What this year’s Michigan Wolverines’ hockey team is, last year’s Wisconsin team wasn’t that far from it, relatively speaking.
Tony Granato’s Badgers not only ended a streak of three straight losing seasons, but won the Big Ten regular-season title and qualified for their first NCAA Tournament since 2014, where they lost to Bemidji State in the first round. Wisconsin — despite going just 1-3 against the Wolverines — finished the year with a 20-10-1 record behind one of the nation’s top offenses.
But the 2021-22 Badgers are a very different bunch. Gone is last season’s Hobey Baker Award winner Cole Caufield, who already looks like a star with the Montreal Canadiens.