Hard to believe it but the semester is almost underway again at Wisconsin, meaning football season is almost underway as well (in fact this will be the first time the semester will begin before the football season begins since 2005).

This will be my last post, but Adam is bringing on a couple of new guys to write for the blog, and I'll still be contributing to podcasts. I must personally say that Adam's 9-3 prediction seems a little lofty for a team with an extremely iffy situation at quarterback, with a competition between two guys that have played a combined total of like 15 snaps in college. I'll go 7-5, (4-4 in Big Ten) with the one non-conference loss coming this weekend against Northern Illinois. I'll (try to) defend that more on this week's podcast.

UW preparing to play opener without Moffitt and Nagy - JSOnline

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Graham, Maragos, Schofield and Turner named captains

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Turner likes captain role most of all

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Success starts in the middle

BadgerBeat.com - Baggot: UW's financial fate rests on football team's shoulder pads

How the season probably won't shape up, but my predictions nonetheless:

Sep 5- Northern Illinois - Loss

September 12- Fresno State - Win

September 19- Wofford - Win

September 26- Michigan State- Win

October 3- At Minnesota - Loss

October 10 - At Ohio State- Loss

October 17- Iowa- Win

October 31- Purdue- Win

November 7- At Indiana- Win

November 14- Michigan- Loss

November 21- At Northwestern- Loss

December 5- At Hawaii- Win

It's almost football season. 

The news out of Badger camp stayed negative, following the accusations out of the Pleasant camp that Bielema treated Aubrey unfairly in his suspension and that "lawyers have been contacted", on Tuesday when junior left tackle Gabe Carimi injured his knee toward the end of practice.

Head Coach Bret Bielema posted on his twitter account after practice that "mild knee (injury) that will keep him out for less than two weeks."

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Carimi suffers 'mild' knee injury...An account and report by Tom Mulhern of the injury.

Offensive line hurt again - JSOnline...Jeff Potrykus' report

Fall practice report No. 10 - UWBadgers.com (Tuesday)

"The Badgers were back to just one practice on Tuesday after holding two-a-days on Saturday and Monday (media day on Sunday meant no practice). The team was still in full pads though as they practiced for 27 periods, or roughly two and one half hours."

Practice report No. 8 & 9 - UWBadgers.com (Monday)

"The morning practice consisted of a number of "team" sessions (11-on-11), some skelly work and goal-line drills along with the usual position work. The team also practiced various special teams formations, including a kick-off drill where the JUGS passing machine emulated the kick-off. Back to receive for the Badgers were Nick Toon, Antonio Fenelus, David Gilreath and Isaac Anderson."

"Monday night’s practice also began with position drills including defensive pods, where two members of the defensive line match up against three offensive linemen to help recognize run blocks, the linebackers worked in one-on-one coverage against the running backs and offensive coordinator Paul Chryst got in on the action when the quarterbacks and receivers were working on end zone routes. Chryst, along with a few of the team’s managers, covered the receivers as they ran into the end zone."

Fall practice report Nos. 6 and 7 - UWBadgers.com (Saturday)

"Officials made their first appearance of fall camp during the morning session. They started during period seven as the team went to an 11-on-11 drill. While the twos were on the field, cornerback Aaron Henry was on the sidelines talking with the referee about what constitutes a pass interference call. Henry, a very physical cornerback, must not have gotten an answer he liked because he was called for that same penalty later in practice."

"The night practice lasted for 22 periods, or roughly two hours, and the first four periods were spent in individual drills. Wide receivers worked on pushing the blocking sled in a straight line, simulating downfield blocking. Wide receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander emphasized keeping your hips low and your hands below your eyes. The receiving corps also worked on keeping their feet in bounds by running out patterns starting from the numbers. Meanwhile, the linebackers worked with the running backs on 1-on-1 pass coverage

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The most interesting report from camp comes from Mulhern, discussing the fact that redshirt freshman quarterback Curt Phillips has been doing quite well in fall camp:

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Phillips first in QB rotation

Jeff Potrykus concurs:

Quarterback tussle is tight - JSOnline 

More news

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Brown making case for more carries

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Practice report

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Friend's death created second thoughts for recruit

Player of the last three days: Nick Toon

"After sweeping the offensive plays of the day yesterday during two-a-days, Nick Toon gets the hat trick with another spectacular grab today. During the half-line skelly drill, Toon raced down the west sideline. The defender covering him fell down, forcing Toon to make a diving, over the shoulder catch which left him nearly parallel to the ground." (report from Tuesday)

Practice schedule: The Badgers are back for another two-a-day today, with the first at 9:30 AM and the second at 7:40 PM.

