This Halloween weekend, the Notre Dame hockey team took on the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers in a two-game series to open Big Ten play. The Irish got the short end of the early-season schedule, having to travel to Madison to face the highly-ranked Badgers. Notre Dame decisively lost both matchups with scores of 7-1 and 9-1. This leaves the Irish 2-6 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. In both of these matches, Notre Dame never fully got comfortable, instead being overrun by the Badger offense.
In the series opener, Notre Dame played timid throughout the match. This allowed a hungry Wisconsin attack to monopolize the goal scoring.
During the first period, the Badgers outshot the Irish 25-7, which resulted in just two goals. The first Badger goal came after sophomore forward Grady Deering broke away from the Notre Dame defense and centered the puck to junior forward Ryan Botterill who slapped it in. The second goal was a result of a rebound in which freshman forward Zach Wooten gained control of the puck and took the shot from the right side to give Wisconsin a 2-0 lead. Both goals were scored within the first five minutes of the first period, which allowed the Badgers to control the play of the match…