tied for second in scoring for defensemen with 3 goals and 6 assists for a total of 9 points.

Team Wisconsin has now slipped into last position overall at 3-6-3.

Badger Men & Women Ranked Number 1 in Preseason Polls

Both the Badger Men and Women are ranked number one in the first preseason poll (the men tied with BC, but got more first place votes), which is probably how it should be, considering they are both defending National Champions. The Capital Times had this article today on the men's team number one ranking. Onmilwaukee.com had this article today about the start of the season, and the championship trophy taking a beating during summer celebrations by Badger players.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Pro Scout's Take on Elite League Action at Kohl Center this Weekend

Hockey Thoughts has a nice post up on a pro scout's take on the Elite League action at the Kohl Center this weekend. Click through the link...it's a good read.

Team Wisconsin U19 Weekend Results

Team Wisconsin U19 Girls team results from the Point Cup:

Lost 2-1 to Team Alaska
Tied Walser Red MN 3-3
Lost 4-1 to Team Illinois
Lost 3-2 to Chicago Chill

Team Illinois won the tournament 3-2 over Walser White. Kelly Jaminski was an all-tournament selection.
The WI Wild took 3rd placeAshley Hietpas and Kim Tess-Wanat made the all-tournament team. The Girls U16 Point Cup is this weekend.

Thanks to an anonymous poster for this info...I hadn't been able to get a hold of my usual source for this type of info yet!

Girls U16 Team Wisconsin 0-2 on Weekend

The Girls Team Wisconsin U16's went 0-2 on the weekend against the Madison Capitols. They lost 2-3 against the Capitols on Saturday with 5 seconds left in the game. They went on to play the Capitols later that day and lost 6-2.

Thanks to an anonymous poster for this info....

Turris Has Solid Weekend, Express Go 1-1

UW recruit Kyle Turris had a solid weekend in the BCHL, being named second star of the game in Burnaby's 2-1 win on Saturday, and third star of the game in Burnaby's loss yesterday. What's interesting is that Turris had no points on Saturday and was still named second star. I'm hopeful that's an indication of the attention he is receiving from other teams on the offensive end of the ice & that he works hard on defense and doing the little things that make a difference.

Turris has a total of five goals and two assists through four games. Ben Winnett is lighting up the BCHL with 20 points in his first seven games (impressive, even for a high scoring league!). Too bad he decided to be a Wolverine instead of a Badger next season.

Boys Team Wisconsin Minor Now 8-0-1

The Team Wisconsin Minor boys continued their stellar play in the Elite 2 League with 3 more wins this weekend. Their record is now 8-0-1.

Baby Steps Towards an On-Campus Practice Rink for UW

Today's Wisconsin State Journal indicates UW is currently making a decision on which consultant to hire to help it draw up a plan for future facilities. Here's the meat of the article....

UW Athletics will soon decide on an outside consultant to help it draw up a plan for future facilities.
UW officials have budgeted $225,000 for the process, which will get underway next month, when a consultant is identified.
An on-campus practice facility for men's hockey, a swimming facility and an indoor track and field facility are among the priority projects.
"We want a consultant basically to tell us everything from what land we might be able to use - that will somewhat be dictated by the campus master plan - to what deficiencies we have right now with our facilities in all our sports," Chadima said. "To provide us with some ideas and some renderings that will show us facilities we may be able to build."

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Shattuck St. Mary's over Team Wisconsin 5-1

I got a chance to catch part of the game today between Team Wisconsin and Shattuck St. Mary's. Shattuck controlled the puck throughout the game, and racked up a 5-1 win.

Brock Montpetit played on a line with David Toews and Eli Zuck for Shattuck St. Mary's. It was hard to tell who Shattuck's top pairing was due to all the penalties that are seemingly called in every game now, but I'm guessing this is Shattuck's top line. They started the majority of power plays for Shattuck. Montpetit had a power play goal on a wrap around where a Team Wisconsin D should have put him on his seat in a big way. Montpetit is a very good skater, and has great puck control. He will be a very good player by the time he gets to UW.

Ben Youds had one of the other goals for Shattuck. He basically went coast to coast from his defensive position to score the first goal of the game. Goals three and four were by Stepan Novotny of Prague, Czech Republic. He is a big, physical forward (6' 1", 190 lb. Junior) who obviously has the scoring touch as well.

