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Badger men’s hockey to open NCAA Tournament against Bemidji State

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The Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team was awarded a number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional and will face Bemidji State (15-9-3) in the opening round on Friday at noon at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The Badgers (20-9-1) are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.  They’re 7-0 all-time against the Beavers.

It’s also the first ever NCAA tournament appearance for Badger coach Tony Granato, either as a coach or a player.

Massachusetts (16-5-4) and Lake Superior State (19-6-3) meet in the other regional semifinal with the winners to meet for the championship at 3 p.m. on Saturday.  The winner there will head to the 2021 Frozen Four at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on April 8 and 10.

The Big Ten landed four teams in the 16-team tournament field.  Minnesota (23-6-0) also landed a top seed.  Michigan and Notre Dame are the other Big Ten teams in the tournament.

North Dakota is the top overall seed.  Boston College also earned a number-one seed.

Hockey Badgers make a haul in Big Ten honors

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2021 Big Ten Coach of the Year Tony Granato

The Big Ten regular season champion Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team, set to play in Tuesday night’s Big Ten Tournament championship game, made a haul when the All-Big Ten honors were handed out today.

Eight different Badgers were named either All-Big Ten, All-Big Ten Freshman or a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.

The league’s scoring champion, Cole Caufield, was awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year.  He becomes the eighth Badger to win a conference player of the year award and the first since defenseman Jamie McBain took the WCHA Player of the Year honors in 2009.  The sophomore is the first Badger to be named Big Ten Player of the Year, an award that follows his title of Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2020.

Caufield tallied 24 goals and 43 points in 24 Big Ten games, outpacing the next closest skater by 10 goals and 10 points.  The 2019 Montreal Canadians first-round draft pick also set the Big Ten standard for goals in a conference season with the performance.

Other UW conference player of the year winners are: Mike Eaves (1978), Mark Johnson (1979), Curtis Joseph (1989), Gary [Read more…]

Notre Dame to host 2021 Big Ten Hockey Tournament

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Tony Granato

Notre Dame will host the 2021 Big Ten Hockey Tournament March 18th through the 20th at Compton Family Ice Arena in Notre Dame, Indiana.

The tournament is returning to the one-weekend, single-elimination format used during the first four years of Big Ten hockey.

The tournament will consist of six games, with three on Thursday, March 18, two games on Friday, March 19 and the championship game on Saturday, March 20.

Game times and television designations will be announced at a later date.

Wisconsin coach Tony Granato reacted to the news of the Big Ten announcement.

AUDIO: Tony Granato says the Badgers have to keep growing before the playoffs begin :15

AUDIO: Badger coach Tony Granato asked if he is good with the tournament in South Bend :10

AUDIO: Tony Granato says it makes sense to hold the conference tournament in South Bend :13

 

 

 

Big Ten hockey to return in November

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The Wisconsin men’s hockey team will open its 2020-21 season in November.  The Big Ten Conference announced on Tuesday the season will start as early as Nov. 13, a delay of roughly six weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The seven Big Ten teams will play 24 league games and will also play four non-conference games against Arizona State during the season.  That move allows the independent Sun Devils to fill their schedule, but puts that program on the road for the entire season.

The Badgers already had two non-conference games set up for this season against Arizona State.  The teams were also a part of the field for the inaugural Holiday Face-Off in December at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.  That event will be put on hold for a year.

The Big Ten also decided to return to a one-weekend format for its 2021 postseason tournament after splitting the three rounds over three weekends for the last three years.  A site for that championship (March 18-20) hasn’t been determined.

Fans will not be allowed to see games in person, at least to start.  That means scheduling will be even more flexible than [Read more…]

Tony Granato to join the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2020

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Tony Granato

Wisconsin Badger head hockey coach Tony Granato is part of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Granato played for the Badgers (1983-87) and was a two-time All-American, 100 career goal-scorer and captain.

Granato played in the NHL with three teams (New York Rangers 1988-90, Los Angeles Kings 1990-96 and San Jose Sharks 1996-2001), playing in 773 career games and scoring 248 goals and 492 total points.  He also added 16 goals and 43 points in 79 playoff games.

Granato also served as a head and assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche from 2002-09.  He also was an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-14 and the Detroit Redwings from 2014-16.  He took over as head coach of the Badgers in 2016.

Granato joins nine other Badgers who already find a home in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.  He joins his sister, Cammi, who went in the Hall of Fame in 2008.

