MADISON, Wis.— Following the Wisconsin men's hockey team's split with Minnesota over the past weekend, freshman goalie
Jack Berry has been selected as the Big Ten's third star of the week.
Berry stopped 36 shots on Friday night in the Badgers' 3-2 victory at Mariucci Arena to improve his record on the season to 9-5-1 in 18 appearances. He stopped all seven power-play shots he faced from the Gophers as well as saving 17 out of 18 shots in the third period to seal the UW win.
With the win, his save percentage moved up to .900 with a 2.59 goals-against average for the year. Berry also leads the league in goal-against average during conference play, posting a 2.67 average. He ranks fourth in the Big Ten in save percentage, coming in with a .904 clip.
The Holly, Michigan native has stepped in nicely in his debut season, recording a shutout in his first career start on Nov. 5 against Northern Michigan at the Kohl Center. He became the first goalie to record a shutout in their first start since Bernd Bruckler blanked Wayne State on Oct. 20, 2001.
Berry also made seven starts in place of
Matt Jurusik, who went down with a knee injury on Nov. 19, forcing him to miss about a month of the season.
The freshman has posted a 6-3-0 record since the beginning of conference play, helping the Badgers to second place with four games remaining in the regular season.
Michigan's senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort was pinned as the first star this week, making 42 saves in a 1-0 shutout against Ohio State on Saturday night. Vince Pedrie of Penn State earned second star nominations after leading the conference with four points over the weekend.
The Badgers have a big series this weekend as they head to University Park to take on Penn State on Friday and Saturday. Wisconsin currently resides in second place in the Big Ten with 33 points, three behind first-place Minnesota who take on Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Nittany Lions are five points behind UW in third place but PSU did sweep the Badgers at the Kohl Center on Feb. 10-11.
Friday night's game will begin at 6 p.m. CT and will be streamed on BTN Plus and on the radio on WIBA-AM 1310. Saturday's contest starts at 7 p.m. CT and will be televised on ASN, streamed on BTN2Go and will be on the radio on WIBA-AM 1310.
