Notre Dame Hockey Splits Series with Wisconsin

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team split their weekend series with the Wisconsin Badgers with a win for each. Notre Dame struggled to find the back of the net on Friday night, only scoring once, before exploding for five goals on Saturday.

The Irish now sit third in the Big Ten, two points behind the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Irish are now set up for a huge matchup with Minnesota next weekend where a sweep would be extremely beneficial moving them into second in the conference, but getting swept must be avoided. We’ve got four games of intense hockey left in the regular season.

Game 1

Wisconsin opened the scoring on the power play in the first period Friday night when Linus Weissbach found the back of the net. Notre Dame equalized late in the period after Dylan Malmquist jumped on a rebound and put it past Daniel Lebedeff.

In the second period, Wisconsin took the lead with 2:39 remaining on a Roman Ahcan goal. Notre Dame has several chances to equalize in the third period but couldn’t find the goal, dropping game one of the series.

Scoring

WIS - Linus Weissbach (5) on the PP at 5:31 in the 1st, assisted by Sean Dhooghe and Wyatt Kalynuk

ND - Dylan Malmquist (10) at 15:52 in the 1st, assisted by Tory Dello and Mike O’Leary

WIS - Roman Ahcan (5) at 17:21 in the 2nd, assisted by Brock Caufield and Josh Ess

Goalies

ND - Cale Morris saved 35 of 37 shots faced in the loss

WIS - Daniel Lebedeff made 30 saves on 31 shots for the win

Penalties

ND - Matt Hellickson, 2 for slashing at 4:42 in the 1st

WIS - Peter Tischke, 2 for interference at 2:32 in the 3rd

ND - Michael Graham, 2 for tripping at 3:36 in the 3rd

WIS - Matthew Freytag, 2 for cross-checking at 9:52 in the 3rd

ND - Bobby Nardella, 2 for interference at 17:39 in the 3rd

Game 2

Wisconsin found the scoreboard first again in game 2 when Matthew Freytag found the back of the net just over two minutes into the game. Notre Dame responded quickly with two power play goals to take their first lead of the series. Colin Theisen got the Irish on the board with a one timer late in the first period and Michael Graham redirected a pass on goal early in the second.

Notre Dame added two more goals in the second, one from Jake Pivonka and another from Michael Graham to extend their lead to 4-2. Cal Burke tallied the final goal of the night for the Irish in the third before Wisconsin responded less than a minute later for the final goal of the night.

Scoring

WIS - Matthew Freytag (3) at 2:25 in the 1st, assisted by Max Zimmer

ND - Colin Theisen (8) on the PP at 9:28 in the 1st, assisted by Cal Burke and Matt Hellickson

ND - Michael Graham (10) on the PP at 2:33 in the 2nd, assisted by Andrew Peeke and Bobby Nardella

ND - Jake Pivonka (2) at 12:04 in the 2nd, assisted by Cal Burke and Bobby Nardella

ND - Michael Graham (11) at 18:37 in the 2nd, assisted by Mike O’Leary and Tory Dello

ND - Cal Burke (10) on the PP at 15:06 in the 3rd, assisted by Cam Morrison and Andrew Peeke

WIS - Sean Dhooghe (10) at 15:49 in the 3rd, assisted by Jake Bunz and Jack Berry

Goalies

ND - Dylan St. Cyr allowed 2 goals on 34 shots for the win

WIS - Daniel Lebedeff allowed 4 goals on 22 shots for the loss

WIS - Jack Berry allowed 1 goal on 9 shots

Penalties

WIS - Dominick Mersch, 2 for holding at 8:52 in the 1st

WIS - Roman Ahcan, 2 for slashing at 12:16 in the 1st

WIS - Mick Messner, 2 for slashing at 15:00 in the 1st

WIS - Roman Ahcan, 2 for cross-checking at 16:15 in the 1st

ND - Colin Theisen, 2 for tripping at 17:19 in the 1st

WIS - BENCH, 2 for too many players at 1:29 in the 2nd

ND - Bobby Nardella, 2 for holding at 6:37 in the 2nd

WIS - Sean Dhooghe, 2 for slashing at 6:37 in the 2nd

ND - Michael Graham, 2 for hooking at 8:46 in the 2nd

ND - Cam Burke, 2 for hooking at 15:08 in the 2nd

WIS - Dominick Mersch, 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct at 7:25 in the 3rd

ND - Graham Slaggert, 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct at 7:25 in the 3rd

WIS - Tarek Baker, 2 for hooking at 13:48 in the 3rd

Up Next

Notre Dame takes to the road for the final time in the regular season for a series with the Minnesota Golden Gophers before closing the regular season at home against the Penn State Nittany Lions.