Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Wednesday Linkorama

The Badger Herald has a couple of nice articles today: one about Scott Gudmandson and one about Alycia Matthews.

Kyle Turris comes in second this week in INCH's Hobey Tracker. He's fifth in this week's CSTV Hobey Watch.

The Badger women host the Gophers this weekend, and uwbadgers.com has the series preview and game notes.

Milewski and Baggot both have blurbs about Halloween. Milewski also reports that the lines in practice have not changed and that Engel is still wearing a no contact jersey.

Michigan Tech is coming to town this weekend, and INCH has an article about Tech's head coach Jamie Russell and his son who was treated last week for a life-threatening bacterial infection. (Thanks to Gandalf for the heads-up on this article.)

Badger alumn Tom Gilbert got even more ice time last night for the Oilers, as teammate Matt Greene broke his ankle during the game. (Oiler defensemen Souray and Pitakanen are also currently injured.) If you don't feel like reading the whole article, here are the quotes from Tom:

"You lose guys like Pitkanen and Souray, guys who are power-play guys, shutdown guys, then you have guys filling their roles and they get injured ... it's tough," Gilbert said.

"All of a sudden you're playing 25 minutes and playing against the top lines, but it's a great opportunity for us. It's a challenge every game to get better.

"In time, I think it's going to help us all."


Hockey's Future has an interview with former Badger Matt Auffrey. After leaving the Badgers to play in the OHL, Auffrey is currently playing with Augusta of the the ECHL.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Tuesday USHL Roundup

The USHL has a video clip of Scott Pavelski's first goal as a Blackhawk, which you can watch by clicking here.

Blake Kessel is participating in a new feature on the USHL website where you can submit questions to a player one week, and they will post the answers the next week. If you'd like to submit a question to Blake, click here.

There were two USHL games tonight. Lincoln edged Tri-City 4-3. Wisconsinite Travis Erstad continues to struggle in the +/- column for Lincoln and finished this game -2. Fellow teammate and Wisconsinite Ross Henry was even for the game. Neither Wisconsinite Kyle Ensign or UW recruit Chris Hickey played for Tri-City.

Cedar Rapids doubled up Chicago 4-2. Wisconsinite Aaron Schmit finished +1 for the Steel.

Matthews Nabs Weekly Award . . . And Other News

Another week in the WCHA, and another award for a Badger . . . Junior Alycia Matthews has been named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts this past weekend. She had a game-winning goal and 3 assists.

In other news, Milewski reports that Jeff Likens has been reassigned to Reading of the ECHL and that Ross Carlson has scored his first goal for the Texas Wildcatters.

Nick Graves Goalie Fight

Nick Graves, who formerly played for the Green Bay Junior Gamblers as well as the Green Bay Gamblers is now a goaltender for the NAHL's Southern Minnesota Express. A reader sent me a link to a video with Graves duking it out against Mike Hillman of the Bismarck Bobcats (Graves is in white).

Elite League Playoff Results & Nike Bauer NIT

Team Wisconsin Major finished second in the Elite League Playoff, losing to the Russell Stover Midget Major team by a score of 5 to 4.

Two teams have been formed from the Elite League to compete in the Nike Bauer NIT this weekend in New Hope, Minnesota. Team Minnesota White features UW recruits Jake Gardiner and Tyler Barnes, while Team Minnesota Red includes Team Wisconsin members Nate Condon, Seth Soley, Jeff Costello, Tim Smith and Andrew Martin. Shattuck St. Mary's Boys Prep Team will also be playing in the tournament featuring UW recruits Derek Stepan and Jordan Murray. You can find the tournament bracket here.

Is The Bye Week Over Yet?

The Badger men are coming off a bye week, and this weekend's games can't come soon enough for me. You can take your pick of articles today in TCT, The Badger Herald, and The Daily Cardinal, or you can check out Eaves' Monday presser, where he talks about coming off the bye week, Michigan Tech, Blake Geoffrion, the young defensive corps, Sean Dolan, and the competitive nature of the team.

Moving on to the Badger Women, here's Mark Johnson's Monday presser and yet another article about Hilary Knight.

I haven't seen anything official, but it sounds like the Vetter, Zaugg, Lawler, and Duggan, as well as McKenzie, Miller, and Marvin for Minnesota may miss this weekend's series, as they need to be in Sweden for the Four Nations Cup Nov. 7-11.

Badger Alumni Update: Tom Gilbert

(Photo by Neil Ament)
Tom Gilbert surprised a number of people by outplaying Ladislav Smid in training camp and making the Oilers right out of camp. Despite his good play during camp, many thought he'd be sent down due to the Oilers depth on D. However, it was Smid who was sent down (he's back up due to injuries to Pitkanen and Souray) while Gilbert made the opening night lineup.

While his relative NHL inexperience shows and he makes some mistakes, all in all he's been playing pretty well with the Oilers. He's one of a handful of players whose +/- isn't negative (Smid is the only other D without a negative +/-), and he leads the defensemen with 3 points (2 G 1 A). He's been getting a good amount of ice time, and his minutes haven't been soft minutes -- lately MacTavish has been playing him against other teams' top lines.

Anyway, the Edmonton Journal has a nice article on Gilbert, and he also gets some love in the Sun's preview of the Oilers upcoming game v. the Red Wings. Go ahead and take a look, as both articles have some fun quotes. (Thanks to DPlaya for the heads-up on the first article; I'm a sieve and hadn't checked the Edmonton papers recently.)

Boys High School Hockey Team Previews #7-#10

The teams that finished between #7 & #10 in boys high school hockey last season have many things in common. They all graduated a large number of players, they all lost over half of their team's goals from last season due to graduation, and they're all going to be hard pressed to finish as high in the standings as they did last season because of their significant losses via graduation.

#10-Arrowhead-The team's graduation losses begin with All-State forward Zach Kohn who notched 75 points last season as well as forward Rick Wozniak who had 56 points last season. All told Arrowhead graduated 4 forwards, 2 defensemen and 2 goaltenders. Nearly 63% of their goal-scoring has graduated.

GF 118 - GA 58

Losing 8 Seniors - 74 Goals (62.7% of offense)

(F) Zach Kohn: 33g-42a = 75 pts
(F) Rick Wozniak: 33g-23a = 56 pts
(F) Casey Clark: 6g-9a = 15 pts
(F) Derek Hein: 1g-5a = 6 pts
(D) Matt Martell: 1g-2a = 3 pts
(D) Peter Janecko: 0g-3a = 3 pts
(G) Alex Koeppen: .880 Sv%
(G) Chris Frederickson: .872 Sv%


#9-Wisconsin Rapids-Like Arrowhead, they are a team that lost both high-end talent and depth. A total of 11 seniors graduated...8 forwards and 3 defensemen. Among the biggest losses were All-State defenseman Josh Nelson and Honorable Mention All-State forward Anthony Knuth. Over 58% of their goal scoring graduated.

