Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey

Pond hockey had been played on Lake Mendota in Madison since the late 1800s. The University of Wisconsin formed an informal hockey program in the 1910s. The 1921 season saw the development of intercollegiate hockey at Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.[5][6] Michigan and Wisconsin scheduled four games to be played on consecutive weekends from February 18 to 26, 1921.[7]

The modern era of Badger hockey began in 1963 with the decision of athletic director Ivan B. Williamson. The Badgers played home games at the Hartmeyer Ice Arena before moving to the Dane County Coliseum in 1967. The program began as an independent NCAA Division I team and scheduling 8 games against Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams, losing all 8 games. Late in the 1965–66 season, the Badgers finally broke through, beating the Minnesota Golden Gophers 5–4 in overtime, their first win over a WCHA opponent. At the end of that season, Coach John Riley retired.

Jake Gardiner playing for Wisconsin (2010).

In 1966, Wisconsin hired "Badger" Bob Johnson. Under Johnson, Wisconsin was offered WCHA membership for the 1969–70 season. In that same season the Badgers received a bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. The Badgers won their first national championship at the 1973 Frozen Four.[8] Badger Bob's 1977 team was one of the most successful to date, as the team swept through WCHA tournament and 1977 NCAA Tournament. Behind the efforts of four first team All-Americans, Mike Eaves, Mark Johnson (Bob's son), Craig Norwich and Julian Baretta, the 1977 team won the title with a 6–5 victory in overtime against Michigan.[9]

Despite losing one of their top players, Mark Johnson, to the 1980 American Olympic Team, the Badgers reached the NCAA title game three consecutive times in 1981, 1982, and 1983. Winning the program's third title in 1981 by defeating rival Minnesota in the championship game 6–3.[10] After again reaching the championship game in 1982, where the Badgers lost to North Dakota, the program was dealt a second blow with the departure of Johnson. He would later coach in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He left Wisconsin after 15 seasons with 3 NCAA championships, a record of 367–175–23, and having built the program into an NCAA powerhouse.

Former Badger assistant coach Jeff Sauer was hired in 1982 to replace Bob Johnson as head coach. Sauer won the 1983 NCAA championship in his first season. Wisconsin defeated Harvard 6–2 to earn the program's fourth NCAA title.[11] Under Sauer's leadership, the Badgers qualified for eight consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1988 to 1995, and won the program's 5th NCAA title in 1990, with a 7–3 victory over Colgate. Also, Sauer presided over the team's move from the aging Coliseum to the new, on-campus Kohl Center in 1998. The Badger men led the nation in college hockey attendance every year from moving to the Kohl Center through the 2011 season.[12]

Wisconsin again reached the 1992 NCAA Championship game against Lake Superior State, losing 5–3. The game, which featured some questionable calls by the referee that continually put the Badgers at a two-man disadvantage, irked several players so much that they lashed out beyond Sauer's control, verbally abusing the referees and earning Sauer a one-game NCAA suspension. Assistant Coach Bill Zito received a two-game suspension, while players Blaine Moore and Jason Zent each received a one-game suspension.[13] That game was later vacated by the NCAA for rules violations unrelated to the incidents in the championship game.[14] In the mid-1990s, Badger hockey earned NCAA bids in 1998 and 2000, but generally underachieved compared to the high standards of the 1970s and 1980s. The 1999–2000 team featured a duo of second overall NHL draft pick Dany Heatley and Steven Reinprecht, won the MacNaughton Cup, and earned a No. 1 position in the polls for most of the season, only to be upset by Boston College in the NCAA regionals.[15] Two seasons later, during the 2001–02 season, coach Sauer announced his retirement. Jeff Sauer left Wisconsin with two NCAA titles and a record of 489–306–46 at Wisconsin, and a 655–532–57 overall record as a head coach.

Badgers gather before a game against Boston University (2010).

Sauer's replacement was Mike Eaves, a former player who was a captain on the 1977 NCAA championship team and still holds the record as Wisconsin's all-time leading scorer.[16] In 2003–04, Eaves brought the Badgers just short of the Frozen Four, falling in overtime to Maine in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. The Badgers returned to national prominence by winning the 2006 NCAA championship in Milwaukee with a 2–1 win over Boston College.[17] In 2010, the Badgers returned to the NCAA championship, vying for a seventh NCAA title but lost 5–0 to Boston College at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, in front of a then-record crowd for an indoor ice hockey game of 37,592.[18] In 2011, they missed the WCHA Final-Five and NCAA tournament completely. In 2012, the team missed the NCAA Tournament again. In 2013 they were winners in their last-ever appearance in WCHA final 5 before the team joins the newly established Big Ten Hockey conference for the 2013–14 season. In the inaugural season of the Big Ten Hockey conference, the Badgers won the Big Ten Tournament, their second consecutive conference tournament championship.[19] The 2014–15 season was the worst season in team history. They finished the season with a record of 4–26–5, setting school records for fewest wins and most losses in a season. Eaves was fired on March 18, 2016 after finishing the 2015–16 season with an 8–19–8 record.[20]

Athletic director Barry Alvarez hired Detroit Red Wings assistant Tony Granato to replace Eaves in late March 2016.[21] Also hired were Tony's younger brother Don Granato, coach of the U.S. National Team Development Program's under-17 team, and Mark Osiecki, associate head coach of the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs and former assistant coach at Wisconsin for six years in the 2000s.[22] Tony Granato signed a five-year contract worth $2.75 million while Osiecki and his brother signed three-year deals worth a total of $660,000 a piece.[23] The hires were seen as getting UW Men's Ice Hockey back on track, and was noticed by media, such as the Wisconsin State Journal, when they said "Alvarez answered the critics who think UW no longer cares about men’s hockey in the best way he could" during the press conference introducing all three coaches Alvarez stated "I’m very confident that we’ve taken the right steps today in re-establishing the dominance of our hockey program"[22] All three coaches are Wisconsin alums; Tony Granato played from 1983 to 1987 where he was an All-American, Don Granato played from 1987 to 1991, and Osiecki played from 1987 to 1990.[21] After all three coaches were hired the phrase "Dream Team" came to be used when referring to UW's new coaching staff, it was first used by Barry Alvarez when he said "It was more than I could dream for to get all three of those guys. To me, it's the Dream Team."[21][24][25]

In Granato's first season, he led the team back to respectability with a 20-15-1 overall record and a 12-8 conference record, good enough for second place. On March 18, they lost the conference championship game to Penn State 2–1 in double overtime.[26]

As of the end of the 2019–20 season[27]

* Interim

• Wisconsin appeared in the Frozen Four championships in the following years:

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Minimum 30 games played

Statistics current through the start of the 2019–20 season.

AHCA First Team All-Americans

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

First Team All-WCHA

Second Team All-WCHA

First Team All-Big Ten

Second Team All-Big Ten

Big Ten All-Rookie Team