NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Six different skaters scored as the No. 5 Wisconsin men's hockey team stormed past Notre Dame, 7-4, on Saturday night at Compton Family Ice Arena. The victory helped the Badgers secure their ninth-straight victory, their longest since 1990, and third-consecutive series sweep against conference opponents.
Wisconsin (18-4-0, 10-2-0) came out flying, scoring four goals in the first period and one in the opening four minutes of the second to lead 5-1. Halfway through the contest, Notre Dame (10-10-2, 4-6-2) pushed for a comeback, scoring three goals in less than three minutes. Freshman goaltender William Gramme entered 8:35 into the second period in relief and shut down the rest of the Fighting Irish's comeback hopes, saving a perfect 23 shots faced. The Badgers tallied two more goals in the final frame to earn the win.
The Badgers got on the board first 5:35 into the contest. Freshman forward William Whitelaw intercepted a Notre Dame player's pass in the middle of Fighting Irish territory and ripped a shot past goaltender Ryan Bischel to open the scoring.
Less than four minutes later,
Mathieu De St. Phalle doubled UW's lead. Sophomore forward
Cruz Lucius skated with the puck from the Badgers' blue line to the middle of Notre Dame's right circle. Lucius then passed to his left to find De St. Phalle, who used his speed to fly into the zone and fire a powerful shot into the net for his sixth goal of the season.
De St. Phalle struck again 11:54 into the first period on the power play. Senior forward
David Silye passed from Notre Dame's right circle to meet senior forward
Carson Bantle stationed by the right post of the net. Bantle passed behind him to find De St. Phalle who lit the lamp on a one-time shot to make it 3-0.
Twenty-nine seconds later, Notre Dame scored their first of the evening on a shot from Carter Slaggert.
With 1:27 remaining in the first, while Wisconsin had an extra attacker on the ice during a Notre Dame delayed penalty,
Zach Schulz found the back of the net. From the top of his offensive zone,
David Silye passed left to
Cruz Lucius, who sent a long pass to meet
Zach Schulz up by the right side of the net. Schulz sent the puck past Bischel for his second tally of the season.
The Badgers kept their momentum going early in the second period, scoring a power play goal 3:28 into the middle frame. Sophomore forward
Tyson Dyck passed from the middle of the boards on the right side of the Notre Dame zone up to freshman defenseman
Joe Palodichuk at the blue line. Palodichuk took a long shot that sophomore forward
Simon Tassy tipped into the net to tally the Badgers' second power-play goal of the night.
Eight minutes into the period, Notre Dame began its comeback attempt with a power-play goal scored by Maddox Fleming.
With 8:50 left in the second, the Fighting Irish notched their third goal of the night as Landon Slaggert spun in front and flipped the puck past Wisconsin goaltender
Kyle McClellan.
Twenty-five seconds later, Notre Dame struck again with Brennan Ali beating McClellan on a shot from a tough angle.
After skating into the third period with a tight 5-4 lead, sophomore defenseman
Ben Dexheimer put home a wraparound goal to increase the Badgers' lead back to two.
To seal the deal for Wisconsin,
Carson Bantle scored an empty-net goal with 3:22 remaining in the contest to make the final score 7-4.
UW went 2-for-5 on the power play and killed off 2-of-3 of its own penalties. Powered by a 20-shot second period, Notre Dame led 45-33 in shots.
Notes to know:
- Wisconsin sits in first place in the Big Ten with 30 points and a 10-2-0 Big Ten record
- UW's current nine-game win streak marks its longest since the last nine games of the 1989-90 season on the way to the 1990 NCAA title
- Wisconsin continues to hold the national-leading scoring defense number with 1.64 opponent goals per game
- Tonight's seven goals are the most scored in a single game by the Badgers this season
- Senior forward
David Silye earned a UW single-game career high in assists with three
Up Next: The Badgers return home to the Kohl Center for a series against Lindenwood on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 12-13. Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. The contests will stream live on B1G+ while audio play-by-play can be found on 1310 WIBA in the Madison area, 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee, as well as on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network app. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