Ben Blood is a giant defenseman (6'3", 210 lb. Senior) from Plymouth, MN who threw his weight around in the second period by checking Travis Erstad (6'4", 190 lb. Senior) from Stevens Point into the boards from behind. Then, he proceeded to land on Erstad and deliver blows to his head until the linesmen dragged him off. Erstad got two minutes for the escapade, although he seemed to do nothing, while Blood got four minutes.

Team Wisconsin was either missing Jeff Burke, a defenseman from Somerset, or he was wearing a different number for some reason. Burke's listed as #7, but there was not #7 on the ice and there was a #21. This defenseman skated pretty well with the puck, but seemed to make some mistakes throughout the game, including the lack of putting a body on Montpetit when he scored his goal.

Karl Burns from USM had a rough game. With 2:01 left in the second period, he was called for either his third or fourth penalty. I'm guessing it was already his fourth, as he left the playing surface. I did not notice him back on the ice during the part of the third period I saw. Also, I noticed a player out loading up a car as I left...I'm guessing that was him.

Dustin LeClaire started the game for Team Wisconsin, and Andy Scheib took over netminder duties halfway through the game. Three of the goals were on LeClaire, and two on Scheib.

I had to leave during the third period (when the score was 4-0), but was told that Justin Johnson got the goal for Team Wisconsin late in the game.

Justin Johnson and Nate Condon seemed to be the best of Team Wisconsin's forwards, but they did not manage much scoring, even though they each had at least one breakaway. Nobody else really did anything offensively for Team Wisconsin besides those two. On defense, Tim Smith from Superior was the player that jumped out at me for Team Wisconsin. I was disappointed with Travis Erstad as he seems like he could have a big impact on every game if he put his mind to it. He also played quite a bit with Johnson and Condon on the same line, so it's not like he doesn't have anyone who can help him playing on his line.

The bottom line in this game is that Shattuck just skated too well, and did a nice job keeping a handle on the puck. I figured that Shattuck was going to be the more talented team, but was thinking possibly Team Wisconsin could give them a run since this is the first weekend of games Shattuck has played, but alas Team Wisconsin could just not put it together this weekend.

Mike Eaves was in the building through the first two periods of the game. There were also scouts in attendance from Ottawa and Washington in the NHL, among others.

Team Wisconsin lost both games on Saturday. When I asked one of the Team Wisconsin parents about the games, they said "we got smoked". This parent indicated about five power play goals were given up by Team Wisconsin in one game, and eight in the other. Here's a report on the first two games of the weekend, and a recap by Hockey Thoughts on the first two games.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Shattuck St. Mary's vs. Team Wisconsin

There's a good chance I will catch all or part of the Shattuck St. Mary's vs. Team Wisconsin matchup at the Kohl Center tomorrow. Stay tuned for more info as soon as I get back and get a chance to post it.

Gretzky's Son at Shattuck St. Mary's

I was looking over all the rosters for the various Shattuck St. Mary's Boys Hockey Teams, when I discovered an interesting name on the Boys Midget AA roster. His first name is Ty, which is not unusual, but his last name happens to be Gretzky. Based on the fact his hometown is West Lake, California and Wayne has a son named Ty, I'd say it's got to be Wayne's son.

Championship Run Video for UW Men

You're likely not having any trouble getting primed for the hockey season if you're reading this blog. Anyway, if you want to get even more fired up, check out this video of the UW Men's Championship run last season, set to Metallica.

National Championship Banner Ceremonies Dates Set for UW Men & Women

Wisconsin’s hockey programs will have the distinct pleasure of celebrating two NCAA titles in the coming weeks by unveiling championship banners that will hang in the Kohl Center rafters. The women’s hockey program takes the stage on Friday, Sept. 29, prior to its 7 p.m., season-opening contest, while the men’s program will add their sixth NCAA championship banner before its 7:30 p.m., home-opener on Friday, Oct. 13. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for these special presentations.

Following the program’s first NCAA title in 2006, a 3-0 victory over Minnesota at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis on March 26, 2006, the Badger women will add their mark to the Kohl Center before skating against Quinnipiac on Friday, Sept. 29. Official opening faceoff is 7:07 p.m., for the contest.

The men celebrate their sixth NCAA title one last time on Friday, Oct. 13, when 2006 NCAA Frozen Four participant North Dakota visits for the team’s home and WCHA opener. The Badgers defeated Boston College, 2-1, in the 2006 NCAA championship game at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on April 8, 2006. The Badger men face off at 7:37 p.m.

