He started the collegiate season without a goal in the first four games of the year, but from there on out, it became more of a surprise when the Stevens Point, Wisconsin, native didn’t score. He went seven games with a goal midseason, scored a pair of hat tricks and finished up with goals in the seasons’ final six games. His 11 goals over the final six contests included the biggest stages, with both tallies in the Big Ten-clinching victory for the Badgers, two goals and the overtime gamewinner in the Big Ten semifinals and two goals and three points in UW’s NCAA opening round contest. He was on the Big Ten All-Tournament and NCAA All-Regional teams.

And he did it all with a big smile!

There was the trip to Vancouver before his freshman year officially even started when a youth hockey team coming off the ice as the Badgers arrived whispered and pointed out to each other Cole Caufield, the then-recent Montreal draft pick.

There was the postgame lobby after a game at Merrimack where a youth team from Canada waited to say hello to the popular future pro, and of course he obliged.

There were the extra-long lines at ‘Skate with the Badgers’ for photos and autographs.

Much of that went away this past year, when Wisconsin and all hockey fans could only follow from afar, but Caufield got to share much of his year with his friends in the locker room.

“I think my teammates were probably the biggest contributors to my season,” Caufield said to Jackie Redmond during the NHL Network’s Hobey announcement. “I had some pretty good linemates this year in Linus Weissbach and Ty Pelton-Byce, but our team as a whole unit, we did a really good job this year. All the credit to them. The coaching staff did a great job with our team to put us in the right situation to have success. I couldn’t be more thankful for this award.”

Though they only played together on the power play, Caufield also had fellow Hobey Top-10 Badger Dylan Holloway to lean on, as well as the goaltending duo of freshman Cameron Rowe and Caufield’s grad transfer roommate Robbie Beydoun to backstop the team. There was captain and future Arizona defenseman Ty Emberson anchoring a well-rounded blue line corps, and the balance of a talented forward group.

Much of that went away this past year, when Wisconsin and all hockey fans could only follow from afar, but Caufield got to share much of his year with his friends in the locker room.

“I think my teammates were probably the biggest contributors to my season,” Caufield said to Jackie Redmond during the NHL Network’s Hobey announcement. “I had some pretty good linemates this year in Linus Weissbach and Ty Pelton-Byce, but our team as a whole unit, we did a really good job this year. All the credit to them. The coaching staff did a great job with our team to put us in the right situation to have success. I couldn’t be more thankful for this award.”

Though they only played together on the power play, Caufield also had fellow Hobey Top-10 Badger Dylan Holloway to lean on, as well as the goaltending duo of freshman Cameron Rowe and Caufield’s grad transfer roommate Robbie Beydoun to backstop the team. There was captain and future Arizona defenseman Ty Emberson anchoring a well-rounded blue line corps, and the balance of a talented forward group.