WHO: #15 Notre Dame (15-10-3, 8-8-2-2 B1G) vs. Wisconsin (9-14-5, 5-8-5-2 B1G)
WHEN: Friday, February 5 – 7 p.m. ET | Saturday, February 16 – 6 p.m. ET
WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena
WATCH: Friday & Saturday – NBCSN
LISTEN: Friday Radio Broadcast | Saturday Radio Broadcast
TICKETS: Click here
THE SERIES VS. WISCONSIN
- Former opponents in the WCHA, Notre Dame and Wisconsin have met 70 times in program history with Wisconsin leading the all-time series 40-22-8.
- 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.
- At Notre Dame, Wisconsin leads the series 15-10-5.
- Last season the two teams skated once at Compton Family Ice Arena where the Irish recorded their program-best 16th consecutive win with a 4-2 victory over the Badgers.
- 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).
- Earlier this season, Notre Dame and Wisconsin met for a weekend series hosted by the Badgers with game one being played at the Kohl Center.
- The Irish skated away from the Friday night tilt with a 6-4 victory backstopped by 33 saves from Cale Morris (Jan. 18).
- The Irish scored three goals in the third period to go up 6-4 and all told nine Irish players tallied a point in the win, including five different goal-scorers.
- Notre Dame was perfect on the power-play, scoring on two attempts while the Badgers scored on two of their three opportunities with the man-advantage.
- The two teams then traveled to Chicago, Illinois for a Sunday night game at the United Center where the Irish came back to earn the extra point in the conference standings with a goal in the three-on-three overtime to seal a five-point weekend.
- Spencer Stastney scored that double overtime game-winner.
- Freshman forward Michael Graham had a breakout weekend against the Badgers during their January series as he posted five points through two games with four goals and an assist, three of which came with the man-advantage.
- As a head coach, Jeff Jackson is 5-3-1 all-time against the Badgers (1-1-0 at Lake Superior State).
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- 50 – Notre Dame is in the midst of its 50th season of varsity hockey at the University.
- 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, tying the program record (also done in 2016-17).
- 8 – Michael Graham has eight goals since Jan. 19 (the first Wisconsin series), which is tied for the NCAA lead over that span with Mitchell Lewandowski (Michigan State) and Jonathan Desbiens (Bentley).
- 7.5 – At 7.5 penalty minutes per game, the Irish are the second-least penalized team in the country behind only Princeton (6.9).
- 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).
- .927 – Cale Morris ranks 10th in the NCAA with a .927 save percentage, but among goaltenders who have played at least 80% of their team’s minutes in net, he ranks fourth.
- .96 – At 0.96 points per game, senior Bobby Nardella ranks 10th in the country and second in the Big Ten in points per game by a defenseman (28 GP, 7-20-27).
OTHER TIDBITS
- Coming off a 5-2 victory on Tuesday night against Michigan, Notre Dame continues a busy stretch of three home games in five days by playing host to a weekend series against Wisconsin (Feb. 15-16).
- In the win over Michigan, sophomore Pierce Crawford (SHG) and freshman Jake Pivonka (GWG) each scored their first career goals and Cale Morris made 36 saves.
- Crawford’s shorthanded goal was Notre Dame’s fourth of the season.
- With an assist on Dylan Malmquist’s first period goal, Bobby Nardella moved into a tie for seventh in career scoring among defensemen at Notre Dame (137 GP, 23-73-96) and tied his career high with 20 assists this season (also had 20 assists in 2014-15).
- Michael Graham scored his eighth goal in the last seven games (8-3-11).
- With the win over the Wolverines, the Irish jumped back up to third in the Big Ten standings with 28 points, two points behind second-place Michigan (30 points, bye this weekend).
- After first-place Ohio State (41 points), the league’s other six teams are separated by eight points – including seventh-place Wisconsin (22 points).
- The Irish are now 12-0-1 on the season when scoring at least three goals.
- At 0.96, Bobby Nardella ranks 10th in the country in points pr game among defensemen (28 GP, 7-20-27).
- Cale Morris’ .927 save percentage ranks 10th nationally (fifth among goaltenders with at least 500 saves this season).
TRIO UP FOR HOBEY VOTE
- It was announced on Jan. 16 that forward Cal Burke, goaltender Cale Morris and defenseman Bobby Nardella have each been selected to Phase One of the Hobey Baker Award’s fan ballot (vote at www.hobeybaker.com).
- Awarded annually to college hockey’s top player, the Hobey Baker award includes candidates exhibiting the exceptional character traits of the award’s namesake, Hobey Baker, with consideration given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.
- Morris, who was awarded the 2018 Mike Richter Award as college hockey’s top goaltender, was named a Top-10 Finalist for the Hobey Baker Award last season.
- Morris was the fourth player in Notre Dame history to be among the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker, joining Anders Bjork (2017), David Brown (2007) and Dave Poulin (1982).
- Morris, a Larkspur, Colorado native, was also the first player from the Centennial State to play his way into the Hobey Top 10.
- The Fan Balloting (Phase I) of the Hobey Baker award calendar will continue until March 10.
- On March 20, the Top 10 Finalists will be announced, at which time Phase II Fan Balloting will begin and run through March 31, 2019.
- The Hobey Hat Trick Finalist Announcement will be made on April 4.
- The 2019 Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced from a field of three Hobey Hat Trick finalists on Friday, April 12, 2019 during the NCAA Frozen Four Championship in Buffalo, New York.
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