David Stluka/UW Athletics
Goalie Kristen Campbell has 136 saves on the season.
The Wisconsin Badgers football team isn’t UW’s only undefeated program right now.
The women’s hockey team is 8-0-0 — and ranked No. 1 in the country — heading into its second Western Collegiate Hockey Association series of the season on Oct. 20-21 against Bemidji State at LaBahn Arena.
Redshirt sophomore goalie Kristen Campbell made 33 saves during a weekend sweep on Oct. 13-14 at Minnesota State. She has 136 saves on the season, as the Badgers have outscored all opponents, 28-7.
Meanwhile, the 4-1-0 men’s hockey team is ranked No. 5 in the country and notched decisive East Coast road wins over Boston College on Oct. 13 and Merrimack College on Oct. 14. Most notably, junior Seamus Malone, sophomore Max Zimmer and senior Ryan Wagner each scored against Merrimack in a span of 39 seconds in the second period to secure the 4-1 win. Senior Kyle Hayton made a season-high 41 saves, allowing only one controversial goal that sparked the 39-second scoring streak.
Greg Anderson/UW Athletics
Kyle Hayton has helped the Badgers rise from its No. 10 ranking to No. 5.
The Badger men take on Northern Michigan at Green Bay’s Resch Center on Oct. 20-21 before returning to the Kohl Center for series against St. Lawrence on Oct. 27-28 and North Dakota on Nov. 3-4. The Badgers’ next Big 10 opponent at the Kohl Center will be Michigan on Nov. 17-18.
Men’s head coach Tony Granato, now in his second season at Wisconsin after winning Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, will miss two about weeks of the Badgers’ season down the stretch in February. That’s because he’ll be in PyeongChang, South Korea, as head coach of Team USA at the 2108 Winter Olympics.
Granato, who competed in the 1988 Olympics and served as an assistant coach at the 2014 Games, says the Badgers will be in good hands during his absence. Associate head coach Mark Osiecki will be in charge, along with assistant coach Mark Strobel and director of hockey operations Shane Connelly. “It’ll be taken care of,” Granato promised the Wisconsin State Journal.
UW’s head women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson also has a long Olympic history. As a member of Team USA’s roster for the 1980 Winter Olympics, he scored two goals in the “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union and had an assist in the gold medal-winning goal against Finland. Two decades later, Johnson led the U.S. Olympic women’s team to silver in the 2010 Winter Games.
