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Hockey Badgers are limping to the finish line

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The Wisconsin Badgers had a 2-1 lead against 6th ranked Ohio State after two periods, then came unglued in the third, falling to the Buckeyes 6-2 in the first of a two game series in Columbus, Ohio.

It’s the third straight defeat for the Badgers, who had dropped two straight at home against Minnesota prior to Friday night’s defeat.

The Buckeyes scored five third period goals and won for just the first time this season when trailing going into the final period.

Wisconsin’s frustration led to a number of scuffles in the final minutes.  Badger defenseman Peter Tischke was ejected with 89 seconds left after a cross-check on Ohio State’s Kevin Miller.

The Badgers (14-16-4, 8-12-3-1 Big Ten) had grand visions at one point this season of returning to the NCAA Tournament.  The only way that will happen now is if UW can find a way to gather themselves quickly and win the Big Ten Tournament.  That would carry an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but it would appear to be a major stretch at the moment.  The Badgers will have to play all of the Big Ten Tournament on the road. [Read more…]

Americans fall in men’s hockey opener

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U.S. Men’s Coach Tony Granato

The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but collapsed late and fell to Slovenia 3-2 in overtime in Gangneung, South Korea.

Slovenia captain Jan Mursak scored the tying goal with 1:37 left in regulation and the winner 38 seconds into overtime.

Brian O’Neill and Jordan Greenway scored to build the 2-0 lead, outshooting Slovenia 24-12 in the first two periods.

Slovenia came out in the third period and put the pressure on the Americans, cutting the lead in half when Jan Urbas lit the lamp 5:37 into the third period.

The U.S. did pick up a point by getting the game to overtime, while tournament favorite Olympic Athletes from Russia fell 3-2 in regulation to Slovakia.  After one game, Slovakia and Slovenia top Group B, followed by the U.S. and the Russians.

The Americans will face Slovakia on Friday.

Hockey Badgers honor their seniors

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It’s senior weekend at the Kohl Center this weekend as the 17th ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team faces the rival Minnesota Gophers at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers will recognize their eight seniors before Saturday nights game.  It’s the largest senior class for the Badgers since the 2013-14 squad had nine seniors complete their eligibility.

That list includes Tim Davison, Jason Ford, Kyle Hayton, Cameron Hughes, Cullen Hurley, Jake Linhart, Matt Ustaski and Ryan Wagner.

With four games remaining in the regular season, the Badgers sit alone in third place with 28 points, one better than Michigan and three points ahead of Penn State.  [Read more…]

Wisconsin hockey has a big weekend

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The top-ranked Wisconsin women’s hockey team got goals from Alexis Mauermann, Claudia Kepler and Maddie Rolfes on Sunday as the Badgers held off St. Cloud State 3-2 at LaBahn Arena.

The Badgers extended their unbeaten streak to 11 straight games and improved to 26-1-1 on the season.  UW moved to within one win of its third straight WCHA regular season title.

The Badgers can secure the title when they face Ohio State in Columbus, OH this weekend.

Badger men knock off Penn State

After scoring three goals in the third period to win on Friday night, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team rallied from two goals down three times on Saturday to earn a shootout victory over Penn State at the Kohl Center.

In the finale, Wisconsin faced off against cancer, paid tribute to those searching for a cure and welcomed back 1990 National Champion Rob Andringa, who learned last month he has stage four Colon Cancer.

By taking five of six points, the Badgers vaulted into third place in the Big Ten and visit Michigan this weekend.

AUDIO: Tony Granato on Rob Andringa :16

Four Badgers named to U.S. Women’s Olympic hockey roster

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Former Wisconsin women’s hockey standouts Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Alex Rigsby were named to the Team USA roster for the 2018 Winter Olympics on Monday.

Duggan and Knight will make their third appearance at the Olympics in February.  Duggan captained the U.S. squad in 2014.  Decker made her second Olympic team after playing in the 2014 games while Rigsby will make her Olympic debut this year in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The quartet will join the five Badgers, Emily Clark, Ann-Renee Desbiens, Meaghan Mikkelson, Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull, selected on Dec. 22 to the Canadian Olympic team in PyeongChang.

The U.S. opens play at the 2018 Winter Olympics on Feb. 11 with a 1:40 a.m. CT game against Finland.

U.S. Men

For the first time since 1972, there are no Badger men’s hockey players on the U.S. Olympic team.  However, the coaching staff has three.

