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Caufield to return to Badgers for sophomore season

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Wisconsin right winger Cole Caufield informed coach Tony Granato that he’s planning to return for a second season with the Badgers.

Caufield led the team in scoring as a freshman.  He was the 15th overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft by the Montreal Canadians.  The Canadians had already recommended that the 19-year-old play another year in college.

The Badgers have already lost a pair of first-round picks to the NHL.  Freshman center Alex Turcotte and sophomore defenseman K’Andre Miller have both signed with their NHL teams following the end of the Badgers season.

Caufield is the first Badgers player to win an outright league scoring title.  He tallied 24 points in 24 Big Ten games.  Caufield finished with 19 goals overall, tied for the most nationally among freshmen.  He finished the season with 36 total points.

 

Badger hockey team opens summer practice

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The Wisconsin men’s hockey program opened it’s summer practice schedule on Monday in preparation for its preseason foreign tour to Canada where it will skate in a pair of exhibition contests against the University of British Columbia.

Wisconsin’s trip will run from Aug. 28 through Sept. 2.

The Badgers will hold a second practice on Wednesday with eight additional workouts prior to departing for the trip.

The Badgers will face British Columbia on Friday, Aug. 30 and Sunday, Sept. 1.

Tony Granato (pictured) starts his fourth on the Badgers bench.  They’ll open the 2019-20 campaign on Friday, Oct. 11 at Boston College.  UW opens its home slate with a Kohl Center series on Oct. 18-19 against two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota Duluth.

The Badgers welcome the return of six of their top seven scorers and six of their top-nine goal scorers from the 2018-19 season to a program that adds four NHL draft picks, including a pair from the top 15 of the 2019 NHL Draft.  That doesn’t include a third projected first-round draft pick for the 2020 NHL draft.

 

Kalynuk named Wisconsin men’s hockey team captain

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Sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk, who was a second-team All-Big Ten pick last season, will serve as the Wisconsin men’s hockey team’s captain next season.

“We are really excited to have these three lead our program,” Coach Tony Granato said.  “From the second they’ve gotten here they’ve done everything right.  All three have gotten off to great starts in their first two years with our program and they’ve been excellent in the classroom.  They are great leaders and big parts of our program.  We are excited about their leadership and the future of our program.”

Kalynuk will lead the team, while sophomore forwards Tarek Baker and Sean Dhooghe will help as the team’s alternate captains.

Kalynuk posted his second straight 25-point season this past year, and collected nine goals to rank second on the team.  His 25 points were one point off the team lead, while his 116 shots made him the only skater with over 100 shots on goal.

Baker (Verona, Wis.) finished his 2018-19 season with seven goals and 20 points, ranking second on the team with 91 shots on goal.

Dhooghe (Aurora, Ill.) led the Badgers as the only double-digit goal scorer with 15 tallies.  He shared the team lead with 26 points..  He also was tied for third in the Big Ten with eight power-play goals.

 

Hockey Badgers sweep Wolverines, face Penn State in Big Ten Tournament

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Linus Weissbach

With Penn State winning at Notre Dame on Saturday, Wisconsin’s chances of securing a home series in the opening round of the Big Ten Conference post-season playoffs went up in smoke.  But that didn’t stop the Badgers from pulling off the two-game sweep of the Wolverines, winning a 4-3 overtime thriller at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers finished the regular season with three straight wins.

Trailing 3-2 in the final minutes, Tony Granato pulled his goaltender and Ty Emberson netted the game tying goal with 1:07 left in regulation.

The Badgers had a goal waved off in overtime after it was ruled they had too many men on the ice.  But a minute later, Linus Weissbach stick handled through traffic and fired a wrist shot from the left side to beat Michigan goaltender Hayden Lavigne and secure a “senior night” win for the Badgers.

Prior to leaving the ice, the Badgers thanked the fans and then helped serenade the crowd to “Varsity”. [Read more…]

Hockey Badgers drop series opener at Minnesota

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The Wisconsin Badgers trailed go a goal late in the third period, but the Minnesota Gophers scored four goals in four minutes to come away with a 9-4 victory at Mariucci Arena.

Freshman center Mick Messner scored in the second period and forward Brock Caufield, Jack Gorniak and Seamus Malone each lit the lamp in the third period to make it a 5-4 game in favor of Minnesota (10-10-4, 7-5-3-0 Big Ten).  But the Gophers then rattled off four unanswered goals with under five minutes to play, putting the game out of Wisconsin’s (8-11-4, 4-5-4-1 Big Ten) reach.

