The Big Ten Conference released its 2024-25 league hockey schedule last week, bringing Notre Dame’s full slate into picture. Notre Dame Athletics had previously announced Irish hockey’s 10-game non-conference schedule.
A trip to Wrigley Field on Jan. 3 highlights the Notre Dame conference slate. The Irish will face off against Penn State at the Friendly Confines as part of the Big Ten’s Frozen Confines series. Ohio State will play Michigan and Wisconsin will take on Michigan State as part of the series, which sees three Big Ten games at Wrigley over the course of two days.
The Irish will open conference play at home against Wisconsin on Nov. 1. A return trip to Madison will bookend Notre Dame’s season, coming in the second to last week of regular season play. For Irish fans, the late-February trip to Madison will be vaguely reminiscent of last year’s similarly-scheduled series that doomed Notre Dame’s hopes of hosting a Big Ten conference tournament series.
Notre Dame will visit Michigan and Michigan State in back-to-back weekends beginning Nov. 8 and 15. The marquee home series against Michigan will take place Jan. 10 and 11 — winter break for Notre Dame students. The Spartans will come to Compton Family Ice Arena for senior weekend, Feb. 28 and March 1.
The previously-released non-conference schedule features a Thanksgiving trip to Northern Ireland for the Friendship Four. The Irish will appear for the first time at the overseas college hockey tournament, which has been held at SSE Arena in Belfast since 2015. Notre Dame will face off against Harvard in their first game on Nov. 29 and will play the winner of Merrimack and Boston University the following day.
The Irish kick off the season with a tour of New York’s north country, facing St. Lawrence and Clarkson on back-to-back nights Oct. 11 and 12. Notre Dame’s home opener is the following week, when they host Alaska-Fairbanks Oct. 18 and 19. Long Island University and Lindenwood round out Notre Dame’s list of non-conference opponents.
The Irish are seeking to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022 in head coach Jeff Jackson’s final year at the helm. Notre Dame has lost in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament and failed to advance to the national tournament in each of the last two seasons.
