No. 43 – Dean Anderson, Hockey
While most of those in my generation of Badger hockey fans think fondly of the guy named Mike Richter, it mostly has to do with his time between the pipes of the New York Rangers in the 1990’s. However, at Wisconsin, his replacement, Dean Anderson arguably had the better career as a Wisconsin Badger.
It just so happens that Anderson didn’t go on to world wide fame as a Stanley Cup winning goaltender like Richter did after two years at UW. The guy behind Richter those two seasons? You bet, Dean Anderson.
Talk about a dangerous goaltending duo, huh?
Anderson’s 68 career wins puts him third on the all-time victories list for goaltenders, and he’s just one of three Badgers to get to the 60-career win mark. He is also fourth in career saves (3,024), leads the list in saves in a season (1,305 in 1987-88) and his .668 career win percentage is fourth all-time at Wisconsin.
Perhaps the only knock on Anderson’s career at UW was the fact that he didn’t light the world on fire in goals against average. Still, the style of play dictated a lot more goal scoring then than now in the collegiate game.
While most will remember Richter, Anderson was the one who won All-American honors, taking home 2nd team All-American honors in 1988. He was also a 2nd team All-WCHA pick that season and was also the 1988 WCHA Playoff MVP award winner, leading the Badgers to the tournament title.
Full 50 Greatest Badgers List:
No. 50 – Randy Jablonic
No. 49 – Alex Rigsby
No. 48 — Michael Lihrman
No. 47 — Howard “Cub” Buck
No. 46 — Don Davey
No. 45 — Pat O’Dea
No. 44 — Curtis Joseph
*photo courtesy Wisconsin Athletics
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