Lindenwood men’s hockey (0-2) opened up their 2025-2026 campaign at Centene Community Ice Center with a pair of losses to the #20 Wisconsin Badgers (0-2) 3-0 and 7-2 to open the season.
Lindenwood is under new leadership here this season as Keith Fisher takes the helm of the program after spending 13 years with the Penn State Nittany Lions. Fisher takes over for Bill Muckalt who spent just one season in St. Charles before packing his bags and heading up to take over the Michigan Tech program.
Along with Fisher, a plethora of new faces don Lions uniforms with 10 freshmen and six newcomers to the roster. Lindenwood is coming off their best season at the division one level in 2024 where they finished 8-22-1.
The Lions bring back key contributors from last season as it looks to build on its offensive and defensive strengths. Jake Southgate and Ethan Zielke, who each led the Lions with 12 points a year ago, return alongside top goal-scorer Jaeden Mercier, who netted eight. Zielke also paced the team in assists with eight, while defenseman Brady Yakesh, who recorded a team-high 20 blocked shots, anchors the blue line again this season.
Penalty trouble dooms Lions
Across the two-game set, Lindenwood’s biggest challenge came with penalties. The Lions went 2-for-13 on the power play while allowing Wisconsin to convert five times on the man advantage in the series.
Lindenwood was whistled for 15 penalties in the series while Wisconsin was whistled for only 13 including just five on Saturday compared to the Lions nine in the 7-2 win for the Badgers.
Despite those setbacks, Lindenwood’s effort on both ends of the ice showed early-season grit. Goaltender Klayton Knapp anchored the Lions in Friday’s opener, stopping 30 of 32 shots faced before Wisconsin sealed the 3–0 win with an empty-netter on Friday. In total, Knapp turned aside 40 shots on the weekend, giving Lindenwood a chance to stay competitive in both games.
The Lions’ offense found life on Saturday, netting their first two goals of the year. Louis Philippe Fontaine scored the season’s first goal on a power play from Ethan Elias and Charles Savoie, while Giovanni Morneau added another man-advantage tally off assists from Nolan Seed and Savoie during a five-on-three sequence.
It was Morneau and Fontaine’s first career goals in a Lindenwood uniform as Morneau came to the Lions from Carleton University in Ontario while Fontaine comes to St. Charles from the Shawnigan Cataractes of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).
Offensive Glimpses Amid Defensive Pressure
Wisconsin’s offensive depth and precision on the power play set the tone throughout the series. Forward Christian Fitzgerald led the Badgers with four goals over the weekend, including a hat trick in Saturday’s game. Wisconsin outscored Lindenwood 10–2 across both contests and outshot the Lions 78–52.
Lindenwood showed improvement in generating scoring chances, with 22 shots in Game 1 and 30 in Game 2. Drew Kuzma led all Lions with five shots on goal in the opener. The Lions were strong in the faceoff circle, winning a combined 68 draws led by Morneau’s 20 wins on the weekend.
Lindenwood also had plenty of missed chances at the net, with many times narrowly missing goals by shooting the puck off the post of the goal, and were inches away from netting home more than just the two goals scored on the weekend.
Lindenwood heads out on its first road trip of the year with a two-game series up in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as they will take on Lake Superior State University on Friday, Oct. 10, and Saturday, Oct. 11. Puck drop on Friday will occur at 6:07 p.m., while puck drop on Saturday will be at 5:07 p.m.
