MADISON, Wis. – No. 18 Wisconsin's newcomers shone bright as the Badger men's hockey team posted a 6-0 exhibition shutout victory against the U.S. Under-18 Team on Thursday night at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin (2-0-0) opened the scoring 2:21 into the first period after freshman forward Bruno Idžan found the back of the net. Just over two minutes later, at 3:42 into the frame, junior forward Quinn Finley lit the lamp, and he tallied again on the power play at 9:27 into the first. The only goal of the second period came from freshman forward Vasily Zelenov at 6:50 into the frame. In the third period, freshman forward Blake Montgomery scored 2:57 in before Idžan tallied his second goal of the night at 18:07 to help the Badgers to a 6-0 victory.
The U.S. Under-18 Team put up 17 shots on goal, but Eli Pulver (15 saves) and Anton Castro (two saves) stood tall between the pipes to backstop UW to the shutout win – its second through three games of the season.
How it Happened
Idžan got UW on the board first, 2:21 into the first period, after putting home a rebound of his own shot.
Finley scored his first goal of the evening 3:42 into the opening frame.
The junior tallied his second of the night on the power play, 9:27 into the first, sinking a shot from the right circle.
UW made it a 4-0 game, 6:50 into the second period, after Zelenov found the back of the net.
Less than three minutes into the third period, at 2:56, Montgomery flicked the puck into a wide-open net to score Wisconsin's fifth goal.
To cap off the scoring, Idžan put home his second goal of the night, 18:07 into the final frame.
Wisconsin went 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 44-17 advantage in shots on goal.
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On Pulver's first game in net for the Badgers
"I thought he looked comfortable, and he was aggressive. And what I mean by that is where he was at in the net, I didn't think he let the game come to him. He kind of went out and said, 'hey, this is how I'm going to establish myself as a goaltender,' and I thought he was rewarded for it."
On the freshmen's performance tonight
"These guys are prepared for the opportunity, and when we went through the recruiting process, we talked about the opportunity that was going to be here for that group, and they have taken advantage of it up to this point. We are going to continue to put more food on their plate and see if they can continue to do what they are doing."
Sophomore goaltender Eli Pulver
On getting ready for the rest of the season
"No matter who we're playing or how many fans are in the stands, we just got to go out and do our jobs and set a tone for the rest of the season."
Freshman forward Bruno Idžan
On capitalizing on the exhibition win
"Winning today will help us a lot, getting into that momentum and starting well with the home opener next week."
Up Next: The Badgers play their home-opening series against Minnesota State on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 16-17. Both games start at 7 p.m. and stream on B1G+. Audio play-by-play can be found on 1310 WIBA as well as on the Badgers app and the Varsity Network app. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram at @BadgerMHockey.
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