When the Wisconsin Badgers hockey team concluded a two-week road trip with a visit to Notre Dame in October, both teams had hit the skids. Wisconsin entered the weekend series with a four-game losing streak, while the Irish had split previous weekend series with Alaska-Fairbanks and Long Island University.
Fast-forward four months: Notre Dame hockey concludes a two-week road trip with a visit to Madison, Wisconsin, this weekend … and both teams have hit the skids. Wisconsin has lost six straight, swept on three consecutive weekends by No. 5 Minnesota, No. 18 Penn State and No. 7 Ohio State. Notre Dame has lost four straight, swept by the Buckeyes and last weekend by the Nittany Lions.
Sometimes the reflection in the mirror is not the image we want to see.
But for Wisconsin (11-18-3, 6-15-1 Big Ten) and Notre Dame (9-20-1, 3-16-1 Big Ten), the two last-place teams in the Big Ten conference, the image in the mirror tells the story of what can only be described as frustrating seasons.
For Notre Dame, the play has been good but inconsistent. The results have not followed. Notre Dame recorded its 20th loss of the season at Penn State last Saturday, marking its first 20-loss season in two decades (2004-05) and the first of outgoing head coach Jeff Jackson’s career.
“I thought we played pretty well after the first period (last) Friday night,” Jackson said this week. “We had a lot of good scoring chances to at least tie the game or get ahead. But we’re still having a difficult time finishing at times. When you play well and don’t win, it’s a little bit frustrating. I know that applies to the players and the coaches.”
Jackson understands that that feeling of frustration is mutual on the other bench. Wisconsin made the NCAA Tournament last year in head coach Mike Hastings’ first season. This year, the Badgers have failed to replicate the success. They stumbled out of the gate, enjoyed a 9-4-3 stretch during the middle of the season but have since gone winless so far through the month of February.
Of late, goal-scoring has been the struggle. The Badgers have combined for just eight goals scored over their last six games and have not scored more than two in a single game over that span. Third-period scoring, in particular, has significantly dipped. Wisconsin has been outscored 16-2 in the third period over the course of its current losing streak. This comes a season after Wisconsin went undefeated (19-0-0) when leading after two periods.
“We’ve done a lot of good things defensively, at not giving up a lot, but we need to give our goaltender some support,” Hastings said this week. “Our power play has to get back to being productive. We have to score more than one or two 5-on-5 goals if we’re not scoring on the power play. We’re asking our goaltending to be close to perfect, and that’s hard to do at this time of the year.”
One player that hasn’t had trouble scoring this year for the Badgers is sophomore forward Quinn Finley. Finley’s 19 goals make up 20% of Wisconsin’s scoring this season. Graduate forward Ryland Mosley’s 14 make up another 15%. Other than that, though, Wisconsin doesn’t have another scorer in double digits.
While Wisconsin has struggled offensively, Notre Dame’s challenge has been defensively. The Irish rank 57th of 64 teams nationally in goals against allowed, giving up 3.4 goals per game. In their last 21 games, the Irish have held their opponents to two goals or less only three times. In their nine games before that, they managed the feat eight times.
Still, Jackson insists his team is defending better. Offensive finish, on the other hand, has dried up.
“We still need to try and give up one less goal a game and try to score one more,” Jackson said. “If we’re going to win, we need to get to that magic number of three [goals scored] and keep the opponent to two or get to four [scored] and keep them to three. One or the other.”
With two teams struggling toward the end of the season, this weekend’s series brings an opportunity to finish the season on a strong note. The trials these teams have faced are evident, but it’s not too late to start moving in the right direction, even if it’s the last (for Wisconsin) or second-to-last (for Notre Dame) weekend of the season.
“It’s so hard to be positive when you don’t win,” Jackson said. “My whole thing right now is about making progress so when we go into the playoffs we’re playing well and giving ourselves a chance to win a playoff series to start and then go from there.”
For Wisconsin, especially, this weekend brings extra meaning: it’s senior weekend. And while senior weekend is often viewed as a harbinger of the end, it also offers an opportunity to look forward — an opportunity for gratitude for what’s been, an opportunity to build towards more.
“If we want to honor (our seniors) in the best way we possibly can, it’s to stay with them as long as we can,” Hastings said. “To make sure we play as deep into the season as possible, that’s the best way to honor and show that group how we feel about them.”
Notre Dame and Wisconsin will drop the puck at 8:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday inside the Kohl Center.
