Look back on coverage of Wisconsin men's hockey games in the 2021-22 season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It had to be noted that the second-worst season by record in the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team’s modern era ended Sunday not with the whimper that many expected.

The Badgers pushed No. 7 Notre Dame in a deciding Game 3 of a Big Ten quarterfinal series. The hole, however, was too big — for the game and the season.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — There is fresh experience for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team to reference in its situation.

The Badgers need to turn from negative to positive in a hurry or their season will be over on Sunday.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The puck from a shot that missed wide smacked off the boards behind Jared Moe’s net at an angle that forced it to pop up and back over the cage into a dangerous spot.

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey goaltender got his helmeted head in the way of that one Friday, pushing it to safety.

MINNEAPOLIS — Tyler Inamoto was as blunt as the beating that the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team had just absorbed.

The Badgers have played rival Minnesota 257 times since restarting their program in 1963. None of them was as lopsided as an 8-0 thumping that the Gophers laid on them Saturday.

MINNEAPOLIS — Jared Moe kept a smile on his face as he interacted with former teammates outside the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team's locker room at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

It couldn't have been easy. Not after his Badgers teammates left him to fend for himself for a lot of the final 20 minutes of his return to the arena he called home for two seasons.

The last home game of a college hockey career leaves a lasting impression. Josh Ess has played at the Kohl Center for five years with the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team and wanted his last chance to be a good game.

The Badgers got that against No. 11 Notre Dame in a 3-2 loss on Sunday but the atmosphere was something never before seen in the building for men's hockey.

Injuries have taken a toll. A quarantine took out a sizeable chunk of the roster for most of the practice week and forced a series against No. 11 Notre Dame to be pushed back by two days.

The season has been a grind of negative results for the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team, which carried a six-game losing streak carrying into the proceedings Saturday night at the Kohl Center.

Ohio State didn’t need a big third period on Saturday to send the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team to a season-long six-game losing streak.

The damage was done in the second period, forcing UW’s fourth goalie change in the last six games and officially eliminating the Badgers from contention to host a quarterfinal series in the Big Ten playoffs before the first week of February was done.

Another good start and another third-period lead against Ohio State meant little to the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team by the end Friday night.

The ninth-ranked Buckeyes scored twice in the third period to force overtime, where Georgii Merkulov scored to beat the Badgers 4-3 in Columbus, Ohio.

The result was all but decided by the 52nd minute of the game Saturday night but a fifth goal by Michigan highlighted some of the things that have gone wrong on defense lately for the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team.

Defenseman Luke Hughes had a clear lane to the net and scored to extend the fourth-ranked Wolverines' lead in what ended as a 6-2 victory at the Kohl Center.

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team is 27 games into its season and captain Tarek Baker sounded annoyed that a basic trait like competing isn’t a given.

That was at the top of a stack of issues Friday when the Badgers were outworked and outplayed by No. 4 Michigan at the Kohl Center.

For a few minutes early in the third period on Saturday, the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team had life.

Carson Bantle scored two goals 95 seconds apart to narrow Penn State’s lead to one goal and the Badgers were on the front foot that they hoped to reach all weekend.

Things turned back to like they were in November for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team on Friday — and that wasn’t a positive development.

The Badgers team that had done more good than bad since the start of December wasn’t around through two periods of a 4-1 loss to last-place Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania.

Redemption can be a powerful motivator, and the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team has built up a solid reserve of it this season.

The Badgers lost twice at Michigan State two months ago, with three Spartans power-play goals contributing. The weekend left the Badgers with five consecutive losses and a total of six goals scored in them.

After its most productive first period of the season, the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team stumbled on the first shift of the middle frame on Friday.

Michigan State scored just 39 seconds after the intermission to cut UW’s lead to one, setting up what coach Tony Granato called the “most important 19 minutes of the game.”

It was set up to be a remarkable moment for Jesper Peltonen and the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team, the kind of occurrence that delivers a double scoop of positive vibes.

The defenseman hadn’t scored in his Badgers career and with time running down Sunday in a tie game, he threw the puck at the net.

Thirteen players returned to the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team Saturday after spending most of the week in quarantine but what kind of shape were they going to be in?

That was one of the big questions as the Badgers opened a one-day-delayed Big Ten series against No. 17 Ohio State at the Kohl Center.

MILWAUKEE — The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team came to the inaugural Holiday Face-Off looking to pull a championship out of a season that has had more down stretches than positives.

The way that Badgers players poured off the bench when Zach Urdahl scored in the sixth round of a shootout Wednesday at Fiserv Forum showed how much it meant to them.

