SUPERIOR — After ending last season on a five-game losing skid and an early exit in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs, the lingering disappointment spurred action for the Wisconsin-Superior men’s hockey team leading up to its 2024-2025 campaign.
Practices leading up to the season were ratcheted up in both intensity and competitiveness in what head coach Rich McKenna described as a turning point for his team.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We had a really good start to the season. Guys played hard. We kind of had a little bit of a culture shift,” said head coach Rich McKenna. “The competition that we have in practice it’s... I don’t really even have to talk about it, it just kind of goes. And I think that translates to wins.”
Evidence of the season-over-season improvements have been glaring for the 11th-ranked Yellowjackets, who entered Friday’s WIAA matchup with Wisconsin-River Falls riding a nine-game winning streak dating back to their last meeting on Dec. 6 in a game won by UWS 3-2 in overtime.
In a twist of irony, the team that started the streak ended it at Wessman Arena with UWRF skating away with a shootout victory after the teams ended regulation 2-2. UWS bounced back on Saturday to claim a 2-1 home victory over the Falcons after Daniel Roszival's go-ahead goal with 4:54 left in the second period held up.
Despite the minor setback, the Yellowjackets still remain at the top of the WIAC standings with a 7-1-1 conference record and 14-3-2 record overall as the 11th ranked team in the country. The 14 wins already exceeds last year’s win total with six regular season games left to play.
Reflecting on the ongoing success, captain Gavin Rasmussen, a 5-foot-9 Cloquet native centering the third line, pointed to the team cohesion and accountability as key to the turnaround.
“Some teams in the past we might just have one or two things that weren’t clicking here or there, but with this group of guys everyone’s on the same page,” he said. “Everyone’s together and even with the criticism stuff we give each other gentle criticisms and nobody takes it the hard way.”
On the ice, the Yellowjackets have remained true to their feisty, defensively-structured identity with speed and hard-checking being hallmarks of their winning formula. Unlike last season, though, the club has taken a step forward offensively averaging 3.8 goals per game—up from 2.0 a season ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We’re a defense-first team, but in reality we just want to be a 200-foot hockey team,” said McKenna of the team’s identity. “You gotta find the freedom inside the structure to find those opportunities and capitalize and minimize as many opportunities for the other team. I want our teams to be known as a 200-foot team, not a one-dimensional team.”
Providing an immediate scoring boost in his first year with the program is 5-foot-5 speedy left winger Ikki Kogawa, one of eight newcomers to the team, who entered the weekend series as the team-leader in points with 17 (5-12—17).
The 21-year-old Chiba, Japan native played three seasons of junior hockey across multiple leagues before joining the Yellowjackets. He most recently played for the Janesville Jets of the North American Hockey League during the 2023-2024 season where he finished with 27 points (12-15—27) in 48 games.
“In all honesty, he had the least amount of points out of the whole recruiting class coming in here,” said McKenna when asked if he’s been surprised by Kogawa’s immediate impact. “It’s who buys in right away. It’s who has that determination and then puts the work in. Like what are your priorities and again, I think like all of our freshmen have done it.”
The Yellowjackets hit the road for their next two series against Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Wisconsin-Stout. UWS will return home to face Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Friday, Feb. 14 and 15.
Looking to keep the momentum rolling into the WIAA postseason tournament in late February, alternate captain Dusty Bergstrom, a 6-foot-1 junior defenseman from Pine City, hopes the team can stay true to its identity entering the stretch run.
“(We just have to) continue playing our game,” he said, referencing their physical, defensively-structured game. “Continue playing hard and playing ‘Jacket hockey.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The Trust Project
