Up-and-down Irish look for stability against Wisconsin Badgers

By ANDREW McGUINNESS

Associate sports editor

n o matter who they play or what they do, n otre d ame hockey has been unable to escape the seesaw that their 2022-23 season has become. s ince n ov. 11, the Irish have played seven two-game series against the same opponent, and they’ve split all seven. It doesn’t matter whether the Irish are playing teams at the top, middle or bottom of the b ig Ten standings. It’s been win one, lose one for almost as long as the Irish can remember, a pattern that has prevented them from looking like last year’s near-Frozen Four team for anything more than a brief moment.

There is still time for the Irish to make a big push. They are just seven points back of Penn s tate and o hio s tate, who are tied for second in the b ig Ten. And if there is any team that the Irish figure to be able to find consistent success against, it’s their opponent this weekend: the Wisconsin b adgers. n ot only are the Irish home, where they’ve been much better than they have on the road, but the b adgers are currently bringing up the b ig Ten’s rear. m oe has once again been a bright spot for the b adgers, posting a strong .917 save percentage and starting all but four of Wisconsin’s games.

It’s Wisconsin’s first time at c ompton Family Ice Arena since last m ar. 6, when the Irish eliminated them from the b ig Ten tournament by taking Game Three of their first-round series by a 4-2 final. Game one of that series should ensure the Irish will not underestimate Wisconsin goaltender Jared m oe anytime soon, though. m oe stopped 49 of 50 Irish shots in a 3-1 Wisconsin victory.

The pressure will likely be on m oe and Irish senior goaltender r yan b ischel, because neither team is particularly stellar on offense. e xpect games more similar to the 2-0 game these teams played on Jan. 6 than the 6-4 one the day after. n either team averages more than 2.5 goals per game or has a single player with at least ten goals.

The b adgers are no pushover, however. While neither side scores much, Wisconsin’s power play is much better (20.1% vs. 15.5%). The b adgers also outshoot their opponents, a battle the Irish have lost this season — often badly. The b adgers also have some good bloodlines among their top players. c ruz Lucius, the brother of 2021 first-round nh L draft pick c haz, leads Wisconsin with nine goals and 24 points. r ight behind him is b rock c aufield, the brother of m ontréal c anadiens sharpshooter c ole. c ruz himself is an nh L d raft pick, going in round four to c arolina last year. h e is one of ten b adgers, including m oe, to have been taken in the draft. d efenseman c orson c uelemans is the highest among them, going off the board 25th to c olumbus in 2021. c uelemans is tied with c aufield and m athieu d e s t. Phalle for second on the team with 14 points. h is seven goals make him one of the highest-scoring blue-liners in the b ig Ten.

Wisconsin certainly lacks depth — no one else on the team has double-digit points. b ut they will present a challenge for the Irish, especially since n otre d ame has been without star graduate student defenseman n ick

The Irish enter this weekend as mired in a scoring slump as they have been all season. The Irish have not scored more than two goals (excluding the shootout) in their last four games. The good news is that n otre d ame’s last offensive outburst came against the b adgers, when they scored a season-high six goals on Jan. 7 in m adison. Junior defenseman d rew b avaro and senior forward Trevor Janicke both tallied two goals and an assist, while senior forward Jesse Lansdell also tallied three points.

There are reasons to think the Irish can push for more offense down the stretch. Janicke and junior forward r yder r olston have been picking up their play as of late. Janicke has five points in his last five games, and see bAdGers PAGe 15