MADISON, Wis. – A hat trick from Onalaska native Carson Bantle on 'Wisconsin Night' helped the No. 6 Wisconsin men's hockey team to a 6-3 victory over No. 17 Penn State on Friday at the Kohl Center.
Bantle's performance powered UW (13-4-0, 7-2-0 Big Ten) to its fourth-straight win. In addition to Bantle's three goals, William Whitelaw netted two and Quinn Finley tallied one to lift the Badgers over Big Ten opponent Penn State (9-6-3, 2-4-3 Big Ten) for its third consecutive conference victory.
The Badgers got things going early with a goal 5:43 into the first period. Sophomore forward Christian Fitzgerald passed from the middle of Penn State's left circle to sophomore forward Simon Tassy in front of the net. Tassy passed backward through his own legs to freshman forward William Whitelaw, who ripped a shot past the glove of Nittany Lion goaltender Noah Grannan to open the scoring.
UW struck again less than two minutes later. Sophomore forward
Charlie Stramel passed from the neutral zone up the ice to find graduate student forward
Owen Lindmark at the blue line. Lindmark skated the puck into the Penn State zone before saucing a pass to his right to find senior forward
Carson Bantle. Bantle let a slap shot fly to make it 2-0, Wisconsin.
Penn State found the back of the net with 11:51 remaining in the first period on a shot from Matt DiMarsico.
Bantle scored his second goal of the evening 48 seconds into the second period. Senior defenseman
Anthony Kehrer passed up the neutral zone to meet Bantle at the top of Nittany Lion territory. Bantle skated up to the top of the right circle and sunk a shot past the netminder for his sixth goal of the season.
The Badgers added a fourth goal less than five minutes later on a wrist shot from freshman forward
Quinn Finley to skate into the third period with a 4-1 lead.
Then 6:37 into the third period,
William Whitelaw tallied his second goal of the evening after
Charlie Stramel made a cross-ice pass to the rookie before the freshman slid it past the pad of Grannan.
Five minutes later, Penn State scored its second goal of the evening on a shot from Alex St. Servagno.
A goal from Tyler St. Paquette just after an expiring PSU penalty 15:06 into the final frame made it 5-3.
To cap off an eventful evening, Bantle completed his hat trick on the power play with four minutes left in the contest.
Notes to know:
- Wisconsin's 13th victory of the year in its 17th game equals its 2022-23 season total of 13 it collected over the entire 36-game season
-
Carson Bantle's hat trick is UW's first since
Mathieu De St. Phalle scored three against Michigan on March 3, 2023, in the first round of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament.
- Bantle's hat trick also set a new single-game career-high in goals and points
- Tonight's contest marks
William Whitelaw's second two-goal game of the season
-
Charlie Stramel set a new single-game career-high in points and assists with three assists
- UW continues to have the national-leading scoring defense with a 1.76 opponent goals per game average
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On tonight's contest
"I liked our puck management, and I didn't think we created a lot of opportunities for Penn State by being too aggressive on the forecheck and creating outnumbered rushes. I thought we were pretty responsible with the first 10 minutes and the game paid us back because of it."
Senior forward Carson Bantle
On completing a hat trick on 'Wisconsin Night'
"Growing up in Wisconsin, it's always a dream to play [here]. This is one of my favorite places and probably the best place on earth so there's nowhere else you want to play. That's for sure."
On the team's four-game win streak
"Winning is contagious this year and we all love to win. I think overall, everyone's having fun every single time we go out there."
Freshman forward William Whitelaw
On scoring the first goal of the game
"It's always huge to get the first goal. I think one thing our team takes pride on is having a really hot start to the game and just having a better start than they do. And it was a good play. It was a nice pass to Tassy, and then Tassy obviously made an unbelievable pass to me. I was fortunate enough to get the puck and was able to capitalize."
Up Next: The Badgers continue their series against Penn State on Saturday, Dec. 9. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will feature the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by BMO. The game will stream live on B1G+. Audio play-by-play for both games can be found on 1310 WIBA in the Madison area, 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee, as well as on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network App. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