GF 110 - GA 35

Losing 11 Seniors - 64 Goals (58.2% of offense)

(F) Anthony Knuth: 12g-14a = 26 pts
(F) Tony Drollinger: 7g-14a = 21 pts
(F) Zach Janke: 7g-12a = 19 pts
(F) Josh Uttermark: 9g-10a = 19 pts
(F) Nathan Schill: 9g-7a = 16 pts
(F) Ke'Alohi Apuakehau: 6g-3a = 9 pts
(F) Brent Saylor: 2g-2a = 4 pts
(F) Drew Anderson: 1g-2a = 3 pts
(D) Josh Nelson: 9g-19a = 28 pts
(D) Brock Hudak: 2g-3a = 5 pts
(D) Brandon Franz: 0g-4a = 4 pts


#8-Madison West-With almost 73% of your goalscoring having graduated, including Honorable Mention All-State forward Jacob Esch, you've got some holes to fill. A total of 5 forwards, 3 defensemen and a goaltender graduated last season.

GF 92 - GA 64

Losing 9 Seniors

(F) Jacob Esch: 23g-26a = 49 pts
(F) Nathan Hertz: 20g-16a = 36 pts
(F) John Kim: 8g-4a = 12 pts
(F) Kris Kiley: 2g-7a = 9 pts
(F) Ben Heumann: 0g-0a = 0 pts
(D) David Hettenbach: 7g-10a = 27 pts
(D) Ryan Vanden Avond: 4g-4a = 8 pts
(D) Peter Carpenter: 3g-1a = 4pts
(G) Chris Hill:


#7-Kettle Moraine/Mukwonago-What do you do when 80% of your goalscorers graduate? That's the question facing this team. They graduated the largest senior class I have ever seen from one team. No fewer than 15 players graduated last season including 8 forwards, 6 defenseman and a goaltender. Among them was All-State forward Andy Michals, All-State defenseman Evan Jeszka, Honorable Mention All-State defensman JD Frank and Honorable Mention All-State goaltender Dustin LeClaire. One returning bright spot for the Lasers is junior defenseman Sam Frank, who is also playing for Team Wisconsin Minor this season.

GF 121 - GA 31

Losing 15 Seniors

(F) Andy Michals: 24g-32a = 56 pts
(F) Ron Chmill: 14g-17a = 31 pts
(F) Andy Biwer: 16g - 12a = 28 pts
(F) Tristan Krause: 19g-8a = 27 pts
(F) Spencer Ellena: 2g-9a = 11 pts
(F) Ian Robinson: 4g-5a = 9 pts
(F) Ben Wiedenman: 2g-5a = 7 pts
(F) Jack Hansen: 2g-1a = 3 pts
(D) Evan Jeszka: 4g-10a = 14 pts
(D) Ben Cabush: 3g-9a = 12 pts
(D) JD Frank: 3g-6a = 9 pts
(D) Eric Good: 2g-3a = 5 pts
(D) Stu Iverson: 2g-1a = 3 pts
(D) John Schoback: 0g-3a = 3 pts
(G) Dustin LeClaire: .947 Sv%

Monday, October 29, 2007

Some Monday Evening Links

With their sweep of the Mavericks, the Badger women reclaimed the top spot in this week's USCHO/CSTV poll. To achieve the sweep, the Badgers had to come from behind both nights, as the Mavericks scored early in each game.

The Badger men moved up to 10th in the USCHO/CSTV Poll, 9th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, and 8th in the INCH Power Rankings. Todd Milewski shared his votes in the USCHO poll -- he put Wisconsin 10th and their next opponent, Michigan Tech, 12th.

Speaking of Tech, they also moved up in all the polls this week and are currently 13th in the USCHO Poll, 14th in the USA Today Poll, and 15th in the INCH Power Rankings.

Andy Baggot has an interesting blog post today on the status of Badger recruiting and the upcoming early signing period. He specifically mentions Derek Lee. He also has updates on Josh Engel's shoulder injury and Kyle Turris's recent respiratory illness.

After leaving a game last week with an injury, Jack Skille seems to be fine. He played for Rockford in last night's game and had 7 SOG.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

USHL Weekend Wrap Up

Friday Night

Waterloo stopped Ohio 3-2 in a shootout. Brock Montpetit had a goal in regulation, while Brock Montpetit, Craig Smith and Scott Pavelski scored in the shootout (Pavelski's goal was the game winner). Brock Montpetit and Blake Kessel finished -1, Keegan Meuer and Craig Smith finished even, and Scott Pavelski finished +1. Justin Cseter finished +1 for Ohio.

Lincoln outshot Cedar Rapids 50 to 23, but barely edged them 5-4 in the scoring column. Travis Erstad had a hat trick and an assist for Lincoln, but only finished +1. Ross Henry finished +2 for Lincoln.

In yet another tight contest, Indiana squeaked by Sioux Falls 4-3. Brent Gwidt was -1 for Indiana, as were Eric Springer and Jacob Drewiske for Sioux Falls. Sam Zabkowicz was -2 for Sioux Falls. Eric Springer also did not convert in the shootout.

Tri-City handled Omaha 4-2. Matt Thurber had an assist and finished -1 for Omaha. His teammate Jake Hauswirth finished even. Potential UW recruit Patrick Wiercioch was even for Omaha. Kyle Ensign did not play for Tri-City, while UW recruit Chris Hickey finished -1.

Another thriller had Sioux City outlasting Des Moines 4-3.

Saturday Night

Waterloo downed Ohio 3-2 in a shootout. Justin Cseter had an assist for Ohio and finished +1, but missed in the shootout. For Waterloo, Keegan Meuer was not active, while Craig Smith, Blake Kessel and Scott Pavelski were all -1. Brock Montpetit had an assist for Waterloo. In the shootout, Craig Smith and Brock Montpetit missed while Scott Pavelski converted.

Omaha took out Des Moines 4-1. Matt Thurber had two assists and was even for Omaha, while Jake Hauswirth was -1. Potential UW recruit Patrick Wiercioch was even for the Lancers.

Sioux City blasted Indiana 5-1. Brent Gwidt was -1 for the Ice.

Cedar Rapids got the job done defeating on Lincoln 3-1. Travis Erstad was -2 for the Stars and Ross Henry was -1.

Green Bay doubled up Chicago 4-2. Aaron Schmit was held off the scoresheet for Chicago, while Ryan Little had an assist and finished +1 for Green Bay. UW Coach Mike Eaves was reportedly at the game watching Ryan Little and possibly goaltender Aaron Crandell of Green Bay.

Sioux Falls unloaded on Tri-City 6-1. Chris Hickey was -2 for Tri-City, and there was still no sign of Kyle Ensign. For Sioux Falls, Jacob Drewiske scored a goal and Sam Zabkowicz had a goal and an assist. Eric Springer and Jacob Drewiske were +1 while Zabkowicz was +2.

Sunday

Omaha got the best of Indiana 3-1. Brent Gwidt was -1 for Indiana, while Matt Thurber was even for Omaha and teammate Jake Hauswirth was -1. Thurber was named Third Star of the Game.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Condon to Gophers

Per Wisconsin Prep Hockey, Nate Condon has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota. (Thanks to MisplacedMPLS for the link!)

Up Next: Michigan Tech

Up next for the Badger Men is Michigan Tech. I wonder which Tech team we'll see: the team that beat North Dakota 3-1 on Friday, or the team that lost to North Dakota 6-0 tonight?

