Men’s hockey travels to St. Cloud State for series

Hockey | admin | November 20, 2009 at 7:22 pm

Wisconsin (6-3-1, 4-3-1 WCHA) looks to carry over its momentum from a 5-1-0 home stand when it visits St. Cloud State (4-4-2, 3-2-1 WCHA) for games on Friday and Saturday.

The Badgers enter the weekend after earning a home sweep over Alaska Anchorage. The UW offense got contributions from nearly everybody in 5-1 and 6-2 victories. Leading the way were senior forwards Aaron Bendickson and Ben Street, who each posted two-goal games last Friday and Saturday, respectively.

It is a new week, however, and the Badgers return to the National Hockey Center, where they split a series with the Huskies during the 2008-09 campaign. The Badgers dropped a 6-2 contest to SCSU almost exactly a year ago, before winning 1-0 to salvage a split.

The National Hockey Center has been a familiar place for the Badgers in recent years as each of the previous three series between the Badgers and Huskies have been played in the building. The Badgers have gone 2-4-0 in those contests.

It is expected that Brett Bennett will start in goal for the Badgers on Friday, while the rest of lineup will look very similar to Wisconsin’s lineup from last weekend.

The Badgers hope to success similar to last weekend, as well. The Badgers are outshooting opponents 39.4 to 21.8 on average this season and in victories have outscored opponents 31-7. The team owns a 38-19 in all contests.

Helping the edge in shots and goals has been the most balanced scoring attack in the nation. Nineteen different Badgers have scored goals this season, more than any other school in the nation. Junior Patrick Johnson and freshmen Craig Smith and Justin Schultz each collected their first goals of the season last week to give every Badger who has played at least two games a goal.

This weekend’s games air live in Wisconsin on Charter Extra 87, a channel on Charter’s digital service. A video stream is available for a fee at b2livetv.com. The games will air live on the radio on the Wisconsin Radio Network with Brian Posick and Mike Cerniglia. Friday’s game can be heard in the Madison area on WIBA-AM 1310, while Saturday’s contest airs on WTSO-AM 1070. A live audio stream is available for a fee at UWBadgers.com.

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