SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Irish hockey program concludes its three week homestand this weekend when they host the Wisconsin Badgers in their Big Ten Conference opener. The Irish and Badgers come head-to-head inside Compton Family Ice Arena for the first time this season with both teams looking for their first conference wins. The Irish are set to play their first Big Ten series while the Badgers were previously swept by Ohio State earlier in October.
Friday’s game will be Country Night, featuring country music and a t-shirt giveaway for early arriving students. Saturday’s tilt will be Hockey Jersey Night with fans encouraged to support by wearing their favorite team’s jersey. Prizes will be awarded for the best jerseys.
On Friday night, A Rosie Place for Children will be set up hosting a silent auction, with items donated by graduate forward Ian Murphy, to raise money for their organization. A Rosie Place for Children is Indiana’s only licensed, not-for-profit, specialty hospital dedicated exclusively to serving the growing number of families with children who are medically fragile. Notre Dame hockey and A Rosie Place for Children have a deep-rooted history with the late Lefty Smith, and first Irish varsity hockey coach, serving on the founding board.
Limited tickets remain for both games and can be purchased here.
SERIES OVERVIEW
Opponent: Wisconsin Badgers | Nov. 1-2
Location: South Bend, Ind. | Compton Family Ice Arena
Schedule: Fri. 7:05pm | Sat. 6:05pm
Theme: Country Night (Fri.) | Hockey Jersey Night (Sat.)
TV: Peacock
Live Stats: FightingIrish.com
Radio: fightingirish.com/radioaffiliates/
Game Notes: Notre Dame | Wisconsin
QUICK HITS
- Notre Dame concludes its home stand this weekend in the Big Ten opener against Wisconsin.
- At home this season, the Irish are 2-2-0 after splitting their first two series inside Compton Family Ice Arena with Alaska and Long Island.
- The Irish are now 4-2-0 on the season after an opening weekend sweep of New York’s North Country in St. Lawrence and Clarkson.
- The team’s leader in goals (5), assists (5) and points (10), Cole Knuble tallied four points in Friday’s 4-1 win over Long Island, including the game-winning goal.
- With two game-winners, Knuble leads the team in the category.
- Owen Say boasts a nation’s best .969 save percentage over three games played, allowing just 1.00 goals against and stopping 95 of his 98 shots faced thus far. His 1.00 goals against average also leads the nation.
- The Irish team returned 19 student-athletes from the 2023-24 roster, including 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders. The forwards include graduate senior Grant Silianoff and seniors Justin Janicke, Hunter Strand and Tyler Carpenter. Returning defensemen include four who appeared in the final series of the 2023-24 season in Michael Mastrodomenico, Paul Fischer, Zach Plucinski and Henry Nelson.
- Notre Dame returned two 20+ point scorers from a season ago as Danny Nelson (9-14-23) and Cole Knuble (9-11-20) are now in their sophomore seasons with the Irish.
- In total, eight returners posted double-digit points last season. In addition to Nelson and Knuble, Hunter Strand (4-15-19), Justin Janicke (4-12-16), Paul Fischer (2-14-16), Brennan Ali (3-10-13), Maddox Fleming (3-9-12) and Grant Silianoff (4-7-11) look to improve upon their double-digit performances a season ago.
- At the last line of defense, the Irish return Jack Williams in goal and added two new netminders to the mix in Nicholas Kempf (USNTDP) and Owen Say (Mercyhurst).
- The Irish added 10 new faces to the squad in 2024-25, including five freshmen and five transfers. The 10 newcomers consist of five forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.
- Notre Dame swept its opening weekend in the North Country, Oct. 11-12, picking up wins over St. Lawrence and Clarkson in the program’s first ever trip to Northern New York.
- The season opener at St. Lawrence saw Blake Biondi score the team’s first goal of the 2024-25 season, notching his first goal for the Blue and Gold at 6:45 of the opening period. A pair of sophomores in Cole Knuble and Danny Nelson stepped into their bigger roles this season almost immediately, combining for three goals against the Saints to cap off Notre Dame’s opening night with the 4-1 final.
- Owen Say made his debut for the Irish in net at St. Lawrence on Friday night, stopping 32 of 33 shots faced and registering a .970 save percentage in his first start.
- The Irish continued their road trip out East with a 5-2 victory over Clarkson to complete the opening weekend sweep.
- The Irish hosted their first weekend series of the year last weekend against Alaska in which they split the series, 1-1. The team opened it with a 4-1 victory over the Nanooks before dropping a close 1-0 decision to Alaska Saturday to wrap up the series.
- In six games played, the Irish centers rank second nationally at the faceoff circle, winning 60.8-percent of their chances led by Danny Nelson with 76 draw wins. Hunter Strand’s .662 rate leads the team with a minimum of 75 faceoffs taken.
- The team unofficially opened its season against the USNTDP for an exhibition contest Oct. 4. Graduate senior Biondi made his Irish presence known immediately with a first period goal against the USNTDP in the team’s exhibition game last Friday night. The Hermantown, Minnesota native had two unofficial goals on the night, both scored on the powerplay. His second of the night sparked a third-period comeback for the Irish which included four unanswered goals to end the game and give the Irish the 5-2 win.
- Senior Justin Janicke posted four assists on the night against the U18 team, all of which came in the final frame.
- Grant Silianoff and Maddox Fleming also posted multi-point nights while Ian Murphy got hit twine for the first time in an Irish sweater as he closed out the scoring Friday with an empty net tally.
NOTRE DAME vs. WISCONSIN
- In 95 all-time meetings between the Irish and the Badgers, Notre Dame ownes 33 wins and nine ties.
- At Notre Dame, Wisconsin holds the narrow edge all-time with a 22-18-5 record.
- The Badgers took all four games against the Irish last season.
- Three current Irish seniors boasted a trio of points last year against Wisconsin with Hunter Strand posting a team-best two goals and an assist a season ago against the Badgers. Tyler Carpenter (1-2-3) and Justin Janicke (0-3-3) also recorded three points over the course of the series with Wisconsin last year.