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#1 Irish Down #18 Wisconsin 4-2 For 16th Straight Win

Jan. 19, 2018

Box Score | Highlights | Coach Jackson Press Conference

By Dan Colleran


NOTRE DAME, Ind.
— The top-ranked Notre Dame hockey team extended its winning streak to a program-record 16 games with a 4-2 victory over No. 18 Wisconsin on Friday night at a sold out Compton Family Ice Arena (5,630).

The Fighting Irish (19-3-1, 13-0-0-0 B1G) took advantage of a 3-1 lead in the first period and got another solid goaltending performance from Cale Morris to eventually down the Badgers and improve to 13-0-0-0 in Big Ten play.

Andrew Oglevie scored his tenth goal of the year at 7:08 in the first period, and the goals from Jake Evans and Andrew Peeke brought the Irish to a 3-1 advantage at the close of first period play. Wisconsin (11-12-3, 5-8-2-0 B1G) got on the board behind a Trent Frederic penalty shot.

Wisconsin’s Tarek Baker cut the Irish lead to 3-2 early in the third period just after the Fighting Irish killed off a five minute Badger power play, but that was as close as Wisconsin would get before Dawson Cook added an empty net tally late in the third to seal the win.

Morris made 33 saves for Notre Dame and improved to 18-1-0 on the season, while Kyle Hayton stopped 25 shots for the Badgers.

Notre Dame finished 1-for-6 on the power play, while Wisconsin was 0-for-3, including the five minute major.

COACH JACKSON’S THOUGHTS

On staying focused after 16 wins…

“Since we’ve been back from Christmas break, we’ve tried to make things competitive because that’s the one thing that when you have time off becomes a factor. We learned that lesson a few years ago when we had a bye-week in the Hockey East playoffs and Northeastern came in here and kicked our butts. I think we didn’t do enough to compete to get ready for them. I knew it was going to be tough against Michigan and Wisconsin. These teams are all trying to get positioning in the standings. That’s a good hockey team we played there. They’re picked second to be in the conference. That was a tough game to grind through. I thought our guys did a good job, especially holding the fort in the third period. We didn’t give up a whole lot. We did a really good job in that five-minute major, too. For the most part, I thought our penalty kill did a really good job and Cale had another good night.”

On playing with a lead early on…

“It’s important to get off to a good start. We did have a tough time with that in the first half [of the season]. It’s been a point of emphasis. We spent a lot of time talking about how we can do things better and preparing for the start of games so that we can get off to a better start. I give the leadership group a lot of credit for trying to come up with ways to make sure that when we get going, we start the game with some energy. I have to admit, though, when the building is the way it was tonight–with the crowd, the band, and the student section–it’s a great environment and I think that in itself really motivates things. Hats off to the band and our student section for creating that environment to make sure our guys had their juices going.”

On the importance of the conference streak…

“Right now, I don’t even want to worry about how many wins we have or where we are in the standings. I hope our guys can stay focused on the fact that there are areas that we have to improve our game, and if we do that then everything else will take care of itself. We’re not winning every game the rest of the way. It’s been a great run, hopefully we keep it going on Sunday, but the only thing that matters right now is Sunday’s game.”

On playing more regional games after moving into the Big Ten…

“We knew moving into the Big Ten was certainly going to help our crowds and the enthusiasm from our fans. They know all of the teams that are in the Big ten. There’s a lot of history there from Notre Dame. For us as a hockey program, the programs in the Big Ten that play hockey are all quality programs. They’re all run by great coaches, they have great buildings and fan support. The Big Ten is a big time environment. For us to have the opportunity to play Wisconsin in Chicago the next few years, the name recognition of the schools draws fans and we’re excited and happy to be a part of that.”

NOTRE DAME GOALS

1-0 | After being called no goal on the ice, Andrew Oglevie’s power-play blast was reviewed and confirmed a goal to give the Irish a 1-0 lead at 7:08 of the first. Colin Theisen set the play up with a great cross-ice backhand feed.

2-0 | Cam Morrison made a quick play to take the puck away from a Wisconsin player at the defensive blue line and chipped the puck ahead to Jake Evans, who took off on a breakaway. Evans beat Kyle Hayton high glove side for his eighth goal of the season at 11:51 of the first period.

3-1 | Andrew Peeke netted a third Irish goal at 19:13 of the first to restore Notre Dame’s two-goal lead. His second goal of the season was assisted by Oglevie and Dylan Malmquist.

4-2 | Dawson Cook sealed the win with an empty net goal, his fifth of the year, at scored on a Wisconsin empty net at the 19:22 of the third period, with assists to Cal Burke and Peeke.

NOTES

  • Notre Dame is on a 16-game winning streak, which is the longest active winning streak in the country and ranks as the longest winning streak in program history.
  • It is also tied for the 16th-longest winning streak in the NCAA records book.
  • Dating back to the 1993-94 season, Notre Dame is just the third team with a winning streak of at least 16 games, joining Boston College in 2011-12 (19 wins) and Harvard in 2016-17 (16 wins).
  • The only other time Notre Dame won at least 15 games in a row occurred during the 1983-84 season (15 consecutive wins from Nov. 4, 1983 – Jan. 21, 1984), when they competed under club status.
  • Jackson’s previous longest career winning streak came with Lake Superior
    State when his team won 15 consecutive games from Jan. 19 – March 9, 1991, as
    part of a 28-game unbeaten stretch by the Lakers.
  • Notre Dame is also 13-0-0-0 in conference play this season, making it the first Big Ten team ever to win its first 12 conference contests of the season (the Fighting Irish also bested the previous best start to league play posted by Minnesota when it started 2013-14 with a 10-game unbeaten streak at 8-0-2-0).
  • Jordan Gross skated in the 142nd consecutive game of his Irish career (dating back to the first game of his freshman season).
  • Jake Evans skated in his 114th consecutive game dating back to his freshman season.
  • Andrew Oglevie scored a goal for the third consecutive game and added an assist for his sixth multi-point game of the year and the 15th of his career.
  • With the goal and assist, Oglevie extended his point streak to six games (4-4-8).
  • Notre Dame improved to 11-0-1 when tied after one period of play and
    to 15-1-0 when leading after two periods of play this season.
  • Dylan Malmquist (2-5-7) extended his point streak to six games.
  • Cam Morrison (0-5-5) extended his point streak to four games.

UP NEXT

Notre Dame and Wisconsin close out their weekend series at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m CT on Sunday, Jan. 21, at the United Center in Chicago. To purchase tickets, click here.

— ND —

Dan Colleran, Director of Athletics Communications at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).