Wisconsin News and Sports
Wisconsin Badger hockey defenseman John Ramage will return for his senior
John Ramage
season.
Ramage was pondering a jump to the NHL after being picked in the 4th round of the 2010 NHL draft by the Calgary Flames.
His return is good news for Coach Mike Eaves, who is expected to lose first-team All-American Justin Schultz to the NHL a year early.
Ramage is a son of 15-year NHL veteran Rob Ramage. He scored 3 goals and 7 assists in 37 games for the Badgers as a junior.
Wisconsin Badger junior defenseman Justin Schultz is a two-time All-American after the American Hockey Coaches Association
Justin Schultz
(AHCA) announced the teams on Friday.
The 2012 AHCA First-Team West All-America honor puts Schultz in elite company in Wisconsin hockey history. His selection makes him only the fourth Badger named a two-time First-Team All-American, and the second defenseman. Schultz joins forward Mike Eaves, forward Mark Johnson and defenseman Craig Norwich as the two-time First-Team All-Americans. Forward Tony Granato was a two-time Second-Team All-American, while forward Dany Heatley earned first-team honors in 2001 and second-team accolades in 2000.
A 2008 second round NHL draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks (43rd overall), Schultz led all national blue-liners in scoring for the second consecutive season, boasting a 1.19 points per game scoring average.
For his career, Schultz has 40 goals, 73 assists and 1113 points, including 21 power-play goals and five game-winning scores. Schultz has also collected 28 multi-point games across three years with the Badgers.
Wisconsin Badger junior defenseman Justin Schultz was named a 2012 Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 finalist, earning the
Justin Schultz
honor for the second-straight year.
The Hobey Baker Award is an honor given annually to the top collegiate hockey player in the country. Blake Geoffrion became the first Badger to win the honor when he took home the award in 2010.
The Badgers now have had 12 finalists overall since the award was founded in 1981, including the only school in the country with a finalist in each of the last four seasons.
Schultz leads the nation’s defenseman with 44 points and a 1.19 points-per-game mark. His 16 goals are tied for the national lead among defenseman, while his 28 assists rank second among rear guards.
Schultz was recently named the 2012 WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the 2012 all-WCHA First Team. All three honors are the second straight for Schultz. His defensive player of the year honor made him the third player in league history to earn the honor twice.
Wisconsin Badger Junior defenseman Justin Schultz became the third player
Justin Schultz
in WCHA history to win two WCHA Defensive Player of the Year awards.
This is only the third time in the history of the award that started in 1991 that a player has won it twice. Colorado College defenseman Eric Rud won the award in both 1995-96 and 1996-97 while Minnesota defenseman Jordan Leopold earned the honor in both 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Schultz also earned All-WCHA First Team honors for the second straight season.
The nation’s, and the WCHA’s, top point-producing defenseman, Schultz is averaging 1.24 points per game through 34 games this season. Schultz has tallied 15 goals and 27 assists for a total of 42-points.
Wisconsin sophomore forward Mark Zengerle, who ranks fourth in the nation with 49 points and shares the national lead with 37 assists, earned his first year-end league honor. The reigning WCHA Offensive Player of the Week finished in a tie for fifth in the league scoring race in WCHA games with 36 points, one point shy of second.
Zengerle was one of eight Badgers named to the 2012 Academic All-WCHA team.
The Badgers open the WCHA playoffs this weekend with a best 2 of 3 series at Denver starting tonight.