Notre Dame Hockey in Danger of Missing NCAA Tournament
The Notre Dame hockey season has been a bit of a rollercoaster.
More than halfway through the 2018-19 season, the Notre Dame men’s hockey team has been a bit of a disappointment. That doesn’t mean that they’ve been bad, but coming off an appearance in the National Championship Game last season, being a middle of the pack team in the Big Ten stings a bit.
With only 16 teams being invited to the NCAA Division 1 Hockey Tournament, if the hockey team doesn’t finish the season strong, they’re liable to miss the tournament for the first time since 2015. Under coach Jeff Jackson, the team has made the tournament more than it hasn’t, only making the disappointment that much greater.
A good showing in the Big Ten tournament should be able to get the Irish into the tournament, but that probably won’t be possible unless Notre Dame finishes the season strong. Currently, Notre Dame is third in the conference, which oddly enough only has seven hockey teams in it. They trail Minnesota and Ohio State in the standings. Minnesota is very catchable, only being a point ahead of Notre Dame. Ohio State is probably not going to be caught, though, with a nine-point lead over the Irish.
Notre Dame plays both teams twice on its remaining schedule.
So far this season, Notre Dame has split two games with Ohio St, and lost two games to Minnesota.
There are four teams behind Notre Dame in the standings; Michigan, Michigan St, Wisconsin, and Penn St. None of them are more than three points behind the Irish.
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So, the Irish must position themselves to be ready for a successful Big Ten Tournament run in the coming weeks. If they don’t, the Irish will miss the NCAA Tournament. Even with a good Big Ten Tournament run, if Notre Dame doesn’t win most of its remaining games, they can kiss the NCAA Tournament goodbye.