The Wisconsin men’s hockey team (7-10-1, 2-7-1-1 Big Ten) kicked off the new year with a 3-2 win over the U.S. Under-18 team on New Year’s Day.

The Badgers got goals from Dominick Mersch, Sean Dhooghe and Jack Gorniak.

Mersch scored first for the Badgers in the first period off of a feed from Gorniak and Ryder Donovan.  The US NTDP responded back with two unanswered goals in the first, including one on the power play.

The Badgers then got goals from Dhooghe and Gorniak within a minute of each other in the second period and they held on the rest of the way for the win.

All three Badger goalies saw action against the US NTDP with Daniel Lebedeff recording a team high 12 saves alongside Jack Berry and Johan Blomquist pairing for two scoreless periods to end the game.

The Badgers are 6-2-0 against the U.S. Under-18 team all-time.

Wisconsin returns to Madison and will resume Big Ten play this Friday and Saturday night against the Ohio State Buckeyes.