Wisconsin 4 - Mankato 2 (again)

Badgers win again by a score of 4-2. Goals by Jinelle Zaugg, Kyla Sanders, Hilary Knight, and Olivia Jakiel.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Badger Alumni Update: Blackhawks/Icehogs

A quick update on a few Badgers who are part of the Blackhawks organization. Jake Dowell seems to be on a bit of a roll. After scoring just 1 assist in his first 4 games, he has scored a goal in 3 of the last 4 games. He scored a shorthanded goal @ Chicago on 10/19 and he scored even strength goals v. Manitoba on 10/25 and 10/26. He didn't score @ Grand Rapids on 10/20, but he was was a starter that night (I could be wrong, but I think that's the first time he's made the starting lineup), so I'm guessing he's playing well and that the coaches like him. Although to be honest, it's hard to find much news about the Icehogs.

I wish I could tell you more about Jack Skille. He scored a goal yesterday but apparently was hurt in the 1st period and didn't return. He didn't play today.

I haven't been paying much attention to the Blackhawks lately, but I see that the most recent HawksCast includes a conversation with Adam Burish. (Adam's interview starts at the 11:30 mark.)

Wisconsin 4 - Mankato 2

Former Badger Lindsay Macy scored for Mankato just 13 seconds into the game, but the Badgers prevailed with goals by Jinelle Zaugg, Jasmine Giles, Alycia Matthews, and Hilary Knight. Jessie Vetter made 12 saves.

By the way, the Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald both had series previews that I should have posted this morning, but I was running somewhat late today. It's a bit odd to post previews after 1 game has already been played, but I thought I'd post them now anyway for completeness.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

It's Almost Friday . . .

The Badger women take on Mankato this weekend in Madison. (Yes, I know the official name is Minnesota State, but I can't help myself; I'll probably always call them Mankato.) Here's the Badger preview, and here's the Mankato preview.

Friday is Kids Day at the Kohl, and admission to women's hockey game is free to all fans.

And since we're talking about women's hockey, today's Badger Herald has this article about Badger freshmen Hilary Knight and Mallory Deluce. The article has some nice quotes from those two players as well as linemate Jinelle Zaugg.

The Badger men are off this weekend, but here are some previews of action elsewhere in the country: WCHA Blog Weekend Preview, College Hockey and Other Stuff Blog Week 4 Breakdown, USCHO This Week in the WCHA.

Thursday Night Linkorama

CSTV has already begun their Hobey Watch, and Kyle Turris comes in at #4. Todd Milewski adds his thoughts.

Andy Baggot reports on today's Badger men's practice. He also has a nice article about senior captain Emily Morris and freshman Patrick Johnson, both of whom are coach's kids.

Badger alum Ryan MacMurchy has been traded to the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL.

And apparently Denver head coach George Gwozdecky and UMD head coach Scott Sandelin both like the 2-ref, 2-linesman system. I get the feeling that WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd isn't a fan. To be honest, despite Bucky's huge wins both nights, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Badger fan who liked the 2-ref, 2-linesmen system last weekend. I wonder how many minutes were actually played 5 on 5?

Seth Soley to MTU

Per Chuck Schwartz and Heisenberg, Seth Soley has committed to Michigan Tech. Nice pickup by Tech, eh?

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

American Star: Hilary Knight

Badger Hilary Knight is the American Star in this month's USA Hockey Magazine.

I had posted this before, but in case you missed it, here's a nice article about Hilary from earlier this month. Also, here's an article from last April when Hilary signed her national letter of intent to play for the Badgers, and here's an article from last February when Hilary verballed.

Future Badgers: Central Scouting, Junior Select Team

Central Scouting has released its list of players to watch for the 2008 NHL draft. Milzie was nice enough to pick out the Badger recruits and potential recruits on the list.

"A" Players
Tyler Barnes
Jake Gardiner
Derek Stepan
Peter Wiercioch (potential recruit)

"B" Players
Brock Montpetit
Jordy Murray
Matt Thurber
Craig Smith

"C" Players
Nick Pryor
Derek Lee (potential recruit)


Team USA has released its roster for the 2007 Junior Select Team that will play in the World Junior A Challenge in British Columbia Nov. 5-11. Badger recruit Craig Smith has made the team, as has fellow Wisconsinite (and New Hampshire recruit) Blake Kessel. Potential recruit Derek Lee will be playing for Canada West.

Boys High School Hockey Team Previews-Honorable Mention & Others

I'm going to put out a series of posts previewing boys high school hockey teams for the 2007-2008 season. I'm beginning today with teams that finished in the "Honorable Mention" category last season as well as any other teams that may have caught my eye during the process of doing research on this season.

I normally compile my own statistics when I put the previews together, but since Power Play from Wisconsin Prep Hockey had already done that part, I used his information as a starting point (thanks Power Play).


Unranked Teams From Last Season

Hayward-I haven't been able to locate a roster from last season to look through all of Hayward's losses to graduation, but their biggest loss was undoubtedly All-State goaltender Al Armour. Returning this season are two high octane forwards in Senior Casey Kirley and Junior Nik Van Vonderen, both of whom were Honorable Mention All-State last season. Also in the fold is Sophomore defenseman Nolan Kirley who is also a member of Team Wisconsin Minor and was selected for the Select 15 National Development Camp this summer.

River Falls-River Falls graduated six Seniors, all of which were forwards. The biggest loss at forward was Sam Pilney who contributed 28 goals and 14 assists for 42 points. Returning for the Wildcats is two-time State Honorable Mention forward and Team Wisconsin Major forward Senior Trent Frey. He'll have help on offense from Junior Levi Johnson who I am told is one of the fastest forwards in the state. Also back for his Senior campaign is goaltender Wes Kusilek who managed a save percentage of 90% last season and a 2.70 goals against average. In addition, Sophomore defenseman Luke Jenkins could make an impact after playing with Team Wisconsin Minor in the pre-season.


Honorable Mention Teams From Last Season

Appleton-Big graduation losses were sustained by Appleton this past offseason with 4 forwards, 5 defenseman and a goaltender having moved on. Remaining is Honorable Mention All-State senior goaltender Josh Lehr, as well as sophomore Matt Paape who is a member of Team Wisconsin Minor.

GF 116 - GA 41

Losing 10 Seniors

(F) Ryan Campbell
(F) Nathan Huntington
(F) Phil Laird
(F) Andy Miller
(D) Tyler Wanke
(D) Tom Parsons
(D) Nick Vanden Heuvel
(D) Mike Klinger
(D) Mike Lindeke
(G) Mike Turner


Waukesha Catholic Memorial-This team may be better than last season after graduating just two players, both of which were forwards. Junior forward Jeff Costello, who was Honorable Mention All-State and is playing for Team Wisconsin Major will be back, as will one of the Team Wisconsin Minor goaltenders, Sophomore David Chapin.

