Badgers shutout No. 1 Notre Dame, 5-0
UW snaps Notre Dame’s 16-game winning streak, hands it first Big Ten loss
CHICAGO – Faced with its biggest challenge of the season, the No. 18 Wisconsin men’s hockey team toppled No. 1 Notre Dame, 5-0, on Sunday afternoon at the United Center.
The Badgers (12-12-3, 6-8-2-0 Big Ten) narrowly outshot the Fighting Irish (19-4-1, 13-1-0-0 Big Ten) by a 46-40 margin, but sophomore Jack Berry stood tall between the pipes and served up UND’s first shutout loss.
Freshman defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk got the Badgers on the board in the first with an end-to-end effort. Starting behind the UW net, Kalynuk skated up ice, moved wide to dodge a defender, then faked a slapshot and snuck the puck between Cale Morris’s pads for the go-ahead goal at 15:07.
Wisconsin’s special teams added two more goals to the total in period two as the Badgers notched both a short-handed and power-play goal in the last six minutes of the frame.
While junior Seamus Malone sat for high-sticking, sophomore Trent Frederic scored his team-leading 11th goal of the year. Picking off a Notre Dame pass in the Wisconsin zone, Frederic skated in alone on Morris and shot five-hole to double the lead, 2-0.
Malone got in on the fun himself at the 19:11 mark on a Badgers’ power play, winding up and one-timing a pass from Kalynuk over a defender and past Morris’s glove.
The Badgers put two more up on the Fighting Irish in the final frame, capping off the 5-0 victory. Freshman Linus Weissbach crushed a rebound past Morris on the power play at the 19:23 mark before rookie Sean Dhooghe skated in and deked Morris, going backhand over his shoulder with just seven seconds remaining for good measure.
Sophomore Jack Berry made 40 saves in the shutout, tying his career-high mark.
Notes to Know
– Jack Berry’s 40-save performance tied for the sixth-highest save total in a UW shutout.
– Wisconsin improved to 11-0-0 in games played in Illinois during the modern era (since 1963), and 5-0-0 in Chicago.
-Freshman Wyatt Kalynuk tallied a goal and an assist, notching his seventh multi-point game of the season. Freshman Sean Dhooghe had a goal and two assists for his third multi-point performance.
-Wisconsin broke Notre Dame’s 16-game winning streak, which stood as the longest in the nation. It was also the first loss the Fighting Irish have suffered at the hands of a Big Ten opponent.
-Trent Frederic scored the Badgers’ second short-handed goal of the season with his second-period tally.
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Tony Granato
On the game
“Goalie was great, it starts in the net. I thought right out of the gate, this was solid for us, gave us a lot of confidence. We were able to solve their goalie a bit tonight which has been challenge all year for us. I don’t think if I look back at all four games, I don’t think this differentiated a lot from a few of the other ones against them. I don’t think we made plays like we did tonight obviously. Our power play had a couple good goals, we got that short-handed goal. Our goaltender was great. It was a really nice effort by everybody.”
On starting Jack Berry
“I just thought (after) the last game, we played well and didn’t win. And I thought tonight we needed to win and we needed a big performance. We got it.”
On the D corps
“Our D corps always plays well, they were outstanding. Big blocked shot on the (penalty kill) by Tyler Inamoto right before the short-handed goal. Kalynuk obviously gets a big goal. But if you look right through, all six of them, they made a lot of big plays and made it pretty hard on Notre Dame’s forwards.”
On viewing tonight as a special game
“I hope so. They shared a lot of energy before the game in the locker room and on the bench. Obviously, when you win and beat a team that’s gone on a run like Notre Dame has, you’re going to be excited. To do it at the United Center, couple guys from the area scored tonight, all the guys from Illinois had some sort of impact in a positive way. I thought that was nice to see as well.”
Junior forward Seamus Malone
On scoring at the United Center
“It felt good. I’ve been here multiple times for Hawks games, lot of playoff games, but it felt good scoring here. There was a lot of family here. It was perfect by Kalynuk, he brought a lot of guys over and a great screen by Zimmer. He made a perfect pass so I just ripped it, gripped it and ripped it, and it went in.”
On special teams
“In the last couple weeks, we haven’t been great on special teams so it was important for us to get a short-handed goal, a couple power-play goals, even a four-on-four goal. It was important for us to capitalize on those. Special teams do win games.”
Sophomore goaltender Jack Berry
On the game
“Coach said from the beginning, special teams are going to be a huge thing in today’s game. We scored a short-handed and a power-play goal, our (penalty kill) did a phenomenal job. Inamoto with that blocked shot and then Freddy goes does and scores. It’s a huge game-changer there.”
On the breakaway he faced in the first period
“He had it on his backhand and (Peter) Tischke was there on his back shoulder. I knew he couldn’t get a deke out so I played it pretty aggressive there. It happened to hit me, I guess.
“I definitely felt confident out there. It’s really easy when our D box out and whatnot. But when I can play aggressive, that’s when I feel the best.”
Up Next
Wisconsin welcomes Penn State to the Kohl Center in a Friday-Saturday series, Jan. 26-27. Friday is set for a 8 p.m. puck drop while Saturday’s game will start at 7 p.m. Saturday’s contest will serve as Wisconsin’s “Faceoff Against Cancer” game.