While the Wisconsin Badgers ventured into full pad mode for the first time in fall camp, the excitement was quickly dimmed this morning with the announcement by Wisconsin Athletic Communications that senior safeties Shane Carter and Aubrey Pleasant were suspended indefinitely by head coach Bret Bielema.

Here's the release:

"Aubrey Pleasant and Shane Carter, both senior defensive backs with the Wisconsin football program, have been indefinitely suspended from the team, head coach Bret Bielema announced Saturday.
 
Pleasant has made 80 career tackles in 41 appearances (14 starts). Carter has played in 37 games (20 starts) for the Badgers and registered 98 tackles and nine interceptions."

Obviously very vague, but expect Bret Bielema to explain it, or at least be asked about it, at practice today.

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers football: Carter, Pleasant suspended (the first beat to mention the suspensions this morning)

Fall practice report No. 5 - UWBadgers.com

Friday's full pad practice lasted about two and a half hours according to the report.

"On the defensive side of things, the defensive lineman worked on fending off cut blocks, while the freshmen defensive lineman got personal instruction from head coach Bret Bielema. The linebackers tried to improve their lateral movement as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Dave Doeren pointed in a certain direction that they then had to follow. The secondary focused on reading the quarterback’s body movement as a key for where he might pass, while they later worked on positioning against a receiver so as to alter his route."

Taylor misses 1st day of full pads because of hamstring injury - JSOnline

Player of the Day: Cornerback Aaron Henry

According to UWBadgers.com's report, Henry had three interceptions in practice, including a pick on a 15-yard out pattern by Isaac Anderson.

Furthermore, with the news of Carter and Pleasant's suspensions, it's good to see positive news out of the secondary. It's hard to believe that Henry has three years of eligibility left. Expect big things out of him this season, if he can stay healthy.

Practice Schedule:

Today (Day 6): First two-a-day practice of the season. First one is at 9:30 AM, with the second at 7:40 PM. Full pads again. Reminder: Bielema will speak after the first practice, so hopefully we'll find out some details on the suspensions.

As expected, the press conference held at Camp Randall Stadium this morning was to announce the title sponsor of the Camp Randall Hockey Classic, Culver's. The event is now known as the Culver's Camp Randall Hockey Classic.

While it is not a national sponsor, it is a pretty modest backer for the event.

During the press conference, Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said "We believe this will be a statewide event." This is significantly different than the world record rhetoric we heard back when the Classic was announced in the winter.

In any case, when discussing the event with your friends, make sure you call it the "Culver's Camp Randall Hockey Classic", or else.

When the University of Wisconsin announced that it would be scheduling the Camp Randall Hockey Classic for February, 2010, it did so with the goal of breaking the world attendance record for an outdoor hockey game, currently at 74,544.

"I imagine playing outside at Camp Randall will be the same type of thing. It will be something they remember the rest of their lives and the fact that we can do it on our campus, and have an opportunity to set a record, that would be very, very cool. I think with the announcement there will be great excitement. I know our guys will be excited," Badger men's hockey coach Mike Eaves said in the Journal Sentinel story.

When University of Wisconsin Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced on WTSO in late May that the projected attendance for the classic was 40,000, it appeared that the world record goal would fall very short.

Continue reading this post »

Wisconsin's men's hockey team won its sixth national title with a 2-1 win over Boston College at the Bradley Center.

The victory capped a season in which the Badgers displayed the nation's best goaltender, and utilized its go to forwards to perfection.

Continue reading this post »

So far so good for Wisconsin hockey through two games in an important weekend at the Kohl Center.

Last night in the first game of a best-of-three first round WCHA series, the Badger men's team jumped all over Minnesota State to take a 7-1 win and 1-0 series lead.

Continue reading this post »

For how long the hockey season is (it's been over five months since Wisconsin played in its first game this season), it flies by. As I sit here in the second level of the Kohl Center, I am reminded by some of the memorable things I have seen whiz by before my eyes this season. Impressive individual efforts (Derek Stepan's two shorthanded goals last weekend), good team efforts (the sweep at Minnesota), and missed opportunities (two blown third period leads at Minnesota State, a late lead given away against Denver, and the worst, the three goal third period lead given away to Northern Michigan which resulted in a 6-5 OT loss).

