Youngsters push Wisconsin back into Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off title game

Wisconsin’s performance in the opening game of the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off looked a lot like one might expect for a team that was playing for the first time in more than three weeks and missing one of its top scorers.

Fortunately a couple of young players took advantage of their opportunity to help send the Badgers to the championship game of the Fiserv Forum showcase for the fifth straight year with a 3-2 victory over Lake Superior State on Dec. 28.

“I found out the last few years of being a part of this tournament it is a little bit of that,” UW coach Mike Hastings said. “It’s not a Mona Lisa. It’s about finding ways to win hockey games as you’re coming off a break.”

Young Badgers play huge role in victory

Sophomore defenseman Weston Knox’s first goal of the season gave Wisconsin its first score of the game in the opening period, and freshman forward Finn Brink’s breakaway 5:51 into the third period – his third goal of the season – proved to be the winner. In between senior defenseman Ben Dexheimer pounded home a power play-goal that tied the game at 2-2 late in the second.

“I wish you guys could have shared a little bit of the moment when Knox scores that first one and how uplifting that was for our bench, and just seeing the genuine appreciation,” Hastings said. “Weston’s a guy that shows up every single day and does the work and doesn’t get his candy sometimes on the weekends because he doesn’t get an opportunity. We’ve had different guys take advantage of the opportunities they’ve gotten, and he definitely did that tonight. And, you know, I’m not just talking about the goal.

“And Brink has just been trending that way. His coach is probably gonna continue to sharpen up and keep giving him more minutes because every time I do, he takes advantage of it.”

Knox was playing in just his fifth game of the season after getting on the ice for 11 as a freshman. Brink entered his ninth game of the season with two goals and two assists, one of each in the previous game against Notre Dame.

The second-ranked Badgers hadn’t played since Dec. 6 with a break for exams and the Christmas holiday but were coming off a dominating series sweep of Notre Dame. Sixteen goals in those two games gave UW an average of 4.4 coming to Fiserv.

Freshman goaltender Rorke Applebee made 27 saves for Lake Superior State (6-12-1, 3-9-0 CCHA) in holding the Badgers to three goals. Wisconsin’s Daniel Hauser stopped 20 shots.

UW needed fill-ins for key scorer, two defensemen

Wisconsin played without first-line forward Quinn Finley, who is competing with the U.S. Collegiate Selects team at the Spengler Cup in Switzerland, and defensemen Luke Osborn and Logan Hensler, who made the United States roster for the IIHF World Junior Championships in Minnesota.

“One of the things that was special about our group is we have guys up and down the lineup that are always ready to step in,” Knox said. “And I think that we showcased that a little bit tonight with guys all over the lineup contributing and ultimately helping us to get the job done up and down our lineup.

“We obviously have a great family and we have some guys that are off doing really cool things with USA and Finn over in Switzerland and it just shows how deep and connected we are and how much we are buying into this great run that we’re having and the story that we want to write.”

Captain Ben Dexheimer nets welcome power-play goal

The Badgers also could have been without Dexheimer but were able to stave off a one-game suspension for fighting in their most recent game on appeal.

Their captain isn’t necessarily counted on for scoring. His equalizer off a faceoff won by Christian Fitzgerald was his fourth goal of the season and marked back-to-back games with a goal for the first time this season.

“We just talked about Dexie trying to shoot some pucks because when he does he’s just much more effective on the power play,” Hastings said. “And you can’t do that if you don’t win the faceoff.

“He epitomizes what it is to be a Badger and what it is to be a ‘we’ guy, because [of] the growth that he has had, I’ll say, from when he got here as a freshman. To see what he means to our team and to step up in that moment – because we were leaking oil there a little bit – that allowed us to get our feet back underneath us and allowed Brink to do what he did.”

Next up for Wisconsin ...

Wisconsin (13-2-2, 8-2-0 Big Ten) will play the winner of the later first-round game between defending national champion Western Michigan (10-6-0, 6-4-0 NCHC) and Boston College (10-5-1, 7-3-0 Hockey East) at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 29. Both are first-time participants in the Face-Off.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers beat Lake Superior State in Kwik-Trip Face-Off