The Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team’s season officially began last weekend with a trip to Lindenwood, giving the Badgers a chance to exercise their demons after last year’s opener against the Lions got away from them.
The Badgers fared better this time around, sweeping the series and carrying comfortable multi-goal leads into the third period in each game. Senior Christian Fitzgerald got the scoring started on both nights for the No. 18 Wisconsin Badgers (2-0), setting the tone for his four-goal
weekend that included a hat trick in game two.
Freshman goaltender Daniel Hauser earned a shutout in his first collegiate start with 22 saves in a 3-0 win on Friday night. It was a nice debut for a few of the newcomers, as Grady Deering netted his first goal to stretch the lead to two late in the second, and Oliver Tulk recorded his first two collegiate assists in the opener. Transfer defenseman Aiden Dubinski also chipped in with a secondary assist on the Deering goal.
With the opening night nerves out of the way, the Badgers jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first period of game two and didn’t look back. Fitzgerald posted two of his three goals in the opening period, sandwiched around freshman defenseman Luke Osburn’s first goal as a Badger.
Lindenwood (0-2) scored two power play goals in the second, but never got closer than two as Fitzgerald completed his hat trick before the Badgers added three more goals in the third. Junior Quinn Finley and senior Simon Tassy made sure Wisconsin wouldn’t have to sweat this game with each scoring in the first few minutes of the final frame. Freshman Finn Brink added his first-career goal on the power play for good measure, capping off a 7-2 win for the Badgers. Hauser got the nod in net again and made 28 saves to complete his first sweep.
Wisconsin is off this weekend as far as NCAA play is concerned, but will play an exhibition against the Team USA Under-18 team on Thursday night at the Kohl Center. Not only is it a chance to test their mettle against some of the bright young stars of Team USA, it’s also a chance to show off the facilities and city of Madison to a crop of future recruits.
The Badgers dug a quick hole for themselves against the Under-18s last year, dropping a 6-5 game at the Kohl Center that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. Wisconsin trailed 6-2 in the third before Logan Hensler and Joe Palodichuk scored 17 seconds apart in the final minute to draw within one. But this is a new year, and we’ll see if the Badgers ironed out some of the issues that plagued them most of last year. We only have a two-game sample size so far, but the early returns are cause for optimism.
The Team USA Under-18 exhibition will be streamed on B1G+ at 7 p.m., with radio coverage on 1310 WIBA. Wisconsin returns to NCAA play next weekend when they host Head Coach Mike Hastings’ old p
rogram, Minnesota State, for the Thursday-Friday series at the Kohl Center.