Big Ten play opens with series at Michigan

Photo by: Paul Capobianco

Big Ten play opens with series at Michigan

December 08, 2016 | Men's Hockey

Friday's game airs on ESPNews at 6:30 p.m. CT, Saturday's streams at BTN Plus

BIG TEN PLAY BEGINS
After two months of non-conference action, Wisconsin (7-6-1, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) jumps into conference play with a trip to Michigan (6-7-1, 0-2-0-0 Big Ten) for a Friday-Saturday series. Both games begin at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Friday's game airs live ESPNews and the WatchESPN app, while Saturday's game streams on BTN Plus.

Game 15 \| Wisconsin vs. Michigan
Date	Friday, Dec. 9 \| 6:30 p.m. (CT)
Location	Ann Arbor, Mich. \| Yost Ice Arena (6,600)
Watch	ESPNEWS \| WatchESPN
Listen	WIBA 1310 \| Badger Sports Network \| Listen Live
Follow	Live Stats \| @BadgerMHockey
Game Notes	Wisconsin

Game 16 \| Wisconsin vs. Michigan
Date	Saturday, Dec. 10 \| 6:30 p.m. (CT)
Location	Ann Arbor, Mich. \| Yost Ice Arena (6,600)
Watch	BTN Plus
Listen	WIBA 1310 \| Badger Sports Network \| Listen Live
Follow	Live Stats \| @BadgerMHockey
Game Notes	Wisconsin

SERIES NOTES
The teams meet for the 138th time in what is the second-most played rivalry in the Big Ten in UW men's hockey history (Minnesota is the most played).

The last time the Badgers defeated the Wolverines was on Jan. 11, 2014, a 3-1 victory at the Kohl Center. UW hasn't won in Ann Arbor since Nov. 26, 2005, a 3-2 win for Wisconsin.

WISCONSIN-MICHIGAN CONNECTIONS
UW freshmen JD Greenway and Trent Frederic played in the USNTDP with Michigan freshmen Luke Martin, Griffin Luce, James Sanchez and Nick Pastujov from 2014-16

Wisconsin captiain Luke Kunin played on the USNTDP with Michigan sophomores Brendan Warren and Nicholas Boka from 2013-15.

Badgers' defenseman Cullen Hurley and Wolverines' defenseman Joseph Cecconi played together on the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL during the 2013-14 season.

UW defenseman Jake Linhart and UM forward Alex Kile played together on the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL during the 2012-13 season.

LAST MEETING
Wisconsin 4, Michigan 4
Feb. 13, 2016

Wisconsin rallied four times through the contest, with freshman Luke Kunin scoring the final tally with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime with the Wolverines. Michigan won the shootout, 1-0, to grab an extra point in the Big Ten standings.

With 27 seconds to play, Wisconsin pulled Matt Jurusik for an extra attacker, a move that payed dividends. Kunin notched his 12th goal of the season, finishing off a nifty stick-handle and back-handed saucer pass by Hughes.

Kunin nearly won it in overtime with a breakaway, but was slashed on the play and drew a penalty. Wisconsin finished with a 3-2 edge in the overtime, but were unable to score.

Jurusik collected 29 saves in the contest.

BEHIND THE BENCH
WISCONSIN BADGERS
Head Coach: Tony Granato
Record at WIS: 7-6-1 (1st Year)
Overall: 7-6-1 (1st Year)

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Head Coach: Red Berenson
Record at UM: 835-407-89 (32nd Year)
Overall: 835-407-89 (32nd Year)

OMAHA REVIEW
The Badgers posted a pair of two-goal comebacks last weekend, the first resulting in a 3-3 overtime time and a 2-0 exhibition shootout victory, and the second a 7-4 defeat.

Wisconsin's 50 shots Friday marked its first 50+ shot effort since firing 56 against Arizona State in a 5-1 victory on Oct. 30, 2015.

Last Friday, Ryan Wagner scored first to get the Badgers a 1-0 lead, but Omaha tallied three times in the first period to grab a 3-1 lead at the first intermission.

Besse scored in the second period and sophomore defenseman Peter Tischke scored his first career goal to tie the game at 3-3 early in the third period to complete the comeback.

The game marked the first two-goal comeback for a tie for the Badgers since the team overcame a 4-2 deficit in the second period on Feb. 26 for a 4-4 tie at Ohio State. UW won the shootout, 1-0.

Last Saturday, UW trailed 2-0 in the first period, came back to tie at 2-2, trailed 3-2, came back to take the lead 4-3, but finished the third period with five goals allowed in a 7-4 defeat.

Sophomore forward Luke Kunin scored twice, while Besse and Jason Ford also scored for the Badgers.

KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER
Wisconsin's +9.93 shots per game rank third in the country. The Badgers are averaging 35.71 shots per game, which ranks second in the nation, and are allowing 25.79 shots per contest, which is the nation's 10th lowest total.

Senior forward Grant Besse has goals in four consecutive games for a career-long goal-scoring streak. Besse had a goal-scoring streak of three games from Jan. 16-23, 2015 for his previous career best.

Over the last three games, Wisconsin has fired 42, 50 and 44 shots for a total of 136 and an average of 45.33 shots per game. That gives the Badgers 40+ shots in three consecutive contests for the first time since Oct. 19-Nov. 2, 2013.

Wisconsin's special teams are +10 this season with 20 power-play goals and one short-handed tally. It has allowed just eight power-play goals and three short-handed markers. Only Penn State (+17), Omaha (+15) and Harvard (+11) have better marks.

Besse leads the Badgers with 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 13 games played. That total ranks fifth in the Big Ten.

Wisconsin sits 0-3-0-0 in Big Ten openers since the conference formed for the 2013–14 season. The Badgers are actually 0-5-1 in Big Ten opening weekends.

UW opened Big Ten play last season at Michigan, dropping a 6-4 contest, before skating to a 6-6 tie. UW lost the ensuing shootout, 2-0.

The Badgers are 0-6-2 over their last eight games at Michigan, last winning a 3-2 contest on Nov. 26, 2005 during what was then the College Hockey Showcase.

UW is 0-4-2 at Michigan since the start of the Big Ten Conference.

SHOOTOUT AT THE KC CORRAL
UW played its first overtime game and first shootout of the season last Friday in the game against Omaha.

Though only an exhibition, the Badgers won the shootout, 2-0. Starting this weekend, shootout winners gain an extra point in the league standings, with wins worth three points, shootout victories earning two points and shootout losses one point.

Sophomore Luke Kunin scored one of UW's two goals in the shootout, his first shootout goal for the Badgers of his career. He was unsuccessful in seven previous attempts.

Sophomore forward Seamus Malone also scored his first career shootout goal, though the goal came on Malone's first shootout attempt.

Freshman goaltender Jack Berry was successful on both Omaha shots he faced in his first collegiate shootout.

DROUGHT RELIEF
Three Badgers scored goals last weekend to end goal-scoring droughts, including two modest droughts and one large one.

Both junior forward Ryan Wagner (Friday) and junior forward Jason Ford (Saturday) scored their first goals since the Badgers' 5-2 victory at St. Lawrence on Oct. 28.

Wagner's tally, his fourth of the season, ended a seven game drought, while Ford's goal, his second of the year, stopped an eight-game drought.

Ford's second goal of the season, his first career power-play marker, gives him a career-high two goals. Ford had one goal in each of his first two seasons.

Sophomore defenseman Peter Tischke also ended a drought, scoring his first collegiate goal in his 40th career contest. Tischke's goal, at 3:46 of the third period last Friday, was the game-tying goal in a 3-3 tie.

Four Badger skaters are still without goals, including senior forward Aidan Cavallini (64 games), sophomore defenseman Patrick Sexton (25 games), sophomore defenseman Jake Bunz (20 games) and sophomore transfer forward Dan Labosky (12 games).

NON-CONFERENCE
The Badgers finished non-conference play 7-6-1 against non-conference foes this season. The seven non-conference victories matched the program's combined non-conference win total for the last two seasons. The Badgers were 7-13-6 in non-conference play over the last two seasons.

FAMOUS SEAMUS
Sophomore forward Seamus Malone went without a point last weekend, marking the first time this season and just the fourth time in his career he went without a point during an entire weekend.

Malone still ranks third on the Badgers with 13 points on six goals and seven assists.

The undrafted forward has 39 points through his first 49 career games.

LEAGUE LEADERS
Senior forward Grant Besse ranks fifth in the Big Ten with a 1.31 points-per-game scoring average. Penn State freshman Denis Smirnov leads the Big Ten at 1.80 points per game. Besse is fifth in league scoring with 17 points.

Sophomore forward Luke Kunin shares fifth in the league with nine goals in 14 games, while Besse's seven tallies have him tied for eighth and Malone's six goals are tied for 10th.

Junior defenseman Tim Davison's 11 assists share seventh in the Big Ten among all skaters and are tied for third among league blue liners.

Besse and junior forward Cameron Hughes share 12th in the Big Ten with 10 assists.

Besse and Malone's seven power-play points have them tied for second in the Big Ten in power-play scoring, while frosh Trent Frederic, Kunin, Hughes and Davison share 11th with six power-play points.

