In 3 years, Wisconsin hockey goes from miles to inches away
Wisconsin men's hockey fell just short in the 2026 national championship game, but the Wisconsin Badgers have taken a huge leap under Mike Hastings
Las Vegas, NV — The 2025-26 Wisconsin men’s hockey season ended in heartbreak. But that devastating feeling cannot exist without hope and expectations. For far too long, and far too recently, Wisconsin Badgers fans lacked both. Finally, UW alumni need not yearn for the past or hope for the future because head coach Mike Hastings has gifted them in the present.
It was not long ago that Wisconsin was at a crossroads. The program was in the midst of its worst stretch in modern history. At that moment, UW turned off the beaten path and hired a head coach without Wisconsin ties for the first time in over half a century.
On Friday, Hastings acknowledged the weight of the decision to hire him and the responsibility “of just trying to get the program to where they envision where we should be.”
On Saturday, Wisconsin fell just short of realizing that vision. Still, in just three short years, the Badgers went from miles away to just inches from the mountaintop.
Inches separate Wisconsin hockey from national title
The 2026 Frozen Four national championship game was played on a sheet of ice measuring 200 feet long by 85 feet wide. In a 2-1 contest, every inch mattered.
Unrelenting offensive pressure helped the Badgers double up the Pioneers 30-15 in shots on goal and dominate shot attempts 81-41. With that extended possession, UW kept DU off the scoreboard until nearly midway through the third period. Even then, goaltender Daniel Hauser nearly did enough to keep the puck in front of him.
Hauser stopped an initial shot from the point by Pioneers defenseman Garrett Brown, but gave up a rebound. The netminder got his left leg on an initial follow-up attempt by DU alternate captain Rieger Lorenz, too. When Lorenz picked up the puck again, Hauser sprawled across the crease and got a piece of his glove on the shot, but it was not enough to keep it out of the net.
If that puck had been just an inch to Hauser’s right, perhaps it would have never crossed the goal line.
Even after Wisconsin fell behind, it came within an inch of the equalizer. With only 4:21 remaining on the clock, defenseman Ben Dexheimer snapped a shot from the low slot. Badgers fans jumped out of their seats as the light behind the net turned on to signal a good goal, but the puck hit the crossbar.
“I thought it definitely had a chance to go in,” Dexheimer said of the attempt. “There’s a little bit of traffic in front. It all happened so fast. It unfortunately did not.”
If that puck had been just an inch lower, perhaps it would have crossed the goal line.
“I know it wasn’t for lack of effort on our end,” UW’s leading scorer Gavin Morrissey said of the struggle to get a second goal. “Maybe just give credit to the other team.”
When ‘shock’ wears off, Badgers captain feels proud
Wisconsin’s close call in the national title game left its captain “a little shocked,” but he also acknowledged a more positive sentiment at the close of the season.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team from the ups and downs throughout the year,” the senior added. “I just love every one of those guys in that room.”
Dexheimer experienced plenty of ups and downs in Madison, not just this year, but throughout his tenure. The Edina High School product committed and played his first season under former UW head coach Tony Granato. Wisconsin amassed a lackluster 13-23 record in Dexheimer’s freshman season, but he returned to UW and helped Hastings lead the program’s resurgence.
“It’s been amazing,” Dexheimer said of his time with the Badgers. “I couldn’t have asked for a better four years. I don’t think there’s a better place to do it at. From where this program was my freshman year to where we are now, I couldn’t be more proud to wear the ‘W.’”
Before Hastings arrived on campus, the Badgers had achieved just one winning season in their last six campaigns—the worst stretch in the program’s modern history. Now, UW has posted a winning record in two of its last three seasons—a measure of consistency Wisconsin had not met in over a decade.
“I think we’ve kind of set the standard for Wisconsin now,” Dexheimer added. “I couldn’t be more proud to leave a place in the hands of the guys that are coming back next year and the coaching staff that will keep this program afloat.”
Dexheimer’s defensive partner, Joe Palodichuk, similarly committed under the last regime. After the change in leadership, the Cottage Grove, Minnesota native maintained his commitment to UW and became a member of Hastings’ leadership group. He had a front-row seat to a turnaround that delivered Wisconsin’s first NCAA Tournament win in 16 years.
“Our seniors, what they’ve done for this program, it wasn’t easy,” the alternate captain said after the title game. “I mean, I’m just so thankful to be a Badger, share this experience with all 26 guys and staff and alumni, everyone involved in the whole institution.”
‘Special group’ fights through peaks and valleys
When Dexheimer and Palodichuk first committed to Wisconsin, the program was miles away from a national title. As one of only four programs with six or more men’s DI ice hockey championships, UW’s goal should be to inch across the finish line, but this group should be commended for coming so close—even if the short distance makes it sting that much more.
“We’re really proud of all the guys in the room, every member of the Wisconsin Badgers organization,” Morrissey said. “It sucks in the moment. I know our guys will carry this into next year. This one’s hard to forget. At the end of the day, just proud of the team.”
Morrissey initially committed to Hastings and Minnesota State. At the time, the Mavericks were coming off back-to-back Frozen Four appearances and a runner-up finish in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. When UW hired Hastings, Morrissey flipped his commitment and followed the head coach to Madison.
Much like seniors Simon Tassy and Christian Fitzgerald, who transferred from Minnesota State when Hastings took the Wisconsin job, Morrissey has helped lead the way for a team that was long stuck in the mud.
Even after a disappointing 13-win campaign a year ago, a six-game losing streak in January, and the second-worst home playoff loss in program history, this Badgers team collected itself and put forth a championship-worthy product.
“They put a kick at the can,” Hastings said of Wisconsin’s performance on Saturday. “I thought effort, attitude, discipline—I thought was good. We couldn’t find a way to get it to two.”
Fans flock back to Wisconsin hockey
In a tale as old as The Strip itself, Badgers fans left Las Vegas without hitting the jackpot. Still, as they turned out in droves for a sold-out Frozen Four, passion for their proud program has clearly been reignited.
On February 21st, UW played in front of a Big Ten record 15,511 hockey fans inside the Kohl Center. It was Wisconsin’s 47th sellout in program history, but just its second in seven years.
Earlier this season, Hastings detailed one of the first conversations he had with program alumni after taking the job in Madison. Getting the “Kohl Center rocking again” was one of the top priorities. The two-time national coach of the year added that the UW student section is “one of the most important pillars of that.”
On that night back in February, over 2,700 Crease Creatures were inside the building—the most Wisconsin students to attend a men’s hockey game since at least 2014.
Whether the final distance was measured in miles or inches, Badger fans’ hearts may be broken all the same today. That gap between gloom and glory, however, narrowed at an unexpectedly rapid pace to its thinnest in two decades.
As the book closes on the 2025-26 college hockey season and Wisconsin extends its longest title drought in program history, hope—not for the future, but in the present—springs eternal. The team Hastings called “phenomenal to coach” added an important chapter in the story of bringing Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey back—even if the ending remains unwritten.
“They’re a special group,” Hastings reflected. “Life is hard sometimes. I’m not diminishing anything other than—I thought they did what they could do tonight. [We] weren’t rewarded for it; up until this point, we had been.”
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