Jan. 21, 2018 | Box Score
CHICAGO — The No. 1 ranked Notre Dame hockey team suffered its first defeat in 87 days, falling to No. 18 Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-0 at the United Center (9,313).
Wisconsin goaltender Jack Berry made 40 saves to earn the shutout and snap top-ranked Notre Dame’s program-record 16 game winning streak.
The Fighting Irish (19-4-1, 13-1-0-0 B1G) fell behind early, as Wisconsin struck at 15:07 in the first period. Wisconsin (12-12-3, 6-8-2-0 B1G) added short-handed and power-play goals in the second period and two goals in the final minute of the third for the final 5-0 scoreline.
The defeat was Notre Dame’s first away from home this season, as the Irish began the season 9-0-0 when playing away from Compton Family Ice Arena in the 2017-18 campaign.
Irish goaltender Cale Morris finished with 41 saves. The Notre Dame power play was 0-for-5 and Wisconsin went 2-for-6 and added the shorthanded goal as special teams became a big factor in the game.
COACH JACKSON’S THOUGHTS
On the message to the team…
“They wanted it more than we did tonight. We’ll be facing that for the rest of the way — teams with that kind of intensity level. I thought that we were doing okay, but that shorthanded goal pretty much changed the whole game. Our special teams in total have been great for us, for the most part, especially in the penalty kill. But tonight they took advantage of opportunities on special teams which makes a huge difference.”
On playing from behind…
“We’ve had problems getting leads early in the game the first half of the year. I thought over the last three or four series we’ve done a better job of getting off to better starts. Tonight, Wisconsin did a better job around our net. Their goaltender played very well. It could’ve been a little different if we had been more aggressive around the net. We were two goals behind Wisconsin in Wisconsin on the first night [earlier this season]. Like I said, that one goal was a killer and once you get to three it just makes it that much more challenging.”
On the conference…
“We’re going to find out here in the second half. Wisconsin played like the team that everybody picked to be second in the conference tonight. They looked that good. We may see the same thing next week against Minnesota. Everybody’s trying to jockey for position conference-wise for playoffs and the NCAA tournament. This is the time of year where everybody elevates their games. I thought Michigan played us very well two weekends ago, and I thought Wisconsin played very well on Friday night. We just have to find a way to elevate our game and play at that level. When you’re winning, sometimes some of the rust starts sneaking in. There’s a certain level of comfort that comes with winning as much as we have. Every once in a while you have to lose to learn how to win. We got spanked tonight and we have to be ready to come back for a good week. We have four tough road games coming up. It’s not going to get easier.”
NOTES
- The loss ends Notre Dame’s 16-game winning streak, which was the longest winning streak in the country this season and ranked as the longest winning streak in program history.
- It tied for the 16th-longest winning streak in the NCAA records book.
- Dating back to the 1993-94 season, Notre Dame became 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. - The defeat is Notre Dame’s first in Big Ten play. The Irish became the first Big Ten team ever to win their first 13 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 143rd consecutive game of his Irish career (dating back to the first game of his freshman season).
- Jake Evans skated in his 115th consecutive game dating back to his freshman season.
UP NEXT
Next weekend, Notre Dame hits the road to play a two-game series at Minnesota (Jan. 26-27).
— ND —