Season ticket-holders who hold only Slap-Shot Series season tickets will have first opportunity to purchase single-game tickets for the Friday, Oct. 13 home opener versus North Dakota. This special pre-sale will be valid only for the Oct. 13 game featuring the NCAA championship banner ceremony. Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 8:30 a.m., and running through Friday, Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m., fans with only Slap-Shot Series season tickets can purchase tickets to the game through normal UW Athletic Ticket Office channels. Tickets are $22 and $18 and are subject to availability, while supplies last.

Single-game tickets for women’s hockey went on sale Monday, Sept. 18.Men’s hockey single-game tickets, for 2006 calendar year games only, go on sale Monday, Sept. 25, at 8:30 a.m.

Currently, season tickets for men’s and women’s hockey are on sale.

Five-game mini-plans are also on sale for men’s hockey.

Tickets may be purchased online at uwbadgers.com, over the phone at 1-800-GO-BADGERS, or in person at the McGinnis Family Wisconsin Athletic Ticket Office in Kellner Hall at Camp Randall Stadium.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Amanda Kessel at Shattuck St. Mary's

In mid-June, I posted speculation that Amanda Kessel was on her way to Shattuck St. Mary's for this season. Turns out the speculation was accurate as her name is on the Shattuck's Girls Prep Hockey roster.

Brock Montpetit on Shattuck St. Mary's Roster, as Expected

Brock Montpetit was widely believed to be heading for Shattuck St. Mary's this season, after reportedly turning down a spot on the the USNTDP U-17 team. As expected, he is listed on their Prep Team roster.

Team Wisconsin Minor Info & Schedule for All Team Wisconsins This Weekend

Slowly but surely the Elite 2 website is being updated, so there's now more info on Team Wisconsin Minor. They are 5-0-1, with 27 goals for and only 9 goals against. They still don't have the 2006 roster up for Team Wisconsin Minor though. For that, visit the Team Wisconsin Boys Website, and more specifically, this page.

Team Wisconsin Minor plays this weekend in Kasson, Minnesota, which is just 15 minutes west of Rochester. Team Wisconsin Major plays this weekend at the Kohl Center, including a Sunday tilt with Shattuck St. Mary's. The Team Wisconsin Girls U-18 host a tournament in Stevens Point, and the Team Wisconsin U-16 Girls are in Madison for two games against the Madison Capitols.

Team Wisconsin Girls Stats from Last Weekend

The Girls Team Wisconsin U-18 stats are now posted from last weekend's three game set against Marquette. Someone had left me a comment requesting them....

Broken Internet Connection=No Posts Over the Last 3 Days

Sorry for the lack of posts the past three days. My Internet connection went down and just a few minutes ago the appropriate splitters/signal levels/ blah, blah, blah have been fixed. I feel like I've been out of the loop for a month, but will quickly get back up to speed.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Team Wisconsin Boys Major & Minor

The Team Wisconsin Boys Major team finished their three games this past weekend 1-1-1. They are in sixth out of seven teams, ahead only of the Southwest Region team. Nate Condon 7-4=11 and Justin Johnson 4-7=11 are tied for fourth in overall scoring. Andy Scheib is second in save percentage in the league with .911 and second in goals against average with a 2.786. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh, a Badger recruit, is tied for third in scoring for defensemen with 2-5=7.

Team Wisconsin Minor is reportedly off to a fast start in the Elite Two League going 5-0-1 to this point.

The Littles

The Littles in this story are not talking mice. They are Ryan Little, who plays for the Green Bay Gamblers, and his brother Shawn who plays for Fond du Lac High School. Ryan is a Senior in high school and from what I am hearing, has a chance to be a Captain for the Gamblers this season. He is apparently hearing from Notre Dame, Michigan Tech and Ivy League schools such as Brown, as he is a good student. Shawn is a Sophomore and apparently has interest from the likes of Wisconsin, probably based in large part on his four point showing at the National Select 15 Festival and the Wisconsin High School State Tournament where his team finished State-Runner ups.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Brent Gwidt Scores in First Exhibition Game

Brent Gwidt netted a goal for the Indiana Ice in the first exhibition game, held in Chicago vs. the Chicago Steel. In their second tilt of the weekend, Gwidt was held off the scoresheet.

Hockey's Future on Joe Pavelski

Hockey's Future has a story up on the Sharks 2006 Pacific Division Shootout Review up. In it, Joe Pavelski gets a nice mention. Here's the highlights from the story.

