Wisconsin (3-6-5, 0-1-1-0 Big Ten) rounds out the first half of its season by making its second straight trip to Michigan, this time paying a visit to Michigan State (4-9-2, 0-2-0-0 Big Ten) on Friday at 6 p.m. CT and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CT. UW opened Big Ten play last weekend with a series at then. No. 12 Michigan, falling 6-4 to the Wolverines on Friday night before salvaging a 6-6 tie on Saturday. Nine players recorded a multi-point game for Wisconsin between the two tilts with Michigan, including
Ryan Wagner who scored two goals and added three assists over the course of the weekend.
 | | Oct. 9 | Northern Michigan | T, 2-2* | | Oct. 10 | Northern Michigan | T, 3-3* | | Oct. 16 | at Boston College | L, 6-0 | | Oct. 17 | at Boston University | L, 4-1 | | Oct. 23 | at Ferris State | T, 5-5* | | Oct. 24 | at Ferris State | L, 2-1* | | Oct. 30 | Arizona State | W, 5-1 | | Oct. 31 | Arizona State | W, 2-1 | | Nov. 6 | at North Dakota | W, 3-1 | | Nov. 7 | at North Dakota | L, 3-1 | | Nov. 20 | Denver | T, 3-3* | | Nov. 21 | Denver | L, 6-2 | | Dec. 4 | at Michigan | L, 6-4 | | Dec. 5 | at Michigan | T, 6-6* | | Dec. 11 | at Michigan State | 6 p.m. | | Dec. 12 | at Michigan State | 1:30 p.m. | | Jan. 1 | Trinity Western (Ex.) | 2 p.m. | | Jan. 8 | Ohio State | 7 p.m. | | Jan. 9 | Ohio State | 7 p.m. | | Jan. 15 | at Penn State | 5:30 p.m. | | Jan. 16 | at Penn State | 5 p.m. | | Jan. 22 | Minnesota | 8 p.m. | | Jan. 23 | Minnesota | 7 p.m. | | Jan. 29 | Alaska | 7 p.m. | | Jan. 30 | Alaska | 7 p.m. | | Feb. 12 | Michigan | 7 p.m. | | Feb. 13 | Michigan | 7 p.m. | | Feb. 19 | Michigan State | 8 p.m. | | Feb. 20 | Michigan State | 8 p.m. | | Feb. 26 | at Ohio State | 5:30 p.m. | | Feb. 27 | at Ohio State | 6 p.m. | | March 4 | Penn State | 7 p.m. | | March 5 | Penn State | 7 p.m. | | March 11 | at Minnesota | 7 p.m. | | March 12 | at Minnesota | 7 p.m. | | March 17 | Big Ten Tourney (St. Paul, Minn.) | TBA | | March 18 | Big Ten Tourney (if necessary) | TBA | | March 19 | Big Ten Championship Game | TBA | | March 27-28 | NCAA Midwest and Northeast Regional (Cincinnati/Worcester, Mass.) | TBA | | March 28-29 | NCAA Westand East Regional (St. Paul, Minn./Albany, N.Y.) | TBA | | April 9 & 11 | NCAA Frozen Four (Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay) | TBA | | Printable Schedule Get Adobe Acrobat Reader |
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Last Meeting: L, 3-0 ... The Badgers skated to a scoreless first period, but gave up one in the second and two in the third period to get shutout on March 7, 2015. The Badgers outshot MSU 38-31 in the game. The 3-0 shutout was the second in as many nights as MSU scored once in each period the night before for the 3-0 win. UW was outshot 34-28 in that contest.
Series Notes: The teams meet for the 99th and 100th times in history, according to UW records ... UW has dropped three consecutive games to Michigan State, after going 9-1-1 against MSU in the prior 11 meetings ... UW went 1-3-0 against MSU last season, winning the first game of the season series at the Kohl Center on Feb. 20, 2015. UW captured a 2-1 win with Kevin Schulze tallying the game-winner, but then UW lost three consecutive 3-0 games to MSU ... The Badgers have gone 10 periods against Michigan State without scoring a goal, all against MSU goaltender Jake Hilldebrand ... Four of the last seven games between the two teams have resulted in shutouts as the Badgers blanked MSU, 2-0, on Feb. 22, 2014 in Madison .... the team's first met on Dec. 11, 1964 during the second season of the modern era of UW men's hockey with MSU winning 9-2 in East Lansing. The Badgers dropped the first nine games of the series, but have since gone 46-40-3 against the Spartans ... The Mike Eaves' led Badgers are 10-6-1 against the Spartans ... UW head coach Mike Eaves put up incredible offensive numbers during his playing days for Wisconsin against Michigan State. Between 1974 and 1978, Eaves had 13 goals, 25 assists and 38 points in 20 games. He finished his playing career with a 10-game point-scoring streak against the Spartans, had nine goals and 27 points in the last six meetings and put up and 11-point weekend against MSU with five goals and six assists in games on Dec. 9-10, 1977 ... fourth-year Michigan State head coach Tom Anastos is the former commissioner for the now-defunct CCHA.
