Sawyer Scholl’s game-winner helps No. 4 Wisconsin hockey complete sweep of Notre Dame

MADISON – The first game-winner of Sawyer Scholl’s college career was one of those bang-bang plays that didn’t leave him much time to think.

“I was lucky for it to pop up to me and then I just kind of stuffed it,” he said. “I don’t think too much when I get it that low, I just try to get it at the net and was lucky enough to get it in.”

The goal by the freshman from Medford came at the 13-minute 52-second mark of the third period and proved to be the difference in a 3-2 Wisconsin victory over Notre Dame in front of 12,672 at the Kohl Center on Saturday night.

The score was part of a wild final period that featured four goals, five penalties and one ejection. The win, meanwhile, gave the fourth-ranked Badgers their first wire-to-wire conference win since beating Notre Dame on Jan. 6 and a four-game season sweep of the Fighting Irish.

They accomplished the feat by holding Notre Dame to just 25 shots on goal, the third-lowest for a UW Big Ten opponent this season.

“I thought we defended our tail off tonight,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. “Kind of crazy game there in the third period with what happened. I thought the guys showed some composure. We talked at the beginning of our season that everybody matters and tonight you saw that.”

The win allowed Wisconsin (22-6-2, 13-4-1 – 41 points) to remain five points behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans, who have played two more games than the Badgers, completed a sweep of Michigan on Saturday night.

Seven players accounted for the eight points scored by Wisconsin with Scholl, freshman William Whitelaw and sophomore Simon Tassy scoring goals. The only multi-point scorer was freshman defenseman Joe Palodichuk, who had two assists.

At the other end, senior Kyle McClellan didn’t allow a goal during the first two periods and finished with 23 saves.

“When we can come out of our end together and entered their end together we’re a much better hockey team,” Hastings said.  “I thought we did a good job of breaking pucks out this weekend. It’s something the guys focused on this week and I thought they executed very well.”

Scholl’s goal gave Wisconsin a 3-1 lead. After a Notre Dame turnover near the blue line, Scholl passed the puck ahead to Cruz Lucius. Lucius didn’t have a good angle but his shot bounced off the side of the net and ended up behind the goal where where Scholl recovered it, reversed course and dumped it into the net.

Notre Dame goaltender Ryan Bischel didn’t have a chance to make the stop because UW’s Owen Mehlenbacher had crashed into the goal after getting tripped by a Fighting Irish player.

At least that’s the way the UW staff saw it. After a video review the officials didn’t take the goal off the board.

“All you could see on the replay was Mehlenbacher going into the net,” Hastings said. “I talked to (assistant coach) Nick Oliver and I said ask our (director of hockey operations) Luke Regner. Let me know if he was pushed in and that is what my guys said. He got tripped going into the net, so he didn’t go in there on his own power.”

Wisconsin allowed the first goal in four of its previous five games. Whitelaw allowed the Badgers to break that trend at the 6-minute mark of the first period off an assist from sophomore Tyson Dyck and Palodichuk.

“It was puck pressure and it created a turnover,” Hastings said. “That’s one young man that when he’s in that area he’s very comfortable.  He was able to get his head up and find a hole. You saw what he can do under pressure last week in the shootout where I think he gets excited about that. He doesn’t fade. He doesn’t shy away.”

Notre Dame tied the game about 5 minutes into the final period with a power play goal by Landon Slaggert. The Badgers’ response came at the 9:39 mark on a power play goal by Tassy, the team’s first power play score in three-plus games.

Palodichuck and sophomore Christian Fitzgerald got the assists on the play.

“Our first unit was all over them. The second should have probably had one or two, so it was good to be able to get one,” Tassy said. “Our power play has been struggling a little bit, so being able to get a tip like that might get some momentum going for us.”

Scholl’s score gave the Badgers a two-score cushion that proved valuable when Notre Dame’s Cole Knuble cut the deficit to one with 3:47 left.

The victory sets up the Badgers up for a chance to take over first place in the Big Ten next week at Ohio State. Michigan State is idle next weekend, so with two wins UW would move ahead of the Spartans in the standings.