Continue reading this post »

After chance after chance...after chance of being able to improve its WCHA standing, the Wisconsin Badgers will look to finally seal home ice in the WCHA playoffs when they host the North Dakota Fighting Sioux this weekend at the Kohl Center.

Let's recap what has happened in the past few weekends for Wisconsin. After going to Minnesota and sweeping the Gophers, the Badgers have given away three third period leads, and have come away with one point in the process of doing just that.

North Dakota is looking to clinch its 14th MacNaughton Cup, and can earn a share of that with just one point, and with a win or two ties will earn sole possession of first place for the WCHA regular season.

Wisconsin can earn home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs with two points this weekend, no matter how.

The big news today surrounding Badger hockey, no matter what happens today, is that the plans for the outdoor game at Camp Randall have been officially unveiled.

More to come after the game, don't have time for an entirely long post tonight, so I'll check in afterwards and get more into the current WCHA picture.

Tune in live at 7 PM CT for WSUM's broadcast.

The funny thing is, you knew exactly what was happening, so there was no point even allowing yourself to become emotionally invested in the outcome.

Once Tom Gorowsky's goal to put Wisconsin up 4-2 with about six minutes left in the third was waved off as a result off the senior allegedly kicking the puck into the net, the Badgers lost all momentum.

A Ryan McDonagh penalty moments later led to a power play, and, predictably, Minnesota State tied it up 3-3 late in the third on the man advantage.

Continue reading this post »

MANKATO, Minn.-- Only one phrase came to mind when I stepped foot in the Alltel Center a little while ago for the first time:

Pleasantly surprised.

via www.campusexplorer.com

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On Friday, Wisconsin played good hockey the entire game besides one minute. On Saturday, Wisconsin played good hockey for one minute.

The Badgers, reeling after their heartbreaking loss to Denver on Friday night, were outplayed at both ends of the ice on Saturday night in their 5-0 loss.

Continue reading this post »

How tough will it be to get up for another game against Denver after last night's performance?

We'll see tonight after Wisconsin gave away a 3-2 lead with 14.4 seconds left in the third period and then let in the game-winner 41 seconds into overtime to fall to the Pioneers 4-3.

Continue reading this post »

With a win tonight, the Wisconsin men's hockey team will find themselves in the same predicament as the Badger women's team, in that it will be in first place in the WCHA for the time being.

The Badgers sit one point back of first place Denver and North Dakota, and can leap over both teams by beating the Pioneers at the Kohl Center later today.

North Dakota does not play until 10 PM CT each night as it visits Alaska-Anchorage, and Wisconsin would need help from the Seawolves to leave the weekend in first place.

Continue reading this post »

ESPN.com has a poll up right now regarding whether people like their favorite team's recruiting class.

Only two states responded "no" to that question.



One of them, Washington, saw its two BCS teams win a combined two games this past season.

The other, Wisconsin, has seen its 12-1 program decline to 9-4 and then 7-6, and today did not see a recruiting class that inspired the majority.

The Badgers bring in Kraig Appleton, a WR in ESPN's top 150, who could be a good deep threat in the years to come.

Wisconsin also brings in the top fullback in the country, a guy at 6'4" 240 who seems to have the size it takes to be the bowling ball paving the way for John Clay in the year(s) to come.

But seriously, with a young coach, this is what the Badgers bring in?

Three players, THREE, inside the top 35 of their positions nationally?

Where there used to be height with offensive linemen recruits there is no longer height.

Where there used to be talent on defense there appears to be no talent.

That ESPN poll is essentially a check on whether fans like the direction their program is heading.

Apparently, this downslide that began in the 2007 season is getting worse, as this recruiting class shows no signs for optimism.

Wisconsin hosts Minnesota Duluth this weekend at the Kohl Center in a crucial WCHA match up with 10 games remaining for each team in the regular season.

The Badgers (13-10-3/10-6-2) are the only team to have beaten the Bulldogs (13-7-6/7-6-5) at the DECC this season, so if Wisconsin can translate that success to the Kohl Center, then it should be all set.

And they should be able to...Wisconsin this season is 8-4-2 in Madison while UMD is just 2-5-3 in true road games.

However, it's not so easy going up against one of the best goalies in the country. Alex Stalock, who Badger fans saw wander to all ends of the ice as a rookie two seasons ago, has calmed down somewhat and leads the WCHA in all games and league games in GAA and save pct.

