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NHL to return this summer in new playoff format

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Tuesday that hockey will return this summer in a new playoff format, with the rest of the regular season schedule being cancelled.

Bettman said the 2019-2020 regular season will not be completed, and that the top 24 teams, 12 from each conference, will effectively clinch postseason berths immediately and make up the new postseason format, with the seven remaining teams not returning again this season and going straight into the NHL Draft Lottery.

Two cities will serve as hubs for the tournament’s location to better combat the coronavirus pandemic.  Ten cities are vying to be selected as one of the two hubs.  Those candidates will include Chicago, Columbus (OH), Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Vancouver, Toronto and Pittsburgh.

Eight teams, the top four in the East and top four in the West, will compete in a round robin tournament to determine seeding for the top teams.  The remaining 16 teams will play in a best-of-5, one round play-in series, with the eight winners of the play-in rounds then joining the bracket with eight teams who already qualified to make up your usual 16-team playoff format.

Training camps aren’t expected to start until July 1st at the earliest, and there is no date set for the season to resume, but the league says the season will resume.

Four Badgers named in NHL Central Scouting rankings

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The final NHL Central Scouting rankings were released on Wednesday, prior to this year’s 2020 NHL Draft.  One current and three incoming Badger’s made that list.

Current Badger Dylan Holloway is expected to be one of the first NCAA players to go off the board in the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft.  In the final  NHL Central Scouting rankings for North America, Holloway found himself in the No. 12 spot after a 17-point (8 goals, 9 assists) freshman season.

Three incoming Badgers join Holloway in the rankings, including forward Sam Stange, defenseman Daniel Laatsch and goaltender Cameron Rowe.

The 6’0, 200 pound Stange (RW) spent last year in the USHL playing for the Sioux City Musketeers and the Sioux Falls Stampede.  The Eau Claire native finished No. 110 in the scouting rankings after playing in 48 games, notching 26 goals and 19 assists last season.

Incoming freshmen Laatsch finished this past season with the United States National Team Development [Read more…]

Caufield to return to Badgers for sophomore season

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Wisconsin right winger Cole Caufield informed coach Tony Granato that he’s planning to return for a second season with the Badgers.

Caufield led the team in scoring as a freshman.  He was the 15th overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft by the Montreal Canadians.  The Canadians had already recommended that the 19-year-old play another year in college.

The Badgers have already lost a pair of first-round picks to the NHL.  Freshman center Alex Turcotte and sophomore defenseman K’Andre Miller have both signed with their NHL teams following the end of the Badgers season.

Caufield is the first Badgers player to win an outright league scoring title.  He tallied 24 points in 24 Big Ten games.  Caufield finished with 19 goals overall, tied for the most nationally among freshmen.  He finished the season with 36 total points.

 

Kunin leaving Wisconsin for the pro’s (AUDIO)

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Luke Kunin

Wisconsin hockey captain Luke Kunin will bypass his final two years of eligibility after signing a three-year entry level contract with the Minnesota Wild.

The 19-year-old forward was the 15th overall pick in last year’s NHL Draft.

In two seasons with the Badgers, Kunin scored 41 goals and 70 points in 69 games.  Coach Tony Granato said earlier this week that if Kunin felt he was ready for pro hockey, then he should go.

Kunin helped the Badgers win 20 games this season, a 12-win improvement from a year ago.  Their season ended last Saturday night, one win shy of an NCAA Tournament bid, when they lost to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament title game.

Kunin was assigned to Minnesota’s American Hockey League affiliate in Iowa and he’ll make his pro hockey debut on Friday night in Cleveland.

AUDIO: Luke Kunin on the contract offer from Minnesota coming so quick :10

AUDIO: Luke Kunin was asked why leave now :10

 

Badgers set for start of NHL season

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motion-wThe 2016-17 NHL season gets underway tonight and a total of 14 Wisconsin men’s hockey players find themselves on opening-day rosters.

NHL training camps started with 29 former Badgers spread around over 21 NHL training camps.  Of those 29 players, 20 played in at least one NHL game last season.

