MADISON, Wis. – Sawyer Scholl and Carson Bantle each scored a pair of goals to help the No. 4 Wisconsin men's hockey team slide past No. 6 Michigan State, 4-1, on Saturday's Senior Night in front of 13,428 at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin (25-9-2, 16-7-1 Big Ten) got on the board first less than two minutes into the game when Sawyer Scholl found the back of the net. Senior Carson Bantle extended the Badgers' lead on the power play, but Michigan State (22-9-3, 16-6-2 Big Ten) lit the lamp with a power-play goal of its own to make it a 2-1 game. Bantle and Scholl each added a goal in the second and third periods, respectively, to help the Badgers close out the regular season with a win. Senior goaltender Kyle McClellan put on a show during senior night, stopping 28 of 29 MSU shots on goal.
The Badgers got on the board first 1:29 into the contest. Freshman forward Sawyer Scholl won the faceoff, got possession of the puck and took a quick shot from the bottom of the left circle to notch his fourth goal of the season.
Senior forward
Carson Bantle made it 2-0 on the power play 1:35 later. Senior forward
Mathieu De St. Phalle took a shot on net and senior forward
David Silye picked up the rebound right in front. Silye took a shot that was stopped, but Bantle tapped the loose puck into the net.
Michigan State scored 8:25 into the period after Karsen Dowart capitalized on a five-on-three power play.
Just over 15 minutes into the second period,
Carson Bantle tallied his second goal of the evening. Freshman forward
Owen Mehlenbacher passed from the left side boards to meet sophomore forward
Jack Horbach stationed behind the Michigan State net. Horbach skated around to the left circle and sent a cross-ice pass to Bantle, who fired a quick shot home for his 14th goal of the season.
Sawyer Scholl scored his second goal of the night after redirecting a
Simon Tassy pass into an empty net.
Wisconsin went 1-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 39-29 advantage in shots on goal.
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On senior night
"The credit goes to the locker room. They were excited about honoring the seniors and that was their message to us when we met today. I do think that they understood what didn't get done and thought it was important for us to turn the page and move on. This group has done a good job of that: owning the good, the bad and everything in between, and turning the page and moving on."
On the importance of the home crowd
"Our start was good again tonight. I hope that stays consistent because for us to have 13,000 plus fans in this building both nights just says something about Badger Nation and all the support we have because when we do our job, they get into the game and we are going to need that moving forward in the playoffs."
Senior forward Carson Bantle
On getting a win on senior night
"It's pretty special, playing four years, you get to see all the people before you, and tonight we got to honor our seniors. It's pretty special seeing all that we've accomplished and how far we've come together. It's good to get a win on it."
Senior goaltender Kyle McClellan
On the emotions of senior night
"It's pretty emotional. We're pretty lucky. Not everyone gets to throw on the jersey with their best friends every day, and it's such a special place. Just being able to do it every single day is just something we could all be grateful for and just kind of realize that this is it."
Notes to know:
- The last time the Badgers had 25 wins through the regular season was in 1999-00
-
Kyle McClellan's 23 wins are the most since Kirk Daubenspeck had 23 in 1994-95
- UW is 13-3-2 at the Kohl Center this season
- Wisconsin is 18-2-1 when scoring on the power play
- The Badgers have power-play goals in five straight games
- Junior defenseman
Daniel Laatsch skated in his 100th-career game
- Tonight's game served as senior night, and eight Badger seniors were honored during a pre-game ceremony including forwards
Sam Stange,
Mathieu De St. Phalle,
David Silye and
Carson Bantle, defensemen
Luke LaMaster and
Anthony Kehrer, and goaltenders
Kyle McClellan and
Ben Garrity
Up Next: The Badgers host Ohio State for a best-of-three series in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament on Friday through Sunday, March 8-10. Friday's game begins at 7 p.m., while Saturday is a 6 p.m. start and Sunday, if necessary, will begin at 5 p.m. Audio play-by-play airs on the Badgers Radio network, including 1310 WIBA in the Madison area and 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee. It also airs on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network app. Follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
