Exhibition game opens 2016 for the Badgers
December 30, 2015 | Men's Hockey
Trinity Western visits Friday for a 2 p.m. contest
Wisconsin (4-7-5, 1-2-1-0 Big Ten) returns to action for the first time since Dec. 12 with an exhibition contest against Trinity Western (7-2-0-1 BCIHL), a school located in Langley, British Columbia. The Badgers and Spartans open 2016 with a 2 p.m. game on Friday, Jan. 1.
In their last action, the Badgers posted a road split at Michigan State, falling 4-3 on Dec. 11, before posting a 3-0 shutout over MSU on Dec. 12. Trinity Western last skated on Dec. 4 in a 4-2 victory over Selkirk.
| Exhibition | Wisconsin (4-7-5, 1-2-1-0 Big Ten) vs. Trinity Western (7-2-0-1 BCIHL) | |
| Dates/Times | Fri., Jan. 1, 2 p.m. CT |
| Locations | Madison, Wis. Kohl Center (15,359) |
| Television | None |
| Video Stream | BTN.com ($) |
| Radio | WIBA-AM 1310 (Badger Radio Network) |
| Live Audio | BadgerSportsNetwork.com |
| Live Blog | UWBadgers.com |
| Live Stats | Friday |
| Social Media | @BadgerMHockey | Facebook  |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets (Home Games) |
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Last Meeting: Teams have never met.
Series Notes: The two teams will meet for the first time on New Year's Day ... UW has played four Canadian universities in program history, with the most recent match-up against a school from north of the border coming against the University of Calgary in 1991, a 5-4 UW exhibition loss ... In four of the last six seasons, the Badgers have had an exhibition game on the schedule, all four of those games coming against the US Under-18 team ... In its most recent exhibition contest, UW fell 4-1 to the US Under-18 on Dec. 12 of last season, with current Badger Luke Kunin scoring for Team USA ... Outside of the four games against the US Under-18 team, UW has not played an exhibition game since the 2003-04 season when it faced Riga 2000 at the Kohl Center, a game won 3-2 by UW ... UW has played just six games on New Year's Day in program history, most recently losing to Ferris State 5-3 in the Badger Hockey Showdown championship game in the 2004-05 season ... Wisconsin is 2-4-0 on New Year's Day, which includes one win in the modern era of the program ... The lone win on New Year's Day in the modern era came in a 6-5 overtime triumph at Minnesota-Duluth during the 1971-1972 season.
THIS WEEK IN MEN'S HOCKEY
• Wisconsin's shutout over Michigan State marked its first since a 2-0 blanking at home over Michigan Tech on Jan. 3, 2015. In that contest, senior goalie Joel Rumpel made 47 saves.
• The shutout also marked UW's first road shutout since a 1-0 victory at Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 5, 2013. Then-sophomore Joel Rumpel made just 12 saves in the UAA shutout.
• Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik (La Grange, Illinois) made 28 saves to earn his first career shutout on Dec. 12 at Michigan State. Jurusik is the 12th UW freshman to record a shutout, with only two freshman posting more than one blanking. The UW record for freshman shutouts is three, set by Joel Rumpel during the 2011–12 season.
• Starting Friday, the Badgers play 11 of their next 13 games at the Kohl Center. UW sits 2-1-3 at home this season.
• Sophomore defenseman Tim Davison (De Pere, Wisconsin) boasts points in five consecutive games, with three goals, four assists and seven points during the streak. That is the longest streak for a UW defenseman since Frankie Simonelli had points in six consecutive games (1 goal, 5 assists) from Feb. 6 through Feb. 22, 2014.
• Sophomore Ryan Wagner (Park Ridge, Illinois) boasts points in four consecutive games, giving the Badgers four sophomores who have points in at least their last four games. Wagner has seven points with two goals and five assists during his streak. He shares second on the Badgers with 13 points on five goals and eight assists.
