Badgers Showcase College Hockey
November 26, 2008 | Men's Hockey
Wisconsin plays host to half of the 16th annual College Hockey Showcase this Friday and Saturday night at the Kohl Center. The Badgers (5-7-2, 5-5-2 WCHA) welcome Michigan State (4-8-2, 2-6-2 CCHA) on Friday and Michigan (8-6-0, 5-5-0 CCHA) on Saturday night. Both contests begin at 7 p.m., CT.
The games will be the first of eight consecutive games at the Kohl Center for the Badgers, after the team spent 10 of the season's first 14 games away from home.
Wisconsin hopes to continue its solid play over the last seven games, during which they've gone 5-1-1. During that stretch, the Badgers own two shutout victories and have allowed more than three goals just once.
UW special teams have been just that this season, with the power play leading the WCHA in league games at and the penalty kill succeeding at 91 percent in WCHA contests. That has been key for the Badgers as they are the most penalized team in the league. The UW power play has at least one goal in 10 of its last 12 games, while the penalty kill has allowed just five goals against over the last 11 games. They were perfect in both games last weekend at St. Cloud State.
Recent history bodes well for the Badgers this weekend as the squad is 6-3-1 in the last five years of the College Hockey Showcase. The UW is 2-0-1 in the last three meetings with Michigan State and 3-1-1 over the last five years. Against Michigan, the UW dropped the last two College Hockey Showcase games, but won the three previous games to sit at 3-2-0 over the last five years.
Overall in the Showcase, Wisconsin struggled early on and now sports an 8-20-2 mark through the first 15 years of the event.
The Badgers will look to their blue line to create offense, as they have all season. Badger defensemen hold three of the top four and four of the top five spots on the UW scoring chart. Junior defenseman Jamie McBain leads the team with 15 points. Sophomore defenseman Brendan Smith ranks second on the team with 11 points, while sophomore Ryan McDonagh ranks fourth with eight points. Freshman Jake Gardiner is tied for fifth on the team with seven points.
Senior goaltender Shane Connelly is coming off a 26-save shutout, the sixth of his career, last weekend at St. Cloud State. Actually, both UW goalie have shutouts in their last appearances as sophomore Scott Gudmandson posted a 6-0 shutout over Michigan Tech back on Nov. 8 at the Kohl Center.
Friday's game is available via live video stream on Bigtennetwork.com . The game can also be heard on the Badger Radio Network, including WIBA-1310 in Madison, Wis., or for a fee on sport=mch"> --> Yahoo.com .
Saturday's game will air live on WISC-TV in Madison and around the State of Wisconsin on Charter and Time Warner cable. The game will be on tape-delay on Wisconsin Public Television beginning 10:30 p.m. The game can also be heard through the same audio channels as Friday's contest.
Live postgame video streaming of the UW's news conferences will be available at UWBadgers.com.
Live stats on UWBadgers.com will also be available both nights. Check the sportid=119"> --> UWBadgers.com Game Day page for links.
