If the Green Bay Packers are going to beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday and earn a NFC playoff bid they most likley have to keep the ball out of the hands of return man Devin Hester.  The NFL’s all time return leader burned Green Bay for a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown in the Bears win earlier this season at Soilder Field.  Head coach Mike McCarthy says that Hester is probably the Bears best all around player and they can’t give him a chance to beat them.  Punter Tim Masthay says that he learned his lesson in the last meeting.  He says that he kicked to Hester with a high punt with lots of hang time and he still scored at TD. Don’t look for the Packers to kick anywhere near Hester on Sunday.

Kickoff against the Bears is set for 3:15pm.

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team won for the first time in 22 years at Purdue 68-66 on Thursday night in their Big Ten opener.  UW had not won at West Lafayette since 1984 before last night’s win.  The Badgers tied a school record by making 11 three pointers in the victory as they improve to 6-7 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten play.   Ripon native Taylor Wurtz hit 5 of 7 three point attempts and scored a team high 19 points.

Wisconsin will host Penn State on Sunday at 1pm at the Kohl Center.

The Wisconsin men’s hockey team blew out Massachusetts 5-1 on Thursday night at the Kohl Center.  Freshman Frankie Simoneli tallied three points and senior Podge Turnbull added two goals for the Badgers who improve to 11-7-3 on the season.  Eleven Badgers had points on Thursday night for Wisconsin.   Scott Gudmandson recorded 18 saves to improve to 8-5-1 on the season.

The Badgers will ring in 2011 tonight as they host UMass in the 2^nd of two matches.  They will drop the puck at 7pm tonight.