The Wisconsin men’s hockey team (2-8-0) will head to University Park, Pennsylvania, on Friday and Saturday to face the Penn State Nittany Lions (4-3-0). The Badgers are coming off another set of losses at home — a regulation loss on Friday and an overtime loss on Saturday to the Minnesota Gophers.
The Badgers faced a difficult top-three team in Minnesota and could not hold a lead against them for very long. Badgers fans saw their team score goals against Liam Souliere, the Gophers goaltender who had previously played for Penn State before transferring in ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Wisconsin had a difficult time converting on their power plays and holding out on penalty kills, of which the team had few. The Badgers struggle to score even when they have an extra skater, and they get scored on too much when their opponent has an extra skater to make up for their low power play conversion rate. This is what will continue to cut any lead Wisconsin holds in a game.
Sophomore forward Quinn Finley scored twice over the weekend with a power play goal on Friday. Junior forward Kyle Kukkonen scored after to put the Badgers up 2-0, but a shorthanded goal by the Gophers started the fall of Wisconsin, eventually putting them down 2-3 to end the game.
Graduate student Ryland Mosley tied the Badgers up 1-1 on Saturday, followed by a Finley goal to put the Badgers ahead 2-1. But the Gophers forced Wisconsin into overtime, allowing Minnesota to score a powerplay goal three minutes in that gave them the OT win.
Wisconsin stays unranked as they head to No. 18 Penn State. Wisconsin trails in historic wins against Penn State, so they’re looking for a few more to hopefully boost their series statistics and move up in the national rankings.
The Nittany Lions are coming off of a bye-week, so they’ll be well rested at home in University Park. Penn State’s points leader, sophomore Aiden Fink, sits at nine points in seven games. The Badgers can expect to face junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev who has played all seven games for the Nittany Lions this season. He holds a .929 save percentage, compared to the .886 save percentage of Badger sophomore goaltender William Gramme, who played both games against Minnesota over the weekend.
The Badgers need to play aggressively against a team that holds their opponents to 30 fewer shots than their own team and who converts to .143 percent of power plays. But Wisconsin may be able to crack Penn State’s defense that allows way more shots on goal while on the penalty kill. If a fired up Badgers power play comes into Penn State, they may be able to scrape by with some conference wins.
The games begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania.
