Four Added to Men's Hockey Roster
July 22, 2004 | Men's Hockey
Davis Drewiske, Josh Engel, Matt Ford and Joe Piskula have signed National Letters of Intent and will join the University of Wisconsin men's ice hockey program starting in the fall of 2004, Head Coach Mike Eaves announced today.
Drewiske, a 6-2, 190-pound defenseman, will arrive in Madison from Hudson, Wis. A member of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) last year, Drewiske led his team and shared 13th in the league among defensemen with 23 points on four goals and 19 assists. Prior to the USHL, Drewiske skated for hometown Hudson High School, where he was a member of the 2001 WIAA State Championship-winning team. He also skated for Team Wisconsin AAA during the 2002-03 season.
Engel, a 6-3, 188-pound defenseman, begins his Badger tenure after spending 2003-04 with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. In 60 games, he collected four goals and 16 points from the blue line. A Rice Lake, Wis., native, Engel joins a growing list of recent Badgers with ties to the Gamblers as current Badgers Adam Burish and A.J. Degenhardt, former Badgers Dan Boeser and John Eichelberger and previously signed Kyle Klubertanz all skated for Green Bay.
Engel skated at Rice Lake High School before skating for the Gamblers last season.
Ford joins the Badgers from the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. A 6-1, 202-pound center, Ford was named 2003-04 USHL Rookie of the Year. On his way to the honor, he shared the league lead with 37 goals, and ranked fourth in the USHL with 68 points in 60 games played. Before his year in the USHL, the West Hills, Calif., native skated at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minn.
Ford was chosen in the in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He was picked in the eighth round, 256th overall.
Piskula, a teammate of Drewiske last year at Des Moines of the USHL, adds to the UW defense. A 6-3, 205-pound left-hander, Piskula spent a year and half with Des Moines after getting traded from the USHL's Chicago Steel midway through the 2002-03 campaign. He posted two goals and six points during a full season with the Buccaneers in 2003-04. A national champion with Team Wisconsin midgets during a two-year stint in his junior and senior years of high school, he also skated for Antigo High School before making the jump to major juniors.
The four join Joe Pavelski (Plover, Wis.), Kyle Klubertanz (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and Matt Auffrey (Evans Mills, N.Y.) as members of Wisconsin freshmen class of 2004. Pavelski, Klubertanz and Auffrey signed during the early signing period last November.