The Badgers outshot the Gophers 46-28, but Minnesota’s success on the power play and an early 3-0 lead in the first period were enough to doom the Badgers.

“For 55 minutes, we played good hockey, but you can’t play a 55-minute game”, said Badger coach Tony Granato.  “Minnesota is a team where if they see weakness or they see us on our heels, they take advantage of it and that’s what happened.  Every time we let off the gas, they made a play and were able to pull away from us.”

The two teams wrap up the 2-game series on Saturday night.

Freshmen shine in Badgers hockey exhibition

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Badger coach Tony Granato

Six freshmen tallied points as the Wisconsin men’s hockey team routed the University of Victoria, 8-2, in an exhibition game Sunday night at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers jumped in front early in the first period on power-play goals from sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk and junior forward Max Zimmer.

Victoria answered with a pair of quick goals midway through the first period, but freshman forward Dominick Mersch buried the puck at the 15-minute mark of the period to start a six-goal outburst.

Three other freshmen scored goals for the Badgers, Roman Ahcan, Brock Caufield and Mick Messner.

Wisconsin outshot Victoria 72-15, with the Badgers holding the Vikings to single-digit shots in each of the three periods.

 

Badgers add Peltonen to 2018 class

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Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Tony Granato has announced the signing of defenseman Jesper Peltonen to a National Letter of Intent.  Peltonen is expected to join the Badgers for the fall semester.

The 5’11, 180-pound defenseman skated for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers during the 2017-18 season and posted four goals and nine points in 56 games played.  He helped Omaha place second in the USHL’s Western Conference.  He also added a goal and two assists in four games of the playoffs, which tied for second on the team.

A Helsinki, Finland, native, Peltonen went to Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York, the same school that head coach Tony Granato attended, as well as current UW goaltender Johan Blomquist.

Peltonen’s father, Ville, played nearly 400 NHL games over eight seasons for San Jose, Nashville and Florida.  Ville is also a four-time Olympian for Finland, winning three bronze medals and a silver medal between 1994 and 2010.

Hockey Badgers are limping to the finish line

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The Wisconsin Badgers had a 2-1 lead against 6th ranked Ohio State after two periods, then came unglued in the third, falling to the Buckeyes 6-2 in the first of a two game series in Columbus, Ohio.

It’s the third straight defeat for the Badgers, who had dropped two straight at home against Minnesota prior to Friday night’s defeat.

The Buckeyes scored five third period goals and won for just the first time this season when trailing going into the final period.

Wisconsin’s frustration led to a number of scuffles in the final minutes.  Badger defenseman Peter Tischke was ejected with 89 seconds left after a cross-check on Ohio State’s Kevin Miller.

The Badgers (14-16-4, 8-12-3-1 Big Ten) had grand visions at one point this season of returning to the NCAA Tournament.  The only way that will happen now is if UW can find a way to gather themselves quickly and win the Big Ten Tournament.  That would carry an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but it would appear to be a major stretch at the moment.  The Badgers will have to play all of the Big Ten Tournament on the road. [Read more…]

Americans fall in men’s hockey opener

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U.S. Men’s Coach Tony Granato

The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but collapsed late and fell to Slovenia 3-2 in overtime in Gangneung, South Korea.

Slovenia captain Jan Mursak scored the tying goal with 1:37 left in regulation and the winner 38 seconds into overtime.

Brian O’Neill and Jordan Greenway scored to build the 2-0 lead, outshooting Slovenia 24-12 in the first two periods.

Slovenia came out in the third period and put the pressure on the Americans, cutting the lead in half when Jan Urbas lit the lamp 5:37 into the third period.

The U.S. did pick up a point by getting the game to overtime, while tournament favorite Olympic Athletes from Russia fell 3-2 in regulation to Slovakia.  After one game, Slovakia and Slovenia top Group B, followed by the U.S. and the Russians.

The Americans will face Slovakia on Friday.

Hockey Badgers honor their seniors

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It’s senior weekend at the Kohl Center this weekend as the 17th ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team faces the rival Minnesota Gophers at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers will recognize their eight seniors before Saturday nights game.  It’s the largest senior class for the Badgers since the 2013-14 squad had nine seniors complete their eligibility.

That list includes Tim Davison, Jason Ford, Kyle Hayton, Cameron Hughes, Cullen Hurley, Jake Linhart, Matt Ustaski and Ryan Wagner.

With four games remaining in the regular season, the Badgers sit alone in third place with 28 points, one better than Michigan and three points ahead of Penn State.  [Read more…]