MADISON, WIS. – The Wisconsin Badgers have officially begun the Mike Hastings chapter with a 4-0 win over the Augustana Vikings on Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
New head coach Mike Hastings secured his first win behind the Badger bench, which also happens to be his 300th NCAA career victory.
Freshman forward Quinn Finley led the roster with a pair of goals while freshman defenseman Joe Palodichuk and freshman forward William Whitelaw each tallied two assists. Senior goaltender Kyle McClellan also had a stellar performance in net, stopping all 25 of Augustana's shots on goal.
Sophomore forward and Minnesota State transfer Christian Fitzgerald opened the scoring with a goal 70 seconds into the first period to get the Badgers going. William Whitelaw led a three-on-two rush into the Vikings' zone before spotting Fitzgerald on his left. Fitzgerald found the back of the net with a swift shot, earning his first point as a Badger.
After a quiet rest of the first period, Wisconsin came into the second period fired up as Mathieu De St. Phalle took just three minutes to score the Badgers' second goal of the night. Fellow alternate captain and senior forward David Silye found De St. Phalle deep in Augustana's right corner. From there, De St. Phalle completed a spectacular toe drag before beating goaltender Zack Rose.
Halfway through the third, Quinn Finley added another to the Badgers' lead by scoring his first NCAA goal. Freshman defensemen Joe Palodichuk started the play with a stretch pass across the ice to Finley, who then passed it to sophomore forward Simon Tassy. Tassy circled the Vikings' zone and took a shot, which was deflected, and gave Finley the perfect opportunity to score on the rebound.
To cap off the evening, Finley found the back of the net yet again.
Joe Palodichuk accompanied Finley and
William Whitelaw on a three-on-two to enter Augustana territory. Palodichuk passed to Whitelaw, who passed to Finley, who fired a clean shot from empty space to the left of the goalie.
This victory opens the 75th season of Wisconsin hockey on a high note.
Notes to know:
- Kyle McClellan earned his first shutout as a Badger
- Mike Hastings secured his first victory at Wisconsin, which was also his 300th total NCAA win
- He became the first UW head coach to win his first game at UW since Jeff Sauer led the Badgers to a 4-3 victory over Bowling Green on Oct. 15, 1982.
- Quinn Finley scored his first two NCAA goals
- Christian Fitzgerald scored his first goal in a Wisconsin uniform
- Joe Palodichuk (two assists), William Whitelaw (assist), David Silye (assist) and Simon Tassy (assist) also picked up their first point(s) with the Badger
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
"That's an important moment for our group because it sets a precedent. It's important to have some success individually, and some guys had that tonight, but then, that gets shared, and so to me, that was pretty special."
On the post-game locker room celebration:
"To see Finley get his first goal, we've got one of the best trainers in the country, and he was on it right away. I walked in; he had three pucks. He had one for Finn [Quinn Finley], he had one for 13 [Christian Fitzgerald] getting his first and then one for McClellan. That's one thing that I thought was pretty neat. We talked about family, and the guys had their pucks, and they handed it out to the staff."
Freshman Quinn Finley
On how comfortable he was on the ice tonight:
"We have a super close group and our leadership group has done a really good job [with the] incoming freshmen getting us really close. So, yeah, that's why I was comfortable."
Senior Kyle McClellan
On how good of a start this was for his season in goal:
"It feels good. I think the team, how they played tonight helped me a lot and just kind of made me feel comfortable and I think going forward, that's gonna be a huge part of our success this year."
On how this game leads to the future:
"It definitely shows what we have in us. That being said though, obviously, we have to keep going and grow as a team and keep getting better every day that way, next time, next game tomorrow we are even even better."
Up Next: Wisconsin faces Augustana again on Sunday at 5 p.m. Stream live on B1G+ and follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
