Road Warrior Irish set to travel to No. 5 Wisconsin

Notre Dame hockey has been great away from home this season. A big series for the Irish comes this weekend in Wisconsin against No. 5.

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WHO: Notre Dame (10-11-1, 8-9-1-1-2-1 B1G) at #5 Wisconsin (14-8-0, 12-6-0-0-0-1 B1G)
WHEN: Friday, February 19 – 8 p.m. ET | Saturday, February 20 – 5 p.m. ET
WHERE: Labahn Arena, Madison, Wisconsin
WATCH: Friday & Saturday – Fox Sports Wisconsin & BTNPlus.com
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
NOTES (PDF)

FOR STARTERS

  • Notre Dame heads to Wisconsin for another road series, beginning on Friday, Feb. 19. The teams, who opened the season against each other at the Compton Family Ice Arena on Nov. 13-14, will meet at LaBahn Arena for the first time in series history.
  • Notre Dame is 7-1-0 on the road this season, including series sweeps at then third-ranked Michigan (Nov. 27-28) and at then first-ranked Minnesota (Jan. 15-16) and the Irish penalty kill is 17-for-17 away from home.
  • Notre Dame’s power play is also 7-for-20 on the road and that.350% leads the country in road games.
  • Dating back to Notre Dame’s game two, 2-1 win at Minnesota on Jan. 16, senior goaltender Dylan St. Cyr has started eight of nine games and posted a .931 save percentage to go along with a 2.12 goals against average and a 4-4-0 record.
  • With 526 career wins, Head Coach Jeff Jackson (Lake Superior State and Notre Dame) enters the weekend tied with George Gwozdecky (Miami and Denver 1989-2013) for 11th all-time in wins, while John MacInnes of Michigan Tech (1956-81) ranks 10th with 555.

THE NOTRE DAME-WISCONSIN SERIES

  • Former opponents in the WCHA, Notre Dame and Wisconsin have met 78 times in program history with Wisconsin leading the all-time series 45-25-8.
  • 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 the competition when Notre Dame earned varsity status.
  • The teams have never met at LaBahn Arena.
  • As a head coach, Jeff Jackson is 8-7-1 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).

VS. THE BADGERS IN THE B1G

  • Since joining the Big Ten, Notre Dame leads the series 7-6-1. The teams opened the 2020-21 season back 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.
  • The teams split last season’s 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.
  • During the 2017-18 season, then-freshman forward Michael Graham had a breakout weekend against the Badgers during their January series as he posted five points on four goals and an assist.
  • Eight of Graham’s 18 career goals have come against the Badgers in just eight games played (8-3-11 points).