Notre Dame hockey: All you need to know as Irish battle Michigan in Big Ten quarterfinals
What you need to know about Notre Dame’s Big Ten hockey playoff at Michigan this weekend:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-17-2) vs. Michigan Wolverines (18-13-3)
☘ What: Best-of-three quarterfinal series in Big Ten Postseason Tournament. … Winner advances to single-game semifinal Saturday, March 16 at opponent to be determined. … Notre Dame needs to win tournament title to earn league’s automatic berth into NCAA tourney. … Michigan could lose and still receive NCAA at-large berth.
☘ When/Where: 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) on Gordon “Red” Berenson Rink in Fielding H. Yost Ice Arena (5,800) at Ann Arbor, Mich.
☘ When/Where: 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) on Gordon “Red” Berenson Rink in Fielding H. Yost Ice Arena (5,800) at Ann Arbor, Mich.
☘ Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3) and UND.com. TV-streaming: B1G+.
☘ Rankings: Michigan is No. 14 in USCHO.com media poll, No. 13 in USA Hockey/The Rink Live coaches’ poll and No. 13 in PairWise Rankings which mimic method used by NCAA Selection Committee to determine 16-team NCAA tournament field. … Notre Dame is receiving votes in both media and coaches’ polls and is No. 21 in PairWise.
☘ Coaches: Notre Dame, Jeff Jackson (407-264-73 in 19th season at school, 589-316-98 in 24th season overall) … Michigan, Brandon Naurato (44-25-6 in second season at school and overall).
☘ Last time out: Notre Dame ended its regular season at Michigan Feb. 23-24 with 4-0 and 2-1 losses. … Michigan ended regular season at Minnesota March 1-2, losing 6-2 before winning 6-5 in overtime.
☘ Rivalry: Teams have met 165 previous times with Michigan holding 87-72-6 edge in series which began Jan. 17, 1922 at Weinberg Coliseum in Ann Arbor with 3-2 overtime victory by Irish. … Michigan is 45-33-4 in games played in Ann Arbor, but Notre Dame is 8-4-1 in last 13 games at Yost since start of 2018-19 season. … Michigan won 2-1 in Big Ten Postseason Tournament semifinal on March 12, 2022 on way to 4-3 championship victory at Minnesota for NCAA automatic berth.
☘ This season: Teams split series in December 1-2 at Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend. … In opener, Irish captain Landon Slaggert had two goals and goaltender Ryan Bischel had 27 saves as Irish outshot Wolverines 38-28 in 6-1 victory. … The following evening, Michigan’s Frank Nazar III and Notre Dame’s Hunter Strand exchanged first-period goals before Dylan Duke got game-winner in second period for Michigan’s 2-1 victory as Bischel made 33 saves and counterpart Jake Barczewski had 28. … On Feb. 23 in Ann Arbor, Barczewski made 22 saves and Michigan got two first-period goals from Duke on way to 4-0 victory against Irish and Bischel, who made 31 saves. … The following night, Danny Nelson gave Notre Dame 1-0 lead with early power-play goal. … But Wolverines responded with goal by Gavin Brindley midway through period and got game-winner from defenseman Marshall Warren at 17:03 of third period to win 2-1 behind 28 saves from Barczewski, the same total made by Bischel.
More:Big Ten playoff pairings set: Notre Dame hockey headed to Michigan for quarterfinals
Scouting Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame on three-game losing streak and is 4-6 in its last 10 games. … Senior left wing and captain Landon Slaggert leads Irish in scoring with 18 goals, 10 assists and 28 points. … He skates on first line with grad-transfer (from Providence) right wing Patrick Moynihan (8-12-20) and freshman center Cole Knuble (9-9-18). … Junior center Hunter Strand (4-14-18) and grad-transfer (from Harvard) defenseman Ryan Siedem (3-15-18) are next in scoring. … Freshman center Danny Nelson (9-14-23) suffered broken ankle at Michigan, had surgery and will miss rest of season. … Returning All-America graduate goaltender Ryan Bischel (2.46 goals-against average, .927 saves percentage and three shutouts with 15-17-2 record) allowed just nine goals and stopped 119 other shots by Wolverines in regular season. … NCAA statistics: Scoring offense, 2.76 goals per game (40th nationally); scoring defense, 2.62 goals per game (17th); scoring margin, 0.15 goals per game (28th); power-play percentage, 0.183 (20 of 109) (38th); penalty-kill percentage, 0.829 (97 of 117) (17th); team shorthanded goals, 2 (38th); faceoff-win percentage, 0.548 (1,138-940) (fifth); team penalty minutes per game, 12.68 (15th).
Scouting Michigan Wolverines
Michigan has one-game winning streak and is 6-4 in its last 10 games. … Wolverines have scored 145 goals, including 44 on power play and six while shorthanded. … Sophomore forward Gavin Brindley leads Michigan in scoring with team-high 22 goals, 24 assists and 46 points, one more than sophomore forward Rutger McGroarty (14-31-45) and five more than junior forward Dylan Duke, who has 20 goals, 10 of which have come on power play. … Sophomore center T.J. Hughes (15-25-40), sophomore defenseman Seamus Casey (7-31-38) and sophomore center Frank Nazar III (14-22-36) are next in scoring. … Barczewski, a grad-transfer from Canisius, has two shutouts and 15-12-3 record with 2.79 goals-against average and .910 saves percentage. … NCAA statistics: Scoring offense, 4.26 goals per game (third nationally); scoring defense, 3.03 goals per game (35th); scoring margin, 1.24 goals per game (ninth); power-play percentage, 0.352 (44 of 125) (first); penalty-kill percentage, 0.785 (95 of 121) (43rd); team shorthanded goals, 6 (sixth); faceoff-win percentage, 0.522 (1,137-1,040) (15th); team penalty minutes per game, 13.82 (sixth).
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Quoting Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson
On Week off: “I thought we had a good week working on the details of our game and making sure we keep the conditioning and competitiveness up. That’s always the biggest challenge coming off a bye week. We have to be prepared to play no matter who is healthy and who is not.”
On Michigan’s explosive offense: “I thought the second night there we did a better job of managing the puck and minimizing the amount of transition chances they get from our turnovers. Hopefully we have in our minds to do a good job handling the puck. For me, if we can possess the puck, that gives us a better chance to score and keeps them from being on offense.”
On Ryan Bischel’s play this season: “People don’t always look at what he’s dealt with – the number of shots he’s faced (1,128 in 34 games; nation-leading 1,046 saves), the level of competition he’s faced (Notre Dame’s schedule is fourth toughest). Those things should play into the goalie-of-the-year decision making. Those are the things he deals with on a nightly basis. He’s played well. He’s our backbone.”
— John Fineran, Tribune Correspondent