For Notre Dame hockey, making the three-hour drive to the University of Michigan means a lot of things. The Irish have a track record of stealing wins at Yost Ice Arena, sweeping the Wolverines in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. The last of those three seasons featured back-to-back overtime wins courtesy of Ryder Rolston and Max Ellis. Two years ago, Notre Dame went into Yost on the regular season’s final weekend and stole home ice for the Big Ten quarterfinals with a shootout win and a Drew Bavaro-supplied overtime victory.
Last year, however, Notre Dame’s success in the 101-year venue dried up. The Irish ended their season with four straight losses at Yost, falling out of the Big Ten Tournament with a sweep loss in Ann Arbor. Notre Dame competed, taking the Wolverines to a one-goal game in three of the four. But as Irish head coach Jeff Jackson put it this week, Michigan’s traditionally skilled program played with more grit and toughness than he had seen from it a year ago.
Now, after ending the regular season at Yost in each of the past two years, Notre Dame visits for its Big Ten road trip of 2024-25. Will the 20th-ranked Irish, off to a 5-3-0 start after splitting with Wisconsin last weekend, kick their season into high gear with another emotional win (or two)? Will No. 7 Michigan put the Irish on the ropes before they take on No. 4 Michigan State and No. 3 Minnesota in the coming weeks? Here’s a glimpse at a few factors that could bring answers to those questions this weekend.
On the road again
It’s been a minute since Notre Dame played outside Compton Family Ice Arena. You’d have to go back nearly a full month to Oct. 11-12, when the Irish started 2-0 against St. Lawrence and Clarkson in New York’s North Country. After that weekend, they went 3-3 in a long homestand, splitting against Alaska, Long Island and Wisconsin via the same blueprint: win on Friday, lose on Saturday.
Notre Dame has started slow in every Saturday game to date. Even in their 5-2 win at Clarkson four weeks ago, the Irish fell behind 2-0 in the first period and didn’t begin their comeback until 21 seconds remained in period two.
Perhaps returning to the road will light a fire under Notre Dame to maintain its energy across both nights. Everyone loves to play at home (and why wouldn’t they?), but the idea of getting too comfortable during a six-game homestand bears some validity. Keep an eye on Notre Dame’s first few shifts of both games this weekend and how well their juice sustains across 60 minutes.
Firing up the forwards
During Wednesday’s weekly press conference, Coach Jackson expressed some concerns about Notre Dame’s scoring depth and hinted at the possibility of shifting forward lines for the Michigan series. At even strength, Notre Dame hasn’t generated all that much outside of senior winger Justin Janicke and sophomore center Cole Knuble, who share the second line with graduate winger Ian Murphy. Knuble has been a revelation to start his second season, posting six goals and six assists in eight games. With three goals and six assists on the year, Janicke is right there with him.
Outside of those two, Notre Dame doesn’t yet have another high-level scorer or producer. On the top line, sophomore Danny Nelson has just one goal outside of power-play time, graduate student Blake Biondi hasn’t scored since the season opener and sophomore Brennan Ali also has just one goal so far. The first line did score a critical goal to tie the game in Friday’s overtime defeat of Wisconsin thanks to an Ali deflection, so don’t rule out a more productive November.
Regardless, Notre Dame still has just one combined even-strength goal from its third and fourth forward lines. Third-line senior center Hunter Strand has lit the lamp twice on the power play, and he’d be the most likely candidate to spark Notre Dame’s bottom-six depth given his 19 points from last season.
The Irish have still largely gotten by on offense this season for three main reasons. First, their power-play percentage leads the Big Ten and ranks eighth in the nation. Second, their defensemen have overperformed on the offensive end with five goals in eight games. Finally, junior goaltender Owen Say remains the nation’s leader in save percentage (.960) for goalies with at least two games played.
In the grind of Big Ten play, Notre Dame cannot expect all — even any — of those three trends to hold up. Be on the lookout for the forward lines and their results this weekend.
Michigan on a mission
After reaching the Final Four and leading the Big Ten’s deepest postseason run last year, Michigan might be carrying a chip on its shoulder early this season. The Big Ten Preseason Poll tabbed the Wolverines at third in the conference behind Michigan State and Minnesota. And while the Spartans and Golden Gophers, two teams Michigan outlasted in the NCAA Tournament, have risen to the national top five, the Wolverines remain on the outside looking in at No. 7.
Now, Michigan did not at all deserve a top-five ranking with its play in October. The Wolverines opened the year 3-2-1, splitting twice at home against lower-ranked opponents Minnesota State and St. Cloud State. The last team to visit Yost Ice Arena three weeks ago, St. Cloud State outplayed Michigan and shut out the Wolverines, 4-0, in their own barn on Saturday night.
Based on last weekend’s results, though, it seems that the Wolverines have found their game. Michigan visited a Boston University team ranked fifth in the country and swept it out of Agganis Arena, winning 5-1 and 5-4 in overtime. The Wolverine power-play went 3 for 7 on the series, with sophomore Colorado College transfer Evan Werner scoring twice on Friday and junior Jackson Hallum tallying a Saturday hat trick. Michigan now sits at 5-2-1 on the season with the Notre Dame series marking its first Big Ten weekend.
Like Notre Dame, Michigan has started the season with a tandem goaltending plan. Logan Stein, a graduate transfer from Ferris State, has handled Fridays, while freshman Cameron Korpi has manned the crease on Saturdays. Stein has played better with a .932 save percentage to Korpi’s .900 and looked much more comfortable between the pipes last weekend. Sophomore Garrett Schifsky and freshman Michael Hage have shouldered the bulk of Michigan’s offensive production, combining for nine goals and 16 points.
Last year, Michigan took five out of six meetings from Notre Dame, including five straight after the Irish opened the season series with a 6-1 home win on Dec. 1. The rivalry renews at 6 p.m. on Friday with a 7 p.m. puck drop to follow on Saturday.
