MADISON, Wis. – The No. 12 Wisconsin men's hockey team didn't end the year in the way that it had hoped, falling 6-2 to No. 4 Notre Dame at the Kohl Center on Saturday night in the final series of 2017.
 
The Badgers (10-9-2, 4-5-1-0 Big Ten) outshot the Fighting Irish (16-3-1, 10-0-0-0 Big Ten) by a 41-29 margin, but still fell short of victory.
 
Notre Dame opened the game with a power-play goal at the 5:27 mark of the first period, but senior defenseman Peter Tischke knotted the game up less than five minutes later with his first of the season to help the Badgers head to the first intermission tied 1-1. Senior Cullen Hurley skated in on goaltender Cale Morris, then made a last-second pass to Tischke in the slot, who one-timed the shot into the twine.
 
After Notre Dame scored a short-handed goal to take a 2-1 lead to start the second stanza, the Badgers again responded within minutes when senior Ryan Wagner crashed the Notre Dame net and stuffed the puck under Morris's pad on the Wisconsin power play at 8:25.
 
Notre Dame went into the second intermission with a lead though, as Cal Burke scored his second of the evening at the 14:16 mark of the period on a wraparound.
 
Notre Dame broke open the 3-2 game in the final period, scoring three goals, including an empty-net tally.
 
Senior goaltender Kyle Hayton made 23 saves in the defeat, moving to 7-7-2 on the season.
 
Notes to Know
-Wisconsin is only team this season to score more than one goal in both games of the weekend on Notre Dame goaltender Cale Morris.
-Notre Dame led the Badgers in blocks, 17-9
-The Badgers took 40+ shots on net for the fourth time this season.
-Wisconsin reached the break last season at 9-7-2.
 
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On adjusting to Cale Morris in the net
"I think the Wagner goal on the scramble in front, and paying a price in front – Dhooghe got mauled and we stuck with it, and we were able to sneak one by him (Morris), I thought that was the kind of goal that you have to score against him. I thought the first goal by Tischke was a great play. Cullen Hurley and Jason Ford made a great play on the entry and that was an outstanding goal. (Morris) is sharp. He covers a lot of net. He's quick. He gets back to position quick. He's confident. His players around him are very confident. He's the best goalie that I've seen in college hockey." 
 
On not responding to first loss
"They're a pretty good team, that's for sure. I'd like us to learn from their team and what they did and how they played. They had about a five-minute bit in the third period where they got off of their game a bit and then they slowed it down and they got back to being disciplined in the neutral zone. They were patient and figured out how to slow the game down and they played the way they played all year, very consistent shift after shift. They stay with the game plan and do it over and over and over again until the other team breaks and we broke." 
 
On heading into break with losses
"It's not great timing. I think coming into this weekend off of last weekend, we had high expectations for ourselves, thinking that we were going to find rhythm. Last night's game was probably good enough to win, this night's wasn't. So it is disappointing, there's no question. This was a game that we had hoped would give us a nice four weeks thinking that we were playing our best hockey heading into the second half, which is tough. We weren't able to do that tonight, so we have some work to do over the next four weeks to be ready for the second half." 
 
"It's a season of learning. It's a season that's different from last year. Our expectations in ourselves are a lot greater so losses hurt a lot more. And losses are a lot more confusing when you think, at the start of the year, your expectations of being an elite team mean you win consistently. We have not won consistently, and that's disappointing. I still believe this team can win consistently. I still believe this team can be a contender, but after the first half of the year we have to come back and have a different mindset each and every game, each and every shift, and how we face each and every opponent. We haven't been consistent enough to deserve to be with North Dakota, with the team we played tonight, Notre Dame, and with Minnesota. We have to be more consistent if we want to be a ranked team or a national contender."
 

Senior Peter Tischke
On what was said in the locker room
"It's pretty much just that we have a month now and we have to figure our stuff out. We have to come back a better team in the second half of the season because we're going to need a big push to make things happen."
 
On the positives of the night
"I think that we did a good job at getting guys to the net, getting guys in front of the net so he couldn't see the puck that much. Missed some bounces in front of the net that we would've liked to see go in, but I think that if we keep that up, keep getting shots, I think that'll help us out in the long run."
 
On how the team gets better
"You just have to come to practice every day, keep battling even though we don't have games. We have to keep giving it our all and go as hard as we can. We have a month off so we need to make sure we stay in shape, get in even better shape actually, and be ready and mentally prepared when we come back."
 
 
Sophomore Trent Frederic
On their frustration level
"We had one slip away yesterday, so obviously that was more frustrating. If you look at both games in the third period, we lost both third periods which is pretty frustrating. Hopefully we work hard over the break and have a good second half here." 
 
On the home record
"Like you mentioned, last year we were better on the road and I think so far we've been better on the road. I know we have a lot of away games coming up next half so I don't know if that will benefit us."
 
 
Freshman Sean Dhooghe
On what didn't work tonight
"I think it just comes down to the fact that we can't close games right now. I think that's something we're trying to figure out as a group still. We're going to go on a break here and I think that's one of the most important things we need right now is to be able to regroup, as a team and individuals. We need to come back stronger, ready to learn and ready to work."
 
Up Next
The Badgers return to the ice in 2018 with a series at Penn State, Jan 5-6. Both games are a 6 p.m. (CT) start.