Wisconsin's Pavelski Retires from NHL

Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin) officially called it a career earlier this week. Pavelski, 40, has retired following a successful 18-year NHL playing career.

In 1,332 NHL regular-season appearances with San Jose and Dallas, Pavelski tallied 476 goals and 592 assists for 1,068 points. He also added 74-69—143 points in 201 Stanley Cup Playoff outings, establishing a postseason record for the most career goals scored by an American, and skated in both the 2016 and 2020 Stanley Cup finals.

A 6-foot-1, 196-pound center from Plover, Wis., Pavelski was drafted in the 7th round (205th overall) by San Jose in 2004 following a 36-goal season with Waterloo (USHL). After one more year in juniors, he played two seasons with Wisconsin, recording 39-62—101 points overall in 84 contests while leading the Badgers to the 2006 NCAA title. In international play, he played in two Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal with the United States in 2010 one year after skating in the World Championship, and he also captained Team USA at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Former Badger Bourque Suspended for Elbow on Backstrom

Former University of Wisconsin Badger forward Rene Bourque, now of the Calgary Flames, is watching his next several NHL games from the stands.

Bourque was suspended for five games after elbowing Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom in the head on Jan. 3. Backstrom later left the game with a head injury and did not return.

The decision was handed down by NHL discipline czar and career 500-goal scorer Brendan Shanahan, who took into account the fact that Bourque was a repeat offender. He had actually been suspended just 16 days before, for his hit from behind on Chicago's Brent Seabrook.

Bourque will forfeit over $203,000 in salary for his suspension for the Backstrom hit, according to NHL.com. He will be eligible to return to action on Jan. 17 at San Jose.

Looking at the replays, Bourque could have put a shoulder into Backstrom, but instead conked him with an elbow as Backstrom skated by. Bourque claimed it was a reflex reaction—but the league has been coming down harder on players who target the head, intentionally or not.

It's the same with players who get beat by a puck-carrier and then stick out a knee to stop him, which can also cause serious injury. That stuff has to be taken out of the game.

Bourque can play the game, as he has tallied over 100 goals and 200 points in his NHL career. He collected 57 goals and 97 points in 152 NCAA games with Wisconsin from 2000 to 2004, including 10 game-winning goals.

He also led the Badgers in scoring as both a junior and a senior, and finished his college career with a goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to Maine in the 2004 NCAA East Regional final in Albany, N.Y.

The Second Most Wonderful Time of the Year

After the NCAA Hockey Tournament and the Frozen Four, it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs. No, I won't say that claiming the national championship trophy is as storied as picking up Lord Stanley's prize - it's just that college hockey is as sudden death as you can get. Win four and you're number one; lose one and you're done.

The Stanley Cup champion, meanwhile, will have slogged through four rounds of attrition, and as many as 28 games in all before getting the chance to hoist the celebrated 35-pound silver chalice. The first round is arguably the best, with eight series going on in all, and as many as four games on TV a night.

I've still got college players on the cranium watching the pros play in the post-season, though. San Jose beat Los Angeles in the opener of their Western Conference series on Thursday night as Joe Pavelski wristed a shot past Jon Quick in overtime. The first thought that came to my mind was that Wisconsin just put the puck past Massachusetts - and they won't be the last former college skaters in the spotlight as the first round turns into the second, and third and fourth. Perhaps another former NCAA player a la Jonathan Toews will again be the very first player to hold the Cup high when everything is finally sorted out sometime in June.

The only bad thing about the playoffs, NHL or AHL or ECHL, is as the number of participating teams dwindles and you finally get down to the last two, you know another hockey season is almost over and then it's going to be wait until October again.

Luckily that's not for almost another two months.