The key for Wisconsin is to get on the board early against UMD. Duluth has not lost this season when leading after the first or the second period. Wisconsin, on the other hand, has had a difficult time holding late leads; the Badgers have led in the third period in 19 of 26 games, but only have 13 wins.

I'm personally most excited about seeing Duluth's power play against Wisconsin's penalty kill. The Bulldogs come in with the third best PP in the country (22.2%) while the Badgers have the fourth best PK around college hockey (89.9%). Duluth has scored on the man advantage in five straight games, so when the Badgers are in the box, watch out.

Tune into live coverage of Wisconsin hockey on WSUM's online sports stream at 7 PM CT.

Wisconsin basketball heads to Northwestern tomorrow evening. Stay tuned for our input.

Joe Krabbenhoft responded to the suggestion by Jeff Washburn of the Lafayette Journal & Courier that Krabbenhoft should be suspended by claiming he is not a dirty player.

We'll also have a hockey preview later on today, as the Badgers host the UMD Bulldogs. Todd Milewski discusses UMD playing better this season, but worse off in the standings and the PairWise rankings. Here's his preview for this weekend's series.

Andy Baggot discusses George Gwozdecky's actions during last weekend's Denver-UND series, and how the WCHA once again mishandled the situation.

More later about this weekend's hockey series.

USA Hockey announced this week that it has named Wisconsin women's hockey coach Mark Johnson as the head coach of the 2010 US Women's Olympic Hockey Team.

Johnson was one of three finalists for the position, along with Jackie Barto of Ohio State and Katey Stone of Harvard.

The word, heading into Johnson's run at the helm of the US Under-18 Team's gold medal in Germany earlier this month, was that USA Hockey would be going with either Stone or Barto, because it wanted a woman coaching the women.

How was this even a debate?

Johnson has brought his Wisconsin women's team to three straight national championship games.

Johnson's teams have won two of those games.

Johnson is a gold medal-winning US coach.

Oh yeah, Johnson lead the Miracle on Ice team in scoring in the 1980 Olympic Games.

But let's stick to coaching resumes and forget that if USA Hockey had gone with Barto or Stone, it would have completely betrayed one of its heroes.

He led his Badger team to an NCAA record 32 game unbeaten streak over two seasons, and his 2006-07 national championship team lost one game. One game.

Since taking the helm, Johnson has never lost 10 games in a season.

Katey Stone has, and has never won an NCAA championship.

Barto's Ohio State team has never threatened for a national title, and is 6-17-3 this year.

Hats off to USA Hockey, but this really never should have been a discussion.

Rob Schultz has Wisconsin basketball as barely alive after last night's 64-63 loss against Purdue. Tom Ziemer has the Badgers losing another agonizing game. Mark Stewart notes a gap of seven minutes without a basket in the first half and another five minute period without apoints in the second. Tom Oates says that the NCAA Tournament is definitely not a sure thing now. Aaron Brenner has Robbie Hummel and Chris Kramer stepping up in the final minutes. And Mike Lucas has Keaton Nankivil contributing in a big way in the losing effort.

In more positive news, Mark Johnson has been selected to coach the women's US Olympic Team in 2010 in Vancouver. More on this later in the day.

And Jim Polzin discusses another QB recruit from Illinois.

That was a case of the team with identity winning.

Wisconsin had Purdue on its heels. It had clawed back from a six point halftime deficit and had a five point advantage with just over three minutes. Right as Brent Musburger said something along the lines of "Hold on folks, this is NOT done, this Purdue team is too talented, TOO TALENTED folks to not put up a fight," the comeback commenced.

Keaton Grant hit a three. So did Chris Kramer. and Robbie Hummel. And that was it. Purdue never looked back. Hummel, the guy responsible for making the Kohl Center look vulnerable last season, help show again that your arena is only as good as you are.

The true difference down the stretch? Identity. The Boilermakers had reliable guys firing from downtown when it needed it most, guys it knew had a good chance at coming through for them. Wisconsin's last gasp effort down by two with under ten seconds involved its inexperienced freshman point guard wildly throwing the ball up with his left hand in the lane with eight seconds left.

At this point, the Badgers have absolutely no clue who to go to in that situation. I understand Jordan Taylor hit a couple of big shots against Iowa, and hasn't turned the ball over much in the Big Ten season, but that is really the best you can come up with? A team that starts two seniors, two juniors, and a sophomore, and you're having a freshman guard throwing up a prayer in the lane to tie it up?