When teams announced their rosters on Tuesday night, 14 Badgers appeared on NHL teams, while three were listed as injured.  Another, forward Jack Skille is expected to sign a contract with the Vancouver Canucks. [Read more…]

Elliott solid as Blues advance

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Brian Elliott

Brian Elliott

Former Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott had 31 saves for St. Louis last night, helping the Blues advance to their first NHL conference finals since 2001.

The Blues knocked off the Dallas Stars 6-1, winning their second straight seven-game playoff series.

The 31-year-old Elliott, in his ninth year in the NHL, made a solid comeback after being pulled in the first period of game-six when he gave up three goals against the Stars.

The Blues will now play either Nashville or San Jose in the Western Conference Finals.  The Predators and Sharks will play a decisive game seven Thursday night.

Elliott leads Blues past defending champs

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Brian Elliott

Brian Elliott

Former Wisconsin Badger goaltender Brian Elliott backstopped the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2, game seven victory over the defending NHL Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night in St. Louis.

Elliott had 31 saves in goal, helping the Blues advance to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs against the Dallas Stars.

Troy Brouwer, who won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks, scored the game winner against his former team in the third period, slamming home his own rebound to break a 2-2 tie.

The Blackhawks trailed in the series 3-to-1 and captured two straight games to send the series back to St. Louis for game seven.

Chicago fell behind 2-0 before Marian Hossa cut the lead to 2-1 and Andrew Shaw sent one in off of a St. Louis defender to tie the game 2-2.  It set up a wild third period finish that saw the Blues win their first playoff series since 2012.

AUDIO: Brian Elliott asked if he had anything to prove :17

Wisconsin well represented in NHL Playoffs

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Bucky Badger logoThe Wisconsin men’s hockey program has had 14 former players go on to have their names etched into the Stanley Cup as champions of the NHL, and 12 UW alumni will have the chance to do the same when the NHL playoffs get underway Wednesday night.

Wisconsin lays claim to nine players on eight different playoff-bound teams, along with the next head coach of Wisconsin men’s hockey in Tony Granato, who is an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings.  Also part of the Stanley Cup playoffs are Detroit assistant coach Chris Chelios, as well as Anaheim Ducks’ Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Dave McNab.

Mersch lands a spot with the Kings

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Motion WThe Los Angeles Kings of the NHL have called up former Wisconsin Badger forward Michael Mersch on Wednesday, marking the former Badger’s first NHL appearance in his three-year pro career.

The Kings made the move after an injury to forward Kyle Clifford.

If Mersch suits up in a game for the Kings while Clifford is sidelined, he would be the first Badger alum this season to make his NHL debut.  Wisconsin currently has the second most alumni in the NHL this season with 17 players who have played in at least one game.

Mersch, who earned All-American honors in his senior season at Wisconsin in 2013-14, is coming off a superb first full season in the AHL with the Kings’ affiliate the Manchester Monarchs, which are now the Ontario Reign.  After finishing fourth on Manchester with his 45 points last year, Mersch has started this season on a blistering pace for Ontario.  In just 19 games this season, he already has 12 goals and 15 points.  His goal total is five more than the next closest player on the Reign and is good for fifth overall in the AHL.

The Kings drafted Mersch number-110 overall in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Mersch will wear number 49 and could make his NHL debut as early as Friday when the Kings travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins.

NHL going to 3-on-3 overtimes (Video)

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Hockey GoalMost fans think NHL shootouts in overtime are a good thing.  But most NHL players want to see the game decided on the ice without a shootout.

The problem is, not enough overtime games were being decided in a 5-on-5 or 4-on-4 format within the five-minute overtime, time frame.

The American Hockey League (AHL) had incredible success cutting down on the number of shootouts by using seven minutes overtime’s and splitting them between 4-on-4 and 3-on-3.

Players benefit from fewer shootouts because their will be more goals and assists to pile up.  In a shootout format, goals [Read more…]