COLLEGE HOCKEY: MICHIGAN WOLVERINES AT NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
By John Fineran
Notre Dame opens its Big Ten Conference hockey schedule this Friday and Saturday evenings against its long-time rival Michigan. Friday’s game will be the 172nd meeting between the two teams, the most of any hockey rivalry The Wolverines come into the series ranked No. 2 nationally in the latest polls, and coach Brandon Naurato’s team – No. 1 in both goals scored and fewest goals allowed – has steamrolled to a 7-1 record which includes an impressive sweep of then No. 7-ranked Providence and last weekend’s home-and-home split with defending NCAA champion Western Michigan, now ranked No. 3. Notre Dame enters with a four-game unbeaten string (3-0-1).
WHO: Michigan Wolverines (7-1-0, 0-0-0 Big Ten) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-2-1, 0-0-0 Big Ten)
WHEN: Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Charles W. “Lefty” Smith Ice Rink at Compton Family Ice Arena (4,852), South Bend.
RADIO: WZOC-FM (94.3) and UND.com (Tyler Reidy).
TV/STREAMING: Peacock (Conor Clingen and Steve Konroyd).
TICKETS: Some available.
LINEUPS: You can find the lineups for each team and print them out at fightingirish.com/HKYLineCharts.
COACHES: Michigan, Brandon Naurato (Michigan 2009), fourth season 74-43-9 at Michigan and overall. … Notre Dame, Brock Sheahan (Notre Dame 2008), first season 3-2-1 at Notre Dame and overall. … The last time Sheahan and Naurato played against each other in college was in the 2008 Frozen Four semifinals at Denver when Notre Dame beat Michigan 5-4 in overtime.
IRISH VS. WOLVERINES: According to Notre Dame records, the teams are meeting for the 172nd and 173rd times in a series which began during the 1922 season under coach Paul Castner, an All-America running back for Knute Rockne and the player-coach on the hockey team. … During an 8-2-1 season in 1922, the Irish traveled to Ann Arbor’s Weinberg Coliseum and left with a 3-2 OT victory on Jan. 17. … Less than a month later, on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) on a rink outside Badin Hall, the Irish won again 7-4. … Last season on Jan. 11, 2025 in South Bend, the Irish earned a 7-4 victory to break an eight-game losing streak to the Wolverines, who won 2-1 (OT) and 4-2 at the Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor on Nov. 8-9, 2024 and 5-3 on Jan. 10, 2025 in the Compton Family Ice Arena. … In all, Michigan leads the series with a 92-73-6 record, but Notre Dame is 34-33-2 in games played at Notre Dame.
LAST WEEK: Michigan split a two-game home-and-home series with defending champion and No. 2 Western Michigan, winning 4-0 in Ann Arbor on Thursday before falling 5-2 in Kalamazoo on Friday. … A weekend after being swept 4-2 and 10-2 by the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Robert Morris came to Notre Dame for a Friday-Saturday non-conference series with the Fighting Irish. … Notre Dame rallied from a 2-0 early deficit to win the Friday opener 6-3, and then the two teams skated to a 2-2 overtime tie on Saturday.
RANKINGS: Michigan is ranked No. 2 in both the USCHO.com media and USA Hockey/The Rink Live coaches polls. … Notre Dame is unranked in both polls.
SPECIAL CEREMONIES: At the conclusion of Friday night’s game, the hockey program will honor departing associate hockey coach Andy Slaggert, who is moving on after 33 seasons with the program to take a position with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. Slaggert, who played at Notre Dame from 1987-89 for coaches Lefty Smith and Ric Schafer, later returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach under Dave Poulin and stayed on through Jeff Jackson’s tenure into this season with Brock Sheahan. Among the many players he recruited were his sons Graham (Class of 2022), Landon (Class of 2024) and current junior left wing Carter. … On Saturday, the Irish will honor the memory of the late Rudy Chapman, a 13-year-old fan from nearby Middlebury, Ind., who died last July 30 after a courageous battle with Ewing Sarcoma. The team made Rudy an honorary member of the team, and he was on hand for many pivotal and special team moments during the last few seasons when he wasn’t undergoing treatments. Rudy’s parents, Laura and Tony Chapman, and sister Lucy will drop a ceremonial puck at center ice before Saturday’s game – for which Rudy will serve as an honorary captain — and the family will be recognized during the second-period break.