Badger men’s coach Tony Granato will serve as the Head Coach of the U.S. team.  Former Badger defensive great Chris Chelios will serve as an assistant coach and another former Badger, Jim Johannson is Team USA’s general manager.

 

Hockey Badgers open season with win over Michigan Tech (AUDIO)

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Linus Weissbach

Freshman forward Linus Weissbach scored two goals in his debut for the No. 11/12 Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team, helping UW win the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game against Michigan Tech, 3-2, at the Kohl Center on Sunday.

The Badgers (1-0-0) improved to 5-1-0 in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game.  They outshot Michigan Tech (0-1-0), 27-22.

Junior forward Will Johnson opened the scoring 5:51 into the first period, scoring on the rebound of junior Seamus Malone’s wraparound attempt.

Five minutes later, Weissbach tallied his first goal as a Badger after MTU’s Jake Jackson was called for slashing.  The Gothenburg, Sweden, native collected a blocked shot and set it over Patrick Munson’s right shoulder to give the Badgers a 2-0 lead. [Read more…]

Wisconsin’s Connelly going behind the bench

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Wisconsin men’s hockey director of hockey operations Shane Connelly is going behind the bench for USA Hockey.

Connelly has been named an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-17 Select Team that will play in the Five Nations Tournament in Ostrava, Czeck Republic Aug. 23-27.

Connelly played goaltender for the Badgers from 2005 to 2009 and rejoined the program in January as interim director of hockey operations.  The Badgers removed that interim tag in May.

Prior to rejoining the Badgers, Connelly was an assistant with the USHL’s Cedar Rapids Roughriders.

The U.S. team will be led by Pat Ferschweiler, who worked with Badgers coach Tony Granato as assistants with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

The tournament field includes the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany.  The U.S. won the event in 2016.

 

Strobel named associate head coach for Badger men’s hockey

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Less than two weeks after it was announced that Don Granato was leaving to join the Chicago Blackhawks coaching staff, Wisconsin hockey head coach Tony Granato hired another former Badgers’ captain to take his brother’s place.

Mark Strobel, who wore the Cardinal and White from 1991-1995, was named associate head coach.

Strobel served in the same capacity the last two years under former Badger Steve Rohlik at Ohio State.  He was also an assistant at Nebraska-Omaha, Colorado College and Minnesota-Duluth.

Don Granato left June 13 to become an NHL assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Tony Granato said Strobel would be highly compatible with associate head coach Mark Osiecki, a defenseman from 1987 to 1990, and director of hockey operations Shane Connelly, a goaltender from 2005 to ’09.

Strobel, a defenseman, played three seasons at UW alongside his twin brother, Mike, a winger.  They attended Hill Murray High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, the same program that produced Rohlik.

Strobel officially assumes his new role on July 1.

AUDIO: Mark Strobel said he’s thrilled to be back in Madison :16

AUDIO: Tony Granato says Strobel is a perfect fit :21

Don Granato leaving Hockey Badgers for the NHL (AUDIO)

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Don Granato

It’s hard to keep good young hockey players in a program for long and Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato has found out it’s difficult to keep good coaches around very long too.

The answer came this week when Associate Head Coach Don Granato accepted an offer to become an NHL assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks.

The move comes just one season after Tony Granato took over the program and brought Don Granato and Mark Osiecki with him to run the Badger hockey program.

All three coaches have had success running their own programs and its the reason why the Blackhawks came calling.

“The situation that Donny’s going to be in is a great opportunity,” said Tony Granato.  “What Donny can add to a team is why he was pursued by them as aggressively as he was.” [Read more…]

Hockey Badgers end season in Big Ten title game

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The Wisconsin men’s hockey team saw their season come to an end, falling to Penn State in a double-overtime thriller 2-1 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Saturday night.

The Badgers outshot the Nittany Lions 52-35 as they dominated play, but couldn’t take advantage of the several scoring chances they had.

Liam Folkes scored both Penn State (24-11-2) goals, including the game winner on a breakaway 6:43 into the second overtime to end the game.

Matt Ustaski scored the Badgers (20-15-1) on the power play in the second period, poling home a rebound at 11:45 of the period.

Freshman goaltender Jack Berry made 33 saves in the loss, while Penn State’s Peyton Jones stopped 51 of 52 Wisconsin shots.

After combining for 12 victories the previous two years, the Badgers reached 20 wins in Tony Granato’s first season, finishing runner-up in both the Big Ten regular season and the Big Ten tournament.