Baggot’s 4Check: Looking to the future
March 20, 2018 | Men's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Four takeaways for Wisconsin hockey entering the offseason
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Here are four takeaways on the Wisconsin men's hockey team as it heads into the offseason:
1. The Badgers finished 25th in the final pairwise rankings as compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, which is no surprise given their 14-19-4 overall record. They were 9-15-4 vs. teams situated ahead of them in the PWR, including a 6-10-3 mark vs. the five opponents that made the 16-team NCAA tournament field (Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan Tech). But UW players and coaches will look back on the regular season and wonder what might have been. They had a pair of third-period leads on Ohio State, the Big Ten Conference runner-up and current No. 1 seed for the national tournament, and lost. They did the same thing against Notre Dame, the Big Ten regular-season and playoff champion and No. 1 seed. The Badgers played 28 games against the nine teams that finished ahead of them in the final PWR. Eight of their 15 losses were by one goal, including empty-netters. So close it hurts.
To our pair of #Badgers rookies who made the Big Ten All-Freshmen Team... Congrats! @Wkalynuk17 @Weissbach68 #BrightFuture
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) March 13, 2018
2. One of the best stories to emerge from last season was the play of freshman defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk. On the way to making the Big Ten all-rookie team — along with teammate and winger Linus Weissbach — Kalynuk put himself in some dynamic company. His 25 points (3 goals, 22 assists) was the most productive debut by a UW freshman blue-liner since Sean Hill in 1989-90 (2-23-25). The only ones with better first years with the Badgers reads like a who's who of all-time greats: Theran Welsh in 1977-78 (10-45-55), Chris Chelios in 1981-82 (6-43-49), Craig Norwich in 1974-75 (11-34-45) and Brian Engblom in 1973-74 (10-21-31).
3. UW coach Tony Granato is still finalizing his non-Big Ten schedule for 2018-19, but the tentative plan calls for home series with Boston College, Denver and Michigan Tech as well as an exhibition game with the U.S. National Team Developmental squad. UW will also play a series at North Dakota and single games at Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
4. Recent history tells us that once the Badgers start stockpiling NHL-caliber defensemen for associate head coach Mark Osiecki to tutor, good days aren't far behind. Kalynuk and fellow freshmen Josh Ess, who shared the team lead with a plus-10 rating, and Tyler Inamoto, who played all 37 games, made major statements in 2017-18. All three were NHL draftees in 2017. Next up is K'Andre Miller, a projected first-round draft pick, and Eau Claire, Wis., product Ty Emberson, a top prospect and teammate of Miller's at the prestigious NTDP. The unit should help UW reduce its goals-against average of 3.35 goals, which ranks near the bottom of the NCAA. The recent recruiting binge is similar to 2007 (NHL first-round picks Ryan McDonagh and Brendan Smith) and 2008 (first-round Jake Gardiner and second-round choices Cody Goloubef and Justin Schultz).
