Baggot: Clutch and confident, that's Luke Kunin
March 16, 2016 | Men's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Big Ten All-Freshman Team forward meeting his own high standards
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Luke Kunin is not at all surprised by what he's done this season as a freshman left winger for the Wisconsin men's hockey team.
A club-best 18 goals and 124 shots?
Nope.
A chance to be one of those rare rookies to lead the Badgers in scoring for a season?
Nope.
A sizeable collection of clutch moments?
Nope.
A place on the Big Ten Conference All-Freshman squad?
Nope.
In essence, Kunin has checked almost everything off the personal to-do list he compiled after coming to the Badgers from the U.S. National Team Developmental Program.
"At the start of the year I wanted to be a go-to guy on this team," he said. "I wanted to help lead the team as a young guy. That's something that drove me this whole year. I wanted to be the best player I could be every night."
It's hard to argue with the results.
Kunin has 18 goals and 31 points for Wisconsin (8-18-8 overall) heading into a Big Ten tournament game Thursday with Penn State (20-12-4) at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
His goal total is the most by a UW freshman since Dany Heatley accounted for 28 in 1999-2000. The other seven rookies ahead of Kunin — Mark Johnson (36), John Newberry (30), Dennis Olmstead (23), Doug Macdonald (23), Jason Zent (19) and Gary Shuchuk (19) — were all at least a year older than the 18-year-old from Chesterfield, Missouri.
Kunin's point total is one behind junior right winger and line mate Grant Besse and puts him in position to be the first freshman to pace the Badgers in scoring since Kyle Turris in 2008. That small club at UW also includes Joe Pavelski in 2005, Mike Eaves in 1975 and Dennis Olmstead in 1973.
Eaves, the Wisconsin coach since 2002, said Kunin deserves to be included in the same conversation with Pavelski and Turris — both fixtures in the NHL — but for different reasons.
"I think every one of those young men that you mentioned is different in their own right," Eaves said. "What Luke brings is an exceptional shot. … Maybe the thing that differentiates him from the others is how focused he is at a young age, his preparation, what he's willing to do to try to achieve those things that he wants to achieve in his life."
That heightened sense of maturity is one reason why Kunin, born in December of 1997, is projected by some NHL talent evaluators as a first-round draft pick in June.
Look closely at Kunin's numbers and you see a distinct pattern.
Seven of his goals have given the Badgers the lead and seven others have erased a deficit.
Of his 13 assists, eight have come on game-tying goals and one on a winning conversion.
Does Kunin believe he's a clutch player like the stats suggest?
"I like to think so," he said. "I like having the puck on my stick and be able to make a play when it comes down to it. I think I can get it done."
Only Michigan left winger Kyle Connor (30 goals) and North Dakota right winger Brock Boeser (25) have more goals nationally as freshmen than Kunin.
Another curiosity about Kunin's production is that eight of his goals have come in the first minute or the last minute of the period. A ninth came with 1:04 left in a session.
Four of those conversions gave UW the lead, three tied the game and one held up as the decisive goal.
Any coach or player will tell you that goals in those moments are highly valuable because of the momentum they generate.
Kunin, who works on a line that also includes sophomore center Cameron Hughes, recently took note of the phenomenon and embraced the idea that they're not fluky.
"When I start a game (or) whether it's first, second or third, I want to set the tone for that period and my team," he said. "Same thing at the end. We need to get the momentum back going into the locker room. Whatever it may be I try to get it done."
Looking back on the regular season, the only weekend where Kunin seemed out of his element was for a mid-October swing to Boston College and Boston University. The Badgers lost non-conference games to BC 6-0 and BU 4-1. Kunin didn't have a shot on goal and finished the weekend minus-3, although he said he was hampered by an undisclosed injury in the second game.
"Personally, it was the first time I'd played against a really good college team," he said of BC. "A lot of faster, stronger guys.
"It fueled the fire for a lot of us. All and all that weekend, we learned a lot as a group."
Kunin gradually found a productive rhythm, especially against top-end opponents. In the last 18 games he has 12 goals and 20 points. Three of those conversions came against Penn State.
Is Kunin at all surprised with his output?
"I don't think so," he said.
"I want to be able to score. I want to contribute offensively to the team. I think I've had a few down games where I could have had many more (goals), but, all in all, I think I've had a pretty good offensive season."
One for the record book.
One that demands respect.