• Wagner is joined by defenseman Tim Davison (five games), as well as forwards Cameron Hughes and Adam Rockwood. Both Rockwood (four) and Hughes (two) have missed games since scoring in their fourth consecutive games. Both boast career-high, four-game point streaks, with both tallying five assists in his last four games.
• Freshman Matthew Freytag (Wayzata, Minnesota) has goals in three consecutive games, with four goals and five points during the goal-scoring streak.
• Freytag's streak marks the second such streak of the season for UW with Tim Davison tallying goals in three consecutive games from Nov. 21 through Dec. 4.
• After going pointless in his first six games, which took place over UW's first 10 games of the season, Freytag has skated in six consecutive games and has posted five goals and six points during the stretch.
• Junior forward Grant Besse (Plymouth, Minnesota), Wisconsin's leading scorer last season, again paces the Badgers through 16 games. Besse has 14 points in 16 games and shares the team lead with 10 assists. His four goals are tied for fifth on the team.
• The second period continues to be UW's strength with regards to scoring goals. The Badgers have tallied 28 goals in the second period this season. Twenty eight of the team's 44 goals this year have come in the second period (63.6 percent).
• The Badgers scored four of six goals at Michigan State in their most recent series on Dec. 11-12.
• The Badgers have led or been tied during the third period in 13 of their 16 games this season, including their last two games at Michigan State (Dec. 11-12). The Badgers are 4-4-5 in those contests.
• UW has two freshmen among the top 10 in the Big Ten in scoring. Seamus Malone shares fourth with 13 points and Luke Kunin is 10th with 11 points.
• 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 special teams has been among its strengths this season. The penalty kill produced its second consecutive perfect weekend at Michigan State on Dec. 11-12, going 6-for-6. UW ranks second in the Big Ten with an 87.9 percent penalty kill (51-for-58).
• Nationally, UW's penalty kill ranks ninth in the country.
• The Badger power play ranks 14th in the country at 22.4 percent (13-for-58).
• Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik (La Grange, Illinois) has taken the reigns with 13 consecutive starts between the pipes for the Badgers.
The rookie is 4-6-4 with a 3.13 goals-against average, .900 save percentage and one shutout in 15 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 107 games. Only fellow senior defenseman Kevin Schulze (White Bear Lake, Minn.), who has played in 129 games, has played in more.
• Two other Badgers could play in their 100th career games this season as junior forwards Jedd Soleway (86 GP) and Grant Besse (84 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 106-86 on faceoffs (.552) to lead the Badgers and rank 74th 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 ranks 15th in the country with a 2.25 blocks-per-game average, turning aside 36 shots in 16 contests. Teammate Eddie Wittchow is tied for fifth with 2.56 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 Barbara, 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.
2014–15 vs. 2015–16
• Wisconsin has matched its win total from last year's 35-game season through the first 16 games. UW is 4-7-5 this year.
• Wisconsin scored 15 power-play goals last season (15-for-129 in 35 games) and already has 13 power-play tallies this year (13-for-58 in 16 games).
• Wisconsin scored 59 total goals last season in 35 games. The Badgers have 44 goals in 16 games this season.
• Four Badgers scored at least five goals last season (Besse - 11, Soleway - 7, LaBate - 6, Zulinick - 5), while UW has already matched that total this season (Kunin - 6, Wagner - 5, Davison - 5, Freytag - 5).
• Wisconsin's defensemen finished with 11 total goals last year, and have 10 so far this year (Davison - 5, Linhart - 4, Schulze - 1).
• Wisconsin has had 25 total multi-point games this season, with 12 total players registering at least one multi-point outing through 16 games. The 25 multi-point games this year already surpasses the 22 multi-point outputs from the 2014-15 season in 35 games.
UP NEXT
• Wisconsin returns to regular-season action and Big Ten play with a series at the Kohl Center against Ohio State on Jan. 8 and 9. Both games are currently slated for 7 p.m. starts.
