NCAA First Round
Friday, March 26 | Noon CT — Webster Bank Arena
Regional Final
Saturday, March 27 | 4 p.m. CT — Webster Bank Arena
MADISON, Wis. — The No. 4 Wisconsin men's hockey team is off to the NCAA tournament! The Badgers will face Bemidji State in the regional semifinals on Friday, March 26 at Noon CT in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Here are six quick things to know before tuning in:
1- SEVEN SEASONS IN THE MAKING: The Badgers are making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014 and officially their 26th all-time. They secured the No. 1 regional seed after winning the Big Ten regular season and racking up a 20-9-1 record.
2 - HOBEY FINALISTS: Two Badgers cracked the top-10 list of finalists for the Hobey Baker Award given to college hockey's top player. Cole Caufield, leads the nation with 28 goals, 49 points, and 1.633 points per game. Dylan Holloway is also among the finalists with 23 assists and 34 points.
3 - SPECIAL TEAMS: Wisconsin is one of three schools in the country to rank in the top 10 in both power play and penalty kill. UW leads the country with a 31.5 percent power play (29-for-92) and sits eighth with an 85.3 percent penalty kill (64-for-75). The UW penalty kill is also perfect in its last five games, though they have only had to kill 10 penalties over that stretch. UW is perfect in 12 of its last 14 games on the penalty kill.
4 - B1G HONORS: Sophomore forward Cole Caufield was named Big Ten Player of the Year, while Tony Granato is the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time in his UW career. In all, eight Badgers were honored with Big Ten postseason awards including forwards Caufield and Dylan Holloway (First Team), forward Linus Weissbach (Second Team), forward Ty Pelton-Byce and defenseman Ty Emberson (Honorable Mention), goaltender Cameron Rowe (Rookie Team) and Brock Caufield (Sportsmanship Award).
5 - FROM THE HISTORY BOOKS: Wisconsin is 6-0-1 all-time against the Bemidji State Beavers and will face them for the first time since 2013. Wisconsin and Bemidji State were both members of the WCHA together for three seasons from 2010 through 2013, with the Badgers going 5-0-1 against BSU during that stretch.
UW's first meeting against the Beavers came in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Former Badger Joe Pavelski scored a hat trick in the game and goaltender Brian Elliott made 15 saves in UW's 4-0 victory over BSU.
6 - HOW TO WATCH: The regional semifinal matchup between Wisconsin and Bemidji State is scheduled for Friday, March 26. The game begins at Noon CT and airs on ESPN2. The winners of the two Bridgeport Regional first-round games will meet on Saturday, March 27, at 4 p.m. CT on ESPNU in the regional final. Second-seed Massachusetts and third-seed Lake Superior State complete the regional field. Follow along on Twitter at @BadgerMHockey and with live stats on UWBadgers.com