GF 97 - GA 62

Losing 2 Seniors

(F) Andrew Krueger
(F) TJ Waite


Madison Edgewood-This is another team with a small graduating loss, with just one forward and one defenseman to replace. The bigger offseason loss suffered by Edgewood though was losing Junior defenseman Taylor Kuypers to the Madison Capitols. Even so, Junior forward Cody Strang and Senior defenseman Tyler Sorenson both are members of Team Wisconsin Major, with both also having been Honorable Mention All-State last season and will be returning. Add in two Team Wisconsin Minor junior forwards in Patrick McCoshen and Chris Kanak, and Edgewood still has lots of firepower. One can only imagine this team if Jordan George had not left for Russell Stover last season (and is now with Topeka in the NAHL), and Taylor Kuypers had not left for the Capitols this season.

GF 85 - GA 48

Losing 2 Seniors

(F) Matt Kloppenburg
(D) Mark Stemrich


Mosinee-They top the list so far with 11 players having graduated, 8 forwards, one defenseman and a pair of goaltenders. Their graduation losses scored 33% of their goals last season, lead by Honorable Mention All-State forward Brody Zebro with 27. Even so, lots of firepower returns with Honorable Mention All-State Senior forward Kevin Radke returning, along with Honorable Mention All-State senior defenseman Chase Drake. Add in Junior forwards Parker Tomczyk and Ethan Nauman who are members of Team Wisconsin Minor, and you can see there's still some firepower left in Mosinee. The questions will likely be whether or not they can replace all of their losses and have quality depth.

GF 144 - GA 70

Losing 11 Seniors

(F) Brody Zebro: 27g-15a = 42 pts
(F) Vince Hagman: 10g-12a = 22 pts
(F) Jacob Pitt: 8g-10a = 18 pts
(F) Brogan Schantz: 1g-6a = 7 pts
(F) Jacob Stephany: 1g-3a = 4 pts
(F) Brian Dombrowski: 1g-0a = 1 pt
(F) Cale Charneski: 0g-0a - 0 pts
(F) Kyle Koprowski: 0g-0a - 0 pts
(D) Dan Gliniecki: 0g-0a = 0 pts
(G) Jordan McKellips: .897 Sv%
(G) Seth Cramer: .690 Sv%

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Patrick Johnson and other stuff

Patrick Johnson is a lot of fun to watch. He scored a goal on Saturday, and he won the team's Hard Hat Award on Friday. And not surprisingly, he's the focus of Todd Milewski's article today.

Speaking of Todd, each week he'll be compiling stats for Badger alumni in the pros and for future Badgers. Looks like Ryan MacMurchy will be moving on from the ECHL's Elmira Jackels.

Oh, and Nathaniel Greenbaum of BadgerNation has a photo gallery from this past weekend

Turris Nabs Weekly Award...So Does Deluce

Kyle Turris has been named the WCHA's Offensive Player of the Week. Not to be outdone by the men, Freshman Mallory Deluce notched her second straight Rookie of the Week award from the WCHA.

Turris leads the NCAA in goals, scoring and points, while Deluce leads the nation in goals scored and is tied for the lead in points with two other players, including her teammate and fellow Freshman Hilary Knight.

Monday, October 22, 2007

High School Hockey Previews Coming Soon....

I've completed boys hockey pre-season previews for the top 10 and honorable mention teams from last season, as well as any other programs that caught my eye for this season. There are four preview posts in total, and I will start rolling them out in the near future.

I have not yet completed girls hockey pre-season previews, but will try to get them done for at least the top 4-5 teams. I'll likely do this in 1 or 2 posts at the maximum.

New Poll Rankings for UW Men & Women

The Badger Men are just a step away from the top 10 as the USCHO/CSTV Poll has them ranked 11th this week, up two spots from last week.

The Badger Women dropped from #1 down to #2 this week in the USCHO/CSTV Poll after going 1-1 this past weekend.

Team Wisconsin Finishes 2nd in Elite League

Team Wisconsin completed the final weekend of play in the Elite League with a 3-0 record, bringing them to 13-7-1 overall, which was good for second place out of seven teams. Next up is the 2007 Elite League Playoff, where #2 seed Team Wisconsin will face off in their first game against #7 seed Team Southeast. You can find the complete playoff bracket here.

Here's the statistical breakdown for the Elite League Team Wisconsin players and UW recruits near the top of each category:

F-Nate Condon (Team WI)-20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points. Finished first in scoring, tied for second in assists and first in total points.

F-Seth Soley (Team WI)-18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points. Finished third in goals, tied for second in assists and was second in total points.

F-Tyler Barnes (UW recruit)-19 goals and 17 assists for 36 points. Finished second in goals, fourth in assists and was third in total points.

F-Jeff Costello (Team WI)-16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points. Finished fifth in goals, tied for sixth in assists and sixth in total points.

G-Brady Sand (Team WI)-181.7 minutes; .967 sv. %, .991 gaa. Finished first in sv % and gaa in limited playing time.

G-Andy Martin (Team WI)-621.1 minutes; .885 sv. %, 3.478 gaa. Finished sixth in sv % and fourth in gaa.

D-Jake Gardiner (UW recruit)-7 goals and 5 assists for 12 points. Finished fourth in total points among defensemen.

Some Monday Evening Links

Todd's got a nice article on Blake Geoffrion in today's TCT.

This is a couple days old, but the Friday's post-game entry in the Badger Blog has some interesting quotes from Eaves.

Thanks to nubeetle for pointing out that Badger Alum Greg Poss has been named Head Coach for the US Men's Select team that will play in Germany Nov 8-11.

Chris at Western College Hockey really likes Kyle Turris.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune has an article about early departures from the WCHA. Naturally it focuses mostly on the gophers, but there are some interesting quotes from coaches (including Eaves) and players.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Turris Leads Division I in Scoring

Don't look now, but Kyle Turris leads the nation in goals (5), and in assists (7) and in points (12). A host of other Badgers are among the leaders as well including Ben Street, Blake Geoffrion and Brendan Smith.

Saturday USHL Recap

Indiana edged Chicago 4-3. Brent Gwidt was held off the scoresheet and finished -1 for Indiana. Aaron Schmit took 14 minutes of penalties all for butt-ending (a double minor and a misconduct).

Ohio played Omaha much tighter Saturday, but Omaha still prevailed 3-2. Jake Hauswirth had a goal for Omaha while teammate Matt Thurber had an assist. Both finished the game +1. For Ohio, Justin Cseter had an assist and finished even.

Sioux City put up a touchdown on Green Bay en route to a 7-4 victory. Ryan Little finished -1 for Green Bay.

Speaking of touchdowns, Cedar Rapids put one up on Des Moines in a 7-1 spanking.

Lincoln scraped past Sioux Falls 2-1. Jacob Drewiske had an assist and finished even for Sioux Falls, while teammates Eric Springer finished +1 and Sam Zabkowicz finished -1. Ross Henry and Travis Erstad were held off the scoresheet for Lincoln and finished even.

Tri-City needed overtime to squeak by Waterloo 4-3. Uw recruit Chris Hickey had a goal and finished +1 for Tri-City, while teammate Kyle Ensign was not active for the game. For Waterloo, Blake Kessel and Brock Montpetit had goals, while Montpetit also had an assist. For Waterloo, Keegan Meuer finished +1, Craig Smith was even, Brock Montpetit was -1 and Blake Kessel was -2.

