Wisconsin hockey: women’s Border Battle postponed and Linus Weissbach wins award

Here is some quick hockey news, from both the men’s and women’s teams, for you as you head into your weekend.

• It was announced on Friday morning that the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers would not be travelling north to the Twin Cities to take on the No. 3 Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend because there were positive COVID-19 tests on UW’s team.

Here is the full statement from the UW Athletic Department:

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s two-game series at Minnesota, scheduled for Dec. 4-5 in Minneapolis, will not be played.

The decision was made by UW medical officials after positive COVID-19 tests were found within the Badgers’ program.

Wisconsin’s next games are scheduled to be played at home against Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 11-12.

On Friday afternoon, Todd Milewski of the Wisconsin State Journal published a story that noted there were two players who had already tested positive and the school was waiting for one more test on a player to come back.

The WCHA has already run into problems with their schedule as Milewski says, “four of the 14 series that were part of the WCHA’s initial schedule release through Dec. 19 have been postponed, impacting six of the league’s seven teams.”

If you’ve been following along with the men’s team this season, you’ll know that they have been playing their last three games (and fourth as I type this) extremely shorthanded dude to COVID-19.

• In brighter Wisconsin hockey news, Badgers forward Linus Weissbach was named the Hockey Commissioner Association’s Player of the Month for November. In eight games, four of which were multi-point games, last month, Weissbach had five goals (including a game-winner) and five assists. While this doesn’t count for his November stats, obviously, the native of Gothenburg, Sweden added another assist to his season tally in Thursday night’s loss to Ohio State.