B5Q Blogopean Union: the men’s hockey team is on fire

Good morning! This is going to be a daily(ish) post that discusses the goings on of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, and the country as needed. Much like the European Union, the Big Ten is a loosely confederated group of entities that sometimes have the same goals (like free movement of people between countries or not winning national titles in football or basketball) and sometimes accept new members that they later regret (Estonia or Rutgers).

We hope that you will use this post to comment on things happening around the conference and also as a sort of daily open thread to discuss breaking news or argue about Spotted Cow.

• True freshman Destiny Huven broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.25 seconds. She broke Deanna Latham’s record of 8.29, five years to the day. She’ll move on the finals on Saturday thanks to the fastest time recorded on the day.

The team scored 11 points on the day and are currently in tenth place heading into Saturday’s competitions.

On the men’s side senior Olli Hoare claimed his eighth Big Ten title this afternoon as he won the 3,000 meters with a time of 8 minutes, 13.65 seconds. He has the opportunity to claim his ninth tomorrow as he competes in the finals for the mile. Hoare currently holds the No.1 mile time in the country.

After one day of heptathlon events, Zach Lorbeck is in first place with 3,490 points. The team is in fourth place with 21 points.

• The women’s hockey team has a bye this weekend due to the fact that they are the WCHA regular season champions, so lets take a look at who they might play in the Final Faceoff next weekend.

Duluth, Ohio State and Minnesota all won their games on Friday night, which was expected as they were the favorites and home teams, so the Badgers would play the lowest ranked remaining team in the semifinals which is...Duluth! After having a slobberknocker of a series against the Bulldogs last weekend, this may not be the news the Badgers want to hear. It would be a good game though.

• I know we are all still riding high from Thursday’s win over No. 19 Michigan, but the Revenge Tour isn’t over quite yet. Since decimating the Badgers in Minneapolis, the Gophers have lost four of their last five (the only win coming against Northwestern) and often in heartbreaking fashion. Wisconsin will be looking to add to their misery.

• The men’s hockey team has now won three games in a row, all versus top-10 teams, and four out of their last five heading in the regular season finale Saturday night at No. 10 Ohio State. Friday night they beat the Buckeyes 3-2 thanks to a late Max Zimmer goal.

Cole Caufield had one assist on the night which moved him into a tie for first place in the B1G points race. Heading into the last night of the regular season the race looks like this:

Caufield (Wisconsin): 11 goals, 12 assists, 23 points
Alex Limoges (PSU): nine goals, 14 assists, 23 points
Nate Sucese (PSU): eight goals, 15 assists, 23 points
Patrick Khodorenko (MSU): 13 goals, nine assists, 22 points
Evan Barratt (PSU): 10 goals, 12 assists, 22 points

There are three players with 21 points as well, so it should be an exciting final night for those of us whose teams have nothing to play for and would like to say they won something. GO COLE GO!

As far as the first round of the B1G playoffs go, it would appear that Minnesota is the most likely opponent for the Badgers.

• In other Cole Caufield news, the Montreal Canadiens GM has said he thinks Caufield should stay in school for one more year.

My French is admittedly limited to the food and wine that is on the menu at the French restaurant I used to work at, but I’m pretty sure the translation is good.

• The Badgers softball team, coming off an upset of the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners last Sunday, was back in action on Friday and they started off their double-header in the Sun Devil Classic by steamrolling Southern Utah 15-2. UW scored nine runs in the top of the first inning, effectively ending the game as it began, and piled on six more runs before the third inning was over and then put it into cruise control for the win.

In the second game on Friday, the Badgers fell to No. 17 Arizona State 3-1. Fiona Giradot hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh, her second one of the day, to try and start a Wisconsin rally but it was not meant to be.

The Badgers play Maryland and get a rematch with Arizona State on Saturday and then have a rematch with Southern Utah on Sunday.

• The women’s hoops team, losers of seven straight games, are all finished with their regular season schedule and are just awaiting which opening round game they’ll be playing in the B1G Tournament which starts on Wednesday, March 4th in Indianapolis. The Badgers sit at No. 12 in the conference and will most likely play No. 13 Illinois, but both the Illini and last place Penn State Nittany Lions have one game left and one game separating them in the standings sooooo we’ll see!