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Packers season comes to an end in NFC Championship

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After working all season to secure a first round playoff bye and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, the Green Bay Packers season came to an end in the NFC Championship game, falling to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-26 on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Tom Brady threw for 280 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions and will play in his 10th Super Bowl in two weeks, this time on his own home field in Tampa.  Brady will be in search of his seventh Super Bowl title.  To get there, the Bucs had to beat three division winners, including the Packers on Sunday.

The Buccaneers (14-5) will face the Kansas City Chiefs (16-2) on Feb. 7 in Super Bowl 55.  No team has ever played in a Super Bowl on their own home field before.

The Packers (14-4) picked a bad time to play their worst game of the season, seeing their seven-game winning streak come to an end. [Read more…]

Legendary Hank Aaron passes away

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Henry Aaron posing for a photo with WRN Brewers reporter Jeff Miller.

Wisconsin lost another one of its all-time great sports legends when Hank Aaron passed away in Atlanta at the age of 86.

Aaron debuted with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 at the age of 20.  He played 21 seasons for the Braves in Milwaukee and Atlanta.  He returned to Milwaukee ton finish out his career with the Brewers in 1975-76.

In 1957, Aaron was named the National League’s MVP.  His two-run home run off of St. Louis’ Billy Moffett in the bottom of the 11th clinched the pennant and sent the Braves to the World Series, where they beat the New York Yankees in seven games.

Aaron passed Babe Ruth’s home run mark of 714 in 1974.  Number 715 came off of Dodgers lefty Al Downing, during a game in Atlanta.  That would be Aaron’s final season with the Braves.

His return to Milwaukee helped the Brewers set a club record for attendance.  He finished out his career with 755 home runs.

Aaron made 21 all-star appearances and won three Gold Gloves for his play in right field.  His home run record was eventually topped in 2007 by San Francisco’s Barry Bonds, who finished with 762 for his career.

Aaron is the only player to hit at least 30 home runs in 15 seasons.  He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, having received 97.8% of the votes cast by baseball writers in 1982.

The Atlanta Braves made Aaron a vice president and director of player development.

 

Bucks drop second straight, fall at home to Lakers

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The Milwaukee Bucks dropped their second straight game on Thursday night, falling 113-106 to the Los Angeles Lakers at Fiserv Forum.

The Lakers (12-4) improved to 8-0 on the road this season.  It was the first of a seven-game road trip for the Lakers.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Bucks, but he also committed nine of the teams 14 turnovers in the contest.  Jrue Holiday added 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds while Kris Middleton added 20 points and seven assists.

The Bucks hit just 9 of 28 from three-point distance, but they did score 58 points in the paint.

Lebron James scored 34 points to lead the Lakers.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 23 points, hitting 7-of-10 from the three-point line.

The Bucks game on Friday night against Washington has been postponed because the Wizards won’t have the minimum eight players available.  No makeup date has been set.  The Bucks will host the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.

Hockey Badgers grab series opener at Penn State

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The 12th ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team ran its win streak to three games, pulling out a 4-1 win at Penn State in Big Ten action on Thursday.  It’s the third straight win over the Nittany Lions this season.

Ty Pelton-Byce and Cole Caufield tallied power play goals for the Badgers.  Mathieu De St. Phalle also scored his first collegiate goal in the first period and Dominick Mersch added an empty net tally in the third period to account for the Badgers offense.

Freshman Cameron Rowe got the start in goal for the Badgers, stopping 45 of 46 shots on goal for his fourth win of the season (4-0).

Caufield extended his point streak to seven games (5 goals, 6 assists) as the Badgers have won five of their last six.

The 9-6 Badgers shoot for the sweep at 5 p.m. Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena.

Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson named WCHA 1970’s Player of the Decade

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Wisconsin Badgers Head Coach Mark Johnson (Photo by David Stluka)

One of the top scorers in the WCHA’s highest-scoring decade, Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson has been named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Player of the Decade for the 1970’s.

Johnson, who was named to the WCHA’s All-Decade Team earlier this week, finished his three-year career with 256 points (125g-131a) in 125 career games with the Badgers, an average of 85 points per season.  His career points total ranks No. 11 in league history while his goal total is No. 6 all-time and his assist total is tied for 24th in WCHA history.

