The sixth-seed Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team (9-22-3, 6-17-1 Big Ten) heads to South Bend, Indiana to take on third-seed Notre Dame (25-9, 17-6) in the first round of the 2022 Big Ten Hockey Tournament.
The Irish lead the season series 3-1 and have outscored the Badgers 14-8 in the four times the teams have matched up.
Here is everything you need to know before the opening series of the Big Ten Tournament:
Know Your Foe
Notre Dame is currently ranked seventh in the country, and they have won five games in a row, including a massive series sweep against Michigan last weekend.
The Irish are an incredibly balanced team on both ends of the ice, ranking ninth in the nation with 3.4 goals per game, and fifth in America with just 2.1 goals allowed per game.
This balanced group is led offensively by Max Ellis, a junior from Canton, Michigan, who leads the Irish in both goals (16) and points (28). Ellis is a tremendous goal scorer. He utilizes his smaller frame to create a quick, deceptive wrist shot. While Ellis has been relatively quiet against Wisconsin this year, the experienced forward has the ability to get red hot quickly, and he can easily take over an entire series.
On the back end, senior alternate captain, and Mequon, Wisconsin native, Spencer Stastney leads a very experienced defense group. Stastney, a former draft pick of the Nashville Predators, is having the best season of his career in South Bend. He leads the team in assists with 19 and is second on the team with 26 points.
In net for Notre Dame will be some combination of Ryan Bischel and Matthew Galajda. Bischel and Galajda have shared the net all year, and they have both deserved the significant playing time that they have gotten. On the year, Ryan Bischel is 10-4 with a .924 save percentage and a goals against average of just 2.08.
Galajda has been even better. He is 15-5 on the year with an extremely impressive save percentage of .932 and a goals against average of 1.92.
These two netminders have been dominant all year, and I would not expect that to change this weekend against a Wisconsin team that struggles to score.
What to Watch for
I expect an extra motivated Wisconsin team this weekend. This year has not gone according to plan at all. They have been mostly terrible, especially on the road. The Badgers have lost a program-record 13 road games this year, nine of those losses by multiple goals.
Wisconsin played arguably their worst series of the season last weekend at Minnesota. They were thoroughly dominated in all aspects of the game. Ultimately, they were outscored 13-0 in the most embarrassing series of the year.
Last time they visited South Bend, they were dominated by the Irish, and outscored 8-1. But this is the postseason, and anything can happen in playoff hockey.
I would expect Jared Moe to be the Badgers’ netminder in all three games, should it go the distance. While he got beat up last weekend by his former team, Moe has been solid for the most part this year. He has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise depressing year for the Cardinal and White.
Up front, Mathieu De St. Phalle has been red hot of late for Wisconsin. His scoring has been a welcome sight for Tony Granato’s club as he has been a consistent offensive threat since the Kwik Trip Holiday Faceoff in December.
On the blueline, Corson Ceulemans remains the Badgers point leader, but he has recorded just one assist since January 21. Ceulemans has the makings of a star, and in a postseason series, your stars need to shine.
Predictions:
Game one: 3-1 Wisconsin
Game two: 5-2 Notre Dame
Game three: 4-2 Wisconsin
I believe in Wisconsin this weekend. They have given me no reason to believe in them all year long, but I like their fight. Ultimately, the Badgers have more to play for than the Irish here. Notre Dame will almost certainly receive an automatic-bid to the NCAA tournament, while the Badgers need to win the Big Ten tournament to get in.
I think this will be a little extra motivation for Wisconsin to win the series. The embarrassment of last weekend should have the team, especially Jared Moe, a little extra juiced up to prove themselves. Watch for Wisconsin to pull a huge upset this weekend in South Bend.
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