Wisconsin

Sawyer Scholl’s game-winner helps No. 4 Wisconsin hockey complete sweep of Notre Dame

Published

2 years ago

February 11, 2024

Sawyer Scholl’s game-winner helps No. 4 Wisconsin hockey complete sweep of Notre Dame

MADISON – The first game-winner of Sawyer Scholl’s college career was one of those bang-bang plays that didn’t leave him much time to think.

“I was lucky for it to pop up to me and then I just kind of stuffed it,” he said. “I don’t think too much when I get it that low, I just try to get it at the net and was lucky enough to get it in.”

The goal by the freshman from Medford came at the 13-minute 52-second mark of the third period and proved to be the difference in a 3-2 Wisconsin victory over Notre Dame in front of 12,672 at the Kohl Center on Saturday night.

The score was part of a wild final period that featured four goals, five penalties and one ejection. The win, meanwhile, gave the fourth-ranked Badgers their first wire-to-wire conference win since beating Notre Dame on Jan. 6 and a four-game season sweep of the Fighting Irish.

They accomplished the feat by holding Notre Dame to just 25 shots on goal, the third-lowest for a UW Big Ten opponent this season.

“I thought we defended our tail off tonight,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. “Kind of crazy game there in the third period with what happened. I thought the guys showed some composure. We talked at the beginning of our season that everybody matters and tonight you saw that.”

The win allowed Wisconsin (22-6-2, 13-4-1 – 41 points) to remain five points behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans, who have played two more games than the Badgers, completed a sweep of Michigan on Saturday night.

Seven players accounted for the eight points scored by Wisconsin with Scholl, freshman William Whitelaw and sophomore Simon Tassy scoring goals. The only multi-point scorer was freshman defenseman Joe Palodichuk, who had two assists.

At the other end, senior Kyle McClellan didn’t allow a goal during the first two periods and finished with 23 saves.

“When we can come out of our end together and entered their end together we’re a much better hockey team,” Hastings said. “I thought we did a good job of breaking pucks out this weekend. It’s something the guys focused on this week and I thought they executed very well.”

Scholl’s goal gave Wisconsin a 3-1 lead. After a Notre Dame turnover near the blue line, Scholl passed the puck ahead to Cruz Lucius. Lucius didn’t have a good angle but his shot bounced off the side of the net and ended up behind the goal where where Scholl recovered it, reversed course and dumped it into the net.

Notre Dame goaltender Ryan Bischel didn’t have a chance to make the stop because UW’s Owen Mehlenbacher had crashed into the goal after getting tripped by a Fighting Irish player.

At least that’s the way the UW staff saw it. After a video review the officials didn’t take the goal off the board.

“All you could see on the replay was Mehlenbacher going into the net,” Hastings said. “I talked to (assistant coach) Nick Oliver and I said ask our (director of hockey operations) Luke Regner. Let me know if he was pushed in and that is what my guys said. He got tripped going into the net, so he didn’t go in there on his own power.”

Wisconsin allowed the first goal in four of its previous five games. Whitelaw allowed the Badgers to break that trend at the 6-minute mark of the first period off an assist from sophomore Tyson Dyck and Palodichuk.

“It was puck pressure and it created a turnover,” Hastings said. “That’s one young man that when he’s in that area he’s very comfortable. He was able to get his head up and find a hole. You saw what he can do under pressure last week in the shootout where I think he gets excited about that. He doesn’t fade. He doesn’t shy away.”

Notre Dame tied the game about 5 minutes into the final period with a power play goal by Landon Slaggert. The Badgers’ response came at the 9:39 mark on a power play goal by Tassy, the team’s first power play score in three-plus games.

Palodichuck and sophomore Christian Fitzgerald got the assists on the play.

“Our first unit was all over them. The second should have probably had one or two, so it was good to be able to get one,” Tassy said. “Our power play has been struggling a little bit, so being able to get a tip like that might get some momentum going for us.”

Scholl’s score gave the Badgers a two-score cushion that proved valuable when Notre Dame’s Cole Knuble cut the deficit to one with 3:47 left.

The victory sets up the Badgers up for a chance to take over first place in the Big Ten next week at Ohio State. Michigan State is idle next weekend, so with two wins UW would move ahead of the Spartans in the standings.

Source link

Click to comment

Wisconsin

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

Published

4 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who almost killed her sixth-grade classmate to please the fictional horror villain known as Slender Man was ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital Tuesday after she escaped from her group home last month.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge K. Scott Wagner granted a state Department of Health Services request to revoke 23-year-old Morgan Geyser’s release privileges. Geyser told the judge through her attorney, Tony Cotton, last week that she would not fight revocation. Wagner then approved the request during a short hearing.