Johnson played for his father, the late Bob Johnson, during his three seasons in Madison.  He captured WCHA Freshman of the Year honors in 1976-77 as Wisconsin won its first NCAA Championship with a 37-7-1 record.  Johnson tallied 80 points on 36 goals and 44 assists in his rookie campaign.  He earned the first of two All-America and All-WCHA honors as a sophomore, netting 86 points on 48 goals and 38 assists and sharing WCHA Scoring Champion honors with 70 points in [Read more…]

Ted Thompson passed away at age 68 (AUDIO)

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Ted Thompson at 2019 Hall of Fame Ceremony – WRN Photo

One of the great architects in Green Bay Packers history, Ted Thompson passed away on Wednesday night, just days after his 68th birthday.

With Thompson as the teams general manager, the Packers compiled an overall regular season record of 125-82-1.  The Packers also made the playoffs nine times during his 13-year tenure, posting a 10-8 postseason record.  It included four NFC Championship games (2007, 2010, 2014 and 2016) and a 2010 Super Bowl victory.

When Thompson took over, his very first draft pick in 2005 was Aaron Rodgers (24th overall).  That pick put the Packers in the competitive drivers seat for years to come.

“I’ll never forget your loyalty,” said Aaron Rodgers during a prerecorded video at Thompson’s 2019 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  “I’m going to always be thankful for the time I had to spend with you, and the fact that you took a chance on a [Read more…]

10th ranked Badgers hand Northwestern 6th straight defeat (AUDIO)

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After allowing Northwestern to score 34 points in the first half, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said his team needed to be much better in the second half.  The 10th ranked Badgers got the message, allowing just 18 points in the second half, holding the Wildcats to their lowest point total of the season in a 68-52 Wisconsin victory at the Kohl Center.

“I thought we did a better job of stopping the ball and not letting them get in the paint,” said Gard.  “I thought the first half, we didn’t execute well enough in some of the ball-screen situations.  Second half, we were better.  We talked about some of those things at halftime.  The second 20, I thought we were more aggressive in the ball screens and eliminated some of that dribble penetration.” [Read more…]

Top-ranked Badger women’s volleyball the Unanimous Big Ten Preseason favorite

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Dana Rettke

Preseason number-1 ranked Wisconsin was unanimously chosen as the Big Ten Conference favorite for the 2020-21 volleyball season, voted on by the Big Ten coaches and announced on Wednesday.

The defending 2019 Big Ten Champions open their season ranked No. 1 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).  It is the sixth straight season the Badgers will open the year ranked among the top 10 teams in the country and only the second time in program history ranked first in the nation.

Additionally, conference coaches selected three Badgers to the All-Big Ten first team, including All-American Middle Blocker Dana Rettke and All-American setter Sydney Hilley, who were both unanimous selections.  Teammate Molly Haggerty was also voted to the Big Ten preseason first team.

The Badgers will open their season with a two-game series against the 13th ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Friday and Saturday nights at the UW Fieldhouse.

 

Badgers go with familiar face as new defensive line coach

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Ross Kolodziej – Photo Courtesy of UW Athletics

Ross Kolodziej helped lead the Wisconsin Badgers to a pair of Big Ten championships as a player and has led the highly-regarded strength and conditioning program at his alma mater for the last six seasons.  Now, the Stevens Point, Wisconsin native has been promoted to Paul Chryst’s coaching staff as UW’s defensive line coach for the 2021 season.

Kolodziej has spent the last seven seasons as a head strength and conditioning coach under Chryst, including the last six at Wisconsin.  He spent the 2013 season as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Pittsburgh before being promoted to head strength coach a year later.  He has served in the same capacity since returning to UW in 2015.

Prior to joining Chryst’s staff, Kolodziej served as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin in 2012, working with the Badgers’ defensive line.  That followed a professional career that spanned seven seasons in the NFL and three in the United Football [Read more…]

Big Ten suspends Wisconsin’s Ahcan

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The Big Ten Conference has suspended Wisconsin Badger hockey forward Roman Ahcan for one game for an incident that occurred in the second game of a two-game series against Arizona State on Sunday night.

Ahcan received a five minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head when he took a run at former Badger and current Arizona State forward Sean Dhooghe.

Ahcan will have to sit out Thursday night’s Big Ten series opener at Penn State.  Ahcan has a goal and five assists in 10 games for the Badgers this season.