Following-up on a 7-1 blowout victory on Friday, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team delivered again on Saturday. Power-play execution, team communication, and storybook goal-scorers, lifted Wisconsin to a 9-1 victory and a sweep over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to open Big Ten play.
No. 2 Wisconsin (6-0-0, 2-0-0 Big Ten) opened Friday night’s series opener with what head coach Mike Hastings called “one of our best 20 minutes that we’ve had in a young season,” outshooting Notre Dame 25-7. Saturday, however, the Badgers were locked with the Fighting Irish in a one-goal game midway through the second period, but knew they could be performing at a higher level.
“What I liked is the guys came back to the bench, and they’re the ones that kind of figured it out,” Hastings said in a post-game interview. “That wasn’t coaching; that was those guys communicating and just talking about a couple of looks that they were looking to get.”
A second-period natural hat-trick, a first-as-a-Badger for a heralded transfer, and six power-play goals later, UW capitalized on those looks. It was the first time Wisconsin scored six goals on the advantage in one game since doing so in 1979, also against Notre Dame.
“It’s hard to sweep in the Big Ten,” said Hastings. “And so for us to be able to get off to the start that we did, that wasn’t perfect, but it was decent, and find a way to get a lead and then extend it was really good weekend for us.”