Hockey in Wisconsin is Moving to a New Home

After months of consideration, I've decided to move Hockey in Wisconsin over to the Wisconsin Sports Network. You will still be able to follow the blog here. Wisconsin Sports Network is continuing to expand their hockey coverage, while they have already built an incredible network to cover Wisconsin high school basketball and football. Their resources will undoubtedly bring a lot of features to Wisconsin hockey coverage that I could never have done as an independent blogger, and the best news of all is that Hockey in Wisconsin readers will get the benefits of those resources!

I'd like to thank 60 min. and Chuck Schwartz for all of their work here at Hockey in Wisconsin. They've both been fantastic to work with, and I wish them both nothing but the best.

-DPlaya

A Few Random Badger Links

USA Hockey Magazine has had some interesting articles lately, including an article about Badger alum Ryan Suter, and article about current Badger Jessie Vetter, and an interview with Badger alum Jim Johannson.

HF has a brief blurb about Zach Bearson in their Panthers NCAA prospects update.

I'm easily amused, and for some reason I really like Andy Brandt's profile for the Gwinnett Gladiators.

I hate to say it, but Tom Gilbert has been struggling a bit lately. Being who I am, I'm sure things will turn around soon.

Let's Go Cow Tippin' Linkorama

The Badger Men take on the Mavericks at the Kohl Center this weekend, and as usual, I have some links for you. I'm having computer issues, so this will be a short linkorama today. Hopefully I'll get some more links up (including women's hockey!) later this weekend.

CHN: Tale of the Tape

Milewski: UW's Eaves anticipated a bumpy road, Thursday notes, Engel adapts

Baggot: Tiny freshman playing like heavyweight

WCHA weekly notebooks: USCHO, INCH

UW Recruits Playing in Madison This Weekend

Shattuck St. Mary's Prep team will be playing in the Madison Capitols' Gold Medal Classic this weekend at Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton. That means future Badgers Derek Stepan and Jordan Murray will be displaying their skills against some of the best Midget Major talent in the country.

News & Notes

Fox Lake native Nick Sirota turned in a hat trick to lead Northern Michigan over Michigan State 3-1.

Shane Connelly was named Co-Defensive Player of the Week in the WCHA with Peter Mannino sharing the award.

Blake Kessel is the Defensive Player of the Week in the USHL.

Tuesday Linkorama

Both UW recruits currently playing in the Minnesota High School ranks are among the 10 finalists for Minnesota's Mr. Hockey Award. They are, of course, Burnsville forward Tyler Barnes and Minnetonka defenseman Jake Gardiner. (Page down once you click through the link).

Kyle Turris makes another appearance on the Hockey News Hot List at #3.

UW recruit Derek Lee is the oddball in his family as all his other siblings play basketball.

In the polls the UW Men climbed to #10 from #11, the UW Women remain at #5, St. Norbert maintains their status at #1 in Division III while UW-River Falls and UW-Stout are numbers 10 & 11 respectively. The UW-Superior Women did what nobody else has done all season, namely knock off UW-Stevens Point...and they did it twice this weekend. The UW-Stevens Point Women dropped from #3 to #4 as a result while the UW-Superior Women remain at #8.

Saturday & Sunday in the USHL & BCHL

Indiana beat down Green Bay 5-1. Brent Gwidt had an assist and was +1 for Indiana. For Green Bay, Kyle Ensign had an assist and was -2, Ryan Little was -3 and Aaron Crandall let in 5 of 26 shots.

Chicago doubled up Sioux City 6-3. Defenseman Aaron Schmit had an assist and was even for Chicago.

Ohio edged Des Moines 3-2. Justin Cseter was even for Ohio.

Cedar Rapids manhandled Tri-City 5-1. UW forward recruit Chris Hickey was -2 for Tri-City.

Sioux Falls drubbed Lincoln 6-1. Jake Drewiske had two assists and finished +1 for Sioux Falls and was named Second Star of the Game. Also for Sioux Falls, Eric Springer had an assist and finished even while Sam Zabkowicz also was even. For Lincoln, Taylor Kuypers was -2, while both Ross Henry and Travis Erstad were -1.

Omaha claimed a seesaw battle over Waterloo 6-5. Wisconsinite Jake Hauswirth had a goal and an assist while finishing +2 for Omaha. Teammate Matt Thurber also finished +2 and had two assists. Thurber is now tied for 10th in scoring in the USHL with 12 goals and 28 assists for 40 points in 40 games. UW recruit Patrick Wiercioch continued his impressive play for Omaha following a long injury with a goal and finishing even. Teammate Seth Soley finished -1. For Waterloo, Blake Kessel was named Third Star of the Game with a goal and an assist while finishing even. Brett Olson had two assists but finished -2 and received a 10-minute misconduct for abuse of officials. Brock Montpetit had an assist and finished +1 while Craig Smith and Scott Pavelski were even and Keegan Meuer was -1.

