Wisconsin men’s hockey: Cole Caufield named Big Ten First Star of the Week

The Wisconsin Badgers completed a sweep of the Penn State Nittany Lions on Tuesday evening, scoring 13 goals over the two games to PSU’s measly six. One Badger almost outscored Penn State by himself, and for that he was named the Big Ten Conference First Star of the Week.

Sophomore forward Cole Caufield scored four goals against the Nittany Lions, including a hat trick in the second game, while also adding two assists in the series. His six points led the nation. Caufield recorded his second career hat trick in Tuesday night’s 7-3 win against Penn State to become the first Wisconsin standout since Robbie Earl (2004-06) to have two hat tricks as a Badger

The Stevens Point native also paced all skaters nationally in goals (four), power-play goals (two) and power-play points (four) last week. This was Caufield’s second career weekly award from the Big Ten and his first since Oct. 15, 2019.

The Badgers last had an award winner when goalie Robbie Beydoun was named Second Star on Nov. 17, 2020. The last time the Badgers received a First Star was when forward Roman Ahcan won on Feb. 25, 2020.

Junior goaltender Drew DeRidder from Michigan State was Second Star and freshman forward Thomas Bordeleau from Michigan was Third Star.