And that's what it is. Purdue knew what it needed, knew who to go to, and converted down the stretch. After Adam Hoge speculated that the Badgers might not make the tournament, it appears as now that they are definitely on the outside looking in.

Although he was benched down the stretch in Wisconsin's loss at Iowa, Trevon Hughes appears to be the starting point guard, according to Tom Ziemer.

Mike Lucas has Barry Alvarez giving advice to former Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski.

Todd Milewski has the Badger hockey team taking advantage of their week off.

And Andy Baggot gives credit to the UW Athletic Department for not raising ticket prices.

The WCHA voted last week to temporarily lift the moratorium on its expansion until the end of March. This would allow for one or two teams to enter play in the conference in the next few years. However, does the WCHA really benefit from this from a competition stance?

As it stands, WCHA teams only play five other teams four times throughout a season, while they play the other four just once. Adding a team or two to the conference simply lessens the amount of games played between current WCHA teams...which means we get to see less of CC and Denver and North Dakota etc. each season, while adding the likes of a Bemidji State to the docket.

Furthermore, by doing this the WCHA ruins rivalries. I mention Wisconsin already not getting to play North Dakota four times depending on the season...every time the Sioux have been in Madison the past few seasons the series have been fantastic. You're telling me these teams are always supposed to play two games in one season, have good end to end action all game...and that's it...and then we have to deal with going to Bemidji State instead of the Ralph?

And that's really my argument...how is this possibly good for competition? Sure it might help a struggling Bemidji State program...but what motive does the WCHA and its teams to allow one more program?

I'm no longer making predictions for the fear of looking stupid. I was going to pick Iowa, and didn't because I didn't want to look openly biased against Wisconsin or anything. That stage is over with. But seriously, I think last night's game was the worst played/dullest close game I've ever seen. Even with Jordan Taylor hitting a 45 footer to send the game into overtime.

These are the recaps from the State Journal, the Capital Times, and the Journal Sentinel.

Tom Ziemer of the State Journal also provides additional thoughts on the loss.

Mark Stewart of the Journal Sentinel has Jordan Taylor regaining confidence.

Aaron Brenner of the Cap Times has reserve center David Palmer coming up big for Iowa.

Mike Lucas answers questions about Wisconsin's loss at Iowa in a conversational piece with Brenner.

Using the transitive property, Wisconsin beat the top team in the country last night. So at least one good thing happened for the Badger basketball program yesterday.

Dave Heller of the Journal Sentinel has Allen Langford being one of the top CBs in the Big Ten.

Andy Baggot of the State Journal has former Badger forward Robbie Earl being traded from the Toronto organization to Minnesota.

Well, Wisconsin tries to rebound from its loss at home last Thursday when it plays Iowa in Iowa City tonight. Here is the Wisconsin State Journal's preview.

Ziemer also talks to Trevon Hughes about his battles with turnovers, as does Mark Stewart of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Rob Schultz of the Capital Times has Badger forward Keaton Nankivil trying to explain his recent struggles.

Tom Mulhern of the State Journal has former Badger guard Ben Hebert becoming the football team's new strength and conditioning coach.

Andy Baggot talks to John Jentz, UW's associate athletic director for finance, about the stay in ticket prices in Madison.

And Todd Milewski of the Cap Times has his Badger recruit and alumni report.

Prediction's for tonight Wisconsin/Iowa game to come.

Not too much going on in the world of Badger sports in the lead up to tomorrow evening's game basketball game at Iowa.

Benjamin Worgull gives his Big Ten power rankings on Badger Nation...you will need an account to read Ben's interpretation of Big Ten play so far.

Matt Lepay has posted a blog listing the toughest places to play in the Big Ten. Matt leaves the Kohl Center off the list...judging by Wisconsin's performance at home as of late, I think that's a good move on his part.

Tom Ziemer takes a look at this week's Big Ten games. Can't wait for the Purdue/Minnesota game on Wednesday night. Tom also looks at Evan Anderson, an Eau Claire North center scheduled to join the Badgers for the 2010-2011 season.

And Todd Milewski shows that the Badger men's hockey team stayed at 16 in the USCHO.com poll, and he shows how he voted.

Predictions for Wisconsin's game at Iowa coming tomorrow...stay tuned.