THIS WEEK IN MEN'S HOCKEY
• Wisconsin (3-6-5, 0-1-1-0 Big Ten) plays its final series of 2015 with a trip to Michigan State (4-9-2, 0-2-0-0 Big Ten) for a Friday-Saturday matchup. Friday's game begins at 6 p.m. CT, while Saturday's game is a 1:30 p.m. CT start.
• Wisconsin earned one point last weekend with a 6-6 tie at Michigan on Saturday. Michigan grabbed an extra point in the game with a 2-0 victory in the shootout. The Badgers dropped Friday's contest, 6-4.
Michigan State opened Big Ten play by getting swept at the hands of Penn State, losing 4-2 and 6-1 at Penn State.
• Wisconsin scored 10 goals last weekend at Michigan, the highest weekend total for the Badgers since UW scored 11 goals against Penn State in a 7-1 and 4-3 sweep over the Nittany Lions on Dec. 6 and 7, 2014. The six goals the Badgers scored last Saturday were the most since that 7-1 game on Dec. 6, 2014.
• The Badgers have played eight our of 14 games against ranked foes (Nos. 1, 4, 6, 9, 12), including each of their last six games, but have just six games left out of 20 against teams currently ranked (No. 9 Michigan - 2 games; No. 16 Penn State - 4 games).
• Wisconsin's power play scored four times on seven chances last weekend at Michigan against a Wolverine squad that had allowed just four power-play goals against in their first 11 games of the season. The Badgers were 3-for-5 last Saturday alone, the most power-play goals for the Badgers since going 3-for-7 against Michigan last Jan. 13.
UW's power play is now clicking at 23.6 percent (13-for-55) on the season. UW scored 15 power-play goals in the entire 2014–15 season on 129 chances.
The Badger power play ranks third in the Big Ten and 10th in the country.
• Redshirt sophomore defenseman Tim Davison (De Pere, Wisconsin) has goals in three consecutive contests and holds a share of the team lead with five goals.
The three-game goal-scoring streak for Davison is the first for a Badger defenseman since Justin Schultz scored in three consecutive games from Feb. 18-Feb. 25, 2012.
Davison's five goals as a defenseman is one more than UW's top defenseman Kevin Schulze had all of last season.
• Senior Kevin Schulze (White Bear Lake, Wisconsin), the Badgers leading goal-scorer among defenseman last season with four, notched his first marker of this season last Saturday. The goal ended a 20-game goal-scoring drought for the team co-captain.
• Wisconsin's defensemen finished with 11 total goals last year, and have nine so far this year (Davison - 5, Linhart - 3, Schulze - 1).
• Sophomore forward Ryan Wagner (Park Ridge, Illinois) had a career weekend at Michigan, posting two goals and five points. He had a pair of assists last Friday, then tallied consecutive power-play goals in the first period on Saturday to erase a 2-0 deficit for the Badgers. He would later assist on a third goal. Wagner finished the game with a team-high six shots on goal.
Wagner, who now shares second on the Badgers with 11 points, matched his stat line of two goals, three assists and five points in one weekend, that he put up in 35 games in 2014–15.
• Wagner posted his second two-goal game of the season last Saturday, tying him with junior forward Grant Besse for the team lead with two career multi-goal contests.
• After one weekend of Big Ten play, Wagner's five points leads all league skaters.
• Five Badgers posted career series highs in points last weekend at Michigan with Ryan Wagner (five points), Tim Davison (four), Cameron Hughes (three), Jason Ford (two) and Matthew Freytag (two) all setting new personal standards.
• Freshman Matthew Freytag (Wayzata, Minnesota) posted his first career multi-goal game last Saturday and now has three goals in his last four games.
• Sophomore forward Matt Ustaski (Glenview, Illinois) scored his first goal of the season last Friday, ending a 14-game, goal-scoring drought. Ustaski paced UW's rookie class last year with four goals in 24 games of the team's 35 contests.
• Sophomore forwards Cameron Hughes (Edmonton, Alberta) and Adam Rockwood (Coquitlam, British Columbia) boast career-high, four-game point streaks, both tallying five assists in his last four games. Rockwood missed last weekend's action.
• The second period continues to be UW's strength with regards to scoring goals. The Badgers tallied three times in both games at Michigan last weekend, giving them 24 goals in the second period this season. Twenty four of the team's 38 goals this year have come in the second period (61.5 percent).
The Badgers scored three goals in the first period at Michigan last weekend, doubling their first period season total.
• The Badgers have led or been tied during the third period in 11 of their 14 games this season, including both games last weekend at Michigan. The Badgers are 3-3-5 in those contests.
• Wisconsin has had 22 total multi-point games this season, with 12 total players registering at least one multi-point outing through 14 games. The 22 multi-point games this year matches the entire multi-point output from the 2014-15 season in 35 games.
• UW has two freshmen among the top nine in the Big Ten in scoring. Seamus Malone is seventh with 11 points and Luke Kunin is ninth with 10 points.
• Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik (La Grange, Illinois) faced his first career penalty shot last Friday, winning the battle against Michigan freshman Brendan Warren during the second period.
The penalty shot attempt was the first for a Badger opponent since Joel Rumpel stopped Michigan State's Joe Cox during the second period of the Badgers' 4-3 victory over MSU on March 15, 2014.
• UW posted its fifth tie of the season on Dec. 5 at Michigan, more than halfway to the school record of eight ties set during the 2003–04 campaign.
The Badgers have tied 10 consecutive overtime games and are unbeaten in their last 11 overtime contests, going 1-0-10 over a span that dates back to March 22, 2014 and the Badgers' 5-4 overtime victory over Ohio State in the championship game of the 2014 Big Ten Tournament.
• UW's penalty kill has been one of its strengths this season and produced a perfect weekend at Michigan, going 4-for-4 in Ann Arbor, Michigan last weekend. UW ranks second in the Big Ten with an 86.5 percent penalty kill (45-for-52), trailing only this week's opponent Michigan State (87.7 percent).
Nationally, UW's penalty kill ranks 14th in the country.
• Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik (La Grange, Illinois) has taken the reigns with 11 consecutive starts between the pipes for the Badgers. The rookie is 3-5-4 with a 3.29 goals-against average and .895 save percentage in 13 appearances this season.
• Wisconsin is celebrating a pair of NCAA championship anniversaries this season, including the weekend of Nov. 20-21, when the 1980–81 team was back for the 35th anniversary of their title.
The 2005–06 Badgers return to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the school's sixth NCAA title the weekend of Jan. 30 during the NHL All-Star break. The UW women's team will also be celebrating their 2006 NCAA title that same weekend.
• The Badgers are 2-1-3 through six home contests.
Wisconsin sits nine victories away from reaching 200 on the Kohl Center ice, not counting exhibition contests. Since the building opened in 1998, UW has reached at least 11 victories at the Kohl Center in 10 of 17 seasons.
Wisconsin has averaged slightly more than 11 wins per season at the Kohl Center, including five seasons of 14-plus victories. UW's best single season record in the KC came in 2013-14 with a mark of 17-2-1.
• Senior defenseman Eddie Wittchow (Burnsville, Minn.) skated in his 100th career game for the Badgers on Nov. 6 to become just the second current Badger to reach the milestone. He now has played in 105 games. Only fellow senior defenseman Kevin Schulze (White Bear Lake, Minn.), who has played in 127 games, has played in more.
Two other Badgers could play in their 100th career games this season as junior forwards Jedd Soleway (84 GP) and Grant Besse (82 GP) are within striking distance.
• UW faces one of the tougher schedules in the nation this season, with an especially grueling stretch to start the campaign. The Badgers played six of their first 12 games against teams ranked in the top five of the preaseason USCHO.com poll, with at least one game against four of the top five teams.
Of its 34 total games, Wisconsin will play 14 against teams ranked in the top 13 of the USCHO.com preseason poll. Only three of UW's series this year are against a team not receiving votes in the preseason poll.