"The Sharks got their biggest boost from prospects Lukas Kaspar and Joe Pavelski.

Kaspar was especially effective down low, but was able to show a lot of dexterity working throughout the offensive zone with his skating and stickhandling. He led the team in scoring with six points (4 goals, 2 assists), which was also good for the tournament lead in points.

A very smart, hard-nosed centerman, Pavelski reads and anticipates the game very well. He was very impressive in many different situations, and proved to be very valuable."

Team Wisconsin Girls Opening Weekend

The Team Wisconsin Girls opened their season this week with a three-game set against the Marquette Iron Rangers. Team Wisconsin came strong out of the gate in the first game securing a 1-0 victory. In the second and third game, the Iron Rangers were victorious by a score of 4-0. One of the players told me Team Wisconsin did not play very well in the second game, but actually played pretty well in the final game, even though they suffered a loss. The other thing I heard about these games was that the dehumidifier was out in the Iron Rangers rink, and there was so much fog the goaltenders could not tell which teams players were on when they were at the blue line of their own zone. Next weekend Girls Team Wisconsin hosts a tournament in Stevens Point.

Keeping "Tabs" on our Friends to the West

Gopher Puck Live is the site where Gopher fans hang out and post stuff about the Gopher hockey team. Now normally I restrict my posts to all things Wisconsin, but they have something going on over there that's pretty neat, and something that will be interesting to monitor when the Gophers play the Badgers. They have a "House Journal" which is being written by a house full of Gopher Sophomore hockey players. R.J. Anderson, Justin Bostrom, Jeff Frazee, Ryan Stoa and Blake Wheeler are all living in the house, and will all post whenever they can.

Like I said, the House Journal should make for some good reading around the games against the Badgers....

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Fast Start for Turris

Kyle Turris' season got underway last night in the BCHL. This season is beginning a lot like last season ended. The Express were victorious by a tally of 5-2. Turris paced his team with the first two goals, and was named 1st star of the game.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Brad Malone Article & More...

The Wisconsin State Journal has an article mentioning Brad Malone visited UW last weekend, while Kyle Turris was also in town. Malone has narrowed his choices to UW and North Dakota, as has been rumored this week. The article also mentions that Malone is the only other player known to have a scholarship offer for next season. Apparently, the thought is that the coaching staff wants to see some of the other top remaining forwards they are considering play in the USHL before making other offers. The article goes on to say Jeff Likens will not miss any games for his summer escapade, and that UW has hired a new/old Strength and Conditioning Coach.

Wisconsin's Recruit Class Ranked Third

The Wisconsin Badgers Men's Hockey Team incoming Freshman recruit class has been ranked third in the nation behind Minnesota and Boston University.

Note: As I post this, INCH's link from their main page to this ranking is not working correctly and leads to the goalie ranking....but I worked for a bit with some guesses on what the page name might be and found it....so, use my link rather than going to their home page.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

NAHL Gets Underway

The NAHL season began today with the four-day NAHL Showcase Tournament getting underway at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, MN. You can find all of the first day's scores and scoresheets here. Plenty of Wisconsinites notched their first points today.

Kyle Turris Article

The BCHL website has a new Kyle Turris article up.

Robbie Earl at Maple Leafs Training Camp

Hockey's Future has a small blurb about Robbie Earl in their preview of the Toronto Maple Leafs Training Camp:

"Highly-touted Robbie Earl made the jump to the professional ranks late last year and would benefit from a year acclimatizing to the faster-paced game in the AHL."

Inside College Hockey's Top 20 Defensemen Recruits List

Inside College Hockey has released their Top 20 Defensemen Recruits List. Both incoming Freshmen defensemen for UW cracked the list. Jamie McBain is ranked seventh, while Nigel Williams comes in at number thirteen.

Heisenberg's College Hockey Freshmen Rankings

Chris Heisenberg has put out his rankings of incoming Freshmen forwards, defensemen and goaltenders on his blog.

At forward, UW's Blake Geoffrion is ranked eleventh, and Mike Davies is ranked sixteenth. For the defense rankings Jamie McBain is ranked third. No other UW players were listed in his rankings, which were for the top 20 forwards, top 15 defensemen and top 5 goaltenders.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Badger Men's TV Schedule Released

The Badger Men's Hockey Team and FSN have released the TV schedule for the 2006-2007 season.

