It was a close, one-goal game at Yost Ice Arena in Game 1 of the first round of the Big Ten Tournament between Notre Dame and Michigan. The Irish took the early lead and, after Michigan pushed back, had a chance to pull away in the second period. But Notre Dame’s solid penalty kill bent to the Wolverines’ other-worldly power play, and graduate goaltender Ryan Bischel wasn’t at his typical show-stopping level. The Irish fell by one goal, left to rue the narrowly missed chances that could have easily swung the game the other day.
That was the context the Irish carried into Game 2 of their Big Ten quarterfinal series, only to see the same story play out in front of them for the second straight night. This time, though, the regret will last not 24 hours, but an entire offseason. Their season is over after a disastrous stretch run that saw the team finish 0-4-1, capped off by four straight regulation losses to hated Michigan in a visiting arena that the Irish had dominated in over recent years.
It wasn’t that the Irish didn’t do anything right in the series on Saturday night. But every time they did, Michigan was quick to answer. The Irish had lost just twice all season entering the weekend when scoring the first goal, only to do so in both of their postseason contests. Senior defenseman Drew Bavaro, who had his fair share of highs and lows in Game 1, started the scoring less than halfway through the opening period of Saturday's contest. But again, cracks quickly showed. The Wolverines outshot the Irish 18-7 in the first 20 minutes and eventually parlayed that into two back-breaking goals by T.J. Hughes — the first doubling as Michigan’s fourth power-play tally of the series, the second coming just nine seconds before intermission.
Notre Dame’s top veteran forwards offered pushback in the second period. Senior Landon Slaggert hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his collegiate career with a greasy net-front goal in the middle of the frame to draw the Irish even. And once again, the Irish strung together goals in quick succession in the middle stanza, as graduate student Patrick Moynihan notched his third point of the night by burying a feed from Slaggert to give the Irish a 3-2 edge.
In the end, though, Michigan’s talent won out. Highly-touted NHL prospects Dylan Duke and Gavin Brindley each found the back of the net to rev up the home crowd. The Irish offered more pushback in the closing minutes than they did on Friday. But once again, their efforts came up short. The Wolverines held on for the series sweep, advancing to visit either Minnesota or Michigan State for the do-or-die semifinals, depending on the result of tomorrow's Game 3 between Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Though the Irish got plenty of offensive production, Michigan was able to have its way with the Irish defense. The nine goals the Irish surrendered tied for the most they yielded in any series this campaign. Michigan peppered Bischel with 75 shots on goal across the two nights, doing its best to wear down the man who was started every game for the Irish the last two seasons.
Furthermore, the young spark plugs and depth players in Notre Dame’s lineup did not produce. Standout freshman forward Danny Nelson was sidelined for the series with a leg injury, and it was painfully obvious how much the team missed its second-leading scorer. Fellow freshman forward Cole Knuble was limited to just one assist, and that came off a rare face-off win for him on the weekend, as Knuble won draws at a disappointing 39.0% rate (he was well over 50% in the regular season). The Irish scored seven times in the series, but only three different players (Slaggert, Moynihan and Bavaro) actually lit the lamp.
Most concerning, none of those three players will be with the team next year. Nor will Bischel, its rock for two years running. Despite all of its talent, Michigan struggled to put it all together for most of the season, especially defensively. Some of those concerns popped up this weekend, but the No. 4 seeded Wolverines looked much farther ahead of the No. 5 seeded Irish than those markers would indicate.
Since beating Michigan to reach the 2018 National Championship, Notre Dame has won just two NCAA Tournament contests — both in overtime. The Irish have scored just five goals in the four NCAA Tournament games they've played in over the last five seasons. In the last two seasons, they're 31-35-7 -- easily the worst two-season stretch in Jeff Jackson’s 19 seasons behind the Irish bench.
It's not just the numbers that paint a daunting picture. Those deep postseason runs of the mid-to-late 2010s feel so far away right now. The excitement of seeing the next steps Nelson and Knuble may take next season are at least partially offset by the concerns of how the Irish will structure the roster around them. Bringing in truly elite recruits has never been a huge strength of the program — Danny Nelson was the first Notre Dame player to go in the top 50 picks of the NHL Draft since Cam Morrison (who looks like an AHL/ECHL tweener at the professional level) back in 2016. The Irish have found some nice transfers in recent years, but most of those have been graduate students.
There will be more opportunities for Notre Dame to take advantage of next season. But if the Irish don’t put themselves in a much better position than they did this year, the frustration and disappointment from this season’s bitter ending will just continue to linger.
