Defense, balance, youth set to shine for Wisconsin men's hockey

Sunday, October 7

Madison, WI

5 p.m.

Wisconsin Badgers

Victoria (Exhibition)

Defense, balance, youth set to shine for Wisconsin men's hockey

October 04, 2018 | Men's Hockey

Badgers begin 2018-19 season with exhibition against Victoria

MADISON, Wis.-- In year one, with little expectations as the Tony Granato coaching era began, the Wisconsin hockey program surprised nearly everyone by reaching 20 wins and coming within an overtime goal of a Big Ten title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Year two saw raised expectations, and after a quick start to the season, the Badgers were in the mix for the NCAA tournament. However, the Badgers struggled down the stretch against a Big Ten that sent three of its teams to the 2018 NCAA Frozen Four, and fell out of contention.

Now it's year three and expectations are tempered with all three Frozen Four teams returning the bulk of their rosters. Predictably, the Badgers were picked to finish sixth out of seven teams in the Big Ten by league coaches. Much of that has to do with the overall strength of the league as the five teams ahead of UW are ranked nationally, while the Badgers earned votes in the preseason polls.

"We've got a bunch of young kids who are hungry to play. They are going to be exciting to watch and hard to play against," Granato started.

The young Badgers are part of a renewal and a growing talent base that gives reason for one to ignore the predictions. No matter the outside noise, the formula stays the same.

"Our special teams have to be good," Granato said. "Our goaltending has to be good."

Those will be key ingredients when you examine the schedule the Badgers have in front of them. Out of 34 regular-season games, 29 will come against opponents ranked in the preseason polls. Of those, 22 will come against teams in the top 13. With three Big Ten schools ranked in the top four to start the season, 12 of UW's games this season will come against teams ranked among the best of the best, according to preseason opinions.

Goaltending will begin with junior Jack Berry, who returns as the Badgers most experienced college netminder. The 2017 Honorable Mention All-Big Ten goaltender enters the season with three career shutouts.

He'll be challenged by frosh goaltender Daniel Lebedeff, who went 17-8-1 with a 2.41 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and two shutouts in 30 games with the NAHL's Janesville Jets last year. Junior Johan Blomquist also returns.
Whomever plays will have a bounty of talent playing in front of them.

"If you look at our team and its makeup, the one place that even though it looks like we are young with three freshmen, three sophomores and two seniors, the experience we have with the players on the back end, it's as good as any team in the country," Granato said. "When you look at our team that way, you are excited."

Led by captain Peter Tischke, who is undrafted but is a two-time honorable mention All-Big Ten pick, UW's defensive corps boasts five NHL draft picks, its most since the 2009-10 season.

"I think defensively, we're going to be really good this year," Tischke said. "I think K'Andre Miller and Ty Emberson will be able to step up big. Wyatt Kalynuk, Josh Ess and Tyler Inamoto will be able to build off the years they had last year and Jake Bunz and Jesper Peltonen will have good years too.

"We're going to be available for the forwards and be an offensive threat as well, more than we were last year. I'm excited to see what we can bring to the table."

"We have high expectations for ourselves. We want to be the hardest working, most resilient team out there. We want to be the toughest and we just want to leave it all on the table every game." -- Peter Tischke

Up front, alternate captain Seamus Malone looks to become the first Badger to reach 100 career points in five seasons, leading what looks to be a balanced scoring attack.

Like Malone, sophomores Linus Weissbach and Tarek Baker return as 10-goal scorers and expect to raise their games with increased responsibilities. Will Johnson, Sean Dhooghe, Matthew Freytag and Max Zimmer all look to contribute to the balance.

"I think we're really deep as forwards," Malone said.

The Badgers' five-strong freshmen forward group will help to that end.

"There's a lot of energy from them," Malone stated. "It's a great, really tight-knit group. We've really welcomed them. There are a lot of them so they're going to be a big part of our team. They go all the time. They're ready for the season, they're excited and they can't wait to play. It'll be fun to watch."

It was a long offseason for the Badgers. Their 2017-18 season ended the first weekend of March. That's a timeframe the program would like to see extended sooner rather than later.

Now seven months removed from the early end, Wisconsin is ready to move on.

"I think we used last year as motivation during the summer, but I think it's time to re-set," Tischke said.

"We have high expectations for ourselves. We want to be the hardest working, most resilient team out there. We want to be the toughest and we just want to leave it all on the table every game. I think we put ourselves in a good spot if we work hard every shift, every minute and every game."

Malone added, "Last year when we were really good, you could tell that we have what it takes, but it was inconsistency that hurt us. I think this year if we do what we can do, we can be really, really, good."