Wisconsin (3-5-4, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) opens conference play this weekend with a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan, squaring off against No. 12 Michigan (7-2-2, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) on Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT both nights.UW is coming off its second bye week in the last three weekends, and was most recently in action when it hosted No. 9 Denver at the Kohl Center two weekends ago. The Badgers are opening Big Ten action with their third different opponent in the first three seasons of the conference. Wisconsin traveled to Minnesota two seasons ago and hosted Penn State last year in its previous two conference openers.
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 | | 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 | 6:30 p.m. | | Dec. 5 | at Michigan | 6:30 p.m. | | 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, 5-1 ... Michigan scored the first three goals of the game in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament, and Wisconsin did not find the back of the net until halfway through the third period, as UW saw its season come to a close ... Jedd Soleway scored the lone goal for Wisconsin with his even-strength marker at the 9:18 mark of the third period to bring the Badgers within 3-1 ... freshman Cameron Hughes picked up the only assist on that goal for his 10th assist of the season ... senior Joel Rumpel made 23 stops in goal for UW in his final game between the posts for the Cardinal and White ... Wisconsin went 0-5-0 against the Wolverines during the 2014-15 season, getting outscored 26-7 during the season series.
Series Notes: The two teams will meet for the 134th and 135th times in the all-time series ... The Badgers are winless in the last seven meetings with the Wolverines, a stretch that dates back to a 3-1 UW win on Jan. 11, 2014 at the Kohl Center. The last Wisconsin win in Ann Arbor, Michigan came on Nov. 26, 2005 when the Badgers defeated the Wolverines 3-2 as part of the College Hockey Showcase. The Badgers are 0-5-1 in their last six meetings with Michigan in Ann Arbor. The two teams met once a year in the College Hockey Showcase beginning in the 1993-94 season, with the final installment coming during the 2010-11 season. Both schools competed for an unofficial Big Ten championship from 1959-1981, with the two schools each winning five Big Ten crowns as determined by head-to-head matchups with the other Big Ten schools. Wisconsin didn't start competing for the unofficial title until the 1968-69 campaign. UW also played at least one game with Michigan from 1921-1935 in the premodern era of Wisconsin hockey, which included a pair of losses to U of M in the Badgers inaugural campaign in 1921-22.
THIS WEEK IN MEN'S HOCKEY
• Wisconsin (3-5-4, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) comes off its second bye week in the last three weeks and will open Big Ten play this weekend, as it heads to Ann Arbor, Michigan to take on Michigan (7-2-2, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) on Friday and Saturday at Yost Ice Arena. Both games will start at 6:30 p.m. CT.
• When the Badgers last skated, they skated to a 3-3 Friday night tie on Nov. 20 against then-No. 9 Denver, winning a 1-0 exhibition shootout. UW dropped the series finale in a 6-2 decision to the Pioneers on Saturday, Nov. 21.
• Michigan opened a six-game homestand last weekend with a win and tie against Dartmouth. The Wolverines blew out the Big Green last Friday with a 7-0 victory, before skating to a 1-1 tie on Saturday. Michigan went on to win the exhibition shootout, 1-0.
• Big Ten play begins this weekend for all six league schools with UW visiting Michigan, Ohio State traveling to Minnesota and Michigan State visiting Penn State.
• Michigan (7-2-2) and Penn State (8-2-3) enter conference play as the only two teams with winning records.
UW enters league play with five losses, which ranks behind only Michigan and Penn State for fewest in the league.
• Wisconsin is 2-10-1 in conference openers under head coach Mike Eaves, last winning a league opener during the 2012-13 season with a 2-0 victory at Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 26, 2012. UW is 1-5-1 when they open conference play on the road.
• Despite the slow start to conference seasons, the Badgers have placed among the top two in conference standings three times, the top three in the standings five times and among the top half of league standings on seven occasions.
