Badgers make trek west to North Dakota
November 04, 2015 | Men's Hockey
Faceoff against UND slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday
Wisconsin (2-3-3) heads west to face long-time rival North Dakota, the nation's top team, (6-0-2, 2-0-0-0 NCHC) in a two-game series on Friday and Saturday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The two teams have faced one another in each of the three years since conference realignment at the start of the 2013-14 season, but this weekend marks the first time in three years Wisconsin has traveled to Grand Forks, North Dakota. The last meetings at Ralph Engelstad Arena came in the 2012-13 season when both teams were still members of the WCHA.
| Games 9-10 | Wisconsin (2-3-3, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 North Dakota (6-0-2, 2-0-0-0 NCHC) | |
| Dates/Times | Fri., Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m. CT Sat., Nov. 7, 7 p.m. CT |
| Locations | Grand Forks, N.D. Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,640) |
| Television | Midco Sports Network |
| Video Stream | NCHC.tv ($) |
| Radio | Friday: WIBA-AM 1310 Saturday: WTSO-AM1070 (Badger Radio Network) |
| Live Audio | BadgerSportsNetwork.com |
| Live Blog | UWBadgers.com |
| Live Stats | Friday | Saturday |
| Social Media | @BadgerMHockey | Facebook  |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets (Home Games) |
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Last Meeting: L, 5-1 -- Wisconsin tied the game at one a little more than six minutes into the second period, but No. 2-ranked UND scored four unanswered goals, including three in the third period to sweep the Badgers at the Kohl Center on Nov. 8, 2014. Grant Besse scored the lone goal for the Badgers at the 6:16 mark of the second period, with Tim Davison picking up an assist on that play. That followed a 4-3 UND victory the night before. Jedd Soleway had a goal and Grant Besse had a pair of assists in that contest. Former Badger Chase Drake scored two goals that night.
Series Notes: The teams will meet for the 167th and 168th times in the all-time series, the third-most played rivalry for Wisconsin behind Minnesota (274 games played) and Colorado College (187 gp) ... UW leads the all-time series but is winless in the last seven meetings (0-6-1) with UND, dating back to a 5-4 win in Madison on Oct. 22, 2011 ... Both teams were part of the WCHA from 1969-2013 until the conference realignment for the 2013-14 season that placed UW in the Big Ten and resulted in the new NCHC ... The teams have played in each of the three seasons since they switched conferences, including a matchup in the NCAA tournament in 2014, a 5-2 UND win.
THIS WEEK IN MEN'S HOCKEY
Wisconsin (2-3-3, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) heads back on the road to face long-time rival North Dakota (6-0-2, 2-0-0-0 NCHC) with games on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m, respectively, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Wisconsin posted a sweep over Arizona State at the Kohl Center last weekend, winning 5-1 last Friday, before gaining a 2-1 victory last Saturday.
North Dakota posted a road sweep at Colorado College, taking 5-2 and 2-0 wins in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Wisconsin's sweep last weekend was its first since taking two games at Penn State on March 7-8, 2014. UW won consecutive games just once last season winning at Ohio State on Feb. 14, 2015, before grabbing a win over Michigan State at home on Feb. 20.
Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik (La Grange, Illinois) won his first two career games last weekend, evening his record at 2-2-2. He stopped 18 of 19 shots last Friday against Arizona State for his first career win in a 5-1 contest, then made 25 stops, including 16 in the third period, in a 2-1 victory over ASU last Saturday.
Jurusik now boasts a 2.84 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in seven appearances. He has allowed two goals or less in each of his last three starts.
UW scored four goals in the second period last Friday, marking the second consecutive Friday that UW tallied four goals in the second period. Prior to Oct. 23 at Ferris State, UW hadn't had a four-goal period since March 15, 2014 at Michigan State, more than a season ago.
Sophomore forward Ryan Wagner (Park Ridge, Illinois) scored goals back-to-back at 5:38 and 7:30 of the second period last Friday, giving him his first career multi-goal game and his first career game-winning tally. Wagner came within inches of a natural hat trick shortly therafter when his shot trickled behind ASU goaltender Ryland Pashovitz, but was cleared by an ASU defender before getting to the goal line.
Wagner, who shares the team lead with three goals this season, had two goals his entire freshman year.
Wagner ranks fourth on the Badgers with five points, after recording five points in 35 games his entire freshman season.
Wagner is just the third current Badger who owns a multi-goal game in his career, joining junior forward Grant Besse and sophomore forward Cameron Hughes in the multi-goal game club.