Badger Recaps

The Badger Men kept their offense rolling with an 8-2 victory over Robert Morris. Blake Geoffrion grabbed headlines with his five point performance, but there was plenty of praise to go around. Scott Gudmandson got his first start and his first win, which was good for his own headline.

The Badger Men now have two weeks to prepare for Michigan Tech, where everyone will get a better idea of just how good the Freshman are against WCHA caliber competition.

The Badger Women also had a Freshman grabbing headlines in the form of Mallory Deluce as they pounded St. Cloud State 5-0 and avenged the loss that cost them their 32-game unbeaten streak.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Badger Men Friday Wrap Up

Here's what the Capital Times had to say about the Badger Men's 7-2 victory last night, while the Wisconsin State Journal's thoughts are here. The Journal Sentinel even had a write up today.

St. Cloud State Snaps Badger Women's Unbeaten Streak

St. Cloud State topped the Badger Women last night 2-1, snapping the longest unbeaten streak ever in women's college hockey at 32 games.

USHL Friday Night

It was a pretty good night in the USHL for Wisconsin players & UW recruits putting points on the scoresheet.

Indiana put up a touchdown against Cedar Rapids and claimed the victory 7-5. Brent Gwidt had a goal and an assist for Indiana, and finished +2. He also had 12 penalty minutes. He had a minor for hooking and a 10-minute misconduct for abuse of officials.

Omaha handled Ohio 6-2. Matt Thurber had an assist and finished +1 for Omaha, while teammate and potential UW recruit Patrick Wiercioch finished even. Jake Hauswirth did not play for Omaha. Justin Cseter finished -1 for Columbus.

Sioux Falls doubled up Green Bay 4-2. Ryan Little had a goal and was even for Green Bay. Eric Springer had a goal and was +2 for Sioux Falls, while teammates Sam Zabkowicz and Jake Drewiske were +1 and 0 respectively.

Tri-City took care of Lincoln 6-3. UW recruit Chris Hickey had two goals in the game and finished even for Tri-City. Kyle Ensign did not play in the game for Tri-City. For Lincoln, Travis Erstad notched a goal and finished -1. Teammate Ross Henry was -2.

Chicago hung a loss on Waterloo 6-4. Aaron Schmit finished even for Chicago. For Waterloo, both Keegan Meuer and Brock Montpetit had goals. Montpetit finished +1, while Blake Kessel was -1 and Keegan Meuer, Craig Smith and Scott Pavelski were all -2.

Des Moines edged Sioux City 2-1.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Friday Night UW Game Thoughts

*The announcers on WPT threw out the stat that the Badger defenseman only scored 59 points last season, which was the lowest total EVER in the history of the Badger hockey program. I had not heard that before and was amazed by it. Fortunately for everyone, that should not be an issue this season with the addition of Smith, Goloubef and McDonagh.

*Ben Grotting's penalty in the first period was a bad penalty, as was Patrick Johnson's near center ice in the second period. There were many times last season when I griped about Grotting's penalties, so I'm not happy to see he has not learned from the mistakes he made last season.

* The defensemen seemed to be getting knocked down quite a bit in the corners in the first period. I can't always make out the numbers on TV as to which defensemen are sliding around on the ice.

*Robert Morris' first goal appeared to be scored when Klubertanz and Drewiske got tangled up with one another behind the net. What the hell are two Senior defensemen doing behind the net at the same time???

*Kyle Turris tends to shine in big games, and the home opener at UW is a big game. I had the feeling he might put some points on the board tonight, and he did not disappoint.

*Do you think butterly-style goalies that have to face UW this season are reconsidering their goaltending style based on Turris' ability to sniper the top corners? Even goaltenders that play more upright give up top shelf goals to Turris-witness the end of the second period tonight.

*Brendan Smith made two really nice moves to beat two defenders and get the puck to the net on the fifth goal, which Kyle Turris buried.

*With his goal tonight, Blake Geoffrion is already half way to his goal total from last season.

*I just took a quick peek at the individual statistics for the team following the game. Of the players with the top 7 point totals on the team, 5 are defensemen!

It's Friday . . .

In addition to Baggot's preview that DPlaya posted yesterday, here are some additonal series previews:
UW Hockey Preview: Wisconsin vs. Robert Morris (TCT)
Wisconsin Hosts Upstart Robert Morris (Daily Cardinal)
Wel'Kohl'm Home (Daily Cardinal)
Young Badgers Set to Face Experience in Robert Morris (Badger Herald)

Todd has the lines, including a note about Gorowsky playing on his off wing. The Badger Herald article has Scott Gudmandson getting the start on Friday, but it sounds like this was a misunderstanding after another reporter jokingly asked Eaves about Gudmandson starting.

Also, here's another article about the Badgers' three first-round draft picks.

Here's the series preview for the Badger women's series @ SCSU. Plus the Daily Cardinal has several articles on the women's team:
Vetter, Zaug lead Badgers to NCAA Unbeaten Streak Record
Women's Hockey Deserves Fair Share from Badger Fans
UW to take on the SCS Huskies.

Oops, and I almost forgot -- Todd has some info on Robert Morris and the future of CHA, as well as two-referee, one-linesman and two-referee, two-linesmen officiating systems.

That's all I have for right now, but if I find anything I missed I'll add it in. Also want to thank Jim, who sent me the Daily Cardinal PP links when I couldn't get that section to open.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It's Almost Friday Linkorama....

Here's a Badgers vs. Robert Morris preview.

Hopefully the Badgers offseason training regimen will serve them well this season.

Janesville's boys high school hockey program has a real mess on their hands.

60 min. dug up this article on Mark Johnson and Patrick Johnson.

Want to learn more about Robert Morris? Just click here to check out the Colonials Corner blog.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wednesday Evening Linkorama

Hockey's Future and Andy Baggot both have WCHA previews. Baggot also has an article about players leaving the WCHA early.

Milewski and Baggot both have a bit more info about Josh Engel's injury.

HF lists Joe Pavelski as the Sharks 4th top prospect.

Mallory Deluce was named WCHA rookie of the week.

Future Badger seems to be doing quite well with the Waterloo Black Hawks. (Thanks to sagissoor for link!)

News & Notes

The USA Hockey website is currently featuring an article on the Phoenix Force and Mike Sullivan.

The Daily Cardinal has an article today on the Badgers three first-round NHL draft pick Freshmen Kyle Turris, Ryan McDonagh and Brendan Smith.

It looks like Neenah has been able to secure a Head Coach for the upcoming season.

USA Hockey has named the U.S. Women's Select Team for the Four Nations Cup. Included are many current and past Badgers including Jessie Vetter, Molly Engstrom, Meghan Duggan, Erika Lawler and Jinelle Zaugg.

Past and Future Badgers

Todd Milewski's keeping track of stats for Badger alumns. And Monday's Chicago Sun Times had a nice article on Adam Burish.

Andy Baggot has a bit on future Badger Matt Thurber and potential recruit Peter Wiercioch.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Josh Engel out 2-4 Weeks

Josh Engel will be out for 2-4 weeks meaning he may only miss this weekend's series against Robert Morris as next week the Badgers are off. If it takes 4 weeks for his recovery he would also miss series against Michigan Tech and then North Dakota.

