Freshman defender Logan Hensler faced off against his former team, the U.S. Under-18 national team, on March 2 for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team. The Badgers ended up losing by one to the national in a high-scoring exhibition game, but Hensler had a great game.
The Badgers have a short history with Team USA, and before this recent game, Wisconsin led the competition results 6-4-0. Now, they’ve met only 11 times.
A freshman from Minnesota, Hensler has played for the national team since 2022. He began on the Under-17 Team and moved to the Under-18 Team before his first season at Wisconsin.
The first year of development pushed Hensler to maximize his defense ability. Throughout his season with the Under-18s, Hensler tallied 32 points. He recorded six more during the IIHF World Junior Championship.
Hensler is now a member of the U.S. Under-20 Team and traveled to Ottawa, Canada this past winter to compete in the tournament on this team. The U.S. Under-20 Team won five out of six of their games in the tournament and collected the championship title over Finland.
Other Wisconsin players are also familiar with this national team. Currently, Hensler, senior defender Daniel Laatsch, graduate student forward Owen Lindmark and sophomore defender Zach Schulz are all products of the U.S. National Team Development Program. In all-time, 44 Badgers were players in the national program.
The U.S. team scored three goals in both the first and second periods, and Wisconsin scored once in each. Sophomore forward Owen Mehlenbacher and freshman forward Adam Pietila scored for the Badgers.
Mehlenbacher found a perfectly-angled rebound from the boards and tapped the puck in from the left side of the net. Pietila received a quick pass up the ice and was able to fly out ahead of defenders and approach the goalie one-on-one for a goal.
The U.S. team had the 2-6 score advantage heading into the third period. The Badgers have played down often this season, the most recent example being the previous week’s final game against Notre Dame. Although Wisconsin had won the first night 7-3, they couldn’t come back on Saturday from a 4-1 deficit after the second period.
During this exhibition game, though, they made a close run. Pietila’s goal fired up the Wisconsin team and they came out to score three unanswered goals in the third period. It still wasn’t enough to beat the U.S. team.
Head coach Mike Hastings said younger players have made improvements throughout the season that appeared in this competition.
“Pietila is going in a good direction…which is a positive and he’s starting to play with a bit more confidence,” Hastings said following the game.
Confidence and discipline are two principles Hastings has emphasized throughout the season when noting the Badgers’ good and bad moments. Wisconsin had 117 total penalties in regular season play, but they sit at the second-highest percentage in the Big Ten for penalty kills.
“Today wasn’t do or die,” Hastings said. “We wanted to utilize some things from tonight’s game for us to be the best version that we can.”
Wisconsin only recorded four penalty minutes the entire game, an improvement from the previous week’s series against Notre Dame where the Badgers handed over 15 total power play advantages.
Graduate student forward Owen Lindmark, freshman defender Logan Hensler and sophomore defender Joe Palodichuk each sounded the buzzer for those three unanswered goals Wisconsin tallied. They brought the final score to 5-6.
Hensler and Palodichuk scored during the final minute of the game, within 20 seconds of each other.
Palodichuk and Hensler both brought their game for this exhibition competition. Hensler’s goal was scored off of a power play advantage for Wisconsin. Hensler and Palodichuk both recorded three points this game — one from a goal and two from assists.
Hensler’s tough defensive strategy and transition to offensive momentum is the reason for his success at Wisconsin. In his first year, Hensler made two goals, tallied 10 assists and stopped 24 shots.
The defender is the youngest player for the Badgers this season and is considered a one of the top eligible defenseman for the 2025 NHL Draft in June. Hensler can use his experience on a Big Ten team and the Under-20 national team to prove that he deserves to sit at the top.
Wisconsin should use the time they have with this stand-out defender to develop a strategy that uses the two-way player to create offensive opportunities and executions. The Badgers have notably recorded higher shot counts than the teams they’ve faced this season, but, like Hastings said, they need more patience and discipline to make the shots count.
Hensler has the potential in Wisconsin’s postseason run to show his defensive to offensive skill set in a way that allows Wisconsin to find success.