Wisconsin's 56 shots on goal last Friday against Arizona State marked its first 50 shot performance since Dec. 27, 2013 against Alabama Huntsville in a 5-0 victory at the Kohl Center.
Freshman forward Seamus Malone (Naperville, Ill.) scored his first game-winning goal last Saturday, capping his second career multi-point game and a three-point weekend. Malone answered an Arizona State goal at 14:07 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1, with a goal 3:01 later to give UW the 2-1 victory.
Malone also fired six shots in the game on Saturday to lead all skaters.
Malone's weekend effort gives him two goals and seven points on the season, good for second on the Badgers and ties him for third among Big Ten rookies, one behind the league leaders.
Freshman forward Jarod Zirbel (Green Bay, Wis.) made his collegiate debut last Friday and picked up an assist in his first game, helping set up the game-winning tally by Ryan Wagner.
Zirbel was one of eight freshman in the lineup for UW that night, a season high. UW also used eight rookies on Saturday night.
Freshman defenseman Patrick Sexton (Ottawa, Ontario) picked up an assist on UW's first goal last Friday to record his first career point. Sexton now has one assist in four games played for the Badgers.
Junior forward Grant Besse (Plymouth, Minnesota) now has points in a career-best, five consecutive contests after posting a goal and two assists last weekend against Arizona State. Besse, who leads the team with three goals and eight points in eight games this season, had a goal and an assist last Friday for his first multi-point game of the season, before earning the primary assist on UW's game-winner last Saturday in a 2-1 victory.
Besse has points in seven of UW's eight games this season.
The Badgers went 2-for-6 on the power play last Friday. The two-goal, power-play performance marked the third time this season that UW tallied twice on the power play. During the entire 2014-15 season, the Badgers had at least two power-play goals in a game on just two occasions.
UW is 8-for-36 on the power play this season, good for 22.2 percent. That ranks second among Big Ten schools and 15th in the country.
Sophomore forward Cameron Hughes scored his first goal of the season and his first in 17 games last Friday, scoring on a penalty shot in the second period. The successful penalty shot was the first for the Badgers since Mark Zengerle scored on Zach Nagelvort at Michigan on Feb. 1, 2014.
Hughes boasts a goal and three points on the season.
Four Badgers put together multi-point games last Friday night, including Grant Besse, Ryan Wagner, Luke Kunin and Tim Davison, while two Badgers did the same on Saturday, including Seamus Malone and Jedd Soleway. For Wagner and Davison, it marked their first career multi-point contests.
Freshman forward Luke Kunin had a modest three-game, point-scoring streak snapped last Saturday against ASU. Kunin had a goal, four assists and five points during the three-game stretch. Kunin owns two goals and six points on the season, good for third on the team.
Wisconsin has played each of its last eight overtime contests to ties. UW was 0-0-5 in overtime last season and is 0-0-3 this year.
The Badgers are unbeaten in their last nine overtime contests, going 1-0-8 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.
The Badgers own a total of eight game-winning goal on their roster, led by senior defenseman Kevin Schulze, who has three game-winners on his resume. Junior forward Grant Besse has scored two career game-winning tallies, while sophomore forwards Adam Rockwood and Ryan Wagner, as well as freshman forward Seamus Malone, each has notched one career winner.
Wisconsin's penalty kill went 7-for-7 last weekend against Arizona State for a perfect weekend. For the season, UW has killed 27 of its 32 penalties for an 84.4 percent mark. That ranks fourth among Big Ten schools and 27th in the country.
Last season, UW's penalty kill was 74.4 percent (96-for-129), which ranked 57th out of 59 teams in the country.
The Badgers begin 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.
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.
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.
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. Soleway went 180-129 on faceoffs. Clarkson freshman Ben Dalpe led the nation with a .642 faceoff win percentage (97-54).
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.
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).
Wisconsin will celebrate a pair of NCAA championship anniversaries this season. The 1980-81 team returns for the 35th anniversary of their title the weekend of Nov. 21, while the 2005-06 Badgers return to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the school's sixth NCAA title the weekend of Jan. 30. The UW women's team will also be celebrating their 2006 NCAA title that same weekend.
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 has its first bye weekend of the season next weekend, and returns to action at home Nov. 20-21 against Denver at the Kohl Center. Faceoff both nightsagainst the Pioneers is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The annual Skate with the Badgers is also that weekend, with the event running Sunday, Nov. 22 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