Well like I said in my prediction, the difference in the series would be Richard Bachman, the goalie for Colorado College who was the WCHA Player and Rookie of the Year last season. I also recall predicting that he would be chased from the game about 2 minutes into the third period in Friday night's game. Back to reality, that was a huge shock, as Wisconsin went on to beat one of the best defensive teams in the conference 6-1 in the series opener. So when Wisconsin jumped out to a 2-0 lead on its first two shots Saturday, it looked like the Badgers might roll again to a large victory, but the Tigers took a 3-2 in a span of 2:12 in the second period, and then struck with under four minutes left in the third to break a 3-3 tie and go on to win 4-3 and salvage the split.

As Todd Milewski of the Capital Times explained before the weekend, all UW needs to do is play approximately .500 hockey to ensure a home series in the first round of the WCHA Tournament. Well they did just that. When they moved up from 20th to 14th in the PairWise after Friday night's win, a win Saturday would have pushed them even further up in the top 14 (it would have put them at 13). However, they're now at 17, and while they sit 2nd in the WCHA in the standings, they've played two more games than Denver, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Luckily for Wisconsin, they play two of those three teams at home in the stretch (Den, ND), and they go to Minnesota.

So, when you consider that Wisconsin moved up 3 spots this weekend, then the CC series has to be considered a success. The Badgers should root for Denver to either sweep North Dakota, or the teams to split, because #1 in the WCHA is not as big of a concern as a top 5 spot, and the Fighting Sioux are right on their back.

Going back to this past weekend, the Badgers played fairly well. Friday they were lucky in the sense that CC had two or three great scoring chances in the first period and did not record a shot on any of them. That was the difference in the game, Wisconsin capitalizing on its chances and CC doing the opposite. Bachman gave up a few too many rebounds on shots he normally holds onto, and Wisconsin was able to take advantage of that. Saturday, Wisconsin just did not have the energy they had the night before, and while they jumped out 2-0 on two Cody Goloubef drives from the middle point, they really did not play that well and had five power play chances with the score tied at 3 and were unable to do anything. However, Wisconsin did notch its 32nd and 33rd power play goals, which puts the Badgers past the 32 tallies it notched on the man advantage last season.

Badgers off this weekend, and I don't know what to do with myself. However, this second half schedule is amazing. CC already in town, Duluth here in two weekends, at Mariucci, Denver in town, at Mankato (a place Wisconsin never plays well), and then NoDak at the KC to close things out. No matter what happens, the last five series will be eventful. Ten playoff games in a row before the playoffs actually start. What more could you want?

Wisconsin 12-9-3/9-5-2 vs. Colorado College 12-7-5/8-6-2

Both Wisconsin and Colorado College share one thing in common heading into this weekend's series. They're both on the outside of the NCAA Tournament and looking in. The WCHA standings are not indicative whatsoever of the NCAA PairWise rankings. Wisconsin sits in the second spot in the WCHA standings, while CC is third, but in the PairWise rankings, Wisconsin is tied for 20th, six spots away from that 14th and last spot, while CC is at 17th.

The key to this series will be Richard Bachman, CC's sophomore goaltender. Last season he came to Madison and delivered the most impressive performance I have ever seen live by a goaltender, stopping 43 of 44 Badger shots over the two games...the lone goal came on a fluke play which saw Sean Dolan swat at the puck in midair and go past Bachman 13 seconds into the game. I thought that Dolan touched it with a high stick but in the WCHA the only angle a referee can view is the birdseye camera above the goal...so essentially on any high stick review the goal will stand because it's impossible to tell. Nonetheless, Bachman in two career starts in Madison has been impressive. With Wisconsin's lack of an elite scorer, he could be in for a big series.

Also, we'll begin the Chad Rau watch this weekend. He's been held without a shorthanded goal this season, but last season he did something almost unheard of...scoring a shorthanded goal in all four games against Wisconsin. The Eden Prairie, Minn. native led the nation with six shorthanded goals.

By the way, CC has a six game winning streak against Wisconsin. The last time the Badgers beat the Tigers was out in Colorado Springs in January of 2006, when Wisconsin won 9-1. That was the weekend before Brian Elliott got hurt in practice and missed a large portion of the second half of the season before returning and leading the Badgers to their sixth NCAA championship.

