Wisconsin men's hockey (14-11-3, 11-7-2 WCHA) visits No. 9 Minnesota (12-7-5, 9-6-3 WCHA) for a two-game series beginning tonight at Mariucci Arena. In what is shaping up to be one of the closest races in league history, Wisconsin hopes to creep closer and gain an edge in the battle for the MacNaughton Cup, the WCHA's conference championship trophy.
The Badgers (24 points) maintain a three-point lead over Minnesota (21 points) for third place, though the Gophers have two games at hand. Wisconsin sits just two points behind first-place Denver (26 points) and one point behind second-place North Dakota (25 points). Both Colorado College and Minnesota Duluth share fourth place with Minnesota.
Friday's game can be seen live on Big Ten Network, while Saturday's game airs on FSN North.
The Badgers and Gophers will meet for at least the 239th and 240th times in their histories, which for the Badgers is the most they've played against any opponent.
The teams met back in October at the Kohl Center when the Badgers had yet to win a game this season. During that two-game series, the Badgers took just one point in a tie and a loss to the Gophers.
However, the Badgers have much more going for them this time, with the team having gone 11-3-1 in the last 15 league games, 7-3-0 in the last 10 games against ranked teams and 5-1-1 in the last seven road contests.
Also of assistance for the Badgers - the squad's top ranked power play (22.3 percent) and penalty kill (92.5 percent) in the WCHA. Wisconsin actually boasts the nation 's top penalty kill at 90.4 percent (160-for-177) when considering all games played. The Badgers have not allowed a power-play goal over the last three games and have allowed just one power-play goal in the last six contests. Wisconsin has killed its last 17 penalties and has succeeded on 30 of its last 31 penalty kills.
Key to both units, junior assistant captain, Hobey Baker hopeful and defenseman Jamie McBain leads the nation's defensemen in scoring with 30 points in 28 games played, which is a 1.07 points-per-game mark, also tops in the nation among rear guards. In all games, McBain leads the WCHA with 23 power-play points, defensemen with 30 points, shares first with 25 assists and shares fifth among all players in scoring. In league contests, McBain is third among WCHA players with 24 points, just one point off the league lead, while he leads the league with 20 assists and 19 power-play points in WCHA contests. McBain's game Friday night will be the 100th of his career as a Badger.
The scoring of McBain, balanced with the goaltending of senior Shane Connelly, make up a major part of the Badgers' winning formula. Connelly has climbed to second in the WCHA with a .915 save percentage in WCHA games, while his 2.54 goals-against average is just thousandths of a point behind third place in the league.
The rest of the formula includes a plethora of scoring from the nation's most offensive defensive corps, as well as balanced scoring from all four Badger lines.
The Badgers get a week off from action - their second off in four weeks - so points are a necessary result this weekend if the Badgers hope to stay in the race for the league title.
To follow along with the action, watch the games on television; listen to the radio broadcast on WIBA-AM in Madison, on the Wisconsin Radio Network or at Yahoo.com (fee); and follow along on the live sportid=119"> --> Game Day Blog at UWBadgers.com.
Check out this week's game notes for more information on this weekend's series.