Badger Linkorama #2 for Tuesday

The Sporting News has a new article out on Kyle Turris and the rest of the Badgers.

Here's another article on the Badgers opening up their offense a bit.

The Badger Women swept again this weekend to make their unbeaten streak 32 games, the best ever in women's college hockey.

Girls Team Wisconsin U-19 vs. Madison Capitols Girls U-19

This is a "late breaking" score update as I missed it last weekend.

Girls Team Wisconsin U-19 and the Madison Capitols Girls U-19 squared off three times on October 6th & 7th in Madison, splitting the series right down the middle with each team securing a win, a tie and a loss. Here's the scores:

10/6 7:00 AM Team Wis. 3 Capitols 4
10/7 8:00 AM Team Wis 2 Capitols 2
10/7 12:50 PM Team Wis 4 Capitols 2

Badger Linkorama

It seems Josh Engel will be out a while, although the exact amount of time is not yet known. As a result, the Badgers' forward line combinations and power plays will change.

The Badger Men moved into a tie for 13th in this week's USCHO/CSTV Poll, with the Wisconsin Women currently ranked #1. Robert Morris just missed the top 20 after their stunning win over BU this weekend.

It would just plain be wrong if I did not include a link to this article on the Badger's new found offensive prowess.

Elite League

Team Wisconsin Major went 2-1 this past weekend and currently sit in a tie for second place in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League. Nate Condon still leads all scorers with 19 goals and 17 assists for 36 points, while Seth Soley moved from third to second in scoring over the weekend and is now just behind Condon with 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points. UW recruit Tyler Barnes slipped from second in scoring to fifth with 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points. Jeff Costello from Team Wisconsin has worked his way up the scoring leaders and now sits tied for eighth with 12 goals and 11 asssists for 23 points.

For defenseman, UW recruit Jake Gardiner is fourth in scoring with 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points. On the goaltender front, Team Wisconsin's Brady Sand has a .956 save percentage and 1.00 gaa which is the best in the Elite League, but has only played two games. Andrew Martin from Team Wisconsin has played nearly 10 games and is fifth in gaa with 3.723 and has a .876 save percentage.

Sunday USHL Update

Waterloo defeated Green Bay 3-1. All three Waterloo goals were scored by Wisconsin players--Blake Kessel, Craig Smith and Scott Pavelski. Craig Smith and Keegan Meuer had assists for Waterloo. Ryan Little ended up -1 for Green Bay.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

USHL Friday & Saturday Recaps

Friday
Cedar Rapids blanked Green Bay 4-0 in Green Bay. Ryan Little finished even for the Gamblers.

Sioux City took care of Lincoln 5-2 in Lincoln. Travis Erstad was -1 for Lincoln while teammate Ross Henry was even.

Waterloo edged Tri-City 3-2 at Tri-City. Craig Smith scored the first goal of the game on an assist by Keegan Meuer for Waterloo. They both finished +1 along with Blake Kessel. Teammates Scott Pavelski and Brock Montpetit finished even. Defenseman Kyle Ensign was even for Tri-City while his teammate Chris Hicky, a UW recruit, finished -1.

In Chicago, the Steel handled Sioux Falls 8-5. Aaron Schmit was not active for the Steel. Eric Springer had a goal for the Stampede but finished -2. Jake Drewiske was -1 for Sioux Falls while teammate Sam Zabkowicz had a goal and finished -1.

Saturday
Indiana claimed victory over Ohio in Indiana by way of a shootout. Forward Justin Cseter had a goal for Ohio and was -1 while forward Brent Gwidt of Indiana was even.

Des Moines got the best of Lincoln in Des Moines 4-1. Ross Henry was even for Lincoln and teammate Travis Erstad was -1.

Omaha destroyed Sioux City 7-1 in Omaha. Matt Thurber had an even strength goal and an assist and finished +1 for Omaha while Jake Hauswirth was not active for the Lancers.

Sioux Falls doubled up Chicago 6-3. Aaron Schmit was not active for Chicago. Jake Drewiske had a goal for Sioux Falls, while teammate Eric Springer had an assist. Springer finished +3, Drewiske +1 while teammate Sam Zabkowicz was held off the scoresheet and finished even.

Defensive Lapses Spell Doom for Badgers

Ohio State took care of the Badger Men's Hockey Team 5-3 Saturday night. Defensive lapses combined with a slow start lead to the loss. The team is now 1-1 after their opening weekend.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Badger Men Torpedo #8 Irish

The Badger Men's Hockey Team defeated Notre Dame this afternoon 4-1. Goals were scored by Josh Engel, Aaron Bendickson, Sean Dolan and Kyle Turris.

Here's where you can find the boxscore.

"It's Friday, I'm in Love"

I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you
It's Friday I'm in love

-- The Cure

If "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day is my theme song for the off-season (and you KNOW that it is), then "It's Friday I'm in Love" must be my anthem for the Badger Hockey season, because I LOVE BADGER HOCKEY!

Anway, Todd's got the lines (with a blurb about Turris) and an article about Coach Eaves and Coach Jackson, The Badger Herald and The Daily Cardinal have series previews, and Andy Baggot has an article about Shane Connelly.

Drop the Puck! Go RED!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Expert Analysis

Western College Hockey interviewed Todd Milewski regarding this year's Badger hockey team. There's some interesting info in the interview that you might not hear from Todd in his regular reporting of the Badgers.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

UW Whiffs on York

The Badgers, along with several other WCHA teams were apparently interested in AJHL goaltending prospect Allen York. York had narrowed his list down to RPI and Denver, and has just made a verbal commitment to RPI.

The only other goaltending prospect I have seen the Badgers linked to is Garrett Beckwith.

Wednesday Linkorama

As you know, Brian Elliott is playing for Ottawa tonight. Yesterday DPlaya gave the link to Todd Milewski's blog; here's another link to Andy Baggot's entry in the Badger Blog. Edited to add -- Elliott wins!

Milewski chatted with Mark Osieki about the Badgers young defensive corps. And speaking of our young defensemen, Elliot Olshansky of CSTV has a nice article that I believe I neglected to mention last week. And since we're talking about young Badgers, I should point out that Baggot has reminded us that the Badgers are the youngest team in the WCHA, has written about finding the right balance between youngsters and veterans, and has written about how different players learn. Also, Tom Oates discusses the importance of quickly getting the freshmen up to speed.

David Leathers of the The Badger Herald has a nice article today about freshman Hilary Knight, and Eric Levine of The Daily Cardinal has a nice article today about sophomore Meghan Duggan. Also, in addition to recaps of the series v. Robert Morris, Baggot had an additional column this weekend on the Badger women's team.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Tuesday Linkorama

Former UW netminder Brian Elliott is slated to start in net for Ottawa Wednesday night at Atlanta.

Jake Drewiske gets some ink from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Wisconsin Men's Hockey Team Preview

The WCHA Blog has their Wisconsin Men's Hockey Team Preview up.

