Notre Dame Hockey: Irish to Face Minnesota in Big 10 Tournament

The Notre Dame hockey team finished the regular season in 5th place in the Big Ten standings and will face Minnesota in the Big 10 tournament this weekend.

The Notre Dame hockey team will travel to Minneapolis this weekend for the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. There they will play a best-of-three series against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Overall, these two teams are evenly matched. The Irish were 1-1-2 against Minnesota this season. Both teams went on to finish with the exact same overall record in the regular season (14-13-7), but Notre Dame had one more loss in conference play.

The Irish and the Gophers also had similar goal differentials this season. Minnesota scored 95 goals and allowed 94, and Notre Dame scored 90 goals and allowed 91.

When the Irish have struggled this season, it has typically been on the defensive end of the ice. They have allowed three or more goals in 19 games this season. Notre Dame cannot afford to allow that many goals this weekend.

Notre Dame’s senior goaltender and alternate captain, Cale Morris, has had a bit of a down year. However, he is a great player who is capable of getting hot and leading this team to a third straight Big Ten Championship. The Irish will need him to do just that.

With an overall record of 14-13-7, the only way Notre Dame will make the NCAA Tournament is if they win the Big Ten Championship and earn an automatic bid.

Fortunately, head coach Jeff Jackson’s teams live for post-season hockey. They have won two-straight Big Ten Championships and six games in the NCAA Tournament over the last three seasons.

The first game of Notre Dame’s series with Minnesota will be played Friday night at 8:00 pm ET. Game two is scheduled for Saturday night at the same time. Game three (if necessary) will be played Sunday night at 7:00 pm ET.