MILWAUKEE — Brock Caufield walked into the postgame news conference with the top of his head covered by a toque that featured prominently the circular state of Wisconsin seal on the front.

How appropriate on a night when a Division I men’s college hockey holiday tournament returned to Wisconsin for the first time in nearly 12 years, when a Wisconsin native scored his first collegiate goal and when a Wisconsin native scored the overtime winner.

After two periods Saturday night, it looked like hopes for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team to go into the winter break on a high note were fading fast.

A three-goal third period by the Badgers and a tying score by Jack Gorniak in the final minute changed all that.

The pressure had been building for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team for nearly a month.

All sorts of scoring chances, few conversions.

It was a cool moment for Ben Garrity but it was just that — a moment.

Roman Ahcan hit the left post in the second period. He hit the right post in the third period.

That’s the embodiment of things offensively for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team. Even when players are getting shots past the opposing goaltender, they’re not going in.

It was all there for Tarek Baker. An end-to-end rush. A move through two defenders in the offensive zone. A kick of the puck with his right skate to get it back on the tape of his left-handed stick.

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey captain already had provided the late-third-period goal that got the Badgers to overtime against Clarkson on Friday. The last move to complete a victory with less than a minute left in the extra session was just out of his reach.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — It’s one thing for University of Wisconsin men’s hockey players to say small mistakes need to be cleaned up.

The actual tidying is proving elusive.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Was it icing? The official answer was no because a linesman waved it off in the moment.

The decision was hard enough for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team to accept Friday night.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The records being set by a University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team that can’t find a consistent offensive touch are deeply unflattering.

Two came as a result of a 3-0 loss to No. 15 Notre Dame on Saturday, giving the Fighting Irish a two-game sweep of a series in which goaltender Matthew Galajda held the Badgers to one goal.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The first shot of the night went in for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team.

It was most definitely not a sign of things to come on Friday.

The University of Wisconsin men's hockey team was beaten by No. 5 Minnesota on Saturday and it was beaten up.

Defenseman Corson Ceulemans and forward Tarek Baker, the team captain, were helped off the ice with injuries in a 4-1 loss to the Gophers at the Kohl Center.

Brock Caufield saw his brother Cole shine in the spotlight so many times over the previous two seasons, especially last year en route to winning the Hobey Baker Award.

It was his time to come through in big moments for the Badgers on Friday.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Wisconsin men's hockey team executed the pieces of its winning blueprint just as its level of frustration was reaching a critical point.

In a 4-2 victory against No. 2 Michigan on Friday that gained a split from the Big Ten Conference series, the Badgers hit on some major foundational themes.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jared Moe wasn’t willing to say the result was unjust for him.

University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Tony Granato was ready to give his goaltender the benefit of the doubt.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The penalty kill has been leaky for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team early this season. The power play has produced next to nothing.

Both were negative factors again Saturday, and when the Badgers aren’t finishing many scoring chances at even strength, that combination is a killer.

Tarek Baker pumped his legs, not knowing how much was left in them.

Two Army players collided near the blue line and sent the puck out into the neutral zone. Baker, more than a minute into a penalty-killing shift, was overdue to get to the bench for a change.

Tony Granato gathered his University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team around him at the bench after its deficit increased to five goals early in the second period Saturday.

Lip reading was impossible because of the mask on Granato’s face but his body language during the timeout told the story. The Badgers coach stood with his hands out at his sides in a “What are we doing?” kind of pose as he talked.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Part one of a three-week, six-game gauntlet was a bust for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team.

It’s hard to overcome allowing three power-play goals, a handful of blown defensive-zone assignments and a lack of sustained offensive pressure when the game was still in the balance.

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team was greeted with a week of competition drills in practice after opening its season with two uninspiring losses.

Asked to describe the on-ice sessions, forward Sam Stange initially used one word: “Necessary.”

If time stopped a few minutes after the opening faceoff, Friday night’s season opener would have been like a dream for Caden Brown and the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team.

Brown, a freshman forward, scored on his first collegiate shift. The Badgers had the lead and the Kohl Center, hosting hockey for the first time in more than 19 months, was buzzing.

CHIPPEWA FALLS — The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team was in a position that hadn’t been terribly familiar for those who returned from last season.

The Badgers spent extended stretches of an exhibition game against Minnesota Duluth on Sunday in their defensive zone. Being able to escape those situations had been a strength of the 2020-21 Big Ten champions but seeing UW try to work through the pressure was another reminder that this won’t be the same team.