In the only Sunday contest, Des Moines took care of Ohio 4-2. Justin Cseter was -1 for Ohio.

UW forward recruit Derek Lee notched an assist as Salmon Arm defeated Langley 6-3 Saturday.

Westside dropped the hammer on Alberni Valley 5-2 on Saturday. UW defensive recruit Justin Schultz put up 2 assists in the game.

Despite two assists by Derek Lee, Burnaby handled Salmon Arm 5-2 Sunday.

Westside put away Cowichan Valley 4-1, and Justin Schultz was held off the scoresheet.

From Girls Hockey to Women's Hockey

The LaCrosse Tribune had a couple of nice hockey articles today, both on girls and women's hockey. The first article is on forward Ashley Paulson who played for Onalaska High School prior to playing at Culver Academy. She now plays for the University of North Dakota.

The second article talks about the growth of both girls hockey in Wisconsin and the growth of women's hockey nationally. It also talks about the road Rachel Bible, Ashley Paulson, Kelsea Martalock and Sandra Felten took to get to college hockey. I will take dispute with the statement that girls cannot go directly from Wisconsin girls high school hockey to college hockey as I can name more than a handful without even searching who are playing and thriving early in their careers in Division III. There also is a current Badger, Jinelle Zaugg, who went directly from boys high school hockey to Division I hockey. Finally, I know of a Wisconsin girls high school hockey player who walked on to a Division I team and made the roster. It will take some time for growth and improvement in Wisconsin girls hockey before there are players regularly able to make the jump to Division I schools, but with the meteoric growth currently underway, it may not take as long as some think.

Badger Updates

The Badger Men claimed a 4-1 victory over Michigan Tech Saturday night to earn 3 of 4 points on the weekend. Shane Connelly got the extra bonus of getting to kiss the Winter Carnival Queen as he was named MVP of the series.

The Badger Women lost 3-2 Saturday against Minnesota Duluth, and thus splitting the series. While they were in Minnesota, the Badger Women apparently picked up a verbal commitment for next season from goaltender Nikkie Kaasa from St. Cloud.

Another "Turris to Turn Pro at End of Season" Article

Ken Campbell from the Sporting News writes that multiple sources in the Phoenix organization are pushing hard to have Turris leave the Badgers at the end of their season to join the Coyotes and help them chase a playoff spot. I'm not sure how much stock I put in the report since the guy doesn't seem to have a clue the Badgers are "on the bubble" for the NCAA's and he mentions they play in the WCAC instead of WCHA. Also, the fact that Phoenix is on the edge for a playoff spot seems to be the reason everyone may be looking for him to join the team, rather than his development which is completely backwards.

I think Maloney should and will consider Turris' development, not the position of the Coyotes in the NHL playoff race or how much they may need him. Why risk a potential star's development over a short-term playoff push IF it is not right for his development? The sources Campbell quotes are probably some of the geniuses who specialize in the short-term thinking that has helped lead the Coyotes to their place as doormats over the past several years.

Bottom line, Turris' development should be all that is considered and not where the team stands now or where they could be if he joined them. If they lose sight of that everyone will know they haven't changed at all and wish to remain a perennial cellar dweller. Maloney has been very consistent in what he has said since Turris was drafted, and how he has handled these situations with other players. I don't think he is going to do something that is not in the best interest of the player and the team's long-term future for a short-term gain, IF that is how they see Turris' development.

IF Turris' development would be helped by joining the Coyotes after his college season is over, then best wishes to him. I just think it is tough for some people to look past the potential short-term gain and only consider the player's development.

Saturday Morning Badger Report & Thoughts

On the whole, the UW hockey report is fairly favorable this morning. The men's team managed a 1-1 tie and one point against Michigan Tech, although they had a lot of chances to score goals. The Badger women secured a 3-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth and two points.

For some reason I thought Kyle Turris might start to carry the UW men last night, but it has not happened yet. It's not that he isn't playing well, just that I thought he might literally pick the team up and put them on his back for the stretch as he has proven to be such a clutch player. Before the season began I was thinking that it is kind of a shame that UW doesn't have some great forward playmakers to compliment Turris, and I continue to agonize about that every weekend. It's too bad that the Badgers big infusion of forward talent is likely coming in 2009, when Turris is assured of being in the NHL. I'd love to see Turris stay another year and be able to play with the likes of Brock Montpetit, Derek Stepan, Jordy Murray and Derek Lee, but most if not all of them will not be at UW until 2009. Oh well, I am excited that UW has finally been able to recruit multiple forwards who have the ability to score in bunches. It's been crazy the last two years with such a lack of scoring threats.