Inside College Hockey's Top 20 Forward Recruits List

Inside College Hockey has rolled out their Top 20 Forward Recruits List for 2006-2007. Blake Geoffrion from UW is ranked ninth.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Upper Midwest High School Elite League Week Two

Team Wisconsin Major went 1-2 this past weekend and now stand at .500 in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League after two weeks (2 wins, 2 losses, 2 ties).

Game Recap for 2nd Weekend

NGT Frisk Norway–0 vs. Team WI–5
Northwest–6 vs. Team WI–3
North–12 vs. Team WI–4

Team Wisconsin currently sits in 6th place, ahead of only SW Minnesota and "Others" which so far have been the Madison Capitols for 3 games and NGT Frisk Norway for three games.

Nate Condon and Justin Johnson currently lead Team Wisconsin with nine points each, which is tied for second overall in the entire league. Condon has six goals and three assists while Johnson has three assists and six goals. Johnson has already tied his point production in last year's entire UMHSEL season. Seth Soley is tied for fourth in scoring for the league with three goals, four assists totalling seven points.

Goaltender Andy Scheib is currently third overall in the league for goalies in both save percentage and goals against average. No Wisconsin defensemen are within the top ten defensemen scorers, although 2007 Wisconsin recruit Ryan McDonagh is tied for second with one goal and four assists totalling five points.

Two Former Badgers at Oilers Training Camp

Hockey's Future has a new article up previewing the Edmonton Oilers Training Camp. Competing in camp are two former Badgers, Brad Winchester and Tom Gilbert. Gilbert is currently listed as the Oilers #12 prospect.

WHSEL Opening Weekend Scoring Info

Wisconsin High School Elite League scoring for the first weekend of games can be found here. All of the rosters are still not up on the WAHA site.

Team Wisconsin Major Roster Breakdown

I wanted to take a closer look at the Team Wisconsin Major roster to see what players returned, where the new players came from, see how many players are new and to see what type of accolades each player received last season in terms of All-State, National Festivals, etc. Here's the results:

Players returning from last year's Team Wisconsin Major (TWM):

F-Jr.-Seth Soley-Eau Claire Memorial-#2 in points for TWM last season, 1st Team All-State, Attended National Select 17 Festival

F-Sr.-Travis Erstad-Stevens Point-#7 in points for TWM last season & 1st Team All-State

F-Sr.-Justin Johnson-Eau Claire North-Tied for #8 in points for TWM last season & 1st Team All-State

F-Sr.-Ian Andrews-Sheboygan-Tied for #11 in points for TWM last season

G-Sr.-Andy Scheib-Sun Prairie-Best GAA & Sv. % for TWM last season & Honorable Mention All-State


Players moving up from Team Wisconsin Minor:

D-Jr.-Chris Glover-McFarland

D-Jr.-Tim Smith-Superior

F-Jr.-Alex Van Kampen-Altoona-Honorable Mention All-State-Attended National Select 16 Festival

F-Jr.-Mike Lennon-Reedsburg

F-Jr.-Nate Condon-Wausau West-Attended National Select 16 Festival

G-Sr.-Dustin LeClaire-Kettle Moraine-Honorable Mention All-State


New Players to Team Wisconsin:

D-Sr.-Ryan Smet-Fond du Lac-Honorable Mention All-State

D-So.-Taylor Kuypers-Edgewood-Attended National Select 16 Festival

D-Jr.-Jeff Burke-Somerset

D-Sr.-Nick Roscoe-Eau Claire North-Honorable Mention All-State

F-Sr.-Nate Hendry-Superior

F-Sr.-Karl Burns-University School-Honorable Mention All-State

F-So.-Brett Bower-Madison LaFollette-Attended National Select 16 Festival

F-Sr.-Tedd Falk-Homestead-Honorable Mention All-State

F-Sr.-Isaiah Bennis-Eau Claire Memorial


Players Not Returning that had Eligibility:

F-Craig Smith-Jr.-Honorable Mention All-State-Attended National Select 17 Festival-Currently playing in USHL

D-Aarron Schmit-Sr.-Culver Military Academy...was taken in USHL draft but elected to stay at Culver


Elite League Notes:

No defensemen remain from last year's Team Wisconsin Major roster.

Team Wisconsin Major was the eighth seed out of eight teams for last year's Elite League playoffs.

Team Wisconsin Minor finished in ninth last year out of twelve teams.

Justin Johnson led all Elite League scorers with six points in the opening weekend. Three more points and he will have tied his point production from the entire Elite League season last year!

