MADISON – This was the definition of a much-needed win.
The Wisconsin men’s hockey team, stuck in a six-game losing streak, needed overtime to outlast the Big Ten’s last-place team. But if you didn’t think the Badgers’ 6-5 victory over Notre Dame at the Kohl Center Friday Feb 6 was satisfying, you weren’t paying attention to Quinn Finley.
After scoring the game-winner 1 minute and 17 seconds into overtime, the junior forward tossed his stick into the stands near center ice. He then rushed to the other end of the ice where he launched himself onto the boards in front of the student section before getting mobbed by his teammates.
As far as celebrations go, it was pretty cool.
“It was awesome,” freshman Grady Deering said. “You win the game like that, do it on home ice, break a six-game skid, in my mind you can do whatever you want. It was pretty awesome.”
The win was UW’s first Big Ten victory of 2026, but it didn’t come without teaching points.
The Badgers, who are ranked No. 13 in the USCHO poll and No. 11 in the USA Hockey ranking, allowed two power-play goals and blew a three-goal lead during the final 22 minutes. But give the team credit for righting the ship in time to gain two points in the standings for their work.
“If you go around the room you can ask anyone in our room, the last six games weren’t what we wanted and the fact that we’re coming out here with a win against those guys who played a heck of a game, coming back like that, yeah it’s big,” Deering said. “It’s tough to win in our conference and we don’t take that lightly.”
The lifts UW to 16-9-2 overall and 9-8 (24 points) in the Big Ten. Notre Dame dropped to 5-19-3 overall and 1-14 (five points) in the Big Ten. Game 2 of the series is Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.
Finley’s goal was his third game-winner of the season and it came after freshman goaltender Daniel Hauser turned away two Fighting Irish rushes during the first 70 seconds of OT.
Luke Osburn cleared the puck after the second save and passed across the ice and through the neutral zone to sophomore Gavin Morrissey, Morrissey dug the puck off the board and back-handed it to Finley just as he entered the zone for a one-one chance with Fighting Irish goalie Nicholas Kempf.
Finley went left for his sixth shot of the night and his first goal since his two-goal night against Alaska Anchorage Jan. 10.
“I think it is a big-time play, a big-time finish by him,” Badgers coach Mike Hastings said. “A really, really big-time play by seven (Morrissey) to get him in (the zone). You need your difference makers to be difference makers and that was the hockey game.”
Finley’s game-winner not to mention Notre Dame’s comeback overshadowed two-goal nights from freshmen Luke Osburn and Grady Deering. Osburn led UW with three points. Seven other Badgers had multi-point nights. Nine UW players scored a point.
The effort came on a night when freshman center Vasily Zelenov returned after an eight-game absence due to injury.
“That’s a good night for us as far as, you know, spreading the wealth and it’s something that we’ve been waiting for a while,” Hastings said. “I know Zelenov might have struggled a little bit at just not being greedy enough and now passed up a few shots, but having him back in the lineup and us having a group of forwards that we can rely upon (helped).
“Grady Deering is playing some of his best hockey here over the last three, four weeks. Botts (sophomore Ryan Botterill) is really starting to have a little bit more consistency to his game and when we can play with our depth a little bit more, I think that makes us more of a difficult matchup.”
Hauser finished with 29 saves and set up the game-winning play with his second save of OT, but he also allowed at least five goals for the fourth time this season. Notre Dame’s comeback included a power play goal with less than 2 minutes left in the second period and an extra attacker goal with 69 seconds to play.
What went wrong? Hastings cited the need for better puck management to prevent transition chances and pointed to the inability to kill a penalty, which was a carry over from UW’s struggles at Minnesota last week.
Those will be teaching points that will easier to swallow for a team that went home with a much-needed win.
“We know we’ve got to be better,” Osburn said, “but again stuff like that happens so I think continuing to go into overtime with a good mindset helped us and just playing hard defensively I think is good for us.”
This story was updated to add information.
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