Frederic, Besse, Will Johnson and Kunin are tied for fourth in the Big Ten with three power-play goals, two off the leaders.

Frederic and Besse share fourth in the Big Ten with two game-winning tallies.

Junior Tim Davison's 11 points and Jake Linhart's nine points rank fifth and seventh, respectively among Big Ten defensemen.

Freshman forward Trent Frederic's 10 points have him tied for fifth among Big Ten freshmen in scoring. His 1.25 points per game rank third among rookies.

Freshman goaltender Jack Berry's 2.49 goals-against average has him second in the Big Ten, while his .895 save percentage is good for fourth.

TOP 10 SPECIAL TEAMS
Wisconsin's 2-for-6 power-play performance last Saturday against Omaha helped it to a 2-for-12 weekend on the power play. UW now ranks seventh in the country with the man advantage at 23.3 percent (20-for-86).

The Badgers have scored 20 of their 47 goals while on the power play.

UW's penalty kill was 8-for-9 on the weekend and shares fifth in the nation at 88.9 percent (64-for-72).

UW is one of just two schools to boast top-10 programs in both power play and penalty Kill (Penn State).

Michigan is close to having both its power play and penalty kill in the top 10, rankingNo. 10 on the power play (20.3 percent) and No. 16 on the penalty kill (87.5 percent).

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK
Freshman goaltender Jack Berry started his Badger career with 144 minutes, 17 seconds of shutout hockey before finally allowing a goal to Merrimack on Nov. 18. That marks the longest shutout streak to start a UW career, more than double Bernd Brückler's 67:59 of shutout hockey to start his career in 2001–02, which is the second longest streak in school history.

Berry's 22-save shutout in UW's game on Nov. 5 against Northern Michigan marked the fourth time a Badger goalie accomplished the feat in his first collegiate start. In addition to Bernd Brückler's 25-save shutout on Oct. 20, 2001 in a 5-0 win over Wayne State in his first start, Jim Carey posted a 22-save shutout on Nov. 1, 1992 in an 11-0 win over Northern Michigan. Wayne Thomas also began his career with a 22-save shutout on Nov. 16, 1968 in an 11-0 win over Pennsylvania.

CAPTAINS
Sophomore forward Luke Kunin was named team captain, the second sophomore captain in school history. Mike Eaves was a sophomore captain for the 1975–76 season.

Joining sophomore forward Luke Kunin as alternate captains are senior forward Grant Besse and junior forward Cameron Hughes. Besse served as alternate captain last season, while Hughes filled in at that capacity for a handful of games last year.

BESSE TO 100
Should senior forward Grant Besse match his point total of 33 from last season, he would become the 74th skater in UW history to reach 100 career points, and would become the first since Tyler Barnes (2010–14) reached the mark with 101 points for his career. He actually needs 31 to reach 100.

With 17 points through 13 games played, Besse currently boasts 37 goals, 49 assists and 86 points in 116 games played.

Besse's 116 games played makes him one of just two Badgers who have played 100 career college games, joining fellow senior forward Jedd Soleway, who has played 106 games.

BIG TEN PLAY
While the Badgers open Big Ten play this week, four of the league's six teams opened conference action last weekend with Penn State sweeping Michigan at home and Ohio State splitting at Minnesota.

As of the start of the week, the Big Ten boasts the nation's top non-conference record at 42-23-10 (.621 win percentage). The NCHC ranks second with a 33-19-11 mark (.611). Nine non-conference games remain for Big Ten teams.

CAPTAIN KUNIN
Luke Kunin ended the 2015–16 season with points in a career-best seven straight games, tallying six goals and nine points during the streak. He had points in the first two games of this season with a goal and an assist, before going pointless against BC. That gave Kunin a nine-game point streak dating back to last year. He had seven goals and 11 points in that stretch.

Luke Kunin finished the 2015–16 season as the Badgers leading goal scorer with 19 goals, the first UW rookie since Dany Heatley scored 28 goals in 1999–2000 to lead the Badgers in goals. The 19 goals are also the most for a UW freshman since Heatley's 28.

Kunin's 32 points made him the first UW rookie to reach 30 points since Nic Kerdiles tallied 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 32 games during the 2012–13 season. The 32 points were good for second among Big Ten freshmen, while his 0.94 points per game ranked seventh nationally among freshmen.

Kunin finished one back of UW's point lead, narrowly missing becoming the first UW rookie to pace the Badgers in scoring since Kyle Turris, who had 35 points during the 2007–08 season.

He scored four goals in the last minute of a period last season to rank second in the country, while his seven points in the last minute were also second. He had nine goals and 14 points in the first and last minute of periods, which both led the country.

