The Madison Capitols (41-17-5-1) defeated the Green Bay Gamblers Tuesday (27-33-2-2) for the second consecutive night, advancing to the USHL Clark Cup playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals.
As the No. 3 seed in the East, the Capitols hosted the No. 6 seed Gamblers in the first round. The best-of-three series was hosted at Bob Suter’s LEGACY20 Arena in Middleton, Wisconsin.
The Caps went 5-3-1-0 against the Gamblers in the regular season, and 3-1-0-0 in four home games. Green Bay, who boast the top two regular-season goal scorers in Will Zellers (44) and Aidan Park (33), lost their final three regular-season outings.
In Monday’s game one, Mason Moe scored both the tying and winning goals in a 4-3 showdown. Green Bay opened with two unanswered, but Ian Scherzer and Sam Kappell each scored to equalize 2-2. Two minutes later, Green Bay regained its lead on a power play. Moe tied it again with 5:19 left in the second period, before ultimately deciding the game with 15:03 remaining.
Following up with an emphatic 5-3 win on Tuesday, Ryker Lee, the team’s leading scorer, and Egor Barabanov scored within 1:17 of each other to take a quick 2-0 lead in the first period. A power-play goal from Moe closed the period, followed by a Kappell goal midway through the next period. Green Bay pulled one back later in the second period to close the gap to 4-1.
Things took a turn in the third period, as the Gamblers scored with 13:43 left, and again on a power play, with 6:50 remaining. With their lead cut to 4-3, UW-Madison commit Gavin Uhlenkamp sealed the deal, scoring an empty net goal with 0:50 left.
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The Capitols will face No. 2 seed Dubuque Fighting Saints next. This round expands to a best-of-five series, with Madison playing at home in the third and fourth games. Madison won their first three games against Dubuque this season, before dropping their April matchup in overtime.
Experiencing a whirlwind of results over the past few seasons, the Capitols seem to have found their footing. In the 2022-23 season, the organization experienced coaching changes before appointing Andy Brandt as head coach and general manager for 2023-24. Brandt was initially an assistant coach for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team, after which he brought the Capitols back to the playoffs in 2024, for the second time in club history.
Having reached the Clark Cup Final in 2021-22 and the first round in 2023-24, this year is the third time Madison has qualified for the USHL Clark Cup playoffs.
During this season, the Capitols were captained by forward Finn Brink, a UW-Madison commit. Assisting Brink as captains were forward Aiden Long and defenseman Charlie Michaud.
A 2021 USHL Futures Draft pick, this marks the fourth season that Brink has appeared for the Capitols. Long was the squad’s top returning point scorer with 22 in the 2023-24 season. The Cornell commit recorded 59 points this season and was selected as a finalist for the first Gaudreau Award. Michaud, a Miami, Ohio, commit, is in his second full season with Madison, after being called up from the affiliate list for six games in 2022-23.
Madison opened their regular season in September, with two games at the DICK’s Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic. In front of hundreds of NHL scouts, the Capitols beat Omaha and lost to Lincoln.
In their home opener Sept. 27, the Capitols lost to Eastern Conference champions Youngstown in a shootout, their only shootout loss of the year. By their seventh regular season game, the Caps picked things up and began a seven-game winning streak, improving their record to 9-2-1-1 by early November.
With a 12-1 win over the U.S. National Team Development Program Nov. 15, the squad set a club record for goals in a single game.
In December, Caleb Heil, Lee, Moe, John Stout and Brink were selected to Team USA for the World Junior A Challenge in Canada. Brandt served as an assistant coach for the squad, who claimed a gold medal victory over Sweden.
Defenseman Stout, a Badger commit, was instrumental when he was on the ice, posting a +44 plus minus — leading all skaters in the USHL regular season in plus minus.
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After dropping four straight matchups against Green Bay, spanning across New Years weekend, Madison turned around to win 13 of their next 16 games, improving to 29-12-3-1 to end February.
The Capitols secured their playoff berth in a 5-2 win on March 15. This victory spurred a seven-game win streak, ending March at 38-16-3-1.
On the final weekend of the regular season, the Caps lost to Dubuque in overtime before closing with a win over Green Bay. While they fell short of a first-round bye, the Capitols’ regular season points percentage of 0.677 is a club record in the organization’s current USHL stint.
In addition to a record points percentage, the squad’s 250 regular season goals led the Eastern conference. Madison’s 4.03 goals-per-game and 2.98 goals-against average set records for the club. Goaltender Heil set the single-season club record for wins with 25.
Four Capitols players were included in the NHL’s Central Scouting final rankings, released in April. Ryker Lee (28th), Mason Moe (53rd), Bobby Cowan (143rd) and Nolen Geerdes (169th) were listed among the top North American skaters.
Lee tallied 31 goals and 68 points, both fourth-best in the USHL’s regular season. The future Michigan State Spartan’s single-season points record finished as second-best in Capitols history.
Forwards Cowan and Moe finished third and fourth among Madison’s regular season points-per-game scorers, with 0.89 and 0.84 PPG, respectively. Moe is committed to the University of Minnesota, while Cowan will join the NCAA defending champions, Western Michigan, for 2025-26.