Badgers advance to fourth-straight Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off final in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE – A five-goal second period and another perfect performance from goaltender Tommy Scarfone propelled the Wisconsin men’s hockey team past the Ferris State Bulldogs, 8-0, in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off semifinals on Saturday evening at Fiserv Forum.
With the win, the Badgers advance to their fourth-straight Holiday Face-Off championship game and will face UConn tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT.
Wisconsin (8-10-1, 5-7-0 Big Ten) got on the board 4:40 into the first period thanks to Quinn Finley’s national-best 13th goal of the year. Ryland Mosley extended UW’s lead with 1:25 remaining in the opening frame. The Badgers scored five goals in the second period, with Kyle Kukkonen, Mosley, Cody Laskosky (twice) and Quinn Finley finding the back of the net to give UW a 7-0 lead heading into the third. Kukkonen scored his second goal of the night with 0.8 seconds left in regulation to give Wisconsin the 8-0 victory. Tommy Scarfone stopped 23 of 23 Ferris State (6-11-2, 4-6-0 CCHA) shots on goal to notch his third shutout of the season.
How it Happened
Sophomore forward Finley opened the scoring for Wisconsin 4:40 into the first period. From the left side boards in Wisconsin’s zone, Mosley passed to freshman defenseman Jack Phelan behind the net, who then passed up to Finley at the right circle. The sophomore then rushed down the ice and knocked in his own rebound past the Ferris State goaltender to net his 13th goal of the season.
With 1:25 remaining in the first frame, graduate student forward Mosley made it 2-0. Freshman forward Gavin Morrissey won a faceoff at the right circle and Finley picked up the puck. His shot deflected off the goaltender’s glove and Mosley was there to shovel the puck home to pick up his ninth goal of the year.
To kick off a five-goal second period, junior forward Kukkonen scored 5:28 into the frame on the power-play. Graduate student forward Owen Lindmark skated around the Bulldogs’ zone and left the puck at the top of the right circle for junior forward Christian Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald skated to the middle of the circle and made a pass across the zone to Kukkonen, who one-timed the puck to tally his second power-play goal of the year.
The Badgers scored four goals in the final seven minutes of the period, with Mosley’s second goal of the game coming with 6:25 remaining in the frame. Behind the Ferris State net, freshman forward Ryan Botterill passed up to Mosley near the slot, who fired home a one-timer to reach double-digit goals on the year.
Graduate student forward Laskosky made it a 5-0 game with 4:46 left in the second. Junior forward Tyson Dyck passed from the top of the right circle to senior defenseman Daniel Laatsch at the top of the zone. Laatsch took a shot, which was blocked, and Laskosky picked up the loose puck and gave it back to the defenseman. Laatsch then skated around the back of the Bulldogs’ net and made a short pass in front of the goal to Laskosky, who fired home his fifth goal of the year.
Finley tallied his second goal of the night 18:13 into the period, with Morrissey and sophomore defenseman Zach Schulz getting the assists.
To end the scoring frenzy, Laskosky netted his second of the evening with 30 seconds remaining in the frame with help from Fitzgerald and Schulz.
With 0.8 seconds remaining in the contest, Kukkonen became the fourth Badger to score two goals on the evening and made it 8-0. Laskosky and Lindmark earned the helpers on the junior’s tally.
Senior goaltender Tommy Scarfone made 23 saves to record his third shutout of the year and his third in his last five games.
Wisconsin went 1-for-1 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 59-23 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
– Wisconsin has advanced to the Holiday Face-Off championship game in all four years of the tournament’s existence. It will compete for its second-consecutive and third overall title tomorrow evening
– This marks the third-straight shutout for the Badgers in the Holiday Face-Off after posting back-to-back 3-0 wins in the 2023 tournament
– Quinn Finley recorded his NCAA-leading 13th and 14th goals of the game tonight
– Jack Phelan recorded his first career point with an assist on Finley’s game-opening goal
– Four different Badgers got on the score sheet, with Quinn Finley, Ryland Mosley, Cody Laskosky and Kyle Kukkonen each scoring two goals tonight
– UW’s four players with at least two goals is most for a Badger team since at least 1996. The Badgers have had three games since that time with three two-goal scorers
– UW’s 59 shots on goal are the most since firing 61 at Bemidji State on Oct. 13, 2023, in a 4-3 overtime win
– The last time Wisconsin scored five or more goals in a period was on Oct. 12, 2019, when it scored six times in the second period en route to a 11-5 win at Merrimack
– The eight-goal win marked UW’s largest in nearly 19 years, dating back to a 9-1 win at Colorado College on Jan. 14, 2006
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On tonight’s offensive effort
“One, we got off to a good start and we didn’t go away. The usual suspects got us started, but I thought we had a lot more guys pulling in the right direction and contributing. We stuck with it and were rewarded for it. We had 12 or 13 guys get points. That’s something we need to continue to build on.”
On the team’s mindset
“One thing the guys talked about going into the weekend, was as the season progresses, you have to earn everything you get. I thought our leadership group did a good job at messaging that we were successful in the first period because we went out and earned it, and we needed to stay with that. From a coaching standpoint, you want to reiterate the results based on the work and the process they went through. I think we had to earn what we got in the second period. Hopefully, that’s something we can build on. We can feel good about that, understand it, then put it in our rearview mirror because UConn’s playing some really good hockey right now.”
