John Ramage Named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

Red Baron® WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

John Ramage - Senior, Defenseman
University of Wisconsin

Veteran University of Wisconsin defenseman John Ramage, who was named the No. 1 Star of the Game both nights while leading the visiting Badgers to a two-game conference road sweep at Minnesota State last weekend, has been named the Red Baron® WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for January 15.

A 6-0, 205-pound senior captain from St. Louis, Mo., Ramage played a starring role for the Badgers, who posted 4-3 and 2-1 overtime victories at No. 11-ranked Minnesota State on Jan. 11-12, extending their unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3), their winning streak to six, and recording their first-ever sweep in Mankato. He scored both game-winning goals, put seven shots on goal, earned a +3 plus/minus rating and keyed penalty-killing units that successfully fought off 11 of 12 opponent power-plays. Last Friday, Ramage scored at 4:28 of overtime to give UW its first road and WCHA regular-season overtime victory since Nov. 3, 2006 at Alaska Anchorage, ending a drought spanning parts of seven seasons that saw the Badgers go 0-10-23 in the WCHA regular season and 0-7-15 on the road in overtime games. Then last Saturday, Ramage struck again, this time scoring with just :06.2 seconds left in OT to give the Badgers a 2-1 win. He also had an assist on UW's first goal of the game. His performance marked the third time in school history a player scored back-to-back overtime game-winning goals, joining David Hukalo (Jan. 14-15, 2000 vs North Dakota) and Paul Ranheim (Nov. 7-8, 1986 vs Colorado College) as Badgers who have accomplished the feat.

A NHL draftee of the Calgary Flames, Ramage has six points (4g, 2a) while playing in all 20 of Wisconsin's games this season and has career totals of 39 points (10g, 29a) in 135 games.

Also nominated this week: Juho Olkinuora, G, DU; Nate Schmidt, D, UM; Nick Mattson, D, UND.

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