Badger Bites
Shoots right ... born in December of 1997 ... parents are Sheri and Mark … has one brother - Nick (20) … accelerated to graduate high school in three years ... major is undecided ... taken 15th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, chosen by the Minnesota Wild in the first round... name pronounced KUH-nihn
2016-17/ Sophomore Season
Captain ... second sophomore captain in school history (Mike Eaves - 1975-76) ... earned second-team All-Big Ten honors ... named to the Big Ten tournament all-tournament team ... finished the season as the Badgers' leading scorer with 22 goals and 38 points ... twice-named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week (Nov. 1 and Dec. 12) ... had a five-point weekend Oct. 28-29, scoring two goals against St. Lawrence before recording a goal and two assists against Clarkson the next night … scored two goals, one on the power play, against Michigan on Dec. 9, then dished out an assist on the Badgers’ lone goal on Dec. 10 … earned Big Ten Third Star of the Week honors on Jan. 10 after scoring two goals against Michigan State in his first game after returning from the 2017 World Junior Championships ... blocked a season-high four shots against Michigan on Feb. 18 …scored UW’s first goal in the 2-1 victory over Ohio State at the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on March 17 … assisted Wisconsin’s lone goal against Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament championship game on March 18 … team leader with nine power-play goals and 112 shots ... his six game-opening goals led the team and UW went 6-0-0 in those contests ... shared the team lead with two short-handed tallies ... posted five goals and 11 points in career-best eight-game point streak (Feb. 3-25) ... first Badger sophomore since Joe Pavelski had 23 goals during the 2005-06 season to reach 20 goals ... captained Team USA to a gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship … Academic All-Big Ten
2015-16/ Freshman Season
Ranked 16th in NHL Central Scouting midterm rankings for North Americans skaters for the 2016 NHL Draft ... Tied for sixth in UW history for goals by a freshman with his 19 ... Ended season with a seven-game point streak, dating back to Feb. 26 against Ohio State, with nine points in those seven games on six goals and three assists ... Paces college hockey with nine goals in the first or last minute of a period, with 14 total points in the bookends of periods ... Second among Big Ten freshmen with his 32 points, averaging 0.94 points per contest. Point total is second on UW ... Team leader with 18 goals and 124 shots on goal, while he is tied for the UW lead with eight multi-point games this season ... Posted a multi-point effort in UW’s 4-3 win over Minnesota on March 11 with a goal and an assist ... Five of his multi-point efforts came in a 12-game span from Jan. 9-Feb. 27, including three multi-point efforts in a five-game stretch from Feb. 13-Feb. 27 ... After netting a goal in a 4-4 tie with Ohio State on Feb. 26, he tallied a goal and an assist the next night for his seventh multi-point outing of the year ... Posted back-to-back multi-point games with a goal and an assist in a 4-3 loss to Michigan State on Feb. 19 and two goals against Michigan on Feb. 13, his first career multi-goal game ... His second goal against the Wolverines tied the game at four with just 27 seconds left in regulation ... First UW player to reach 10-goal plateau this season when he scored against Alaska on Jan. 30 ... Registered a season team-high 11 shots on goal in UW’s 4-1 loss at Penn State on Jan. 16, the most shots on goal for a freshman since Jack Skille put up 11 on Feb. 17, 2006 ... Four-point game on Jan. 9, 2016 against Ohio State (1 goal, 3 assists) was first for UW since Kyle Turris did so in consecutive games on Oct. 19-20. Honored for his performance against Ohio State with the Big Ten Third Star of the Week ... Tied for team lead with five power-play tallies, which is tied for seventh in the conference. Registered a five-on-four goal at Ohio State (Feb. 27), a five-on-four goal vs. Alaska (Jan. 30), a five-on-four tally at Michigan (Dec. 4) in the Big Ten opener, a five-on-four marker at Ferris State (10/24), and a five-on-three power-play goal vs. Northern Michigan (10/10), which was his first career goal. Tallied first career game-winning goal with a tally in the second period of a 3-1 win against then-No. 1 North Dakota (11/6) ... First career multi-point contest came against Ferris State on Oct. 23 in a 5-5 tie ... Had a goal in just two of his first eight games, but finished the season by finding the back of the net in eight of his final 10 contests ... Selected to play in the 2015 CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game for Team Roenick, Sept. 24 in Buffalo, New York, where he posted a game-high three points on two goals and an assist ... Team Roenick fell to Team Plante, 6-4.
Before Kunin was a Badger
Played 2014-15 with the U.S. National Team Development Program's under-18 team ... scored a goal against Wisconsin in 4-1 exhibition victory at the Kohl Center on Dec. 12, 2014 ... had 27 goals and 42 points in 61 games during the 2014-15 season ... scored six goals in seven games as captain of gold-medal winning Team USA at the 2015 Under-18 World Championships ... played with the U.S. National Under-18 Team that placed second at the U18 Five Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic ... tallied one goal and added two assists in four outings ... appeared in 18 games versus collegiate competition, scoring two goals and eight points ... member of the title-winning squad at the 2014 Four Nations Tournament in Sweden ... had two goals and an assist in four games ... scored 20 goals and 39 points in 52 games for the U.S. Under-17 team during the 2013-14 season ... part of U.S. National Under-17 Team that finished first at the 2014 Five Nations Tournament in Sweden ... had two goals and an assist in four games ... had two goals and six points for U.S. National Under-17 Team that won the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge title in Sydney, Nova Scotia ... posted two goals and three points for U.S. National Under-17 Team that captured the 2013 Four Nations Tournament championship in Slovakia ... product of the St. Louis Minor Midget program.
CAREER HIGHS
GAME
Goals: 2 (5x), last vs. Michigan State, 1/07/17
Assists: 3, vs. Ohio State, 1/9/16
Points: 4, vs. Ohio State, 1/9/16
Point Streak: 8, 2/03-25/17
Multi-point Games: 20
Overtime Goals: None
SERIES
Goals: 2 (8x); last vs. Penn State, 2/10-11/17
Assists: 4, vs. Michigan, 2/17-18/17
Points: 4 (2x), last vs. Michigan, 2/17-18/17