Cotton didn’t immediately respond to an email message seeking comment.

Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier cheered her on. A passing bicyclist discovered Leutner, who barely survived. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.

Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in hopes of impressing Slender Man enough that he would make them his servants and wouldn’t hurt their families. Both of them were eventually committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25 years.

Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Wagner granted Geyser conditional release this past September despite warnings from state Department of Health Services officials that she couldn’t be trusted.

Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.

Follow on

Geyser was placed in a Madison group home. Authorities say that on Nov. 22 she cut off her GPS monitor and fled the state with a 43-year-old companion. Police arrested both of them the next day at a truck stop outside Chicago, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) south of Madison.

Geyser’s companion told WKOW-TV that the two of them became friends at church and had been seeing each other daily for the last month. Geyser decided to escape because she was afraid the group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the companion said.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudsen in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

Source link

Wisconsin

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

Published

16 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

MILWAUKEE – The FBI calls it an online crime against kids – perpetrators convincing kids to send sexual images of themselves and then blackmailing them.

Online crime against kids

The backstory:

The reality is settling in. This will be Brittney Bird’s first Christmas without her son, Bradyn Bohn, since he was born. That is because just nine months ago, the 15-year-old died by suicide, just hours after telling his family good night.

“This winter has been pretty heavy,” Bird said. “This will be a lot of first this year.”

Bird said Bradyn was the kind of kid who would always try to make you launch. The teen had a lot of friends, played sports, did well academically, and had big plans for the future.

“Definitely a kid who we were just so proud of,” Bird said. “Bradyn never struggled with or suffered from mental illness or depression or anything of that nature so immediately we knew, you know something’s wrong.”

Once police went through Bradyn’s phone, she said it came out he was the victim of the cyber crime, sextortion.

What is sextortion?

What we know:

“Sextortion is a form of online child exploitation where a child is coerced by a perpetrator to send compromising images,” said Jesse Crowe from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

This week, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sent out a public service announcement on sextortion.

Officials say suspects often pose as someone else online. While exchanging messages, they convince a child to send images of themselves. Once they have explicit images of the child, they use the photos or videos to blackmail the child into sending even more images, money or ask for sexual favors.

FBI data, change in Wisconsin law

Dig deeper:

The FBI said victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17, but any child can be a target.

This crime led to at least 20 suicides between October 2021 and March 2023.

In the months after Bradyn’s death, change would come to Wisconsin. Earlier in December, Gov. Tony Evers signed Bradyn’s Law. It creates a new crime of sexual extortion in Wisconsin. It aims to ensure harsh penalties for those who exploit children online.

“It will bring, hopefully statewide, eventually nationwide attention to where every family is having this conversation with their kids,” Bird told FOX6 News.

Take action

What you can do:

The Department of Justice said the best thing to do if a child finds themselves in this situation is the following:

Block the perpetrator
Report the account, but do not delete the messages
Tell a trusted adult
Do not send any money

Resources available

The Source: Information in this post was produced by FOX6 News.

Crime and Public SafetyMilwaukeeNews

Source link

Wisconsin

Trump names Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 federal holidays. What does that mean for Wisconsin?

Published

1 day ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Trump names Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 federal holidays. What does that mean for Wisconsin?

President Donald Trump declared Christmas Eve and Dec. 26 to be federal holidays this year.

The Dec. 18 executive order deems the days as work holidays for all federal departments and agencies, but adds some of them will remain open. Certain offices may stay open on one or both days for “national security, defense, or other public need,” the order reads.

But, what does this mean for other federal workers and services?

Here’s what to know in Wisconsin:

Are Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 official federal holidays?

Even though Christmas Eve and Dec. 26 have been declared federal holidays in 2025, they are not permanent additions to the holiday schedule.

Legislation must be passed by Congress and then signed into law by the president for a federal holiday declaration to be official.

Who gets Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 off in Wisconsin?

Only federal agencies are set to be closed on Christmas Eve and Dec. 26, according to USA TODAY.

Since these two days have not been designated permanent federal holidays, many businesses that follow the schedule will likely not give their employees a last-minute extended Christmas break.

Wisconsin state government and Milwaukee city offices are closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but will be open on Dec. 26.

Will mail still be delivered on Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 in Wisconsin?

Yes. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver mail and post office locations will remain open on Christmas Eve and Dec. 26, according to its website. Mail will not be delivered and locations will be closed on Christmas.

Will banks be open on Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 in Wisconsin?

Yes. Banks will follow the typical schedule of being open on Christmas Eve and Dec. 26, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Banks will be closed on Christmas.

Mary Walrath-Holdridge of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Source link