• The Badgers began the season with 28 skaters on the roster. That is the largest roster at UW since the 2009–10 team also boasted 28 members. Three of the 28 skaters on the roster that year did not see action.
• Sophomore forward Cameron Hughes became just the second Badger drafted by the Boston Bruins when he went in the sixth round, 165th overall, in the 2015 NHL Draft this past June. Hughes, along with fellow sophomore forward Adam Rockwood, enter the season tied for the second-leading scorer spot from last season after each posted three goals and 13 points in their freshman season's last year. Both spent most of the season at center.
• Junior Jedd Soleway ranked 11th in the country in faceoff win percentage at .583 last season. Soleway went 180-129 on faceoffs. Clarkson freshman Ben Dalpe led the nation with a .642 faceoff win percentage (97-54).
This season, Soleway is 95-75 on faceoffs (.559), to rank 72nd in the nation.
• Senior defenseman Kevin Schulze led the nation in 2014–15 with an average of 2.66 blocks per game, 0.11 shots-per-game better than Bemidji State defenseman Sam Windle (2.55). Schulze's 93 blocks were four shy of Windle's national lead.
As a team, UW ranked 10th in the country with an average of 14.83 blocks per game.
This season, Schulze sits at 10th in the country with a 2.43 blocks-per-game average, turning aside 34 shots in 14 contests. Teammate Eddie Wittchow is 15th with 2.21 blocks per game.
• Wisconsin will serve as host school for the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four set for April 7-9 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
The Badgers last played host to the NCAA Frozen Four in 2006 when it was held at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Badgers won the championship that season, defeating Boston College, 2-1, in the title game.
• Five Badgers were captains of their teams before arriving on campus including Kevin Schulze (Hill-Murray), Cullen Hurley (Academy of Holy Angels) and Jarod Zirbel (Notre Dame Academy), who each captained their high school teams, as well as Luke Kunin who served as a captain of the U.S. Under-18 Team and Patrick Sexton (Penticton) in the BCHL. Hurley also co-captained the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL. Eddie Wittchow (co-captain) and Grant Besse (assistant captain) will earn their stripes this season as captains of the Badgers.
• Wisconsin boasts 13 skaters who have championships on their resumes. Three Badgers (Besse, Davison, Zirbel) own high school state titles, two (Rockwood, Sexton) own BCHL titles, Hughes won an AJHL championship, Malone won a USHL crown, McGuire won an EJHL championship and Keryluk owns an USPHL win. In addition, Kunin won a under-18 world title and Jurusik won the NAHL regular-season crown. Others include Wittchow's USHL western conference victory and Soleway's BCHL division triumph.
• Santa Barabara, California native Will Johnson is the ninth Badger all-time to hail from the Golden State. In fact, five of those nine players have come during the 14-year tenure of head coach Mike Eaves, with Robbie Earl (2003-06), Matthew Ford (2004-08), Brendan Woods (2011-13) and Nic Kerdiles (2012-14). The other four California Badgers are Chris Chelios (1981-83), Mike McGrath (1983-85), Rob Mendel (1986-90) and Chris Nelson (1988-92).
• Head coach Mike Eaves is behind the bench for his 14th season at Wisconsin. The Badgers own one NCAA title (2006), two Frozen Four appearances (2006, 2010), seven NCAA tournament appearances and two conference tournament titles (2013, 2014) during Eaves' tenure.
Eaves has seen 28 of his former Badgers go on to play in the NHL, as well as over 60 of his former players go on to play some sort of professional hockey (NHL, AHL, ECHL, overseas). Fifty NHL drafted skaters have played at Wisconsin under Eaves.
• Wisconsin hockey boasts five new staff members including associate head coach Luke Strand, assistant coach JB Bittner, director of hockey operations John Hamre, video coordinator Emily Engel and primary care Dr. Andrew Watson.
• For the new coaches, associate head coach Luke Strand came to UW from a year as general manager and coach of the first-year Madison Capitols of the USHL. He played college hockey for UW-Eau Claire. New assistant coach JB Bittner, who played his college hockey at Ohio State, arrived in Madison from a two-year assistant coaching stint for the USHL's Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Nebraska.
UP NEXT
• Wisconsin has off the next two weekends for the holiday break, but will return to the ice on New Year's Day when it hosts Trinity Western in an exhibition game at the Kohl Center at 2 p.m.
