Men's Hockey Celebrates NCAA Championship, Seniors at Banquet
April 21, 2006 | Men's Hockey
The NCAA champion Wisconsin men's hockey team held its 43rd annual awards banquet Friday at the Edgewater hotel where the team recognized its award winners and honored its senior class.
The Badgers said their final farewells to senior captain Adam Burish (Madison, Wis.), senior assistant captain Tom Gilbert (Bloomington, Minn.), and seniors A.J. Degenhardt (La Crosse, Wis.), Nick Licari (Duluth, Minn.) and Ryan MacMurchy (Regina, Saskatchewan). The five-member class proved vital in returning the NCAA title to Wisconsin.
Burish, who finished his career in a tie for the school record with seven WCHA short-handed goals, was voted the Fenton Kelsey, Jr., Most Competitive Player award for the second time in his career. Winner of the honor for the 2003-04 season, he became just the third player to win the award more than once, joining two-time winners Mike Strobel (1995, 1996) and Alex Brooks (1999, 2000). Burish finished the season with nine goals and 33 points to rank third on the squad. Third on the team with four game-winning goals, Burish earned 2006 NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team honors with his goal and three assist performance at the event.
Gilbert won the third Dr. Joseph Coyne Most Consistent Player award in his career after leading the team with a plus/minus rating of plus-28. A career plus-70, Gilbert earned 2006 RBK/AHCA Second-Team All-America honors as one of the nation's top defensemen. National co-leader with 12 goals from the blue line, Gilbert's 31 points made him the first Badger rearguard to collect over 30 points since 1997-98. A 2006 First-Team All-WCHA honoree, Gilbert will be remembered in Badger lore as scoring the game-winning, power-play goal to break a 1-1 tie and give Wisconsin the 2006 NCAA title with a 2-1 win over Boston College.
MacMurchy won the Ivan B. Williamson Scholastic Award which goes to a senior who excels on the ice and in the classroom. MacMurchy, a consumer science major, posted his fourth 20-point season and became the first Badger since 2000-01 to reach 100 career points. He finished his career as one of just seven players in UW history to collect 100 points (110) and 300 penalty minutes (342) for a career. This season, MacMurchy collected eight goals, including six on the power play, and totaled 25 points.
Licari earned recognition as the WHA-TV Jim Santulli 7th-Man Award, as voted on by Wisconsin hockey fans. Licari, one of the Badgers' spark plugs, played on the UW's 'fourth line' late in the season that was one of the keys in the Badgers' title run. One of 14 Badgers who finished in double figure scoring, Licari collected four goals and 11 points during 2005-06. A two-time WCHA All-Academic Team honoree, Licari finished his career with 17 goals and 52 points.
Junior assistant captain Andrew Joudrey (Bedford, Nova Scotia) was awarded the W Club Community Service Award. Joudrey was a key team member involved with the team's visits to the UW Children's Hospital and also helped coach youth teams in the area. Joudrey finished the season with eight goals, 10 assists and 18 points. He also chipped in three power-play tallies, three first goals and three game-winning goals.
Voted the Otto Breitenbach Most Improved Player Award was sophomore defenseman Joe Piskula (Antigo, Wis.). Piskula, who played most of the season paired with All-American Tom Gilbert, finished second on the team with a plus-24, despite playing against most opponents' top offensive players. After posting six assists as a rookie, Piskula collected two goals and nine assists for 11 points in 34 games on the blue line in 2005-06. An injury forced him to miss the season's last nine games, but he displayed great strides in becoming one of the team's top defenders.
The Mel Ross Blue Line Club Award went to the most improved player award's namesake, Otto Breitenbach. Awarded to someone who has given much to the college hockey game, Breitenbach was a large supporter of Wisconsin hockey as a former UW administrator. He is also a former commissioner of the WCHA.
Voted the Spike Carlson Award-winner as most valuable player was 2006 RBK/AHCA First-Team All-American Brian Elliott. The national leader with a .814 winning percentage (27-5-3), 1.55 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and the co-leader with eight shutouts, Elliott backstopped the UW to a national-best 1.84 goals-against per game. The 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player and a member of the 2006 NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team, Elliott was one of the three finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. With honors, records and statistics that could fill a page, Elliott posted shutouts in five of his last 10 games and set the WCHA record with a 269:52 shutout streak that spanned the WCHA Final Five, the NCAA Midwest Regional and the NCAA Frozen Four.
Also announced at the banquet were the 2006-07 team captains. Junior forward Andrew Joudrey will assume the position of team captain, while junior defenseman Jeff Likens and sophomore forward Joe Pavelski will serve as assistant captains.
Wisconsin, which finished the season 30-10-3 and as the only school in the country to reach 30 wins, captured its sixth NCAA title on April 8 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Wisconsin defeated Maine, 5-2, in the national semifinals, before triumphing 2-1 over Boston College in the championship game.
