Morning State Sports Briefs: Kohl Center ice sheet named "Bob Johnson Rink"
Wisconsin Sports-- The home ice for the University of Wisconsin hockey teams was named this morning in honor of three-time national champion men’s coach Bob Johnson. Twenty-two former players made gifts in order to secure the naming rights.
MADISON - The home ice for the University of Wisconsin hockey teams was named this morning in honor of three-time national champion men’s coach Bob Johnson. Twenty-two former players made gifts in order to secure the naming rights.
One of the contributors, Steve Alley, called it quote, “a well-deserved tribute to our legendary coach.” "Badger Bob" Johnson, a.k.a. "The Hawk" coached the Wisconsin men’s program for 15 years – and he led Wisconsin to seven NCAA men’s tournaments and championships in 1973, ’77, and ’81. He also coached Team USA in the 1976 Olympic Games, plus numerous other international competitions. Johnson also coached Calgary and Pittsburgh in the NHL, and he led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup title in 1991 before he died from brain cancer later that year.
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The UW-Green Bay men's basketball team will play its home regular season finale tonight against Cleveland State. The Phoenix are 7-8 in the Horizon League and 12-14 overall. But they've won two straight and five-of-their-last-seven, as they try to secure a home game for next week's conference tournament. Green Bay is one-and-a-half games behind UW-Milwaukee for the final hosting spot. Cleveland State is in second place at 10-5, with a 20-8 overall record. And the Vikings beat Green Bay by 10 earlier this year in Cleveland. But Green Bay is 11-2 at home -- and a win tonight would give the Phoenix only its second two-loss home campaign in 10 years at the Resch Center. Both teams have standout freshmen. Green Bay's Kiefer Sykes leads all Horizon League freshmen in points and assists, and has averaged almost 15 points a game since December 30th. Cleveland's Anton Grady averages almost seven-rebounds in his league contests.
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At least a few national observers believe Wisconsin clinched its 14th straight NCAA men's basketball tournament berth with its home win over Penn State on Sunday. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports.com says the Badgers could lose the rest of their games and still make the 68-team field next month. Not many think that will happen -- but if the Badgers do struggle, Palm says they could be seeded as low as ninth. And if they do well, they could get as high as a three-seed on Selection Sunday. The Badgers are 20-7 overall and 9-5 in an extremely competitive Big Ten. Wisconsin is two games off the conference lead with two weeks left, but they're still fourth behind Ohio State, Michigan, and front-running Michigan State. The Badgers are 24th in the RPI Rankings, and will play at Iowa on Thursday night. The Marquette University men are back at No. 10 in both national polls and eighth in the RPI. The Golden Eagles will host Rutgers tomorrow night. The UW-Green Bay women dropped one place to 12th in the new AP poll. They'll host Valparaiso on Thursday night.
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UW-Whitewater moved up one place to eighth in the new national men's Division-Three poll from D3hoops.com. The Warhawks are 22-3 overall, and they won the WIAC regular season title this past weekend. Stevens Point dropped eight spots to Number-20, after losing to Stout and Eau Claire last week. River Falls dropped out of the Top-25, after being 19th a week ago. But the Falcons still received votes. Hope College of Michigan remains the men's Number-One.
In the D3hoops.com women's poll, Stevens Point dropped two spots to Number-12. Eau Claire jumped six places to 16th. River Falls went down three places to 21st. And Whitewater rose two places to No. 23. Amherst of Massachusetts is still atop the women's poll.
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Three players from Wisconsin made the national Division III Teams-of-the-Week from D3hoops.com Ben Wisniewski of Edgewood made the men's national squad, while Callie Halama of Eau Claire and Alyssa Jensen of Alverno in Milwaukee made the national women's team. Wisniewski, a senior guard, scored 35 points in 40 minutes of consecutive play against Concordia-Mequon and Concordia-Chicago. Halama, a senior forward, had career highs of 27 points and 13 rebounds against Stevens Point -- and she made all nine of her shots from the floor and the free throw line against Platteville. Jensen, a senior forward, scored a career-high 19 points against Maranatha Baptist -- and she then topped that with 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against Marian.
