The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey program may have fallen on a few hard times as of late, but one player has stood out amongst the darkness and that is forward Luke Kunin. On Friday, that effort paid off as Kunin was drafted in the first round of the 2016 NHL draft.
He was the No. 15 pick overall, going to the Minnesota Wild and became the 11th UW skater to be selected in the first round of the NHL draft.
Kunin’s selection also meant that a Badger was selected in the draft for a 19th straight year. However, the Badgers weren’t finished being represented in the draft either, as incoming freshman forward Trent Fredric was picked at No. 29 by the Boston Bruins.
How did Kunin become a first round pick after not being selected heading in to college? All he did was lead the Badgers in scoring during a personally stellar freshman campaign in Madison. He had 32 points, netting 19 goals and 13 assists en route to being named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team.
Frederic, the incoming freshman, played the last two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) and recorded 20 goals and 20 assists in 61 games for the Under-18 team this past season.
The duo became just the second such group to be selected in the first round with Wisconsin ties. The other was the 2007 trio of Kyle Turris (third overall), Ryan McDonagh (12th overall), and Brendan Smith (27th overall) were all picked in the first round.
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