Shattuck St. Mary's Boys & Girls Prep Teams

The Shattuck St. Mary's website has been messed up for the past few weeks, making it impossible to see the rosters of either their boys or girls prep teams. They seem to have the problem fixed, so here's links to what you'll want to take a peek at:

Boys Prep Roster
Boys Prep Stats
Girls Prep Roster
Girls Prep Stats

For the Boys team, both Derek Stepan and Jordy Murray are UW recruits. For the girls team, Whitney Nelson is in her first year on the Prep Team and is a Junior, Amanda Kessel (yes, it's Phil & Blake's sister) is in her second year on the Prep Team and is a Sophomore, and Brianna Decker is in her third year on the Prep Team and is a Junior. Also, Senior goaltender Barb Bilko previously lived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin prior to leaving for Shattuck St. Mary's.

Wisconsin High School Elite League Updates

The Wisconsin High School Elite League is off to a good start in it's second season. They are gearing up for their North American Showcase, which I believe is in it's first year, and will take place this weekend in Fond du Lac.

As for the stats for the various WHSEL leagues, here they are:

U16 Selects
U16
U18

Badger Women Tie NCAA Unbeaten Record

The Badger Women downed Robert Morris 3-1 Saturday to tie the NCAA unbeaten streak record of 30 games. The Badger Women will have the opportunity to break the record next weekend when they host Ohio State Saturday and Sunday at the Kohl Center.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Badger Women Win Again Friday

The Badger Women unveiled their 2007 NCAA Championship banner and dispatched Robert Morris 3-0, extending their unbeaten streak to 29 consecutive games.

USHL Saturday Action

Ohio doubled up Green Bay 6-3. Wisconsinite Justin Cseter scored first against his former teammates to lead Ohio to the victory. Cseter was also +2. Ryan Little finished with an assist and was -2 in the contest. Green Bay outshot Ohio 37 to 30.

Cedar Rapids was victorious over Indiana 3-1. Wisconsinite Brent Gwidt assisted on the lone Indiana goal and finished even.

It didn't take long for Scott Pavelski to re-emerge in a Blackhawks uniform, but unfortunately his first regular season USHL game turned out to be a 6-4 defeat. Aaron Schmit played in his first regular season USHL game for Chicago and finished +1. For Waterloo, Pavelski had an assist and was -2, Craig Smith scored a goal and was even, Blake Kessel had an assist and was even while Brock Montpetit and Keegan Meuer were held off the scoresheet and finished even.

Omaha continues to fire on all cylinders downing Sioux Falls 6-3. Eric Springer & Jacob Drewiske finished -1 for Sioux Falls while teammate Sam Zabkowicz had two assists but finished -2. Matt Thurber scored his second short-handed goal of the season in as many games and finished +1. He also got five for fighting against six foot three, 200 pounder Kris Reinthaler from Austria. Jake Hauswirth had an assist for Omaha and was also +1. Potential UW recruit defenseman Patrick Wiercioch finished +2 with an assist for Omaha.

Sioux City squeaked by Lincoln 4-3 in a shootout. Both Travis Erstad and Ross Henry for Lincoln were held off the scoresheet and finished even.

Tri-City and Des Moines were also in action Saturday night, but the game was postponed when the ice became unplayable. The game will be made up at a later date.

Friday in the USHL

Ohio edged Green Bay 5-4 in a shootout. Justin Cseter finished with an assist and was +1 for Ohio while Ryan Little had an assist and was even for the game.

Lincoln got past Des Moines 3-2 in regulation. Ross Henry finished +2 for Lincoln while teammate Travis Erstad was +1.

Matt Thurber continued his pre-season run of short-handed goals into the first game of the regular season as Omaha downed Tri-City 4-2. Thurber had the short-handed goal and was +2 while teammate Jake Hauswirth was +1. For Tri-City, Chris Hickey had an assist but was -3 and teammate Kyle Ensign was also -3.

Cedar Rapids dominated Chicago 7-2. Defenseman Aaron Schmit from Wisconsin was not active for Chicago.

Slusar Added to Team Canada

Former Wisconsin Badger Bobbi Jo Slusar has been added to Team Canada's U-22 Team for the Four Nations Cup, which will be held in Sweden.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Badger Women v. Robert Morris

I'm happy to say that I'll be going to the women's home opening series v. Robert Morris this weekend. And in anticipation of the games, I've gathered some series previews for you:

UW Prepares for 2007-08 Kohl Center Debut
Colonials Take On #1 Wisconsin This Weekend
Hockey Goes for Home Record
UW Hockey Returns to Kohl Center against Robert Morris

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Tyler Barnes Commits

Todd Milewski reports that Tyler Barnes has in fact verballed with the Badgers. I'll leave it to DPlaya and Chuck to post more details along the way, as they are both far more knowledgeable than I am when it comes to recruits.

Edited to add: Todd has an additional article in the Cap Times.

Badgers Overseas

To complement our list of Badgers playing professionally in North America, here's a list of Badgers playing overseas. All credit goes to puckembucky who provided the list -- I just added links to the team websites. (For some players I was able to link directly to their profiles, but for others you'll have to navigate the sites.)

Bernd Bruckler -- Espoo Blues (Finland)
Mickey Elick -- Heraklith VSV (Austria)
Kelly Fairchild -- Vienna Capitals (Austria)
Dan Bjornlie -- Vienna Capitals (Austria)
Shawn Carter with the Nuernberg Ice Tigers (Germany)
Barry Richter -- EV Zug (Switzerland)
Niki Siren -- SCRJ Lakers (Switzerland)

Greg Poss (coach) -- Adler Mannheim (Germany) -- I couldn’t find Poss on the team’s website, but here’s a picture!

Blackhawks' Brett Olson out for 45 Days

Wisconsinite forward Brett Olson of the Waterloo Blackhawks suffered a shoulder injury during the USHL Fall Festival, and will miss 45 days while it heals. The good news is that he will only miss eight games in that stretch.

Barnes & Wiercioch Updates

Andy Baggot indicates that forward Tyler Barnes from Burnsville High School has not committed to play for the Badgers at this time, and that he is deciding betweeen Wisconsin, Denver, Colorado College and St. Cloud State. As for Patrick Wiercioch, who is a defenseman, friend and former teammate of Kyle Turris' in Burnaby but moved to the USHL this season, his father indicates Boston College, Denver, Michigan and New Hampshire are schools they are interested in, as well as Wisconsin.

Alumni Linkorama: Adam Burish

(Photo by Neil Ament) Adam Burish has made the Blackhawks opening day roster. At the beginning of camp, I don’t think many Blackhawks fans expected him to make the cut. But he had a heck of a camp, and during the camp I collected a number of links. Some of the links have more about Burish than others, but all are good!

Live from Columbus Sept 17 --
Head coach Denis Savard singled out Toews, Adam Burish, Jacob Dowell and Patrick Lalime as having good performances Tuesday.

Game recap 9/21 v. Wild -- Adam scored a really pretty goal -- take a look at the video highlights of goal (start ~ 44 seconds) and interview (start ~ 1:45).

Hockey Buzz (Al Cimaglia) 9/22
--
Adam Burish who I always have liked was impressive also. He reminds me of a Sutter brother, he plays with that grit and determination. The way he accepted a pass at the Blue Line and spun to go in on a breakaway was pretty to see. What also was very impressive is that he got a good goalie to commit first and did bury the shot. Who knows maybe his goal scoring productivity will better resemble Brian Sutter. Unless Tallon makes a trade or 2 soon, Burish will have a tough time being here on opening night, unless there are injuries.

