Badger men's hockey comes up short in front of record crowd
A record-setting senior night crowd witnessed a worthy effort by Wisconsin men's hockey, but a result that 'doesn't pay the rent'
Madison, WI — It was not the sweeping declaration of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team’s return to championship contention that fans may have hoped for, but No. 13/14 UW gave far more than a token effort in its split decision with the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines.
“I think we were close, but it doesn’t pay the rent,” Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings said.
Following its upset victory on Friday night, Wisconsin fell just short of another win on Saturday that would have put an exclamation point on a weekend that UW willed itself firmly onto the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. As the Badgers sit 13th in the NCAA Percentage Index, in the field with one spot of room to spare, Hastings did “not want to diminish the effort, the buy-in” put forth by his team against “a really good hockey team.”
“The ones that you learn from the most usually sting a little bit,” Hastings added in his post-game press conference about the 3-1 loss on senior night. “And this one stings.”
Michigan defense stymies Wisconsin, Badgers fail to score 5-on-5
A historic sellout crowd witnessed several close calls by Wisconsin that would have put the Cardinal and White ahead 2-1. Whether it was Christian Fitzgerald striking iron on a power play or Blake Montgomery failing to convert a breakaway opportunity, the Badgers could not find an elusive second goal. Instead, it was Wolverines winger Nick Moldenhauer who gave Michigan what proved to be an insurmountable 2-1 lead.
Much like it had done throughout the night, preventing Wisconsin from scoring a single five-on-five goal, the Wolverines stymied the Badgers’ best efforts in the closing moments. After an icing call against Michigan, and with Wisconsin goaltender Eli Pulver on the bench in favor of the extra attacker, the Badgers had an opportunity to knot the game at two with 90 seconds remaining.
That opportunity never materialized.
In those final moments, Wisconsin attempted only four shots on goal. Three of those were blocked by Michigan skaters before Wolverines captain TJ Hughes added an empty net goal to deliver the final 3-1 margin.
“They did a great job of putting five guys in the middle,” UW captain Ben Dexheimer said of Michigan’s defense in the closing moments. “They weren’t letting us get anything through.”
Hastings noted that despite winning faceoffs and getting extended possession time in the offensive zone with the extra attacker, Wisconsin “only had a few opportunities that we got the puck to the net, and we just, we have to be better at that.”
Before having to utilize the extra attacker, Wisconsin failed to get a five-on-five goal, and Hastings noted that “when we get dry five-on-five, that’s when we stub our toe.”
Wisconsin’s even-strength offense has suffered fits and starts. Saturday night was the second time in three games that UW failed to score an even-strength goal. The Badgers lost both those contests. In January, Wisconsin nearly went three-straight games without a five-on-five goal, netting its only even-strength score in that stretch four seconds after a power play had expired.
Wisconsin hosts record-setting crowd inside Kohl Center
Fans who may have been hoping for offensive fireworks between two top-ten offenses may have left disappointed. Those hoping to see Wisconsin challenge the most-efficient scoring offense in the country, however, got their money’s worth.
Despite the lack of scoring, Hastings, Dexheimer, and Badgers forward Christian Fitzgerald were impressed with their team’s defensive effort. Michigan, which scores 4.53 goals per game, scored only four goals all weekend, and only one at even-strength.
“I thought a lot of their shots were from the perimiter and guys defended well,” Hastings said. “You go back to a couple of weeks ago, where we were at in our D-Zone structure, we’d lost that a little bit. And I think we found that again here this weekend.”
During the tightly-contested senior night affair, Wisconsin played host to its largest crowd ever inside the Kohl Center for a men’s hockey game. Fans sold out the Kohl Center for the first time in over two years, and (due to seating renovations made ahead of the 2024-25 season), that made for a record-setting announced attendance of 15,511.
“Having that crowd behind us tonight was special,” Fitzgerald remarked.
Dexheimer said he was “kind of speechless, to be honest,” about his reaction to the all-time-high crowd.
“I’ve said it so many times, this is the most fun place to play in the country,” added Dexheimer. “And it’s because of all those fans that come to the game. So, just want to say thank you to all of them. We really appreciate it, especially on a night for the guys that this was the last regular-season game here. It was a special atmosphere, and I wish we could have gotten it done for them.”
“The student section, the community that came out and put 15,500 in that building and wanting to send them home happy is disappointing from our end,” Hastings, who has often voiced his appreciation for Wisconsin’s student section throughout his time in Madison, said. “But we want to say thank you for your support because, as you can see, when the Kohl Center is full, it’s a very, very special place.
“What we wanted to do was pay that back. That didn’t get done, but it wasn’t because of lack of effort, just [needed] a little bit better execution.”
Up next for Wisconsin men’s hockey
The Badgers will enjoy an off week for the first time since early January. While the rest of the Big Ten standings shake out around Wisconsin, UW will wait before traveling to Penn State for a two-game series beginning on Thursday, March 5th.
The Nittany Lions swept the Badgers in Madison earlier this season, winning a pair of games 7-2 and 3-1.
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