Wisconsinites & UW Recruits BCHL/USHL Scores

BCHL
Salmon Arm beat Quesnel 4-1, but new UW recruit forward Derek Lee was held off the scoresheet and finished even.

Westside took down Powell River 7-4. The newest UW recruit, defenseman Justin Schultz, did not dent the scoresheet and finished even.

USHL
Cedar Rapids handled Tri-City 4-1. UW recruit Chris Hickey did not score and finished -1 in the game.

Omaha got the best of Chicago 5-2. In his first game back after a roughly two month absence, UW recruit Patrick Wiercioch was named First Star of the Game, while teammate Seth Soley was named Third Star of the Game. Wiercioch had two assists and finished +1 while Soley had a goal and was +1. Teammate Matt Thurber had a goal and an assist and finished +1 for Omaha, while Jake Hauswirth was held off the scoresheet and finished even. Defenseman Aaron Schmit finished even for Chicago. Here's an article on Wiercioch's return from yesterday.

Indiana slipped past Green Bay 4-3 in overtime. Wisconsinite Kyle Ensign had a goal and was +1 for Green Bay while teammate Ryan Little was even. UW recruit Aaron Crandall was not in the net for this game. Brent Gwidt was held off the scoresheet and finished even for Indiana.

Waterloo took care of Sioux Falls 5-2. Scott Pavelski was named First Star of the Game and teammate Blake Kessel was named Second Star of the Game. Pavelski had a goal and was +1, while Kessel had a goal and an assist and was +1. Teammate Keegan Meuer had an assist and was +2 while Brock Montpetit also had an assist and was even. Craig Smith and Brett Olson finished even for Waterloo. On the Sioux Falls side of the ledger, Eric Springer, Jake Drewiske and Sam Zabkowicz all finished even.

Lincoln shut out Sioux City 4-0. Wisconsinites Taylor Kuypers, Ross Henry and Travis Erstad all finished even.

It's Friday, I'm in Love

Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday Wednesday break my heart
Thursday doesn't even start
It's Friday I'm in love
-- The Cure

That's right kids; my "Friday I'm in love" posts have returned. I would've had something up earlier today, but the wireless internet in the dump I'm staying in wasn't working, and Mr 60 came back early from snowmobiling because he broke his snowmobile. But you're not really intererested in that; let's move onto the good stuff.

Todd's got the lines, as well as some pictures (here and here) -- which is good, because we forgot the camera when we walked down to campus, and my mom's going to be mad if I don't have some pictures for her. So I'll probably "steal" Todd's to show her. (Thanks, Todd!) I've already forgotten half of the statues, but I liked the Ghost Busters, Frankenstein's laboratory, and the one where monsters were destroying buildings on campus (including the ChemMet building where I spent a LOT of time as an undergrad.)

Paul Capobianco has some pictures, too, as well as a little bit on the team's in Houghton and a description of Carnival. I gotta tell ya, though, the broomball games were pretty tame so far. Although after consultation with Mr 60, I now recall that the WC broomball games always were quite a bit tamer than the dorm leagues that played at night.

Anyway, moving on to some actual hockey talk . . . Todd gives us a weekend preview and talks about how Tech is tough to play during Carnival, and Andy Baggot has a nice article about the Mitchell/Dolan/Grotting line. And of course both campus papers have weekend previews: The Badger Herald talks about the smaller ice sheet the Badgers will be playing on this weekend, and The Daily Cardinal discusses the importance of this series in the WCHA standings.

And finally, the usual suspects have their weekly WCHA notebooks: USCHO, INCH.


Moving along to the Badger Women . . . It's hard to find as much coverage, but the campus papers both have weekend previews, and I'm more than happy to pass along the links: The Badger Herald says that Badgers are looking for another championship, and The Daily Cardinal says the Badgers are looking for revenge against Duluth. All I have to say is this: Why can't we do both?

High School Hockey Game Stories

#8 Wausau West boys blanked Merrill 6-0.

DC Everest boys handled Wausau East 4-1.

#5 Onalaska boys keep their perfect season intact with a 5-2 victory over Holmen.

The Badger Thunder girls defeated the South Central Freeze 5-3. These teams face each other in a week in the opening round of Sectional play.

Baraboo/Reedsburg boys downed Dells/Mauston 4-1, and will face off against them again Tuesday, this time in the first round of the state hockey playoffs.

Here's a story on the Onalaska girls Sectional bracket.

The Arrowhead boys slipped past Pius 3-2 to claim the Classic 8 Conference hockey championship.