Badgers drop series opener to No. 12 Notre Dame
Wisconsin ends up on the wrong end of a seesaw affair at the Kohl Center
Jan. 18, 2018
MADISON, Wis. — Four different players scored for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team in its series opener against No. 12 Notre Dame, but the Badgers could not power past the Fighting Irish, dropping a 6-4 decision Friday night at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers (8-10-3, Â 4-4-3-1 B1G) and the Fighting Irish (13-8-1, 6-6-0-0 B1G) entered the third period in a 3-3 tie, but Notre Dame center Mike O’Leary put away a game-winning goal at the 13:36 mark, then defenseman Tory Dello scored an empty-netter in the final moments of regulation to put the game out of the Badgers’ reach.
Despite the result, the Badgers put forth a balanced offensive effort, with four UW skaters tallying goals in the loss. Freshman K’Andre Miller and senior Will Johnson recorded power-play goals, while rookie Roman Ahcan and sophomore Tarek Baker each added even-strength tallies to the score sheet.
Freshman goaltender Daniel Lebedeff made 12 saves in the start and junior Jack Berry stopped six shots in a relief effort for the loss.
Notes to Know:
- Daniel Lebedeff tallied an assist on K’Andre Miller’s power-play goal. The freshman is the first goaltender to record an assist since former UW netminder Joel Rumpel dished out an assist against UAH on Dec. 12, 2012.
- The Badgers scored two power-play goals on Friday, marking the first time UW has scored multiple power-play goals since the team tallied three goals on the man-advantage against Michigan Tech on Oct. 27.
- Sophomore defenseman Josh Ess recorded his first multi-point game with two assists in the contest.
Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On game hurting because of how well UW played:
“Yeah it does, that’s hockey, sometimes you don’t always get what you deserve. I think there were parts of the game that we looked like we were in control of it but we just didn’t stay with it enough. That team beat us three times last year in similar games where you felt like you were in control of the game and you get away from your game a little bit and it’s in the back of your net. I thought they were very opportunistic on being patient to get to their game and waiting for their opportunities to do that and obviously the two power-play goals against us were big points of the game. We scored four goals on the game so we did a lot of good things, just not enough to win tonight.”
On showing the desperation and energy necessary to win during the game:
“I thought our energy and our jump was great. I think that we could have been smarter, there were times in the game that we were in control of it that we needed to just find a way to get that next one, find a way to stay with that gameplan. I thought once the game looked easy for us, we started to open it up too much and started to get away from some of the things that we did well to take control of that game.”
Senior defenseman Peter Tischke
On tonight’s high-scoring contest:
“Tonight was two good teams going at it. We battled back and forth all game, but at the end of the day [Notre Dame] played their game longer than we played ours. We knew they were going to sit back and try to capitalize on our turnovers. They did, and it cost us.”
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On bouncing back for Sunday’s rematch
“I think we really need to stick with our type of game plan, which is high energy, throw-everything-at-the-net and support each other. If we do that I think good things will happen.”
Up Next:Â The Badgers travel to Chicago to take on the Fighting Irish in the series finale Sunday at the United Center. The game will air on the Big Ten Network with puck drop slated for 6:30 p.m. (CT).