Zabkowicz Article

Western College Hockey dug up a nice article from the St. Cloud Times on new recruit Sam Zabkowicz from Wisconsin.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Wisconsin High School Elite League Scores

Scores from the first day's games in the Wisconsin High School Elite League are now posted on the WAHA website. While getting the scores out quickly is truly appreciated, it would mean a whole lot more if they had actually managed to post all of the team rosters, which has not been completed at this point....

Wisconsin D-Man Commits

Sam Zabkowicz, who spent last season playing for the Dallas Stars AAA program and the Texarkana Bandits of the NAHL has committed to St. Cloud State. Prior to last season, Zabkowicz had played for Culver. Zabkowicz was recently drafted by Sioux Falls and will play for them in the USHL this season.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Boys High School Hockey Losses Via Graduation

In June I ran through the rosters of the boys and girls State Tournament qualifying teams and did a rundown of who graduates and who returns. I also covered the top 15 boys teams that did not qualify for the State Tournament in another June post.

Today I'd like to look at some other teams that piqued my curiosity throughout the season and/or came to mind as teams that might be pretty good this season.

Mosinee finished with a .500 record, but managed to knock off Northland Pines in the Regional Final last season. With their only losses being a forward who scored one point last season, one defenseman and a backup goaltender, the Indians could be very, very good this season.

Wausau West is a team that had some high end talent last season, but didn't seem to have the depth in the game I saw them play. They graduated 7 forwards and a defenseman who contributed a lot to their offense, so that trend may continue. The good news is that their leading scorer from last season, Nate Condon, is just a Junior this year.

Sun Prairie finished the year 14-9, and return one of the state's best goaltenders in Andy Scheib, so I thought I'd take a look at their losses to graduation. The numbers aren't too bad, as only a defenseman and three forwards graduated, unfortunately forward Lucas Nehmer was their leading scorer last season and is one of the three forwards that graduated.

Menomonie took Superior to overtime in the Sectional Semi-Final last season, despite ending the season 10-11-2. The Indians lose their starting goaltender, two forwards and three defensemen. There has also been talk of leading scorer Dylan Otto transferring in the offseason, although I have not heard where he's enrolled this season yet.

Appleton loses four forwards, a defenseman and their starting goaltender, but return three forwards that each had over twenty points last season. We'll see if they can make some noise in the Badgerland this year.

Speaking of the Badgerland, Neenah knocked conference foe Appleton off three times last season, including in the Sectional Semi-Final. The Rockets graduated 7 Senior forwards and 5 Senior defensemen, leaving Will Mitchell and Kyle Walbrun without much of a supporting cast this season.

Finally, another Badgerland team I wanted to look at was Waupun. They are on the rise talent-wise, and if they can pull it all together, could have a good team this season. Their biggest loss is probably goaltender Justin DeMaa, but only lost two forwards and two defensemen otherwise. Unfortunately, they have also lost their leading returning scorer, JJ McBride to the Capitols which may hurt.

Friday, September 08, 2006

UW's Forward Line Combinations

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how Mike Eaves will configure his forward lines. There's so many unknowns to consider. So, I think I'll just "rant" about it here on the blog and see what I come up with.

Carlson, Street, Skille, Dowell and Joudrey all return and will play in the top two or possibly top three lines. Normally I'd think they would all play on the top two lines, but I'm not sure how Eaves feels about playing two or three Freshmen together on a line, so they may be spread out among three lines.

The Freshman class is a big unknown, as is how Tom Gorowsky and Matt Ford will stack up against the Freshman class. Gorowsky struggled in terms of scoring when he was on the ice early last season, but has always been a scorer. The knock on Ford has always been his skating, and it's pretty hard to hide a forward that doesn't skate well. That being said, he's had two seasons to work on his skating, and may have made some strides in that time. On the positive side, Ford is also known for his big slapshot.

The Freshman class has some diverse talent. At the top of the heap figures to be Blake Geoffrion. He was a second round NHL draft pick, and seems to do a lot of things well. One article indicated he wants to play center, but who's to say that's where Eaves will want to put him?

Next up for the Freshmen is Zach Bearson. With three years of USHL experience, international experience, and time spent as a Captain for his USHL squad, Bearson is a power forward who scores at a moderate pace (13 goals, 21 assists in 56 games). He seemed to plateau last season in terms of his numbers, after a big improvement from his first to his second season with Waterloo.

