Endings loom large over Compton Family Ice Arena.
The last two Notre Dame hockey seasons have ended virtually the same way. In 2023, Notre Dame bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament in the first round. The Irish were not selected for the NCAA Tournament. Last season, Notre Dame ended its year again in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
These last two endings can only be described as uncharacteristically quick. The Irish had qualified for 12 of the previous 17 NCAA Tournaments, and last season marked the first time in nearly two decades they failed to do so in consecutive years. It was also Notre Dame’s first losing season since 2015.
For an Irish program that judges itself based on how it ends the season, the ending is never far out of sight, even as the team begins its season anew this weekend with an exhibition game against the United States National Team Development Program.
The end is especially in focus this season for Notre Dame. For the first time in decades, the ending that lies just over the horizon is not the end of the season but the end of an era: over the summer, Irish head coach Jeff Jackson announced he will retire after 20 seasons behind the Notre Dame bench. The man who set the standard for how Notre Dame should end its seasons, Jackson has presided over 11 of those 12 NCAA Tournament qualifications and four Frozen Four appearances.
The ultimate end — a national championship — has been elusive. Jackson won two while head coach at Lake Superior State University in 1992 and 1994 but has been unable to win one with the Irish despite being within an arm’s reach twice. In fact, Jackson has done everything but win a national championship at Notre Dame.
“He’s the reason this program has gotten to where it is,” senior forward Tyler Carpenter said. “He’s left his mark on hockey in general, and he deserves another shot at the national championship.”
“There’s no better way than to embrace it,” senior forward Justin Janicke added. “It really motivated us when he announced it last [summer]. You could tell the group kind of just came together a little bit more.”
Embracing the end may also help Notre Dame to see all of the new beginnings that abound around the program. For the first time since 2022, the Irish will have new faces in goal with Ryan Bischel’s graduation last season. Freshman Nick Kempf, junior Mercyhurst transfer Owen Say and returning junior backup Jack Williams will all compete for time in an internal battle with large implications for Notre Dame’s season. A handful of transfers looking for fresh starts arrived in South Bend over the summer, and the returning sophomore class is looking at important new roles this season. All that’s new at Compton Family Ice Arena will serve as a buildup to a new head coach next season in current associate head coach Brock Sheahan.
Amidst all the season’s endings and beginnings, Notre Dame will be challenged by a schedule that is more eventful than most: the Irish will make a highly-anticipated trip to Northern Ireland to play in the Friendship Four tournament over Thanksgiving, and shortly after the start of the New Year they will play outdoors at Wrigley Field against Penn State. That’s not to mention their Big Ten conference slate, which is, as usual, full of landmines.
How Notre Dame manages this overwhelming confluence of beginnings, endings and anticipation will be critical. Each moment appears to be season-defining, but at the same time, no single moment can capture the full picture.
“It's not about me, it’s about them,” Jackson said. “You always go into the year with high anticipation, and I think the biggest thing is it has to be anticipation about what we could do collectively, and it starts on game one. It shouldn’t be about going to Ireland, it shouldn’t be about the outdoor game. It shouldn’t be about who we’re playing next. It’s got to be about the moment.”
In that way, a Notre Dame season ostensibly filled with endings and beginnings may not be about endings or beginnings after all. Perhaps just like life, this season is about the journey between the two.
Where that winding road takes the Fighting Irish remains to be seen.
