Wisconsin hockey comes up short in holiday 'heavyweight tilt'
No. 2 Wisconsin hockey was upset by No. 7 Western Michigan, ending a six-game Badgers winning-streak
Milwaukee, WI — A six-game winning streak for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team came to an end at the hands of the reigning national champions in the title game of the 2025 Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off. Despite several late opportunities to tie a game that was within a goal with as little as 2:39 remaining, the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers (13-3-2, 8-2-0 Big Ten) fell 4-1 to the No. 7 Western Michigan Broncos (12-6-0, 6-4-0 NCHC).
The Badgers scored first, but lacked “a little bit of finish,” according to head coach Mike Hastings.
“That’s a little bit of a heavyweight tilt,” Hastings said of the top-ten matchup. “Two games, back-to-back, off a break. We had some good looks there in the third period.”
“It was like a playoff setting out there,” former Badgers forward turned WMU leading scorer William Whitelaw added. “[Wisconsin] played really hard. They’re a really good team.”
Although Wisconsin’s 2025 ends on a sour note, Hastings agreed with his former player’s sentiment.
“I just told the guys, I’m disappointed in the outcome, not disappointed in the effort.”
Vasily Zelenov thaws holiday freeze-out before injury
Despite the top-ten teams each boasting top-ten offenses, it was the defense that shone brightest at the outset. As both teams managed to keep opposing offenses to the outside, neither the Badgers nor the Broncos logged a shot on goal until WMU’s Tyler McKenzie managed to get one through to the UW net over eight minutes into the opening period.
“I think we struggled a bit on the walls there,” Badgers forward Christian Fitzgerald said of the battles for pucks on the outside.
“When you look at two teams that, I think, could potentially be there towards the end of the year, all the ice is earned,” Hastings said of the defensive standoff. “You’re not going to be given opportunities. You’re going to have to go get them.”
Ninety seconds later, Wisconsin got an opportunity of its own, scoring on the ensuing rebound. A shot from the point by defenseman Jack Phelan, perfectly screened by Bruno Idžan, created a rebound that Vasily Zelenov quickly tapped in for his second goal of the season.
In the third period, Zelenov suffered an injury and went to the locker room after crashing into the boards in the offensive zone. During a post-game press conference, Hastings said, “We’ll see what’s going on with Zelenov, we don’t know what happened there.”
Hastings was unsure if Zelenov would travel back to Madison with the team.
Western Michigan goal stands — despite lengthy review
The Badgers carried that 1-0 lead into the first intermission, but it did not last long after leaving the locker room. After a ten-second scramble in front of the Wisconsin net, Western Michigan found the equalizing goal that survived a long review after a challenge by Hastings for goaltender interference.
UW goaltender Eli Pulver stopped an initial backhand attempt by WMU’s Iiro Hakkarainen, but Pulver lost sight of the puck trickling behind him. Badgers defender Jack Horbach managed to poke the puck free from the crease for a moment, but his defensive effort while lying across the goal line came up short. As the puck came back into the crease, Western Michigan winger Zaccharya Wisdom poked Horbach and the puck into the net.
“If a referee loses sight of a puck, what do you do? Keep looking for it?” Hastings asked rhetorically in his post-game press conference, responding to a question about his thoughts on the goal and review. “You know, in my opinion, I thought that whistle could have been blown because once you lose sight onf a puck, my understanding is the whistle’s supposed to come. [The offical] didn’t feel that way. That’s where our opinions just differ.”
“Well, it’s either a goal or it has to be a penalty shot, right? Because their defenseman is laying on it in the crease,” Western Michigan head coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “You push their defenseman in, so it has to be one of the two, it can’t be neither.”
Ferschweiler added his team “thought clearly no goaltender interference because our guys were getting pushed onto the goaltender and it was outside the crease.”
Against the Broncos, Pulver made his first start since allowing two goals on six shots in the first period of a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on December 5th.
“I thought our goaltender played very well,” Hastings said of Pulver’s performance.
Wisconsin hockey captain’s turnover proves costly
After the Badgers gave up the lead, Western Michigan took one of its own off a turnover by Wisconsin’s Ben Dexheimer. The UW captain, who “epitomizes what it is to be a Badger,” misplayed a breakout pass from the corner. That turnover quickly turned from bad to worse.
Broncos winger and Seattle Kraken prospect Zaccharya Wisdom picked off Dexheimer’s pass and turned it into a two-on-one opportunity. Although Dexheimer was lying out across the middle of the ice trying to take away the cross-ice pass, Zaccharya delivered a tight-area feed to WMU alternate captain Grant Slukynsky for a backdoor goal.
“He just kind of came around the net and the guy was in my blind spot,” Dexheimer said of the turnover. “As soon as I saw him, I tried to make a play on the ice, and, unfortunately, it didn’t get out of the zone.”
Late Badgers’ chances come up short
In the closing moments of the second period and throughout the third, Wisconsin generated prime scoring opportunities but failed to capitalize on them as Western Michigan salted the game away.
“I think in the second and the third, we really showed that we are hyper competitive and made it hard on them as much as possible,” said Ferschweiler.
“We kept playing, but they were on top of you a lot,” Hastings said. “I didn’t think we managed that pressure as well as we could have.”
Late in the second, Dexheimer nearly made up for his earlier mistake as winger Oliver Tulk found his captain wide-open on a cross-ice pass. Dexheimer skated in on the Broncos’ net, but Whitelaw, who earned tournament Most Outstanding Forward honors with three goals, slashed Dexheimer. It resulted in a penalty, but thwarted an attempt at the game-tying goal.
Putting Wisconsin’s power play, the fifth-best in the country, on the ice is not usually a winning strategy. Inside Fiserv Forum, however, the Broncos shut out the Badgers on their three opportunities on the advantage.
“I think one of the biggest differences, too, was that we didn’t capitalize on the power play,” said Hastings.
In the third period, the goal horn sounded after Badgers senior Tyson Dyck appeared to have put away a rebound off an initial shot by UW forward Finn Brink, but officials waved it off. Shortly thereafter, Tulk delivered a tape-to-tape two-line pass to Fitzgerald, resulting in a breakaway, but a sprawling save by Hampton Slukynsky allowed WMU to maintain its one-goal lead.
“[Fitzgerald] comes in and makes a great move, as well, went over back and that’s a world-class save by Hammer,” Ferschweiler said. “And, you know, that’s the save that wins the game.”
The Broncos added two goals, including an empty-netter, with 2:39 and 2:25 remaining in regulation to capture the 4-1 victory and tournament title.
Up next for Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey
Instead of playing on a short week, UW will not return to the ice until Friday, January 9th. When it does, Wisconsin will host its final non-conference series of the regular season inside the Kohl Center against the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.
The two-game series begins a three-week Badgers’ homestand. After hosting the Seawolves, Wisconsin returns to Big Ten play to host the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans and the No. 8/9 Penn State Nittany Lions.
UW’s series against Alaska Anchorage will be its first of seven consecutive weekends of play — its longest uninterrupted stretch of the season.
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