Mike Davies comes to UW after putting up big offensive numbers, especially considering he is a little guy. He tallied 28 goals and 43 assists in 51 games. The question will be whether he is good enough defensively to earn a spot on the ice every night? With the Badgers lack of offensive weapons, you'd have to think he's got a good shot to play. Reports indicate his skating is very good.

Will the real Aaron Bendickson please stand up? Aaron Bendickson had 6 goals and 4 assists in his first 34 games last season playing with Cedar Rapids and Indiana. Once traded to Des Moines he proceeded to rack up 10 goals and 10 assists in 19 games. Was he asked to play more defensively with one team and not constrained with another? Was he playing with far superior talent on one team vs. another? Those are the question marks with Bendickson. Reports are that he skates very well.

Ben Grotting played with Mike Davies in Lincoln last season. He is a big forward that tallied 9 goals and 12 assists in 52 games last season. My guess is he is destined to be a grinder and/or backup for the Badgers.

Andy Bohmbach was brought into the fold just recently with the departure of Joe Pavelski. He played with Zach Bearson for the Waterloo Blackhawks, and put up similar numbers to Bearson. Bohmbach recorded 13 goals and 19 assists in 59 games. Bohmbach recently described himself as a scorer, although scouting reports indicate he works really hard in every area of the ice. My guess is he will see limited playing time and need to use his Freshman year as preparation to compete for regular ice time next season.

John Mitchell is a player with big upside, but who has not been able to tap into that potential yet. He bounced around the USHL between three teams and then was traded to a NAHL team in December last team. Rather than go to the NAHL, he grayshirted with the Badgers for the last half of last season, meaning he could practice with them but not play. He undoubtedly will not see regular ice team this season barring injuries, etc.

So, taking all of this into consideration, my line combos are as follows:

Carlson-Street-Skille
Dowell-Joudrey-Geoffrion
Ford-Gorowsky-Davies
Bearson-Brandt-Bendickson

Eaves has said he's leaning towards Joudrey centering Carlson and Skille on the first line, but I'm going to guess the chemistry of Carlson-Street-Skille wins out. With this line-up, I worry about point production from the second line. Dowell and Joudrey both need to step it up on that front. Ford on the off wing on the third line will give him a chance to blast some one-timers. The third line could really score some points if they have good chemistry. I could also see Dowell or Joudrey being moved to the third line to help out in terms of playing experience. The fourth line I have dubbed the Killer B's! Bohmbach is likely the guy who plays first off the bench to fill in, followed by Grotting and then Mitchell.

Don't like my forward line combos? Then make your own and post them as a comment.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Wisconsin Players on NAHL Rosters

Last season Wisconsin had 25 players on NAHL rosters at the end of the season. At the beginning of this season, there are currently 24 Wisconsin players on NAHL rosters.

Here's the list of Wisconsin players currently in the NAHL:

Wichita Falls
Forward Dan Decato
Forward Joel Sauer

Traverse City
Defenseman Arthur Bidwell

Springfield
Defenseman Ben Plocar
Forward Zach Henry

Southern Minnesota
Scott Pulak

Santa Fe
Defenseman Tim Possehl

North Iowa
Defenseman Brandon Larson
Forward Jon Sicsik

Marquette
Forward Nick Condon
Forward Jake Hauswirth
Forward Chad Johnson
Forward Nic Weight

Fargo-Moorhead
Defenseman Brandon Bukowski

Fairbanks
Defenseman Craig Johnson
Forward Alex McRae
Forward Andrew McCabe
Forward Craig Dakins

Alpena
Forward Drew Pierson

Alexandria
Defenseman Adam Hammerbeck
Forward Ryan Goodmanson
Forward BJ Gottsacker
Forward Derek Tijan
Forward Eric Borre

Wisconsin Players on USHL Rosters

Wisconsin had 15 players on USHL rosters near the end of last season, and currently have 22 this season. USHL teams still have to trim rosters from 25 players to 23 players following the Buc Bowl. Five Wisconsin players moved on to play Division 1 hockey for this season from the USHL including JJ Koehler, Eric Lampe, John Mitchell, Jeremy Dehner and Andy Bohmbach.

