MADISON, Wis. — There a lot on the line for the No. 5 Wisconsin men's hockey team (17-8-1, 15-6-1 0-1-1 Big Ten) when it travels to East Lansing, Michigan to wrap up its regular season with a series against the Michigan State Spartans (7-15-2, 5-14-1 2-1-0 Big Ten) on Friday and Saturday, March 4-5.
Here are six quick things to know before tuning in:
1 - B1G ASPIRATIONS: They need a little help,
but with two games remaining in the regular season, the Badgers are in position to win the program's first conference title since 2000. The Badgers are currently locked in to at least second place in the final Big Ten standings, but can grab first place and the conference crown by performing two points better than Minnesota. The simplest scenario includes the Badgers winning both games at Michigan State and No. 3 Minnesota dropping one of its home games to No. 7 Michigan.
The Big Ten regular-season champion will be determined by winning percentage in Big Ten games, with wins in regulation and overtime counted as wins and shootout results counted as ties for the purpose of calculating winning percentages.
Conference titles have been the most difficult thing for the Badgers to win in their history, owning just three regular-season titles (1977, 1990, 2000).
2 - STAR POWER: Sophomore Dylan Holloway was named the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Player of the Month for February after posting six goals and a national-best 17 points in eight games. The 17 points for Holloway in February equaled his freshman season's total.
Cole Caufield received Big Ten First Star of the Week honors for the second time this season following a hat trick performance and five-point weekend (three goals, two assists) against Ohio State. A Badger has been named Big Ten First Star of the Week in four of the past five weeks. Ty Pelton-Byce received the honor the previous week, preceded by Dylan Holloway and Cole Caufield.
3 - GOAL CAUFIELD: Cole Caufield recorded his second hat trick of the season and the third of his career last Saturday in UW's 7-0 win over Ohio State. He became the first Badger since Brad Englehart in 1996–97 to record two hat tricks in a season. He also became the first Badger since Jason Zent (1990-94) to post three career hat tricks.
It took Cole Caufield 26 games to reach 20 goals this season. That makes him the quickest to reach the milestone since Gary Shuchuk scored 20 in the first 21 games during the 1989-90 season on his way to a 41-goal campaign..
4 - HOBEY TRACKER: Three Badgers are currently in the running for college hockey's top individual award as regular season play begins to wind down. Cole Caufield currently leads the nation in goals and points with 22 and 42, respectively. Senior Linus Weissbach ranks second in the nation in assists with 24 and third in points with 35. Right on his heels is Dylan Holloway with 22 assists and 33 points. Holloway's 1.833 points per game average would lead the country if he had played the minimum number of games to qualify
5 - SHUT 'EM OUT: Freshman goaltender Cameron Rowe continues to impress with his second career shutout last weekend in the Badger's 7-0 win over Ohio State. His .939 save percentage leads all freshmen goalies and ranks fourth nationwide.
6 - SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Wisconsin hockey honored seven seniors in their final home game this past weekend. Best of luck to Tyler Inamoto, Linus Weissbach, Tarek Baker, Ty Pelton-Byce, Josh Ess, Jason Dhooghe, and graduate transfer Robbie Beydoun. Once a Badger, always a Badger!
HOW TO WATCH: The Badgers face off with MSU on Friday at 3 p.m CT and stream on Big Ten Network+. Saturday's game begins at 1:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network. Follow along live on Twitter and Instagram at @BadgerMHockey or with live stats on UWBadgers.com
