How Notre Dame matches up with Wisconsin in Big Ten hockey tournament

BIG TEN HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

Who: Sixth-seeded Wisconsin (9-22-3) vs. third-seeded Notre Dame (25-9-0) in best-of-three quarterfinal series

When: Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. and (if necessary) Sunday at 6 p.m. EST

Where: Lefty Smith Rink in Compton Family Ice Arena (4,850), South Bend

TV/Streaming: Big Ten+

Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3) and UND.com

Tickets: Mobile single-game tickets through UND.com/BuyTickets. … Face masks must be worn in Compton except when eating and drinking.

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Tourney tidbits

Other quarterfinal series this Friday through Sunday are fifth-seeded Penn State (15-18-1) at fourth-seeded Ohio State (21-11-2) and seventh-seeded Michigan State (12-21-1) at second-seeded Michigan (25-9-1). … The three quarterfinal winners will be reseeded for semifinal games March 12 with lowest seed playing No. 1 seed Minnesota, which has weekend bye. … Championship game is Saturday, March 19 at highest seed remaining. … NCAA Selection Sunday is March 20.

Recaps: Coach Jeff Jackson’s Irish extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1, 2-1 sweep of Michigan last weekend. … Coach Tony Granato’s Badgers saw their losing streak reach three after 5-0 and 8-0 shutouts at Minnesota. 

Rankings: Notre Dame is No. 7 in both USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) and USCHO.com (media) polls and is No. 7 in latest NCAA Tournament Pairwise Comparison Ratings. … Wisconsin is unranked in both polls and No. 38 in Pairwise Ratings.

Rivalry: Wisconsin leads 47-28-9 in series which began with 3-0 victory by Notre Dame on its outdoor Badin Rink Feb. 18, 1922. … This season, Notre Dame won three of four games from Wisconsin. … Irish swept Badgers 5-1 and 3-0 Nov. 12-13 at Smith/Compton and teams split COVID-delayed series at Kohl Center in Madison with Wisconsin winning 5-3 Feb. 12 before Irish won finale 3-2 Feb. 13. … This is first postseason meeting between teams since 1979 WCHA Playoffs when Badgers, led by future 1980 U.S. Olympians Mark Johnson and Bob Suter, earned 11-5 and 5-2 victories at Dane County Coliseum. … In 1973, Badgers won two-game, total-goal WCHA series 8-7 in South Bend and then captured first of six NCAA titles two weeks later in Boston.

Scouting Notre Dame

Notre Dame is seeking third Big Ten Tournament championship to go with 2018 and 2019 titles won in first two seasons in league. … This season, Notre Dame is 15-5 at home and 17-1 when scoring first. … Irish have won eight of last nine dating back to 3-2 overtime victory over Minnesota Jan. 29. … Graduate-transfer (from Cornell) Matthew Galajda, who earned Big Ten Second Star of the Week honors for second straight week, has won last five games thanks to a 1.40 goals-against average and .956 saves percentage in that span. …  For season, Galajda has 15-5 record, 1.92 average, .932 saves percentage and two shutouts. … Since Jan. 1, Notre Dame is 13-4 and senior defenseman Spencer Stastney has five goals and 12 assists in those 17 games and is Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer with seven goals (two shorthanded), 19 assists and 26 points, all career highs. … Junior right wing Max Ellis (16-12-28) continues to pace Irish in scoring and has two shorthanded goals (along with Stastney and senior center Cam Burke) among Notre Dame’s seven this season. … Sophomore right wing Ryder Rolston (10-15-25) is third in scoring followed by senior defenseman Nick Leivermann (6-17-23). … Irish have blocked 475 shots, 77 by grad-transfer (UConn) Adam Karashik and 53 by Stastney. … NCAA team statistics (out of 59 teams): Scoring offense, 3.44 goals per game (9th); scoring defense, 2.09 goals per game (5th); scoring margin, 1.35 goals per game (7th); faceoff-win percentage, 0.532 (1,032-909) (9th); power-play percentage, 0.189 (21 of 111) (29th); power-play goals scored, 21 (33rd); penalty-kill percentage, 0.912 (114 of 125) (2nd); shorthanded goals scored, 7 (2nd); penalty minutes per game, 10.50 (34th).

Scouting Wisconsin

Wisconsin enters series with nine losses in last 10 games. … In the 5-3 victory over Irish on Feb. 12, forwards Mathieu De St. Phalle (10-9-19) and Jack Gorniak (5-9-14) each had a goal and two assists and goalie Jared Moe, who is expected to start Friday, made 38 saves. … In 28 games, 24 as starter, Moe has 7-14-3 record, 3.04 goals-against average, .914 saves percentage and one shutout. … Freshman defenseman Corson Ceulemans (7-13-20) leads team in scoring followed by De St. Phalle and senior center Brock Caufield (6-11-17). … NCAA team statistics (out of 59 teams): Scoring offense, 2.03 goals per game (54th); scoring defense, 3.65 goals per game (55th); scoring margin, -1.62 goals per game (56th); faceoff-win percentage, 0.495 (1,034-1,057) (37th); power-play percentage, 0.175 (21 of 120) (35th); power-play goals scored, 21 (33rd); penalty-kill percentage, 0.711 (64 of 90) (56th); shorthanded goals scored, 3 (19th); penalty minutes per game, 10.56 (33rd).

Quoting Jeff Jackson

“Wisconsin has had a tough year, but they have shown they can have success. They’ve had a lot of injuries, but I suspect they will have guys back this weekend. When we played them the last time, it was as tough a series as we’ve had in the second half. I expect a really challenging, difficult series against a team that probably has some hunger going into the postseason.” 

— John Fineran, Tribune Correspondent

BIG TEN POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT

Quarterfinals / Best-of-three series

Number in parentheses is seed from regular season

Friday, March 4

(6) Wisconsin (9-22-3) at (3) Notre Dame (25-9-0), 7 p.m. (Big Ten+)

(7) Michigan State (12-21-1) at (2) Michigan (25-9-1), 7 p.m. (FS2)

(5) Penn State (15-18-1) at (4) Ohio State (21-11-2), 7 p.m. (Big Ten+)

Saturday, March 5

(6) Wisconsin at (3) Notre Dame, 6 p.m. (Big Ten+)

(7) Michigan State at (2) Michigan, 7 p.m. (Bally Sports Detroit)

(5) Penn State at (4) Ohio State, 7 p.m. (Big Ten+)

Sunday, March 6 (if necessary)

(6) Wisconsin at (3) Notre Dame, 6 p.m. (Big Ten+)

(7) Michigan State at (2) Michigan, 7 p.m. (FS2)

(5) Penn State at (4) Ohio State, 8 p.m. (Big Ten+)

Semifinals / Single-game elimination

Saturday, March 12

Lowest remaining seed at (1) Minnesota, TBD (Big Ten Network)

Second lowest remaining seed at Second highest remaining seed, TBD (Big Ten Network)

Championship / Single-game elimination

Saturday, March 19

Lowest remaining seed at Highest remaining seed, TBD (Big Ten Network)