Here's the list of Wisconsin players currently in the USHL:

Chicago
Forward Nathan Lawrence

Green Bay
Defenseman Derrick La Point
Forward Justin Cseter
Defenseman Ryan Little
Forward Cole Holmes
Forward Mike Sislo
Goaltender Nick Graves

Indiana
Forward Brent Gwidt

Lincoln
Defenseman Ross Henry

Omaha
Forward Matt Thurber
Defenseman Garrett Suter

Sioux Falls
Defenseman Sam Zabkowicz
Forward David Solway
Forward Jacob Drewiske
Forward Patrick Tiesling

Tri-City
Defenseman Kyle Ensign
Forward Sean Wiles

Waterloo
Defenseman Blake Kessel
Forward Brett Olson
Forward Josh Turnbull
Forward Craig Smith
Forward Keegan Meuer

Upper Midwest High School Elite League Scoring Leaders

Justin Johnson of Eau Claire North leads all scorers in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League after the first weekend of play. Johnson recorded two goals and four assists over the first three games. 2007-2008 UW recruit Ryan McDonagh leads all defensemen in scoring after the first weekend with a goal and three assists.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Kyle Turris' Season Starts in Just 11 Days

UW recruit Kyle Turris and the Burnaby Express of the BCHL will begin their season on September 15th. Already, the Express has played several exhibition games. Here's a recent picture of Turris and a story of the camp he and his teammates helped Coach for kids in Burnaby just a day after he returned from Slovakia as a gold medalist for Canada's U-18 team.

It appears that Turris is going to switch his jersey number from 8 to 19 this season, according to the Burnaby roster I saw on the new & improved BCHL website. The new BCHL website has scrolling pictures, one of which is of Kyle Turris.

Bohmbach Bio Added at uwbadgers.com

Andy Bohmbach's bio has now been added to the rest of the team's at the uwbadgers.com. Click here for the direct link to his bio.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Team Wisconsin Girls U16 Roster Released

The Team Wisconsin Girls U16 roster is now posted. This link will take you to a page where you can find links to both of the Team Wisconsin Girls' rosters and both of their schedules.

Team Wisconsin Downs Madison Capitols

Team Wisconsin and the Madison Capitols got their seasons underway Sunday by facing off against one another at Greenheck Fieldhouse in Schofield. Team Wisconsin came away victorious by a final score of 7-3.

Team Wisconsin also tied Team Minnesota NW by a score of 4-4, and tied Team Minnesota SE by a score of 5-5.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

UW Badger Men's & Women's Sites Updated

The uwbadger.com website has gotten a facelift, including all of the pages for the UW Men's and Women's teams. Team bios for both teams have also been updated, although Andy Bohmbach has not been added yet to the men's page, undoubtedly due to his late admission to school.

I have also update my links page to reflect these new web pages for each team.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Wisconsin Female Forwards of the Future

Wisconsin has a pretty deep crop of upcoming female forwards in the 15 & 16 year old age group. No less than four Wisconsin girls were in the top five scoring leaders at this year's USA Hockey Girls 15/16 Festival. Due to ties in scoring, there were 17 players in the "top 5", and Wisconsin had four of those players.

Tied for fourth in scoring at the Festival was Brianna Decker from Dousman, who I would rate as the best of this group of forwards. I have seen her play a couple of times, and she has a complete game, and regularly competed with the best in the country this season as a second-line forward for Shattuck St. Mary's top team as a Freshman.

Second on my list would probably be Kim Tess-Wanat from Fond du Lac, who tied for fifth in scoring at the Festival. I have only been able to see her play once, but also seems to have a complete game.

Amanda Kessel and Jamie Kenyon also tied for fifth in scoring at the Festival. The thing about Kessel's scoring though is that she scored all of her goals in one game...meaning she may have just done well against one team with poor defenseman. In the times I have seen her play against girls (she has played with the Capitol boys team during the season) her only weapon seems to be her speed and her capability to utilize that as an individual threat.

Jamie Kenyon's sister is Cyndy Kenyon, who as a Senior last season helped lead the UW Women's Hockey Team to the National Title. I have not been able to see Jamie Kenyon play at all, so can't really weigh an opinion on her.

Dawson Bancroft Short is also in this age group, and she finished at the Girls 15/16 Festival with one goal in five games. She was the leading scorer for the Capitols Girls team last season, but in the times I've seen her play she just does not jump out at me. I mention her name as many people do hold her play in high regard.

All in all, it's good to see that there are potentially several girls capable of making the jump to Division 1 hockey in a few years. Hopefully Mark Johnson will be able to use their services at UW, and these girls will elect to stay in-state.

Sweet Badger Hockey Corn Maze....or is it Maize?















This was posted originally by jrluther, who found it at Schuster's Playtime Farm. It was just too sweet not to post here....