(UW ATHLETICS) WORCESTER, MASS – The Wisconsin men’s hockey team is off to the NCAA Tournament! The Badgers will face Dartmouth in the regional semifinals on Thursday, March 26, at 4 p.m. CT at DCU Center. The game airs on ESPNU.
Badgers coach Mike Hastings said that his team hasn’t played for a couple of weeks but feels they’ve used that time well.
Hastings said that Dartmouth is a very detailed team.
He added that Dartmouth is good, like all teams at this time of the year.
Hastings went over the keys for the Badgers.
Here are things to know:
The Badgers earned their second NCAA Tournament bid in three seasons under head coach Mike Hastings and officially their 28th bid all-time. They secured the No. 3 regional seed after racking up a 21-12-2 record.
No. 3-seed Wisconsin will face No. 2-seed and ECAC tournament champion Dartmouth in the second of two regional semifinal match-ups in Worcester on Thursday. The first semifinal game will feature regional first-seed and third-overall seed Michigan State taking on No. 4-seed UConn at 12:30 p.m. CT.
The winner of each game will meet in the regional final on Saturday, March 28, at a time to be determined.
Six-time NCAA champion Wisconsin will officially make its 28th NCAA Tournament appearance, the eighth-most in the nation. UW officially boasts a 37-24-2 mark all-time in NCAA tournament action, with its .603 NCAA win percentage ranking sixth all-time. UW’s six titles rank fourth all-time.
Wisconsin will play Dartmouth for the first time in school history. The Big Green boasts four NCAA Tournament appearances all-time, last making it in 1980. Dartmouth also competed in 1948, 1949 and 1979.
Connections between the programs are minimal. Former Badger assistant coach Grant Standbrook (1976-87) served as an assistant coach at Dartmouth (1966-70) before taking over the program as head coach (1970-75). He then served as the U.S. National Team assistant coach in the lead-up to the 1976 Olympics under head coach Bob Johnson, before joining the Badger coaching staff.
If Wisconsin moves on to the regional finals, it’ll potentially face a familiar NCAA tournament opponent.
The regional’s top seed and No. 3 overall seed is Big Ten conference rival Michigan State. UW has played MSU twice in the NCAA tournament, posting a 5-3 win in the first round on March 24, 1995, in Madison before losing 5-1 in the second round on March 25, 2001, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Overall, UW has a 67-71-4 record against the Spartans, splitting four times in regular-season play during the 2025-26 season. UW began the season series by sweeping the then-top-ranked Spartans in East Lansing on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21-22, winning game one, 5-4, and game two, 2-1, in overtime.
Also in the regional is the No. 4 seed UConn Huskies, who Wisconsin has never faced in an NCAA tournament game before. The Badgers and Huskies have only played each other twice all time, with UW winning both meetings – an 8-1 victory on Jan. 3, 1967, and a 4-3 win in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off tournament final on Dec. 29, 2024.
Dartmouth heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 23-7-4 record. Most recently, the Big Green won the ECAC tournament title with a 2-1 overtime win against Princeton on Saturday, March 21. Sophomore forward and Hobey Baker top-10 finalist Hayden Stavroff leads the roster in scoring with 48 points and the nation in goals with 29 in 34 games played. Junior goaltender Emmett Croteau has 15 wins in 23 starts, accumulating a .924 save percentage and 1.88 goals-allowed on average.
Big Ten regular-season champion Michigan State enters the NCAA tournament with a 25-8-2 record, most recently losing 3-2 in overtime to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Freshman forward Porter Martone leads the roster with 24 goals and 47 points in 33 games played. Junior goaltender Trey Augustine, a 2026 Mike Richter Award top-3 finalist and a top-10 Hobey Baker finalist, has won 23 of 32 starts this season, accumulating a .929 save percentage and 2.09 goals-allowed on average. Senior Charlie Stramel is also a Hobey Baker top-10 finalist.
Regional fourth-seed UConn boasts a 20-12-5 overall record. The Huskies enter the tournament after losing 2-1 to Merrimack in the Hockey East tournament final on Saturday, March 21. Senior forward Ryan Tattle leads the roster with 32 points (13g, 19a) in 37 games played, while junior forward Joey Muldowney leads with 17 goals in 33 games. Senior goaltender Tyler Muszelik has 19 wins in 34 starts with a .927 save percentage and 2.21 goals-allowed on average.
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