‘Bright lights don’t bug him’ | After nearly winning NCAA championship, Zelenov ready for big sophomore campaign

Vasily Zelenov’s skate blades hit the ice in Las Vegas, strobe lights flashing with every blink, swarms of Wisconsin red and North Dakota green spilling out of the seats and into the concourses, and he realized he was missing something.

Nerves.

“To be honest, I expected it to be something to be nervous about, and I expected to be gripping my stick a little tighter,” Zelenov told Sabres.com. “But honestly, it felt like another game.”

That’s just No. 94, his coach says.

“Bright lights don't bug him,” said University of Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings. “It seems like that's when he plays his best.”

Few expected Wisconsin – one of the last teams to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament – to storm all the way to last season’s national championship game, held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the same light, not many might have expected Zelenov – a seventh-round pick, 204th overall by Buffalo – to serve the role he did for the Badgers.

Since the day he got to Madison last fall, Zelenov has been centering Wisconsin’s second line. He hasn’t given up that spot.

“He was like a duck to water. He sat in that second-line role from day one and continued to grow, and he's done that over the summer,” Hastings said. “We know our time with Vasily’s probably going to be short. It's not going to be four years. I think if he continues on the path that he's on right now, he's going to have an opportunity (in Buffalo).”

Zelenov’s 19-point freshman campaign (6+13) was solid, especially considering it was just his second year playing in North America. The Moscow, Russia native was bred by the Austrian junior hockey system and played just one year in the USHL with Green Bay before debuting in Madison.

He’s hit the ground running in his sophomore season, posting a goal and six assists for seven points in his first four games.

“Freshmen come in a lot of times – especially when he was put into the role that he was because of his abilities – pretty wide-eyed, right?” Hastings said. “This year, he's come in with almost a leadership type mentality – that not only is he going to do it for himself, but show himself to others that they can learn through his actions.”

Zelenov has always let his play speak for itself – he was arguably Wisconsin’s most important player in its 2026 playoff run, ultimately being named to the NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team. His numbers don’t always jump off the chart until you look at where they came from: an assist on the game-winner in the NCAA regional semifinal. A primary helper on the first goal of the national semifinals. A goal to get the first lead in the national championship game.

After posting just three points in his first 10 collegiate games, Zelenov exploded on the back half, notching 16 points in his last 18 games.

And that production came after getting banged up at a tournament over the holiday break, a setback that had Zelenov miss eight games before donning a knee brace – just for protection – during the second semester. That might take a mental toll on some players, but not Zelenov.

“He played his best hockey at the most important time of the year,” Hastings said. “… The anxiety is out the window. He gets excited about those moments, and those are the guys that I have seen year after year and over time, they just want more, and they don't feel underwater in those moments. In fact, they take it to a new level.

“That's my excitement about him, and Buffalo fans should feel the same way. Because he's just getting better on a daily, weekly, monthly (basis).”

After Zelenov’s season ended (Wisconsin fell 2-1 to Denver in the national championship game despite holding the Pioneers to just 15 shots on goal), it gave him some time to sit back and watch some hockey – it just so worked out that the team that drafted him was on a historic playoff run, much like Zelenov’s Badgers had been.

“It was just great to see the fan base and everyone talking about it; people who aren't fans of Buffalo were talking all about the Sabres and the city of Buffalo going crazy,” Zelenov said. “But it was awesome to see how they developed as a hockey team and they stuck with it throughout the season, because obviously there's been ups and downs, so that second part (of the season) was really fun to watch. It was just something you would be excited about obviously as a part of the program.”

A seventh-round pick, Zelenov knows there could be a long road ahead of him to ultimately play on that same ice in Buffalo. But he’s been a sponge at Wisconsin, learning what it takes to play a 200-foot game, spending more time in the weight room and understanding the attention to detail that’s required during the brief 30-to-35 game collegiate season.

It wasn’t ever more apparent to him than during the NCAA regional final against Michigan State, when a Wisconsin shot from the blue line got merely deflected past the Spartan netminder, sending the Badgers to the Frozen Four just like that.

“Those bounces … that decides whether we were going to go to the Frozen Four or not,” said Zelenov, who added that it hardly sunk to him watching from the bench. “You don’t take any game for granted (in college). … I think it's a great opportunity for guys like me to get stronger and faster at this while during the season as well, and that goes a long way with injury prevention in the future.”

That future for Zelenov is bright, if Hastings’ praise is any indication. He’s responsible on both sides of the puck, something he’d sought to improve when he arrived at Wisconsin a year ago. He gets time on the power play and the penalty kill, and his second line will get paired up against college hockey’s best.

The next step for Zelenov? Shooting the puck more, so his goals can start to catch up to the sheer numbers of assists he dishes out.

“It almost has been a problem growing up. … I've always been a pass-first guy, and it's a kind of a mindset that could be both beneficial and not,” Zelenov said with a knowing smile. “I see the ice really well, I know it's one of my strengths. However, I am working on being a threat with the puck, and obviously my shot. I think that when I see a play, I can make it. So I just need to be more versatile on offense.”

“He's one of the few players that the game can slow down for him in his mind,” Hastings said. “…When things are happening at a real rapid pace, he's not rattled by that. His ability to find little areas to either defend or to create offense is what separates him, and I think it's that quote-unquote ‘hockey sense’ that is what's going to allow him – with the drive that he has as an individual and the balance that he has in his life – to be able to take that next step.”

Vasily Zelenov photo credit: Dan Sanger-UW Athletics

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