Greetings! To introduce myself briefly, I am an impassioned fantasy baseballer of approximately one decade who has won four of his past five leagues.
No. 21 Wisconsin (2-1 Big Ten, 23-3 overall) entered last weekend’s series against Northwestern (1-2, 12-16) in Evanston with tons of momentum, riding a 12-game win streak that included a no-hitter from freshman Kaitlyn Menz just a few days earlier.
To have the greatest four-year stretch in Wisconsin basketball history end the way it did Friday night feels unfairly cruel and yet, almost heartbreakingly appropriate at the same time. The departing senior class of Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Vitto Brown and Zak Showalter will hold a special place in Badgers fans’ hearts for years to come given the crucial role they played in the program’s success over the last four seasons.
With 125 wins, two WCHA regular season championships, three conference tournament titles and four straight Frozen Four appearances, Wisconsin's senior class has had a career that most collegiate players can only dream of. Yet for as much as they've won, those six players—Sarah Nurse, Sydney McKibbon, Mikayla Johnson, Mellissa Channell, Jenny Ryan and Ann-Renée Desbiens—have always been defined as much by their failures as by their successes. While they won the WCHA, they couldn't beat Minnesota in Minneapolis.
NEW YORK—While the Florida Gators (27-8) were celebrating their 84-83 overtime victory over the Wisconsin Badgers (27-10) mere feet from the spot of Chris Chiozza’s game winning 3-point shot, Ethan Happ walked over to Zak Showalter, pulled him away from the Gators’ jubilant scrum and put his arm around Showalter’s right shoulder. “I told him that it was good,” Happ said.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Even the best game plans can fail to produce results, and even the best players can make mistakes. Wisconsin’s women’s hockey team learned those lessons the hard way in their 3-0 championship game loss to Clarkson last Sunday at the Family Arena in St.
NEW YORK — Inevitability, Wisconsin’s consistent poor free-throw shooting was going to rear its head out at the worst possible of times.
NEW YORK — After sinking a pair of free throws with four seconds to play in overtime to put Wisconsin (27-10) up two points, senior forward Nigel Hayes looked to yet again be the Badgers’ hero in March.
NEW YORK — Moments after knocking off No. 1 overall seed Villanova 65-62 in Buffalo last Saturday, No. 8 seed Wisconsin (27-9) senior forward Nigel Hayes went over to the crowd to find his family.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — It wasn’t supposed to end this way for the Wisconsin women’s hockey team.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — As Zak Showalter watched the final seconds of No. 8 seed Wisconsin’s (27-9) 65-62 win over No. 1 seed Villanova (32-4) tick off the clock, his arms shot up toward the sky.
After winning just 12 games over the last two years, Wisconsin rebounded from a dismal stretch with a 20-win season in Tony Granato’s first year at the helm.
BUFFALO — When the clock hit 0.00 redshirt senior guard Zak Showalter’s two hands shot up into the sky.
Get pucks to the net and good things will happen. It’s nearly a piece of hockey gospel; a line repeated ad nauseam by players and coaches as a way to deal with the luck inherent in their sport. And if getting pucks to the net is gospel, then Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson is one of the primary disciples.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — After picking up his fourth foul just over seven minutes into the second half, No. 8 seed Wisconsin (27-6) senior guard Bronson Koenig sulked as he headed to the bench. After the game, the senior guard said that he knew after picking up the foul, that he had to come out of the game.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — A year after rewriting the NCAA record books, Wisconsin’s senior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens became the third netminder to win women’s collegiate hockey’s most prestigious award. Desbiens was announced as the winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award Saturday, in her second year as a top-three finalist.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — When Ethan Happ, Zak Showalter and D’Mitrik Trice watched tape in preparation for No. 8 seed Wisconsin’s (26-9) matchup with No. 1 seed Villanova (32-3) Saturday afternoon, they recognized what they were seeing. “They remind us of us,” Trice said.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — After falling in the semifinals the past three seasons, No. 1 Wisconsin (33-2-4) began the season with an all-in mentality towards a national title.
The No. 2-seed Badgers (20-14-1) battled No. 3-seed Ohio State (21-11-6) for the fifth time this season and broke a 2-2 series tie with a tight one-goal victory to advance to the Big Ten Championship.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — After missing the final two games of the Big Ten Tournament due to multiple deaths in his family, sophomore swingman Khalil Iverson returned to the floor in style Thursday night. Literally.
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Solutions by The State News
