A chaos-filled end to regular season play drastically changed the Big Ten Tournament bracket before Saturday’s action.
Four weeks ago, Wisconsin’s women’s hockey team travelled to Bemidji, Minnesota sporting a 16-game unbeaten streak against the Beavers — and promptly dropped the series opener 2-1.
The struggling Badgers (5-8-5 Big Ten, 9-14-5 overall) travel to No. 15 Notre Dame (8-8-2 Big Ten, 15-10-3 overall) this weekend, hoping to snap a four-game winless streak.
75 seconds into the game, Sophie Shirley got a step on her defender, turned the corner and crashed the net with the puck on her stick. The freshman forward crashed into Minnesota State goalie Abigail Levy and though the initial shot didn’t go, a second attempt forced it across the goal line.
In his three years with Wisconsin, Mark Johnson racked up a program-record 125 goals through a combination of accurate shooting, elite skating, smart play with the puck and timely hockey instincts.
When athletic director Barry Alvarez hired Tony Granato to replace Mike Eaves as head coach of the Wisconsin men’s hockey team, the reception inside and outside the program was nearly unanimous: The Badgers had swung big, and got their guy.
As Wisconsin headed to East Lansing for its road test against Michigan State, the focus inside and outside of the locker room was on how the Badgers (5-6-5 Big Ten, 9-12-5 overall) would handle their second meeting with the Spartans (6-8-4, 10-13-5) elite top line without the ability to dictate line matchups.
At the start of head coach Tony Granato’s tenure, Wisconsin went into opposing teams’ buildings and played like they had slept the night in their own beds. The Badgers went 14-13-1 away from Madison in the first two years under Granato — better than their 15-18-4 record in the Kohl Center — despite traveling to some of the toughest road environments in college hockey.
Twice on Friday night Wisconsin fell behind against against Notre Dame, and twice it came charging back. After Will Johnson poked in a rebound of his own shot with 12 minutes left in regulation to tie the game at four goals a side, it looked like the Badgers had managed to grab at least a tie from the jaws of defeat.
Even Wisconsin’s (4-3-3 Big Ten, 8-9-3 overall) magic on Saturday night couldn’t save them from losing another tough game to No. 8 Denver (4-4-0 NCHC, 12-4-2 overall).
At least Wisconsin has hockey, right? After a disappointing day from both men’s basketball and volleyball, both the men's and women’s hockey teams came out of the day with dominant victories.
For the second time in two games, Wisconsin jumped out to a big lead early in the second period, before letting its opponent roar back into the game. And for the second time in two games, the Badgers clamped down defensively in the final period and got some clutch scoring to turn a would-be nailbiter into an ultimately comfortable win.
In the two-plus seasons since head coach Tony Granato took the program’s reins, Wisconsin’s men’s hockey team has been defined as much by the depth of its lows as by the height of its highs. The Badgers have claimed a win over the country’s top team and suffered an embarrassing home loss against one of the worst. Last season, they were the only team in the Big Ten to beat all six of the conference’s other teams, but also suffered a loss against all six as well.
No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey (17-1-0 overall, 7-1-0-0 WCHA) starts its three-week away series with a matchup against St. Cloud (5-13-1 overall, 2-10-0-0 WCHA) this weekend. With 21 points so far in the WCHA, the Badgers will look to close the gap to conference leaders Minnesota and Ohio State in their return to conference play, which was broken up by series against Harvard and Syracuse.
For the first time since returning from a right leg injury, redshirt senior forward Emily Clark scored. Three times.
Officially, it’ll go down as a tie. The unranked Wisconsin Badgers (1-3-3 Big Ten, 5-7-3 overall) matched up against the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions (2-2-1, 10-3-1) Friday night, and after three periods and an overtime session the official score ended in a 3-3 tie.
The Wisconsin women’s hockey team (15-1-0 overall, 7-1-0 overall) hosts the Syracuse Orange (4-10-0 overall, 4-3-0 CHA) for the first time at LaBahn Arena this weekend.
When asked what stands out about Ohio State this season, head coach Tony Granato had a simple answer. “Twenty-six, is that his number?”
After a bye week, the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team (5-1-0 WCHA, 11-1-0 overall) looks to take on the unranked Bemidji State Beavers (2-5-1-0 WCHA, 2-9-1 overall) this weekend.
Everything was going well for the Badgers. Until it went really, really bad. The No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers (0-1-0 Big Ten, 4-5-0 overall) were cruising, up two goals to none on the No. 16 Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-0-0, 2-4-0) midway through the second period when all hell broke loose on the ice.
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