No. 15 Irish Open Home Big Ten Play This Weekend Vs. Wisconsin

WHO: #15 Notre Dame (6-3-0, 0-2-0-0-0-0 B1G) vs. Wisconsin (4-6-0, 2-2-0-1-0-0 B1G)

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET // Saturday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. ET

WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena | Tickets

WATCH: NBCSN // NBC Sports Chicago (NBC App/online for both games)

LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com

NOTES (PDF)

SETTING THE STAGE

• Coming off a home non-conference sweep of Holy Cross, the Fighting Irish return to Big Ten play by hosting Wisconsin this weekend at the Compton Family Ice Arena (Nov. 12-13).
• It will mark Notre Dame’s first home conference games of the season.
• Notre Dame is 4-1-0 at home this season.
• Max Ellis (2-1-3), Jake Boltmann (1-2-3) and Solag Bakich (1-2-3) helped lead the Irish to the sweep over Holy Cross by scores of 5-2 (Nov. 4) and 4-1 (Nov. 5).
• In net, graduate student Matthew Galajda made both starts, stopping 45 of the 48 shots he faced for a .938 save percentage to go along with a 1.50 goals against average.
• Ellis leads the Irish with 11 points on a team-high five goals and six assists, followed by Bakich (3-6-9) and Trevor Janicke (4-3-7).
• Janicke and Graham Slaggert rank tied for second on the team with four goals each.
• Notre Dame’s penalty kill is 33-for-34 on the season (.970), which ranks second in the NCAA.
• All told, 13 Notre Dame players have scored so far this season, while 18 have at least one point.
• The Irish are averaging 3.52 goals per game, which ranks 13th in the NCAA (fourth in the Big Ten) and are also holding opponents to 1.98 goals-against per game, which ranks 11th nationally (second in the Big Ten).
• Notre Dame has made each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, the longest streak in program history, and eight of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments overall.

THE BIG TEN STANDINGS

• This season, teams will be awarded three points in the conference standings for a win in regulation. 
• If the game is tied following regulation, both teams will receive one point, with a second point being awarded to the team that wins in either the 3-on-3 overtime period or the shootout.
• The conference standings now match a national standard: W-L-T-OTW-OTL-SOW.

GALAJDA SHUTOUT RANKS

• Graduate student Matthew Galajda made 22 saves to help lead the Irish to a 6-0 win over RIT on Oct. 22, marking his first shutout for Notre Dame and the 20th of his career.
• A 2018 First Team All-American, his 20 career shutouts rank tied for fourth in NCAA Men’s Division I history:
• Rank Name (Years) GP Shutouts
  • 1. Dryden McKay (2018‑pres.) 107 GP/27 SHO
  • 2. Ryan Miller (1999‑2002) 106/26
  • 3. Michael Bitzer (2014‑2018) 138/21
  • 4. Joe Fallon (2004‑2008) 132/20
  • Matthew Galajda (2017‑pres.) 90/20
  • 6. Ben Scrivens (2006‑2010) 117/19
  • Michael Garteig (2012‑2016) 124/19

THE NOTRE DAME – WISCONSIN SERIES

• Former opponents in the WCHA, Notre Dame and Wisconsin have met 80 times in program history with Wisconsin leading the all-time series 46-25-9.
• 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.
• As a head coach, Jeff Jackson is 8-8-2 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).
• Since joining the Big Ten, the series is tied at 7-7-2.
• The teams opened the shortened 2020-21 season on Nov. 13-14 at the Compton Family Ice Arena, with the Badgers posting a 2-0 win and a 5-3 victory (Colin Theisen had a hat trick in that game two loss).
• Then at Wisconsin on Feb. 19-20 2021, the Badgers took game one 4-2 before the teams skated to a back-and-forth 5-5 tie in game two. 
• In the game two shootout, Max Ellis scored and Dylan St. Cyr denied Cole Caufield, Dylan Halloway and Ty Pelton-Byce to seal the extra point.
• The teams split the 2019-20 series 2-2-0, including a split at the Kohl Center on Nov. 15-16.
• Wisconsin took game one, 3-0, and Notre Dame took a back-and-forth game two, 5-4 in overtime.
• Alex Steeves had the OT game winner (just moments after Nate Clurman cleared a puck off the Notre Dame goal line) and Trevor Janicke, Cam Burke and Colin Theisen also scored for the Irish.
• Later in the season at home (Jan. 24-25), Notre Dame dropped game one, 6-4, before bouncing back to take game two, 5-2.
• With a career-high four points on a goal and three assists, Alex Steeves helped the Irish to that 5-2 win.
• Notre Dame’s active career offensive leaders against the Badgers include Graham Slaggert (10 GP, 2-3-5), Spencer Stastney (12 GP, 0-5-5), Landon Slaggert (4 GP, 0-4-4), Trevor Janicke (8 GP, 2-1-3), Jesse Lansdell (8 GP, 1-2-3) and Jake Pivonka (12 GP, 1-2-3). 

— ND —