• The Badgers are winless in Big Ten opening weekends in the prior two years of Big Ten play. The Badgers were swept at Minnesota on Nov. 29-30, 2014 to begin the history of Big Ten hockey, then were swept last year on Dec. 5 and 6 at home against Penn State.
• UW posted its fourth tie of the season on Nov. 20 against Denver, halfway to the school record of eight ties set during the 2003-04 campaign.
• The Badgers have tied nine consecutive overtime games and are unbeaten in their last 10 overtime contests, going 1-0-9 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.
• Junior forward Grant Besse (Plymouth, Minnesota) extended his career-best, point-scoring streak to eight games with an assist on Nov. 20, but had it snapped the next night against Denver. UW's leading scorer with 11 points in 12 games, he had three goals, six assists and nine points during his eight-game streak.
• For the fifth time in six weeks on a Friday this season, the Badgers owned the second period. UW tallied three times in the second period on Nov. 20 to finish with a 3-2 edge. On Nov. 6 at then-No. 1 North Dakota, the Badgers outscored the Fighting Hawks 2-0 in the second period on the way to a 3-1 win. UW scored four goals in the second periods at Ferris State (Oct. 23) and against Arizona State (Oct. 30). In the season-opener against Northern Michigan, UW outscored the Wildcats, 1-0.
• UW's penalty kill has been one of its strengths this season and had spanned six games and 19 power plays without allowing a goal until Denver scored on Nov. 20. The Badgers finished the weekend against Denver 5-for-7 on the kill. Wisconsin's is at 85.4 percent (41-for-48) for the season, which ranks third in the Big Ten and 19th in the country.
• Michigan ranks seventh in the country on the power play at 25.5 percent (12-for-47).
• While UW's penalty kill was rolling, UW's power play was struggling, but the Badgers snapped a four-game goal-less drought with a power-play goal on four tries last game against Denver on Nov. 21. UW had gone 18 power plays without a goal before Tim Davison tallied in the second period against Denver.
• The Badgers are 9-for-48 on the power play for the season (18.8 percent) to sit fifth in the Big Ten and 30th in the nation. UW scored 15 power-play goals all of last season.
• Freshman forward Matthew Freytag (Wayzata, Minnesota) scored his first career goal on Nov. 20 against Denver in his seventh game played to become one of five Badgers who have scored their first career goals so far this season.
• The goal for Freytag also marked his first career point. He has played eight games.
• Sophomore forward Adam Rockwood (Coquitlam, British Columbia) boasts a career-high point streak that is currently at four games. Rockwood has five assists over UW's last four games, with four of the five serving as the primary assist.
• Rockwood has climbed into a share of second on UW's scoring list with a team-leading eight assists and nine points in 11 games played. His eight assists are tied for ninth in the Big Ten, just two behind the league leaders.
• Freshman forwards Luke Kunin (Chesterfield, Missouri) and Seamus Malone (Naperville, Illinois) are tied for second on the Badgers and lead the team's rookies with nine points each. That total shares seventh among Big Ten rookies. Kunin boasts points in his last two contests in three of the last four games, while Malone has points in four of his last six games.
• Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik (LaGrange, Illinois) has taken the reigns with nine consecutive starts between the pipes for the Badgers. The rookie is 3-4-3 with a 2.89 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 11 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 103 games. Only fellow senior defenseman Kevin Schulze (White Bear Lake, Minn.), who has played in 125 games, has played in more.
• Two other Badgers could play in their 100th career games this season as junior forwards Jedd Soleway (82 GP) and Grant Besse (80 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 play 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 90-67 on faceoffs (.573), which ranks 46th 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 sixth in the country with a 2.67 blocks-per-game average, turning aside 32 shots in 12 contests.
• 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 Engen 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 will make another trek to Michigan next weekend to take on Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. next Friday and Saturday night to round out the schedule before the start of winter break. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, with a 1:30 p.m. faceoff in the series finale Saturday.
