Wisconsin men's hockey coach Mike Eaves doesn't subscribe to the statistical notion that past performance translates to present-day ice time.

In seven career games against archrival Minnesota, junior winger Podge Turnbull has three goals, one assist and four points.

In eight career outings against the Gophers, junior winger Patrick Johnson shows 2-3-5.

But when the Badgers open a WCHA series with Minnesota Friday night at the Kohl Center, both will be healthy scratches.

"It's who's going right now, who's playing well right now,'' Eaves said Thursday after practice.

Eaves said it would be different if this were baseball and Turnbull and Johnson had strong career numbers against a certain pitcher.

"Our sport's not baseball,'' Eaves said. "Our sport is different. You go with people who are going right now.''

The UW lineup:

F Andy Bohmbach-Blake Geoffrion-Craig Smith

F John Mitchell-Ben Street-Derek Lee

F Jordy Murray-Derek Stepan-Michael Davies

F Aaron Bendickson-Sean Dolan-Ben Grotting

D Ryan McDonagh-Jake Gardiner

D Brendan Smith-John Ramage

D Cody Goloubef-Justin Schultz

G Brett Bennett

In case you missed it, the Gophers will be without senior right winger and top career scorer Jay Barriball for the rest of the season. He suffered a knee injury in practice Tuesday and will likely pursue a medical redshirt so he can return in 2010-11.

The Minnesota lineup:

F Mike Hoeffel-Jordan Schroeder-Nico Sacchetti

F Tony Lucia-Mike Carman-Taylor Matson

F Jake Hansen-Zach Budish-Patrick White

F Josh Birkholz-Nick Larson-Ryan Flynn

D Cade Fairchild-Dave Fischer

D Sam Lofquist-Aaron Ness

D Kevin Wehrs-Seth Helgeson

G Alex Kangas

Related

• Gameday: UW men's hockey vs. Minnesota

Login to post your comment. If you don't have an account, you may register for one.