The Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team did, in fact, defy the odds. Wisconsin will play for the National Championship this Saturday! It will be the Badgers' ninth NCAA championship game, and the first since 2010.
The Badgers continued their tremendous momentum on Thursday with another massive upset in the NCAA hockey tournament, this time over the second-ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks, 2-1. Two quick first-period goals by Simon Tassy and Ryan Botterill paced the Badgers, but the MVP of the semifinal game was freshman goaltender Daniel Hauser. Hauser was simply sensational against North Dakota, stopping 21 of 22 shots in the victory.
Wisconsin’s Frozen Four win over North Dakota now sets up an exciting National Championship game.
The Wisconsin Badgers will face the Denver Pioneers for the NCAA men’s hockey national championship.
Wisconsin faces head coach David Carle and ten-time champions Denver on Saturday, April 11th at 4:30 P.M. CT. Denver, in their fifth Frozen Four under Carle, seeks a third NCAA title in five years. Junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, a Hobey Baker finalist, leads Denver with 18 goals. Like Wisconsin, Denver features a strong freshman goaltender, Johnny Hicks, who is 15-0-1 this season.
It took two overtimes on Thursday night, but the Denver Pioneers knocked off the number-one-ranked Michigan Wolverines 4-3 to advance to the championship. Captain defenseman Kent Anderson buried the game-winner with 7:25 remaining in the second extra period.
It’s been a wild but enjoyable ride for the Wisconsin Badgers to get to this championship game and now have a chance to bring home their seventh title to Madison. Awaiting them is an outstanding team in Denver that has not lost since January 23rd, when it lost to St. Cloud State. With two teams riding high, Saturday’s National Championship should be an outstanding game between two historically great programs.