After a crushing season-ending loss in March to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team is hungry for a successful season.
When the puck drops on a new season tomorrow at Lindenwood, the Badgers will be rolling out a new team on the Madison ice. With two players from the transfer portal and eight freshmen, Wisconsin is ready to start fresh.
Young goaltending core
The only Badger goaltender who has played at Wisconsin previously is sophomore Anton Castro. Castro was the third-string netminder last season, only playing in five games for a .786 save percentage and 4.29 goals against.
Sophomore goaltender Eli Pulver transferred to Wisconsin after playing one year at Minnesota State University Mankato, appearing in one game for a .958 save percentage.
The youngest of Wisconsin’s goalies, Daniel Hauser, entered the WHL in 2020, playing up until the Badgers took him into NCAA hockey. In his last 25 games with the Calgary Hitmen, Hauser held his own with a .926 save percentage.
Castro and Pulver are on the same level of NCAA goaltender experience, playing very few games last season. Hauser is coming in with a great, full season of play in the WHL, but that doesn’t mean Castro or Pulver’s seniority won’t overshadow him.
Castro and Pulver may be played in tandem, playing a similar amount of games during the beginning of the season as a showcase of talents and team competition.
Freshmen
Four players from Wisconsin’s freshman class are coming directly from the United States Hockey League (USHL), with the rest coming from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Western Hockey League (WHL) and North American Hockey League (NAHL).
Forward Grady Deering played two seasons with the Waterloo Black Hawks, scoring 37 points in 60 games his last season. Deering’s plus-minus went from -18 in the 2023-24 season to -3 this past season.
Coming from Croatia, forward Bruno Idžan played 36 games last season with the Lincoln Stars, scoring 22 goals and 22 assists. Idžan played for Croatia nationally, having been invited to World Juniors competitions multiple times.
Forward Vasily Zelenov scored 14 goals and 19 assists in 54 games last season for the Green Bay Gamblers. Zelenov also spent time playing in a World Junior competition for Austria last year, scoring one goal and three assists in five games throughout the tournament.
Forward Finn Brink is staying in Madison after playing with the Madison Capitols for the past two full seasons, plus 27 total games from 2021-2023. Last season, he scored 22 goals and 21 assists in 57 games.
Forward Blake Montgomery, a strong skater with a big build, scored 23 goals and 27 assists in 51 games in his first season with the London Knights of the OHL. He spent time with the Lincoln Stars early last season, scoring 10 points in 10 games.
Coming in from the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL, forward Oliver Tulk scored 38 goals and 62 assists in 65 games last season. After four years with the Hitmen, Tulk is looking to make an impact just like he did last season, where he blew out his stats from previous years.
The only freshman defender to join the team is Luke Osburn, a strong two-way player. In his second year playing in the NAHL for the Youngstown Phantoms, he had 10 goals and 31 points in 55 games.
From the transfer portal
Alongside the goalie Pulver, senior defenseman Aiden Dubinsky joins the Badgers from the transfer portal. After three years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Dubinsky had 34 points in 102 games. He had 4 goals and 10 assists in 36 games last season.
Wisconsin is considered an arguable longshot for a contender in the Frozen Four. They had a great season two years ago, giving fans high hopes that soon crashed last season.
The Badgers will face some tough opponents this season, especially in the Big Ten. Wisconsin enters the year No. 20 in the country, but that doesn’t mean growth is impossible. These newcomers are leaders, gritty in play style and are supposed to give the Badgers an edge they were missing last year.