Slap Shots 9/23 --
For the second consecutive year, testing showed that Adam Burish is the most fit Hawk. He remains on the bubble for making the team, however.
''He's a champion. He'll do anything to be here,'' Savard said. ''It'd be tough for us to release him back to Rockford. He's just a winner. He won't score 20 goals, but we'll win the Stanley Cup if he does.''

Three nice articles with too much to quote -- go ahead and read them in entirety!
Savard likes attitude, play of rookie 9/24

Icing 9/24 -- Adam Burish is making a strong bid to make the Opening Night roster
Hawks Bullish on Burish 9/25

Game recap 9/29 last preseason game @ St Louis -- Adam scored the game-winner -- and in true Adam Burish style, it was a shorthanded goal.

Roster Decisions 9/30
--
Adam Burish, whom Savard called "our most consistent forward the whole training camp," will be on Thursday's opening night roster for the game against the Wild in Minnesota.

Chicago Tribune 9/30 --
"He deserves to be here," Savard said of Burish. "He's played well, he's a character guy and he came to play every night. He was our most consistent forward the whole training camp."

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

USHL Futures Draft

Plenty of Wisconsinites were selected tonight in the USHL Futures Draft. The first was defenseman Eric "Moose" Johnson from the Madison Capitols who was selected in the second round, 19th overall by the Cedar Rapids Roughriders. Hockey in Wisconsin was seeing & hearing rumblings early in 2006 of his exceptional play.

Current Elite League leading scorer Nate Condon was selected by the new Fargo franchise with the first pick in the fifth round, 53rd overall. Tyler Barnes, who is rumored to have given a verbal commitment to UW, was selected by the Waterloo Blackhawks 58th overall. UW recruit Jake Gardiner was also selected in the fifth round, 61st overall by the Green Bay Gamblers. Fellow UW recruit Derek Stepan was selected in the 6th round, 68th overall by the Lincoln Stars.

Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Jeff Costello was selected by the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders 83rd overall, in the 7th round. Hockey in Wisconsin reported on how impressed we were with him on the first weekend of the Elite League this season. Fellow Team Wisconsin member defenseman Tim Smith from Superior was selected by Sioux Falls 89th overall in the 8th round. Finally, former Madison Edgewood and Russell Stover Midget Minor forward Jordan George, who is currently playing with Topeka in the NAHL, was selected 92nd by Fargo in the 8th round.

As with last year, there were five Wisconsin players taken in the USHL Futures Draft.

Wednesday Night Linkorama

Todd Milewski has been busy tonight and has several items on his blog: Vincent, Welsh set for WPT duty, Updating the lines, and Senators lock up Heatley.

Andy Baggot has an interesting piece on the Badger Blog regarding the age of players in the WCHA. He also reported yesterday that the Blue Line Club has been dissolved.

Hockey's Future has some nice things to say about Brian Elliott in its Binghampton Senators 2007-08 season preview.

Wednesday Linkorama

Here's an article on Jessie Vetter, Emily Morris and the UW Women's Hockey Team.

The UW Women remain ranked #1.

The USHL Futures Draft takes place at 6 PM tonight. You can follow the draft live here.

Ryan Little is listed by Head Coach Mark Mazzoleni among the "players to watch" for the Green Bay Gamblers.

Jamie McBain was selected Second Team All-CHN (College Hockey News) while Kyle Turris was listed as a player to watch.

Burnsville forward Tyler Barnes is rumored to have given a verbal commitment to the Badgers. Barnes is currently second in scoring in the Elite League.

Another Al Armour article

One of our readers posted a link to this article in the comment section for the last Al Armour post. It's a nice article, and I thought I'd post it here for those who may not have read the comments. (I just saw it today.)

Mark Johnson Interview

WPT has a nice audio interview with Badger women's head coach Mark Johnson. (Thanks to sunprairie for the heads-up.)

Badger Alumni Update

Here’s a little round-up of Badgers playing in the NHL/AHL/ECHL this season.

(Thanks to Todd Milewski’s blog and some friends at Buckyville for helping me keep track of the players whom I don't follow quite as closely as others. Please let me know if I made any errors or if I neglected any Badgers.)

NHL
Looking at the rookies -- Adam Burish (Chicago), Tom Gilbert (Edmonton), Joe Pavelski (San Jose), and Brian Elliott (Ottawa) have made their teams’ opening day rosters.

Chris Chelios (Detroit), Brian Rafalski (Detroit), Ryan Suter (Nashville), Dany Heatley (Ottawa), Steve Reinprecht (Phoenix), Rene Bourque (Chicago), Brad Winchester (Dallas), and Andy Woznewski (Toronto) have also made their teams’ opening day rosters. Sean Hill will be playing for Minnesota after he serves the remaining 19 days of his suspension.

By the way, Dave Tanabe was in St. Louis’ training camp on a tryout basis but was released.

AHL
Looking at the rookies -- Jack Skille and Jake Dowell will both start out the season with the Rockford Ice Hogs, Robbie Earl will start out with the Toronto Marlies, Andrew Joudrey will start out with the Hershey Bears, and Joe Piskula and Jeff Likens will start out with the Manchester Monarchs.

Also in the AHL -- Alex Brooks (Peoria Rivermen), Brian Fahey (Chicago Wolves), and Matt Hussey (Lake Erie Monsters).

Ross Carlson signed a contract in September with the Texas Wildcatters (Minnesota's ECHL affiliate) and was in training camp for the Houston Aero's (Minnesota's AHL affiliate). I can't find a current roster for either team, so I don't know if he'll start out with the Wildcatters or the Aero's. (Does anyone know what a Wildcatter is?)

ECHL
Andy Brandt will be playing for the Gwinnett Gladiators again this year, and Ryan MacMurchy and Dan Boeser will both be playing for the Elmira Jackals.

IHL
David Hukalo will be playing for the Fort Wayne Komets.


I have some links to articles about some of the rookies playing in the NHL/AHL this year. I’ll try to organize them and get them up later in the day.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Team Wisconsin Minor Rolling

Team Wisconsin Minor, which won the Elite League II Tournament & the 2007 USA Central District Championship last season is rolling once again. The team is 10-1-1 on the season. Here is a link to this past weekend's highlights.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Badger Men Make the Polls

The Wisconsin Badgers have been select #14 on the first installment of the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll. In the USCHO/CSTV Division I Men's Poll the Badgers are ranked #15.

Three Wisconsinites Released from USHL Teams

Wisconsinites Scott Pavelski and Josh Nelson have been released by the Waterloo Blackhawks, while Kyle Lundey has been released by Sioux City during their final roster reduction.

Elite League Update

Team Wisconsin continues their impressive play in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, finishing this past weekend 2-1, and having an overall record of 7-4-1 which is good for second place.

Nate Condon continues his tear and still leads the Elite League in scoring with 14 goals and 9 assists for 23 points in 12 games. Seth Soley remains third in scoring with 8 goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 12 games.

UW recruit Jake Gardiner has 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points in 12 games, which is good for a tie for 6th in scoring among defensemen.