There is no denying that the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey program is turning a corner back towards its old glory days. New head coach Tony Granato has taken a roster that is virtually the same as last season and made it a viable program in the first half of this season.
No player has seen a bigger turnaround than freshman forward Trent Frederic, who one could argue has been the biggest key to Wisconsin’s success. Yes, a freshman has been a lynchpin to Wisconsin men’s hockey success in the 2016-17 season.
Sure, Luke Kunin’s wrist shots are amazing and Grant Besse has been spectacular at times. But, few players have been as steady a force as Frederic has been when he’s on the ice.
One needs to look no further than how Wisconsin fares with him in or out of the lineup. The Badgers are 6-4 on the season with Frederic healthy, but were just 2-3-1 as he recovered from a hand injury.
Granto hasn’t been shy about his praise for Frederic either. Following Wisconsin’s split with Michigan last weekend, the head man was asked who was the most consistent player in the first half of the season. His answer was a simple one — Trent Fredric.
“He’s been good every night,” Granato said. “He has been great, but if you pull any one of our scoring-type guys out, we almost go down to two (high-end) lines from three.”
The Michigan series was nearly a microcosm of the season for Frederic and the Badgers’ success overall.
Upon his return to the lineup in Friday’s opener, Fredric netted two points on a goal and an assist. Not coincidentally, Wisconsin took home a 7-4 victory in its Big Ten opener this season. In the return affair, Frederic was held off the scoresheet, had just a shot hit the post and a minus-3 night in a 4-1 loss for UW.
It isn’t just his personal stats that tell the difference either. Wisconsin is averaging 3.8 goals per game with him in the lineup and just 2.38 goals per game without him in the picture. That’s a huge difference for a team that has to live on the razor’s edge as it learns to win and be successful once again.
Despite missing six games this season, Frederic is still sixth on the team with 12 points. His five goals are also fourth on the team and the seven assists bagged are good for seventh on the team and just four off a three-way tie at the top of the stat sheet.
Not bad for a freshman or someone who has missed nearly half of the season to date.
As for Frederic and the rest of the team as UW enjoys nearly a month off? Granato is pretty pleased with what he saw in the Big Ten opening series.
“We’re trying to grow as a team, we’re just trying to get better,” Granato said. “I think if you look at the whole weekend as a package, we played really good hockey. We just didn’t do enough things tonight to solve the goalie.”
The Badgers will not see the ice again until hosting Michigan State for the first Big Ten series at the Kohl Center this season.
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