Badger Bits: Tolzien moved by friendship with Jaxson Hinkens

Good morning all, ready for some Badger-tastic links? I sure hope so.

For Matt Lepay of UWBadgers.com, his lasting image of Saturday's win over the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes will not prominently feature David Gilreath's return for a touchdown or either of John Clay's two scores. Instead, according to his most recent entry on his blog "The Voice," Lepay's takeaway from the game will be the story of Jaxson Hinkens.

Six year old Jaxson was diagnosed with cancer late last year- Stage 4 neuroblastoma. He and his family crossed paths with Wisconsin quarterback Scott Tolzien after receiving a signed Wisconsin football helmet and meeting head coach Bret Bielema, who invited Jaxson and his family to watch the team practice. Since then, Tolzien and Jaxson have become fast friends. Tolzien visited Jaxson in the hospital frequently and watched him beat back the cancer that doctors had initially said gave him a 50% chance of survival.

Since then, Jaxson has completed in-hospital chemotherapy and is getting back to his normal life, according to Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Jaxson's story was told to a national audience last Saturday on ESPN's College GameDay, in one of the more touching pieces I have seen in a while. In case you missed the video it can be found here.

Hopefully, Jaxson's story and Scott Tolzien's involvement in helping his new friend win his battle with cancer will continue to inspire people for a long time to come.

More Badger Bits after the jump!

Manasseh Garner has made his mark on the Wisconsin special teams after Saturday's win, according to Tom Mulhern of Madison.com.

Wisconsin's celebration had to come to an abrupt end with Iowa looming this Saturday, and Jay Valai says that Iowa is a bigger rival than Minnesota:

"Iowa's a personal game. People say our rival's Minnesota, but I think Iowa's the bigger rival, to be real with you. We've got a lot of connections - a lot of us were recruited there. I committed there for two months. It's going to be a big game."

Check out the Badgers Roundtable on Ohio State and Iowa at the Journal-Sentinel, which features the 5th Quarter's very own Adam Hoge and Jake Harris!

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com has his Week 7 review/Week 8 preview up, as well as the keys for both the Badgers and the Hawkeyes heading into the game.

Jeff Potrykus also has his in-depth preview of the Iowa Hawkeyes posted at the Journal-Sentinel.

Hockey

Gandalf The Red from Sixty Minutes. No Alibis. No Regrets. has posted what he liked about the men's hockey team's home opener.

Chuck Schwartz has his preview up about the Badger's next opponent: the Denver Pioneers. The Badgers will travel to Denver for their Friday/Saturday series this weekend, with faceoffs scheduled for 8:30 and 8 PM, respectively.

A Final Note

Former Wisconsin safety Chris Maragos has been promoted to the San Francisco 49ers from their practice squad, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Best of luck to Chris!

3 days until the battle for the Heartland Trophy!