2020–21 Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey season

The 2020-21 Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey season was the 72nd season of play for the program and the 21st season in the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison and were coached by Tony Granato, in his 5th season.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Wisconsin's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Wisconsin entered the season having to rely on an entirely new troop of goaltenders, having lost all of their netminders from the year before. That wasn't an unfortunate circumstance as the Badgers had been one of the worst teams in the nation in terms of goals allowed. Senior transfer Robbie Beydoun was the first goalie to start for the team and Wisconsin started well, winning four of their first six games (all against ranked teams). After getting embarrassed by Arizona State in late November, Tony Granato began rotating his starting goalies and the team responded by handing #1 Minnesota their first loss of the season. With the team beginning to fire on all cylinders, Cole Caufield came into his own and rocketed up the national scoring standings. Caufield's goal-scoring helped the Badgers win 13 out of 16 games and finish atop the Big Ten by .002. The drastic turnaround was the first time a team had gone from worst to first in any conference standings since Maine in 1995 (though that included 14 forfeited games).
As the top seed, Wisconsin received a bye into the Big Ten Semifinals but, when they hit the ice, the team appeared to have lost some its steam. The Badgers had to twice recover from Penn State leads in the third period before dominating in the overtime session. The championship game versus Minnesota saw more loose play and the Gophers scored four goals in the second period to take a 4-goal edge. The Badgers tried to come back in the final frame, scoring three times but an empty-net goal sealed their defeat. 
Despite the championship loss, Wisconsin was ranked 4th by the NCAA selection committee and given the top spot for the East Region in the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers opened against Bemidji State and for the third consecutive game they got off to a slow start. The Beavers scored twice in the first, including a goal with less then 20 seconds remaining. After Wisconsin cut the lead in half, BSU scored two more before the end of the second, including one off a terrible turnover by Beydoun. Cameron Rowe was in net to start the third but it didn't appear to make much difference as Bemidji State scored again to push their lead to four. Caufield scored twice in the third to try and spark a comeback but the deficit was too great and The Badgers' campaign ended on a 3–6 loss.
Ben Garrity sat out the season.
==Departures==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Cause
Jack Berry 	Goaltender	 	Graduation (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers)
Johan Blomquist	Goaltender	 	Graduation
Sean Dhooghe 	Forward 	 	Transferred to Arizona State
Wyatt Kalynuk 	Defenseman	 	Signed professional contract (Chicago Blackhawks)
Daniel Lebedeff	Goaltender	 	Signed professional contract (HPK)
Mick Messner 	Forward 	 	Transferred to Merrimack
K'Andre Miller 	Defenseman	 	Signed professional contract (New York Rangers)
Alex Turcotte 	Forward 	 	Signed professional contract (Los Angeles Kings)
Max Zimmer 	Forward 	 	Graduation (signed with Charlotte Checkers)
==Recruiting==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Age	Notes
Robbie Beydoun 	Goaltender	 	23 	Plymouth, MI; transfer from Michigan Tech
Mathieu De St. Phalle	Forward 	 	20 	Glencoe, IL
Ben Garrity 	Goaltender	 	20 	Rosemount, MN
Anthony Kehrer 	Defenseman	 	18 	Winnipeg, MB
Luke LaMaster 	Defenseman	 	20 	Duluth, MN
Cameron Rowe 	Goaltender	 	19 	Wilmette, IL
Sam Stange 	Forward 	 	19 	Eau Claire, WI; selected 97th overall in 2020
==Roster==
As of August 31, 2020.
==Standings==
==Schedule and Results==
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==Scoring Statistics==
Name 	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
 	RW 	31 	30 	22 	52 	4
 	LW/RW 	31 	12 	29 	41 	12
 	C/LW 	23 	11 	24 	35 	19
 	F 	24 	12 	19 	31 	2
 	LW 	26 	9 	13 	22 	43
 	RW 	31 	7 	10 	17 	0
 	C 	27 	4 	13 	17 	4
 	C/LW 	31 	6 	7 	13 	8
 	D 	31 	4 	9 	13 	6
 	LW 	27 	3 	9 	12 	24
 	D 	26 	1 	8 	9 	15
 	F 	31 	2 	6 	8 	4
 	RW 	29 	6 	1 	7 	4
 	F 	27 	3 	4 	7 	14
 	D 	31 	2 	5 	7 	6
 	D 	30 	0 	7 	7 	2
 	D 	31 	0 	7 	7 	12
 	D 	24 	2 	2 	4 	16
 	C/RW 	22 	2 	1 	3 	40
 	F 	24 	2 	1 	3 	2
 	D 	10 	0 	0 	0 	4
 	D 	14 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	16 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	21 	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	6
Total	 	 	118 	197 	315 	249
==Goaltending statistics==
Name 	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
 	16 	759 	9 	2 	1 	26 	362 	2 	.933	2.05
 	21 	1103 	11 	8 	0 	49 	553 	3 	.919	2.66
Empty Net	- 	14 	- 	- 	- 	5 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total 	31 	1877 	20 	10 	1 	80 	915 	5 	.920	2.56
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week	Week	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	 	
USCHO.com	NR 	14 	14 	14 	12 	14 	13 	14 	12 	12 	12 	13 	11 	7 	5 	5 	5 	5 	5 	4 	- 	 	 	 	
USA Today	NR 	13 	15 	NR 	13 	14 	15 	15 	14 	14 	12 	13 	12 	6 	5 	5 	5 	4 	5 	4 	8 	 	 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==Awards and honors==
Player 	Award 	Ref
Cole Caufield 	Hobey Baker Award 	
Cole Caufield 	NCAA Scoring Champion 	
Cole Caufield 	AHCA West First Team All-American 	
Dylan Holloway 	AHCA West Second Team All-American	
Linus Weissbach	AHCA West Second Team All-American	
Cole Caufield 	Big Ten Player of the Year 	
Cole Caufield 	Big Ten Scoring Champion 	
Tony Granato 	Big Ten Coach of the Year 	
Cole Caufield 	Big Ten First Team 	
Dylan Holloway 	Big Ten First Team 	
Linus Weissbach	Big Ten Second Team 	
Cameron Rowe 	Big Ten Freshman Team 	
Ty Emberson 	Big Ten All-Tournament Team 	
Cole Caufield 	Big Ten All-Tournament Team 	
==References==
==External links==
Category:Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey seasons
Wisconsin Badgers 
Wisconsin Badgers 
Wisconsin Badgers