Notre Dame Hockey: Irish sweep two-game road series with Michigan

After sweeping the weekend series against Michigan, Notre Dame’s men’s hockey team takes over 4th place in the Big 10 standings.

The Notre Dame men’s hockey team emerged victorious in both games of a weekend series against the University of Michigan, propelling the Irish past the Wolverines for fourth place in the Big 10 standings. With a sweep of the upcoming weekend series against Michigan State University, the Irish could potentially catapult themselves all the way into second place in the Big 10.

Notre Dame took game one of the series on Friday night, by defeating the Wolverines by a final score of  2-1. All three goals were scored in the third quarter, with senior Cam Morrison putting the Irish up 1-0 midway through the third quarter on a goal that was assisted by Michael Graham (12) and Alex Steeves (14).

The goal would be the ninth on the year for Morrison and his third goal in the past four games for Notre Dame. The Irish would double up their lead over Michigan when junior defenseman Matt Hellickson lit the lamp with his fifth goal of the season. Michael Graham collected his 13th assist of the season and Tory Dello his 9th of the year on Hellickson’s goal.

Michigan would score with 0:43 remaining in the game when Jacob Hayhurst beat Cale Morris for a Wolverine score. However, it was too little too late as Morris would notch 34 saves and win in what was the 100th appearance of his Notre Dame career.

The second game of the two-game series would also be one in which all the scoring would take place in the third quarter of the game. Spencer Stastney would net his third goal of the season which ultimately became the first game-winning goal of his Irish career. Pierce Crawford (2) and Jesse Lansdell (6) connected with Stastney to assist on the goal.

Notre Dame would strike again when the red-hot Cam Morrison scored his 10th goal of the season and his fourth goal in the past five games, beating Michigan goalie Strauss Mann top shelf. Michael Graham (14) and Alex Steeves (15) were credited with assists on Morrison’s goal.

Senior defenseman Tory Dello put the game away for Notre Dame when he scored the third Irish goal of the game, and ninth on the season, with an assist from Matt Hellickson (11). Irish goaltender Cale Morris made 19 saves in the win.

In the process, Morris notched his second shutout of 2020 and the tenth of his Irish career. The win tied him for second place on the Notre Dame men’s hockey all-time wins list with Steven Summerhays at 57 career wins.

Notre Dame looks to climb further up the Big 10 rankings when they play host to the Michigan State Spartans in a two-game series this weekend. Game two of the series, played Saturday, February 29th, will be the Senior Game for the Irish.

The two-game series will close out the regular season for Notre Dame and will have major implications on their ranking heading into the Big 10 conference championships. The Irish are currently only two points behind Minnesota and Ohio State for the second seed in the conference.