MADISON, Wis. – The No. 9/10 Wisconsin hockey team didn't pull any punches Friday night, defeating No. 17 Michigan, 7-3, in a game of impressive offense, defense and goaltending.
 
Despite being outshot 37-28, Wisconsin (8-5-1, 3-2-0-0 Big Ten) scored a season-high seven goals and held tough on defense by blocking a season-high 26 Michigan (6-4-1, 2-2-1-0 Big Ten) shots in the victory.
 
It took freshman defender Josh Ess just 33 seconds to get the game rolling, scoring his first-career goal on a one-timed slapper from the top of the circles.
 
Sophomore Max Zimmer doubled the lead at the 11:17 mark, dangling past the Michigan defense before depositing a back-hander behind netminder Jack LaFontaine.
 
Michigan would close the gap in the opening shift of the second period, but the 2-1 lead only held until 3:03 when sophomore Trent Frederic snuck a shot between LaFontaine and the post just as a Michigan penalty expired.
 
Senior captain Cameron Hughes got in on the fun midway through the stanza on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with Frederic and freshman Linus Weissbach.
 
The Wolverines would strike again in the second period, going into intermission trailing 4-2, but three Badger goals in the third period sealed the victory. Senior Jason Ford snuck in a shot from along the goal line at 6:29 of the third, but Michigan retaliated at 10:38 to make the score 5-3.
 
Junior Jarod Zirbel capitalized on an empty UM net at 17:50 and freshman Tarek Baker scored just 17 seconds later to top off the 7-3 win.
 
Senior Kyle Hayton made 34 saves in the win, including several highlight-reel stops throughout the game.
 
Notes to Know
-A season-high seven goals came off the stick of seven different Badgers, including freshman Josh Ess' first as a Badger.
-The Badgers recorded a season-high 26 blocks in the contest. Their previous high was 15.
-Wisconsin improved to 8-2-1 in games it scores the first goal.
-The Badgers went 1-for-4 on the power play with Hughes' tally.
 
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On Kyle Hayton's performance 
"Kyle was really good. I thought Michigan had some really good chances at key points in the game, and he made big saves for us. I thought he was really solid. They've got a much better offensive team, or at least they played more offensively than they did last year. I think they added some skill to their lineup and they did some really nice things offensively. Kyle was good. I think goaltending was the big difference in the game." 
 
On deep scoring and team effort
"I thought it was good. We made some nice plays. We got a few goals, a few breaks on some bounces around the net. Obviously the Ford goal was a bounce. I thought we made some nice plays and scored at some big points in the game when they seemed like they were getting some momentum going, we scored big goals to slow that momentum down. That was important at the end of the game." 
 
"It was nice to see Zirbel get one, and then the following shift to see Baker get one because I thought those two lines played really solid defensively. It was really nice to see them get a chance to get on the scoresheet." 
 
On the energy in tonight's game
"I liked it a lot. I don't know what the total number of shots blocked were, but we were way more willing to block shots tonight than it seemed like we had been earlier in the season. Jason Dhooghe was the guy that we gave recognition to in the locker room after the game for four or five really big blocks, on one timers and key situations. Even at one point, he laid down to eat a puck. That's something that I think we could be better at." 
 
 
Senior G Kyle Hayton
On challenging breakaways
"As a goalie you've got to like the big moments, so yeah I like break aways just like I love shoot outs."
 
On lots of shot on goal in a row
"I think those moments they're just kind of a do-whatever-it-takes, cover the goal line, take away sticks and do whatever you can to get the puck out. It's kind of a scrammbly situation and for me I'm just trying to hold middle of the net and take away as much net as I can. The other guys are doing great at boxing out and trying to get the puck out of the zone."
 
On blocking shots that are coming after pucks bounce off the backboards
"We train all week with those kind of plays, that's what we do as goalies. We're ready for those plays because of the work we've done and the more you get them, the more sharp you get, the more shots you're getting involved with the game, you feel it more and everything feels clearer."
 

Sophomore F Trent Frederic
On getting back on the score sheet
"It's been a couple of weeks but it feels like forever just due to playing on weekends. When you don't have the best weekend and you don't get on the score sheet you think about it all week. It felt good. On the first play it was a nice power play. A lucky bounce and it just went my way. On the second one, I think Sean Dhooghe passed it over to me, it was a little rush. Passed to Linus (Weissbach) and he made a great play to Hughes and he put it in the back of the net.  
 
On variety of scorers
"It's huge to have all lines going. When you've got one guy you match up on him, but when you've got seven guys putting it in the net, there's not really an answer for the other team."
 

Senior D Jake Linhart
On playing against Michigan's offense
"Ever since my freshman year they've been a fast, high-paced team so kind of expected that. As D you kind of want to gap up and match their speed and I thought we did that pretty well tonight."
 
On Michigan's ability to comeback last week and how they responded
"Someone said they scored three goals in the last three minutes so we were aware of that. I think that we just tried to keep playing our game. We played pretty well all three periods; a couple breakdowns here and there, but for the most part I thought we did pretty well."
 
On Tischke penalties and blocking shots on the penalty kill
"Yeah, I took a couple off the knee so that's pretty sore right now. He's definitely a big part of the penalty kill so I tried to make up for it."
 
 
Up Next
Wisconsin and Michigan meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center, after the two teams meet earlier in the day in football a mile west at Camp Randall Stadium. The hockey game airs on Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus.