The 7th ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team (4-3-0, 0-1-0 Big Ten) dropped its Big Ten-opening matchup on Thursday night, falling at 12th ranked Penn State (5-1-0, 1-0-0 Big Ten) 6-1 on Thursday night.
Freshman Cole Caufield scored the Badgers only goal, his national-leading eighth goal of the season with only seven seconds left in the first period.
Penn State, which was picked in the preseason to win the Big Ten title, scored four power play goals against the Badgers.
Wisconsin has now dropped two of their three series openers so far this season, but in all three series, the Badgers have come back stronger in game two and prevailed. They’ll be looking to do the same Friday night when the two teams wrap up their 2-game series in University Parik.
The Badgers won’t have forward Roman Ahcan for tonight’s game. He was ejected from last nights game and has drawn a one-game suspension from the Big Ten Conference for tonight. Ahcan received a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct in Thursday night’s series opener.