Kunin finished conference play as UW's leader with 13 goals and 21 points in Big Ten play. His 13 goals ranked fourth among all Big Ten skaters, while his 21 points shared eighth. Both ranked second among Big Ten freshmen.

LINHART AND SOUL
Junior defenseman Jake Linhart's eight goals last year ranked fourth among Badgers and only trailed tied Michigan's early-departure Zach Werenski among Big Ten defensemen, who finished with 11. That means Linhart shares the title the "Big Ten's top goal-scoring defenseman returning."

Linhart also led UW defensemen with 18 points, which was tied for ninth among Big Ten blue liners.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Wisconsin returns 96.8 percent of its goals (90 of 93 goals), 80.4 percent of its assists (135 of 168 assists) and 86.2 percent of its points (225 of 261 points). The Badgers also return 100 percent of their power-play goals (22) from last season.

NEW COACHING STAFF
Tony Granato returns to Wisconsin after 13 years as a head and assistant coach in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. That followed a 13-year NHL playing career that included stops with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.

Don Granato arrives in Madison after nearly five seasons as head coach with the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) helping develop the nation's best young hockey players. He also spent one season as an assistant coach with the NHL's St. Louis Blues, in addition to over 10 years as a head coach in junior and minor-league hockey.

Osiecki returns to Madison, where he previously spent six seasons (2004–10) as an assistant coach. While at UW, he helped the Badgers win the 2006 NCAA Championship, as well as a runner-up spot in the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four. Since his time at UW, Osiecki spent time as the head coach at Ohio State, as well as an assistant coach with the AHL's Rockford Ice Hogs, the minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks.

All three coaches went to school and played hockey for Wisconsin.

20/20 VISION
Wisconsin welcomes five skaters back from last year who had 20 points, including Grant Besse (33), Luke Kunin (32), Seamus Malone (26), Cameron Hughes (22) and Ryan Wagner (22). This marks the first time UW returns five 20-point scores since the 2013–14 team welcomed six 20-point scorers back. That year, Michael Mersch (36), Nic Kerdiles (33), Mark Zengerle (32), Tyler Barnes (30), Joseph LaBate (23) and Jake McCabe (21) each returned to the Badgers. Prior to 2013–14, UW had last returned at least five 20-point scorers for a season when seven began the 2009–10 campaign.

FEELING A DRAFT
Wisconsin begins the season with eight NHL draft picks on its roster, including two first-round picks in Luke Kunin and Trent Frederic, third-round pick JD Greenway, fourth-round pick Max Zimmer, fifth-round selection Grant Besse, sixth-round choice Cameron Hughes and seventh-round picks Jedd Soleway and Matt Ustaski.

UW's top four picks were all chosen in the 2016 draft.

This year marks the first time since the 2010–11 season that UW boasts a first-round draft pick on its roster (Jake Gardiner), and the first team since the 2009–10 squad to boast more than one first-round pick (Gardiner, Ryan McDonagh, Brendan Smith).

Forwards Kunin and Frederic give UW its first first-round draft picks at the forward position since Kyle Turris played for UW during the 2007–08 season.
Kunin and Frederic give Wisconsin two first-round draft picks on the same team at forward for the first time in school history.

CURRENT UW DRAFT PICKS

NAME	TEAM	YEAR	RD/PICK
Luke Kunin	Minnesota	2016	1/15
Trent Frederic	Boston	2016	1/29
JD Greenway	Toronto	2016	3/72
Max Zimmer	Carolina	2016	4/104
Grant Besse	Anaheim	2013	5/147
Cameron Hughes	Boston	2015	6/165
Jedd Soleway	Arizona	2013	7/193
Matt Ustaski	Winnipeg	2014	7/192

GETTING YOUNGER
While Wisconsin boasted one of the youngest rosters in the country last season with regards to age, they get even younger this year. The team average 20 years, 10 months at the start of October last season. This year, the team averages 20 years, 5 months.

WHERE'S HOME?
Wisconsin's two new goaltenders, Jack Berry and Johan Blomquist, hail from places that have been rare at Wisconsin of late.

Berry comes from Holly, Michigan, The Badgers first player from Michigan since Jon Krall (2000–04), who came from Temperence, Michigan.

Blomquist, from Stockholm, Sweden, arrives as just the second Swede to play for Wisconsin. He joins Jan-Ake Danielson (1981–84), who came from Insjon, Sweden.

UP NEXT
Following the series against Michigan, the Badgers will have almost a month off for final exams and winter break. Wisconsin will be back in action for its first series of 2017 at the Kohl Center against Michigan State on Jan. 6-7. Both games will air on Big Ten Network and WIBA-AM 1310 with Friday's game starting at 8 p.m. and Saturday's tilt set for 7 p.m.