October 9, 2025

The Badger Hockey season started this past weekend with two wins against Lindenwood. That means it’s time for Walk on Fan’s preview of the 2025-2026 season! 

Last year, Wisconsin followed a resurgent first season under Mike Hastings with a season to forget. Can Hastings recreate the magic of his first season, or will the Badgers’ season end in disappointment again?

Roster Breakdown

Compared to last year, the Badgers have a younger team with more upside to their roster. Their only major loss from last year is Ryland Mosley, last year’s second in points. The team has 9 new players, including 7 freshmen and 2 transfers. Most importantly, they have two new goaltenders: freshman Daniel Hauser and transfer Eli Pulver. From the first series, it appears Hauser will be the primary goaltender going forward. The two most exciting Badgers from last year are still on the team in Quinn Finley and Logan Hensler. The team should be more complete around them, leading to slightly elevated expectations compared to last year.

Schedule Breakdown

USCHO had the Badgers ranked #20 going into the season. That might seem like an improvement over last year, if it weren’t for the 5 Big Ten hockey squads …