Wisconsin men’s hockey: UW sweeps Notre Dame right into the trash

Over the past few seasons the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team has had issues getting out of their own way. They would win a game on Friday night and then come out flat on Saturday and stop any momentum they were building.

Well, for the first time since February 2017 the Badgers swept a Big Ten opponent by beating No. 20 Notre Dame 5-3 on Saturday night. Sophomore forward Dylan Holloway scored the game winner in the third period, his second lamp lighting of the series, as the Badgers moved to 2-0-0-0 in the Big Ten on the season.

This was UW’s first series sweep against Notre Dame (0-0-2 overall, 0-0-2-0 B1G) in the Big Ten and first since Jan. 21-22, 2005, when the Badgers took a pair of 2-0 games over the Fighting Irish.

Wisconsin opened the scoring on the power play in the first period when Ty Pelton-Bryce scored on the man advantage with assists from Cole Caufield and Linus Weissbach, who had three points on the weekend. The Badgers added to their lead early in the second period when Ryder Donovan potted his first goal of the season and it looked like UW was well on their way to another shutout victory.

Notre Dame’s Colin Theisen had other ideas, though. The senior scored twice, in under two minutes, to tie the game in the second with one power play goal and one at even strength. Theisen would score again in the third to notch his first career hat trick but he would also receive a game misconduct for a high hit on Caufield with five and a half minutes remaining in the game.

The Badgers didn’t score on the five minute power play, but they had already pushed their lead to two goals, at 5-3, when Ryder Donovan banged home an Owen Lindmark rebound under two minutes since Holloway’s game winner.

Lindmark earned first star honors for the game, recording two assists, two shots, one blocked shot and finishing plus two on the night.

Grad transfer goalie Robbie Beydoun earned his second straight win for the Badgers, stopping 29 of 32 shots on the night.

Wisconsin heads home to begin a six-game homestand with a battle against Michigan at LaBahn Arena Thursday and Friday, Nov. 19-20. Both games are currently slated for 6 p.m. CT starts.