First Croatian-Raised Player in College Hockey Filling Important Role for Badgers
by Jacob Cheris/CHN Reporter (@JCheris17)
Bruno Idzan has only played 12 games for the Wisconsin Badgers in his rookie season. Whenever he does slide into the lineup, he’s playing a bottom-six role and getting limited minutes, which is something he wasn’t used to in juniors.
But the limited playing time doesn’t bother the 19-year-old.
“I knew coming in that there’s so many good players coming in this year, and also from the years prior, playing in Wisconsin. I’m having kind of a mindset that I’m just here, experiencing all of this, getting better every day, having the opportunity to train with the best and learn from guys better than me and also the amazing coaching staff,” Idzan said. “It’s kind of a win-win situation for me. Whatever happens, I’m just getting better and that’s why I’m happy.”
That perspective stems from Idzan’s unique background. He doesn’t come from a typical hockey country.
He hails from Zagreb, Croatia, and is the first of his countrymen to play college hockey. (Harvard’s David Valek, 2009-14, was born in Zagreb but he grew up in the U.S.) Meanwhile, he became the first Croatian-born product to get drafted in the NHL, where he was selected in the sixth round by the Ottawa Senators in the 2025 draft.
The only Croatian-born player to compete in the NHL is Borna Rendulic, who played parts of three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks from 2014-2017.
Though known more for sports like water polo, volleyball and, most familiarly to American sports fans, basketball — the hockey culture in Croatia is small but strong. Idzan grew up watching Medveščak Zagreb, which was the country’s only professional team in the KHL, along with two amateur teams. He started playing at the age of three.
“People really love hockey. There have never really been any teams in Croatia to go watch or just experience that level that KHL has,” Idzan said. “There were a lot of hockey fans, and it was like a hockey fever for about five, six, eight years.”
Unfortunately, Zagreb went bankrupt in 2019 and hockey started to lose popularity in Croatia. That was the main reason why Idzan moved to Slovenia, at the age of 12, to continue his hockey career.
After playing three seasons in Sweden, he returned to his homeland to play for a semi-pro team, KHL Sisak, and then moved to Lincoln, Neb., to play for the Lincoln Stars. He says that the transition to moving to North America wasn’t challenging because he was so accustomed to living on his own far away from home, and he knew English.
He was an impact player right from his first game and finished the year with 41 points (22 goals, 22 assists) in 36 games. Stars head coach Rocky Russo told Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings that Idzan “has a chance.”
“He is very appreciative of the opportunities that have been presented in front of him, the opportunity that he had in Lincoln, the opportunity now that he has at Wisconsin, he’s probably one of the more well-liked freshman that we have because his personality is one that he can talk to you differently about life because of the life that he’s lived,” Hastings said. “It’s the makeup of the player and the person. And have things gone perfectly for him so far? No. But he still comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face trying to get better, and I think he’s got a really bright future.”
Idzan committed to Wisconsin in late February, but the coaching staff was unsure whether he’d join the team in the upcoming season or the following year. The Badgers had key veterans returning and Idzan knew that it was going to be a challenge to crack the lineup on a consistent basis.
“I think that’s just a part of that transition from juniors to college hockey is just waiting for the opportunity. It’s probably a little for some guys to just accept that [you’re not playing on] the top two lines, power play anymore. It’s more of a bottom six role in the game,” Idzan said. “I think it’s just about having the right mindset and just reacting to what you get the best as you can. Whatever serves you to play just eat it up and just go on and be 100 percent for the next one.”
That opportunity that Idzan was waiting for came at the Kwik Trip Holiday Faceoff. Wisconsin was without Quinn Finley, due to the Spengler Cup, so this was a chance for the 6-foot winger to showcase his offensive skillset. He tallied two assists during the tournament and logged 12:30 of ice time against Western Michigan, which set a new season high.
“He’s very coachable. Even though the process of him not getting to where he wants to so far in the first half, he comes to work every day and he’s working on learning the other pieces of what to do without the puck, because he definitely knows what to do once he gets it,” Hastings said. “He wears his emotions a bit on the ice, where if something doesn’t go well, I’ve told him, ‘I’ve seen you come into the locker room on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday after you haven’t played, and you light the room up.’”
Idzan knows that he’s going to be a key piece to Wisconsin’s future success and is embracing every second on and off the ice all while representing his country.
“I always say that I’m extremely proud to be Croatian and extremely proud to just have that flag next to my name and represent everywhere I go,” Idzan said. “There’s no hockey players from Croatia, so it’s an honor to be Croatian, to be able to represent it every day. It’s really a special feeling.”