NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame hockey team heads North for their regular season finale at No. 4/4 Michigan, Feb. 24-25. The top-20 series comes with both teams still in the hunt to finish second in the Big Ten conference and clinch home ice in the playoffs.
Friday’s contest inside Yost Ice Arena will be streamed on B1G+ at 7 p.m. followed by Saturday’s puckdrop taking the primetime slot at 8 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
QUICK HITS
- Prior to their bye week, the Irish closed out their regular season home schedule with five of six league points against Ohio State. Behind two goals from Landon Slaggert Friday night, the Irish defeated the Buckeyes 2-1 to open up the weekend series.
- The Irish faced a 2-0 deficit halfway through Saturday night’s contest but a pair of seniors lit the lamp to knot things up and force overtime. Jack Adams and Nick Leivermann scored for the Irish in regulation while senior netminder Ryan Bischel made 45 saves in regulation to send the contest to an overtime frame. Bischel made five additional saves in overtime to finish the night with 50 official saves, his second 50+ save performance of the season and his career, before securing the extra conference point in a nine-round shootout.
- Leivermann opened the shootout with a goal before Hunter Strand gave the Irish the advantage in round four. The Buckeyes evened it out in the fourth round to force additional shots. On senior night, Chase Blackmun found the go-ahead tally in the ninth round to give the Irish a 3-2 shootout lead. Bischel made the final save on the ensuing Buckeye attempt to get the extra point on his senior night. In net, Bischel made seven saves in the shootout to finish the night with an unofficial count of 57 saves.
- Bischel was named Big Ten Second Star of the Week on Feb. 14 after officially stopping 87 of 90 shots faced in the two games played.
- Bischel currently leads the nation in saves while his save percentage of .930 ranks third nationally.
NOTRE DAME vs. MICHIGAN
- The two teams previously met in early November inside Compton Family Ice Arena, with the Irish and Wolverines splitting the weekend series.
- After dropping night one to the visiting Wolverines, the Irish bounced back to a 3-2 overtime victory Saturday night to earn the split.
- After slipping to a 2-0 deficit after one period of play, the Irish came back to knot things up in the second period behind goals from Tyler Carpenter and Chayse Primeau.
- Grant Silianoff scored the game-winning goal Saturday night against the Wolverines to secure the victory.
- Silianoff has a strong history with the Wolverines, having net his first collegiate goal against the Maize and Blue on November 27, 2020. The junior now has 33 points off 11 goals and 22 assists in 87 games played.
- Freshman Niko Jovanovic made his collegiate debut in game two of the weekend series, tallying an assist on the first Irish goal of the night for his first career point.
- In their last eight meetings at Yost Ice Arena, the Irish have claimed victory seven times, having most recently lost in Ann Arbor in the 2022 Big Ten Semifinal contest last March.
- The Irish have not lost a regular season contest inside Yost Ice Arena since November 10, 2018.
- Both regular season contests in Ann Arbor last season went to overtime with Ryder Rolston and former forward Max Ellis each netting a game-winner on the road against the Wolverines in 2021-22.
- In four regular-season games played against the Wolverines last season, now-captain Nick Leivermann led the team with six assists. The graduate student now boasts 10 points against the Wolverines off two goals and eight assists. Trevor Janicke (1-4-5), Silianoff (2-2-4), Rolston (2-2-4), Jack Adams (2-2-4), Hunter Strand (2-0-2), Jesse Lansdell (2-0-2), Chayse Primeau (1-1-2), Solag Bakich (0-2-2), Chase Blackmun (0-2-2), and Justin Janicke (0-2-2) all boast multiple career points against Michigan.
- In 159 meetings between the two teams, the Irish trail the Wolverines 70-84-5.
BIG TEN STANDINGS
| TEAM | PTS. | CONF. RECORD | OVERALL RECORD |
| 1. Minnesota – x | 51 | 17-4-1 | 23-8-1 |
| t-2. Michigan | 36 | 12-9-1 | 20-10-2 |
| t-2. Ohio State | 36 | 11-9-2 | 18-11-3 |
| 4. Michigan State | 34 | 10-12-2 | 16-16-2 |
| t-5. Penn State | 31 | 9-12-1 | 19-12-1 |
| t-5. Notre Dame | 31 | 9-10-3 | 14-14-4 |
| 7. Wisconsin | 15 | 5-17-0 | 12-20-0 |
x – clinched regular season B1G Title