When and Where: Kohl Center, Friday at 7 CT, Saturday at 6 CT
Tune in at: http://vu.wsum.net/sports (WSUM Student Radio's live sports stream)...the Badger Herald's Tyler Mason and I have the call...we'll have interviews with Badger players Derek Stepan and Cody Goloubef tonight and tomorrow.
Prediction: Friday...Colorado College 3, Wisconsin 1, Saturday...Wisconsin 2, Colorado College 0
Interesting to note that: Colorado College won its first game on a Friday since mid-October last weekend when it beat Minnesota State 5-2 at World Arena.

I'll leave the constructive criticism of tonight's game up to Hoge. Hockey preview to come tomorrow. CC in town for a big series between two teams on the outside of the NCAA Tournament looking in...should be a good series.

As you’ll find out in the coming posts in this blog, I’m not too into the whole "going to the game to get drunk and be there for the social aspect" idea. I’m more of a fan of showing up on time and watching the game, as absurd as that may sound to many UW fans. In the last two years I’ve been to like five total games as a fan and the rest as either a writer or a broadcaster, so maybe I’ve been shut out from the fun of being a fan. Nonetheless, I am not as excited as many are and will be about the proposed outdoor hockey game at Camp Randall in February of 2010. These hockey games are much less about hockey as they are being outdoors in the cold for hours at a time, and combined with the fact that people will be able to see less than they could at Lambeau, I think the UW might have trouble accomplishing their goal of a world record for attendance.

To recap, the Badgers participated in the second and most recent NCAA Division 1 outdoor hockey game in February of 2006 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, known as the Frozen Tundra Classic. I went to the game, and as unique as it was, I would not want to do it again. 40,889 other fans were informed along with me that Wisconsin defeated Ohio State 4-2. I use the word informed because frankly one could barely tell what was going on and essentially had to rely on public address announcer Bob Look to figure out when anything happened. You really just could not see that much.

Lambeau Field shut off one end of the stadium and built temporary stands on that end in order to push the rink closer to the other end to at least give fans on the ends a clue as to what was going on in the game. This reduced the game’s potential attendance and the crowd did not approach a typical Packers' football capacity crowd of 72,928. Considering the fact that early reports indicate that UW will be going for an attendance record, that would mean that the rink would be centered at Camp Randall so that they do not have to shut down one end and limit attendance.

A hockey rink is 200 feet in length, so if center ice is at midfield, each end of the rink would extend about 33 yards each way, with each end being at the respective 17 yard lines. If you’re in these end zones, that leaves you at the very least 35-40 yards from the action as the stands at UW begin about 15 yards behind the end zones. If there’s any sport that is not meant to be viewed from 300 feet away, it’s hockey, especially from behind. You could fit another half of a hockey rink between the end zone stands and the edge of the rink. I don’t like when people tell me they don’t watch hockey because they can’t see the puck, but I think it’s reasonable to not want to sit in the cold in February if you can’t see the puck, let alone see it when you're distanced from the action behind Michigan goalie Bryan Hogan. When the "Cold War" game between Michigan and Michigan State and Spartan Stadium set the current record of 74,544 in 2001, they placed the rink at midfield. However, I don’t think you could get people in those end zones to do it all over again. Badger fans have done this already, and seating will be worse at Camp Randall than it was at Lambeau. If you’re attending for the atmosphere, good...if you’re attending to watch hockey, good luck.

When you do two of these games in such a short period of time, the games lose their appeal and excitement. The Frozen Tundra game was a once and a lifetime opportunity, but now it's looking like seeing Wisconsin hockey outside might be a twice-in-five-years chance. Furthermore, looking at the students, they struggle to show up for games at Camp Randall in 50 degree weather when you actually can see the game, so I don’t know if they’ll be there in 1 degree weather when you can’t see the game. The quality of hockey fans in Madison is better than football fans, but they don't stand a chance in terms of quantity. I hope it works out and they break the attendance record for the sake of the hockey program, but I think with Wisconsin having already hosted an outdoor game, this record is made to be broken by another program whose fans have never had the experience of watching hockey outdoors, or by an NHL team on New Year's Day. You don’t want to host an outdoor game and wind up with a similar turnout to a certain game at Camp Randall involving, umm, Cal Poly. (We could open up another brand new blog solely devoted to the events of that day).

No offense Hoge. I know you’re ecstatic about it. You’re a different breed than I am, though. You went to see Wisconsin and Michigan play football at Camp Randall in September of 2005 with a collapsed lung, so I don’t think something like cold weather will stop you this time around from seeing the two teams play hockey in the dead of winter. But standing a hail mary toss from the action is something I've done before, and I think the UW might have trouble having its prayer for a new record answered.