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The Green Bay Packers said today that about 17,000 shares of stock remain available until the end of the month – and fans in Canada can buy them for the first time. Team officials said they’ve cleared some regulatory hurdles to make the stock available to Cheeseheads north-of-the-border. Packers’ CEO Mark Murphy said the team has had a lot of interest from its fans in Canada. They’ll pay $250 a share, just like Americans – but the fans in Canada will pay $10 more in handling costs, for a total of $35. The Packers made 30,000 more shares available in December, and they almost sold out their original allotment of 250,000 If the Packers sell all its outstanding stock, they’ll raise around $70-million – or about half the cost of the team’s current expansion of Lambeau Field.
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Saint Norbert will host UW-Eau Claire on Saturday night in the men’s semi-finals of the Division-Three Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. UW-Stevens Point will play at Saint Scholastica of Duluth in the other semi on Saturday. Top-seeded Saint Norbert earned a first-round bye, while the other three teams won their opening two-game series this past weekend. Sixth-seeded Eau Claire upset Number-three River Falls. Second-seeded Saint Scholastica and the Number-four Pointers were favored in their first-round victories.
Meanwhile, the field is set for the NCHA women’s hockey playoffs. Eight teams will compete in quarter-final contests, but the dates and times were not set as of this morning. Top-seeded River Falls will host Eau Claire. No. 2 Superior is at home against Saint Norbert. Third-seeded Adrian of Michigan will entertain Stevens Point. And Number-four Lake Forest will be at home against Saint Scholastica.
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Carroll University was the top Wisconsin men’s finisher, and Lawrence was the top women’s finisher at the Midwest Conference swim meet held at Appleton during the weekend. Carroll placed third in the men’s competition. Alex Mishun of Carroll was named the men’s “Diver of the Meet,” after he took first in the one-meter event and second in the three-meters. Mishun was the only Wisconsin athlete to receive one of the top honors. Grinnell of Iowa won its 11th straight team title, and Lake Forest of suburban Chicago was second. Lake Forest won the women’s crown for the first time in 13 years, and Grinnell was second. Monmouth of Illinois was third, and Lawrence – the host school – was fourth.
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The University of Wisconsin softball team is 2-2 after its opening weekend of play. The Badgers shut out Drake 8-0 in six innings yesterday, before losing to Arkansas 5-1. Both games were part of the South Florida Tournament in Tampa. Cassandra Darrah won the Sunday opener for the Badgers, giving up three hits in six innings. Meghan McIntosh lost the final game, giving up five runs on seven hits in five-and-a-third innings.
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SCORES
Wisconsin boys' high school basketball
Ashland 42, Northland Pines 35
Augusta 64, Colby 58
Baldwin-Woodville 68, Spooner 40
Benton 47, Platteville 45
Crandon 52, Elcho 32
Cuba City 71, Mineral Point 45
Delafield St. John's Northwestern 82, Living Word Lutheran 50
Eau Claire Regis 72, Altoona 53
Ellsworth 61, Plum City 45
Fall Creek 66, Stanley-Boyd 48
Gilman 76, Granton 26
Manitowoc Lutheran 50, Sevastopol 38
Nekoosa 76, Black River Falls 37
New Holstein 61, Chilton 50
Onalaska Luther 88, Hillsboro 51
Osseo-Fairchild 56, Cadott 52
Owen-Withee 48, Loyal 45
Royall 67, Port Edwards 35
Spencer 57, Neillsville 47
West Bend West 58, Kettle Moraine Lutheran 48
Whitefish Bay 54, South Milwaukee 39
Wild Rose 52, Adams-Friendship 32
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Girls' high school basketball
Albany 54, Johnson Creek 25
Blair-Taylor 61, Onalaska Luther 58
Brookwood 52, De Soto 30
Campbellsport 64, Two Rivers 50
Drummond 56, Siren 47
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 58, Lake Holcombe 39
Elkhorn 80, Oregon 64
Franklin 66, East Troy 62
Gilman 40, Granton 21
Gilmanton 53, New Auburn 12
Green Bay Preble 86, Kiel 70
Kenosha Christian Life 63, Brookfield Academy 52
Lomira 72, Milwaukee Heritage Christian 59
Menominee Michigan 48, Wausaukee 34
New Glarus 41, Barneveld 40
New Lisbon 45, Mauston 28
Oneida Nation 53, Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 35
Rio 55, Williams Bay 37
Suring 67, White Lake 40
Wausau Newman 56, Edgar 48
Winter 54, Luck 42
Wonewoc-Center 56, La Farge 27
Tags: wisconsin sports, sports, proam, badgers, packers
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