The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2020 is the 48th and the formal induction ceremonies will take place in December of 2021, at which time both the Class of 2020 and the yet-to-be-selected Class of 2021 will be enshrined.

 

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.

 

Badger hockey team opens summer practice

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The Wisconsin men’s hockey program opened it’s summer practice schedule on Monday in preparation for its preseason foreign tour to Canada where it will skate in a pair of exhibition contests against the University of British Columbia.

Wisconsin’s trip will run from Aug. 28 through Sept. 2.

The Badgers will hold a second practice on Wednesday with eight additional workouts prior to departing for the trip.

The Badgers will face British Columbia on Friday, Aug. 30 and Sunday, Sept. 1.

Tony Granato (pictured) starts his fourth on the Badgers bench.  They’ll open the 2019-20 campaign on Friday, Oct. 11 at Boston College.  UW opens its home slate with a Kohl Center series on Oct. 18-19 against two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota Duluth.

The Badgers welcome the return of six of their top seven scorers and six of their top-nine goal scorers from the 2018-19 season to a program that adds four NHL draft picks, including a pair from the top 15 of the 2019 NHL Draft.  That doesn’t include a third projected first-round draft pick for the 2020 NHL draft.

 

Kalynuk named Wisconsin men’s hockey team captain

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Sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk, who was a second-team All-Big Ten pick last season, will serve as the Wisconsin men’s hockey team’s captain next season.

“We are really excited to have these three lead our program,” Coach Tony Granato said.  “From the second they’ve gotten here they’ve done everything right.  All three have gotten off to great starts in their first two years with our program and they’ve been excellent in the classroom.  They are great leaders and big parts of our program.  We are excited about their leadership and the future of our program.”

Kalynuk will lead the team, while sophomore forwards Tarek Baker and Sean Dhooghe will help as the team’s alternate captains.

Kalynuk posted his second straight 25-point season this past year, and collected nine goals to rank second on the team.  His 25 points were one point off the team lead, while his 116 shots made him the only skater with over 100 shots on goal.

Baker (Verona, Wis.) finished his 2018-19 season with seven goals and 20 points, ranking second on the team with 91 shots on goal.

Dhooghe (Aurora, Ill.) led the Badgers as the only double-digit goal scorer with 15 tallies.  He shared the team lead with 26 points..  He also was tied for third in the Big Ten with eight power-play goals.

 

Hockey Badgers sweep Wolverines, face Penn State in Big Ten Tournament

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Linus Weissbach

With Penn State winning at Notre Dame on Saturday, Wisconsin’s chances of securing a home series in the opening round of the Big Ten Conference post-season playoffs went up in smoke.  But that didn’t stop the Badgers from pulling off the two-game sweep of the Wolverines, winning a 4-3 overtime thriller at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers finished the regular season with three straight wins.

Trailing 3-2 in the final minutes, Tony Granato pulled his goaltender and Ty Emberson netted the game tying goal with 1:07 left in regulation.

The Badgers had a goal waved off in overtime after it was ruled they had too many men on the ice.  But a minute later, Linus Weissbach stick handled through traffic and fired a wrist shot from the left side to beat Michigan goaltender Hayden Lavigne and secure a “senior night” win for the Badgers.

Prior to leaving the ice, the Badgers thanked the fans and then helped serenade the crowd to “Varsity”. [Read more…]

Hockey Badgers drop series opener at Minnesota

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The Wisconsin Badgers trailed go a goal late in the third period, but the Minnesota Gophers scored four goals in four minutes to come away with a 9-4 victory at Mariucci Arena.

Freshman center Mick Messner scored in the second period and forward Brock Caufield, Jack Gorniak and Seamus Malone each lit the lamp in the third period to make it a 5-4 game in favor of Minnesota (10-10-4, 7-5-3-0 Big Ten).  But the Gophers then rattled off four unanswered goals with under five minutes to play, putting the game out of Wisconsin’s (8-11-4, 4-5-4-1 Big Ten) reach.

The Badgers outshot the Gophers 46-28, but Minnesota’s success on the power play and an early 3-0 lead in the first period were enough to doom the Badgers.

“For 55 minutes, we played good hockey, but you can’t play a 55-minute game”, said Badger coach Tony Granato.  “Minnesota is a team where if they see weakness or they see us on our heels, they take advantage of it and that’s what happened.  Every time we let off the gas, they made a play and were able to pull away from us.”

The two teams wrap up the 2-game series on Saturday night.