Michigan
Wisconsin
Michigan to Open Big Ten Play Hosting Wisconsin in Thursday-Friday Series
10/27/2021 11:03:00 AM | Ice Hockey
• Michigan enters its series against Wisconsin ranked No. 2 in the USCHO poll.
• The Wolverines lead the series with the Badgers 81-63-13 and had a six-game win streak snapped by the Badgers in their last meeting.
• Michigan averages 4.50 goals per game to rank as the second-best scoring offense in the nation.
THIS WEEK
Thursday, Oct. 28 -- vs. Wisconsin (Yost Ice Arena), 7 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network | Tickets | Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Friday, Oct. 29 -- vs. Wisconsin (Yost Ice Arena), 7:30 p.m.
TV: B1G+ | Tickets | Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
PROMOTIONS
• Oct. 28: Poster giveaway (first 1,000 fans)
• Oct. 29: Halloween at Yost -- Candy bags for the first 250 kids
• Full Promotions Schedule
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
• Social Media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok
The Big Ten season gets underway this week as the No. 2-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team (5-1, 0-0 Big Ten) hosts Wisconsin (2-4, 0-0 Big Ten) at Yost Ice Arena on Thursday and Friday (Oct. 28-29). The teams will face off on Thursday (Oct. 28) at 7 p.m. and again on Friday (Oct. 29) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday's game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network, while Friday's contest will be streamed live on B1G+.
Wolverine Bites
• Michigan is 5-1 on the season after dropping its first game against Western Michigan last Friday (Oct. 22). The Wolverines rebounded with a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday (Oct. 23) to earn a series split with the Broncos.
• Sophomore Brendan Brisson leads the team in scoring with 10 points on six goals and four assists. Half of his goals have been game-winning goals. Linemate Thomas Bordeleau has eight points (two goals, team-leading six assists). Freshman defenseman Luke Hughes and sophomore Kent Johnson follow with seven points apiece; Hughes has registered a point in each of the Wolverines' six games.
• Hughes and sophomore Jacob Truscott lead the team in plus/minus with both carrying a +9 rating. Sophomore Owen Power leads the team in blocked shots with eight, followed by Nick Blankenburg's seven.
• Erik Portillo has played every minute in goal for the Wolverines and has a 5-1 record, a .914 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average.
Scouting the Badgers
• Wisconsin is coming off of a high-flying 2020-21 campaign that saw the program clinch a Big Ten regular-season title, while standout sniper Cole Caufield took home the school's second Hobey Baker Award. Now, a revamped Badgers lineup travels to Ann Arbor with a 2-4 overall record. Without Caufield, Dylan Holloway and Ty Pelton-Byce, the focus on offense shifts to returners like Dominick Mersch, Tarek Baker, Sam Stange, Roman Ahcan, and Brock Caufield. Newcomer Brayden Morrison will look familiar to U-M fans, as his father, Brendan, was a Hobey Baker and national title-winning superstar for the Wolverines in the late 1990s who still maintains his status as the all-time leading scorer in Michigan hockey history (284).
• On the blue line, shot-blocking specialist Tyler Inamoto returns for a fifth year while Josh Ess, Anthony Kehrer, and former NTDP defenseman Daniel Laatsch also slot in. Freshman Corson Ceulemans was a 2021 1st-round NHL Draft pick who has made an immediate impact for UW.
• Between the pipes, sophomore Cameron Rowe has split time with junior transfer Jared Moe, formerly of the University of Minnesota. Each netminder has started three games.
Series History
• Michigan owns an 81-63-13 lead in the all-time series with Wisconsin. The program has won 68 percent of its games (43-17-9) against the Badgers at Yost. The Wolverines had a six-game win streak in the series snapped on Feb. 14, a 3-2 loss to the eventual Big Ten regular-season champion.
• Jimmy Lambert has a team-best 11 points against Wisconsin and is a +17. Nick Granowicz has the most goals, scoring five in seven games. Erik Portillo is 1-0 vs. the Badgers allowing one goal on 30 shots.
Up Next
• Friday, Nov. 5 -- vs. Michigan State (Yost Ice Arena), 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Nov. 6 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), TBA
