Irish Return Home To Host Holy Cross

WHO: #17 Notre Dame (4-3-1, 0-2-0 B1G) vs. Holy Cross (1-5-1)
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. ET // Friday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena
WATCH: NBCSN // NBC Sports Chicago+ Sports (NBC App for both games)
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com

NOTES (PDF)

SETTING THE STAGE

• The Fighting Irish return home to play host to Holy Cross in a non-conference, Thursday-Friday series (Nov. 4-5).
• The series will be a part of a stretch of four games in eight days for Notre Dame after suffering a road sweep at seventh-ranked Minnesota to open Big Ten play last weekend (Oct. 29-30).
• The Irish dropped game one of that series 4-1 and then lost game two due to a Minnesota goal late in the third, 3-2. 
• Grant Silianoff scored to tie game two at 1-1 late in the second period and Soalg Bakich made it a 2-2 game in the third but the Irish couldn’t find another goal to take a lead.
• Notre Dame is 2-1-0 this season at home.
• Junior Max Ellis leads the Irish with eight points on three goals and a team-high five assists, while Trevor Janicke (4-2-6) and Solag Bakich (2-4-6) are tied for second with six points each.
• Janicke leads the team with four goals, followed by Ellis, Cam Burke and Landon Slaggert with three goals each.
• Notre Dame’s penalty kill has started the season with a perfect 28-for-28 showing over seven games, joining Michigan Tech with perfect penalty kills on the season (Brown, Cornell and Yale are also at 100% on the season but have only played one or two games each).
• The Irish are also holding opponents to 2.12 goals-against average, which ranks 16th nationally (third in the Big Ten).
• All told, 10 Notre Dame players have scored so far this season, while 18 have at least one point.
• The 2021-22 season marks Notre Dame’s 17th under head coach Jeff Jackson and its fifth season in the Big Ten.
• Overall, it is the 53rd season of NCAA Division I hockey for Notre Dame.
• Notre Dame has returned four of its top-five point scorers from 2020-21, including Graham Slaggert (7-18-25), Landon Slaggert (8-14-22), Nick Leivermann (5-12-17) and Max Ellis (5-11-16).
• The Irish welcomed four graduate transfers into the fold for the 2021-22 campaign, including forward Jack Adams, defenseman Chase Blackmun, goaltender Matthew Galajda, and defenseman Adam Karashik. 
• Five freshmen also joined the Irish this season in forward Tyler Carpenter, defenseman Ryan Helliwell, forward Justin Janicke, forward Hunter Strand and defenseman Hunter Weiss. 
• Goaltender Josh Graziano also transferred into the program as a sophomore, having last played collegiately at Union. 
• Notre Dame has made each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, the longest streak in program history, and eight of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments overall.

THE BIG TEN STANDINGS

• This season, teams will be awarded three points in the conference standings for a win in regulation. 
• If the game is tied following regulation, both teams will receive one point, with a second point being awarded to the team that wins in either the 3-on-3 overtime period or the shootout.

GALAJDA SHUTOUT RANKS

• Graduate student Matthew Galajda made 22 saves to help lead the Irish to a 6-0 win over RIT on Oct. 22, marking his first shutout for Notre Dame and the 20th of his career.
•  A 2018 First Team All-American, his 20 career shutouts rank tied for fourth in NCAA Men’s Division I history:
• Rank Name (Years) GP Shutouts
• 1. Dryden McKay (2018‑pres.) 105 27
• 2. Ryan Miller (1999‑2002) 106 26
• 3. Michael Bitzer (2014‑2018) 138 21
• 4. Joe Fallon (2004‑2008) 132 20
• Matthew Galajda (2017‑pres.) 90 20
• 6. Ben Scrivens (2006‑2010) 117 19
• Michael Garteig (2012‑2016) 124 19

THE NOTRE DAME – HOLY CROSS SERIES

• Notre Dame and Holy Cross have met five times, with the Irish leading the all-time series 4-1-0.
• Notre Dame and Holy Cross first met in the 1984-85 season, with the Crusaders posting a 9-6 win at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. 
• The Irish then swept a two-game series during the 1989-90 season by scores of 10-4 and 9-2 at the Joyce Center. 
• Next, the teams met at the 2010 Ice Breaker Tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. 
• Notre Dame won that opening game of the Ice Breaker by a score of 6-3, including a hat trick by Anders Lee in his first career game with the Irish. 
• Most recently, the Irish posted a 5-3 win over Holy Cross on November 26, 2016 at the Compton Family Ice Arena as part of the 2016 Shillelagh Tournament.
• Anders Bjork had a goal and two assists to lead Notre Dame to that victory, while Cal Petersen had 17 saves to earn the win.
• Current Holy Cross junior forward Jackson MacNab was on the Notre Dame roster for the 2019-20 season (did not play any games).
• Associate Head Coach Paul Pooley’s son, Scott, skated for the Crusaders from 2014-18 (he currently plays for Lukko Rauma of the SM-liiga in Finland). 

— ND —