WHO: #12/13 Notre Dame (13-8-1, 6-6-0-0 B1G) at Wisconsin (8-10-3, 4-4-3-1 B1G)
WHEN: Sunday, January 20 – 7:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: United Center
WATCH: Big Ten Network
LISTEN: Sunday Radio Broadcast
TICKETS: Click here
BACK TO THE UNITED CENTER
- The Fighting Irish are set to play at the United Center for a third consecutive season. Home to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Irish played at the United Center in the national semifinals at the 2017 Frozen Four (6-1 loss to eventual 2017 NCAA Champion Denver).
- Last season, Wisconsin snapped Notre Dame’s program record 16-game winning streak with a 5-0 win in the United Center game (Jan. 21).
- Last season the United Center game replaced a Notre Dame home game, while this season it replaces a Wisconsin home game.
- The Fighting Irish and Blackhawks have developed ties throughout the years and Chicago’s current vice president and general manager Stan Bowman is a 1995 graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
- The Blackhawks were most recently at Notre Dame for the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® at Notre Dame Stadium (Jan. 1).
- The Chicago Blackhawks also held portions of their 2014, 2015 and 2017 training camps at Notre Dame, utilizing both the Lefty Smith Rink and the Olympic-size rink for practices and scrimmages at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
- Over the last two seasons, the Irish are 18-4-1 in road contests (22-6-2 over the past two seasons in road and neutral site games combined).
- In a season-plus now of Big Ten conference road games, Notre Dame is 14-4-1 (9-2-1 in 2017-18).
THE SERIES VS. WISCONSIN
- Former opponents in the WCHA, Notre Dame and Wisconsin have met 69 times in program history with Wisconsin leading the all-time series 40-22-7.
- The first meeting between the two teams came during the 1921-22 season when the Irish skated away with a 3-0 victory at Badin Rink (outdoors at Notre Dame).
- The teams met once more, in 1925-26, before taking a 40 year hiatus and returning to competition when Notre Dame earned varsity status.
- The Irish and Badgers played the first hockey game in the Kohl Center on Oct. 3, 1998, with Notre Dame posting a 2-1 win.
- Since Notre Dame joined the Big Ten prior to the start of last season, the Irish lead the series with Wisconsin 4-1-0 (the Irish outscored the Badgers 19-15 during those five games).
- Notre Dame’s offensive leaders against the Badgers include Dylan Malmquist (5 GP, 2-4-6), Cal Burke (4 GP, 3-1-4), Colin Theisen (5 GP, 0-4-4), Cam Morrison (4 GP, 0-3-3), Mike O’Leary (5 GP, 2-1-3), Andrew Peeke (4, 1-2-3), Bobby Nardella (1-2-3) and Michael Graham (1 GP, 2-1-3).
- In net, Cale Morris has played all five games against Wisconsin the last two seasons, posting a 4-1-0 record to go along with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
- As a head coach, Jeff Jackson is 5-3-0 all-time against the Badgers (1-1-0 at Lake Superior State).
- The one win Jackson had over the Badgers at Lake Superior State came on April 4, 1992, in Albany, New York, as the Lakers defeated Wisconsin 5-3 to win the NCAA Championship (the first of Jackson’s two NCAA Championships at Lake State).
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- 309 – In his 14th season, head coach Jeff Jackson now has 309 career wins at Notre Dame (309-185-55), breaking Lefty Smith’s longtime record of 307 wins behind the Irish bench.
- 50 – Notre Dame is in the midst of its 50th season of varsity hockey at the University.
- 41 – Over the last two seasons to date, the Fighting Irish have racked up 41 wins, which ranks tied for second in the NCAA with St. Cloud State and trails only Minnesota State’s 48 (through Jan. 18 games).
- 19 – Former Fighting Irish goaltender Cal Petersen, who led Notre Dame to the 2017 Frozen Four, made his NHL debut for Los Angeles on Nov. 13, becoming the 19th player to reach the NHL after skating for Jeff Jackson at Notre Dame.
- 10 – On Jan. 4, former Notre Dame All-American Erik Condra made his season debut for the Dallas Stars, becoming the 10th former Irish player to appear in the NHL this season.
- 7.8 – At 7.8 penalty minutes per game, the Irish are the second-least penalized team in the country behind only Princeton”s 6.1 mark (as of Jan. 19).
- 7 – With the 2018 Big Ten tournament and regular season-titles, Notre Dame has now won seven conference championships in program history, each under Jeff Jackson (three regular-season).
- 2 – Against Mercyhurst on Oct. 12, junior Cal Burke notched a third period hat trick – the second of his career. He became the first Irish player since Anders Lee with multiple career hat tricks.