Notre Dame wins record 16th Straight; Defeat Wisconsin 4-2

In front of a sellout crowd at the Compton Family Ice Arena, the #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish set a program record with their 16th consecutive victory in a 4-2 win over the #18 Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night.

The Irish power play started the night early. After an unsuccessful power play in the first four minutes of the game, Notre Dame got another opportunity on the man-advantage when Wisconsin’s Matthew Freytag was sent off for cross-checking at the 6:29 mark of the first period. During the ensuing power play, an Andrew Oglevie one-timer rang off the crossbar (remember this). Wisconsin then took the puck down the ice and a Cameron Hughes shot beat Notre Dame goaltender Cale Morris for a shorthanded goal that appeared to give Wisconsin the early 1-0 lead.

Or did it?

Remember earlier when I mentioned an Andrew Oglevie shot that rang the crossbar? Well, after a lengthy review, it was determined that the puck actually went into the goal on that shot, thereby wiping out the Wisconsin goal and giving Notre Dame the early 1-0 lead.

Later in the period, a turnover in the neutral zone gave Notre Dame captain Jake Evans a breakaway opportunity. Evans’ shot went past the glove of Wisconsin goalie Kyle Hayton and into the back of the net to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead at the 11:51 mark of the first period.

With 2:04 left in the opening period, a Mike O’Leary interference penalty on Wisconsin’s Trent Frederic gave Frederic a penalty shot opportunity. Frederic, a 2016 first round draft pick by the Boston Bruins, snuck a wrist shot through Morris’ legs to put Wisconsin on the board and cut the Irish’s lead to 2-1.

Notre Dame managed to extend the lead back to two before the 1st period ended when a quick shot by Andrew Peeke fooled Hayton with just 47 seconds left in the opening frame to give the Irish a 3-1 lead.

After coming up empty on a power play opportunity early in the second period, Notre Dame found themselves in a critical situation in the final minute of the middle frame. Defenseman Justin Wade was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit to the head on a Wisconsin player, and the Irish had to kill off a five minute penalty towards the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd period. Although the penalty kill unit and Morris came up with some big stops during the major, it wasn't enough to keep Wisconsin's Tarek Baker from scoring right after the penalty expired to cut Notre Dame's lead to 3-2 with 15:43 remaining in the third period.

Once again, Morris and Notre Dame rose to the challenge of defending a late one-goal lead. Wisconsin took a few penalties down the stretch, but Notre Dame failed to capitalize on either of them. Hayton was pulled with just under two minutes left to give Wisconsin the extra attacker. Defenseman Dawson Cook was able to seal the deal with an empty net goal with 38 seconds remaining in regulation to give Notre Dame a 4-2 lead.

The Irish improve to 19-3-1 and 13-0-0-0 in Big Ten play. Wisconsin falls to 11-12-3 and 5-8-2-0 in Big Ten play.

Scoring

ND – Andrew Oglevie (7) on the PP at 7:08 of the 1st

ND – Jake Evans (7) at 11:51 of the 1st

UW – Trent Frederic (10) at 17:56 of the 1st

ND – Andrew Peeke (2) at 19:13 of the 1st

UW – Tarek Baker at 4:17 of the 3rd

ND – Dawson Cook (5) in the EN at 19:22 of the 3rd

Goalies

ND – Cale Morris stopped 33 of 35 shots, improves to 18-1-0

UW – Kyle Hayton stopped 25 of 29 shots, falls to 8-9-3

Penalties

UW – JD Greenway, 2 for holding at 2:03 in the 1st

UW – Matthew Freytag, 2 for cross-checking at 6:29 in the 1st

ND – Andrew Oglevie, 2 for cross-checking at 7:19 in the 1st

UW – Ryan Wagner, 2 for hooking at 15:57 in the 1st

ND – Mike O’Leary, 2 for interference at 17:56 in the 1st

UW – Jason Ford, 2 for hooking at 1:48 in the 2nd

ND – Dennis Gilbert, 2 for interference at 16:27 in the 2nd

UW – Peter Tischke, 2 for roughing at 19:10 in the 2nd

ND – Cam Morrison, 2 for roughing at 19:10 in the 2nd

UW – Ryan Wagner, 2 for roughing at 19:10 in the 2nd

ND – Justin Wade, 2 for roughing at 19:10 in the 2nd

ND – Justin Wade, 5 for contact to the head at 19:10 in the 2nd

ND – Justin Wade, 10 GAME MISCONDUCT at 19:10 in the 2nd

UW – Tyler Inamoto, 2 for tripping at 10:53 in the 3rd

UW – Peter Tischke, 2 for hooking at 15:19 in the 3rd

UW – Trent Frederic, 2 for cross-checking at 19:55 in the 3rd

ND – Mike O’Leary, 2 for cross-checking at 19:55 in the 3rd

Three Stars

1. Andrew Oglevie

2. Andrew Peeke

3. Trent Frederic

Up Next

Notre Dame and Wisconsin will play the second game of the series at the United Center in Chicago, home of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. The game will be televised at 3 pm ET Sunday afternoon on NBCSN.