WELCOME ABOARD: Replacing Slaggert on Sheahan’s staff will be Tristan Musser. The 35-year-old Musser, a native of Lansing, Mich., who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2014 from Adrian College, has been a scout the last five seasons for the NHL Buffalo Sabres. Musser worked with Sheahan and associate head coach Mike Garman with the Chicago Steel as the director of player development, a skills coach and director of player personnel. During their time together, the Steel won the Anderson Cup as USHL regular-season champions.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES: Last Friday night at Western Michigan, the Michigan lineup included nine freshmen, four sophomores, four juniors and five seniors. … Twelve of the 22 players have been drafted by NHL teams and four have ties with the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP). … Sophomore center Michael Hage leads the team in scoring with six goals, eight assists and 14 points followed by classmate/left wing Will Horcoff (7-4-11), junior defenseman Ben Robertson (0-10-10), senior center TJ Hughes (3-6-9), freshman left wing Adam Valentini (3-5-8) and sophomore defenseman Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen (2-6-8). … Freshman goaltender Jack Ivankovic has played every second for the Wolverines and has a 1.38 goals-against average (sixth nationally), a saves percentage of .937 (11th) and two shutouts (first with Michigan State’s Trey Augustine). … Michigan, which is 11th nationally in penalty-kill percentage, leads the nation in shorthanded goals with five (two by senior right wing Josh Eernisse and one each by freshman left wing Malcolm Spence, junior right wing Garrett Schifsky and junior left wing Nick Moldenhauer). … NCAA statistics (through Oct. 28): Scoring offense, 5.75 goals per game (1st); scoring defense, 1.50 goals per game (1st); scoring margin, 4.25 goals per game (1st); power-play percentage, 0.400 (14 of 35) (2nd); penalty-kill percentage, 0.097 (28 of 31) (10th); faceoff-win percentage, 0.564 (283-219) (7th); penalty minutes per game, 13.63 (13th). shots per game, 37.00 (2nd); shots allowed per game, 21.88 (31st); team blocks, 105 (T7th).
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH: Last Saturday night against Robert Morris, the Notre Dame lineup included five freshmen, three sophomores, nine juniors, three seniors and two grad students. … There are eight players on the roster who have been selected in past NHL Drafts and five have ties to the USNTDP. … Junior right wing Evan Werner is a transfer from Michigan where he scored 22 points in 33 games, including 11 goals, three of them against the Irish including the overtime game-winner in Michigan’s 2-1 victory on Nov. 8, 2024 at the Red Berenson Rink in the Yost Ice Arena. … Sutter Muzzatti, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound graduate center (and RPI transfer), leads the Irish in scoring with a team-high six goals with three assists for nine points. … Muzzatti received Big Ten Second Star of the Week honors for his performance (three goals, two assists) last weekend against visiting Robert Morris. … He is followed by senior defenseman Axel Kumlin (1-6-7) who in his second season with Irish after transferring from Miami. … Then comes Werner (2-4-6), junior left wing Brennan Ali (2-4-6) and freshman left wing Cole Brown (1-5-6) followed by senior defenseman/co-captain Michael Mastrodomenico (2-3-5), junior right wing Cole Knuble (2-3-5), junior defenseman Paul Fischer (2-4-5) and freshman center Pano Fimis (1-4-5). … Sophomore goaltender Nicholas Kempf has a 3.14 goals-against average, a saves percentage of .894, one shutout and a 3-2-1 record. … Notre Dame is fourth nationally (Michigan is seventh) in faceoff-win percentage (.572), led by junior center Jayden Davis (30-16, .652), Fimis (59-32, .648), junior center/co-captain Danny Nelson (52-46, .531) and Muzzatti (44-42, .512). … Junior defenseman Henry Nelson leads the team in blocked shots with nine, two more than sophomore blueliner Jimmy Jurcev. … NCAA statistics (through Oct. 28): Scoring offense, 4.00 goals per game (4th); scoring defense, 3.17 goals per game (36th); scoring margin, 0.83 goals per game (16th); power-play percentage, 0.304 (7 of 23) (7th); penalty-kill percentage, 0.042 (23 of 24) (2nd); faceoff-win percentage, 0.572 (202-151) (4th); penalty minutes per game, 13.83 (11th); shots per game, 35.67 (17th); shots allowed per game, 29.83 (28th); team blocks, 62 (46th).
WHAT BROCK SHEAHAN HAS TO SAY ABOUT …
(His team) “I thought we got exposed a little bit on Saturday, weren’t prepared to play to the level necessary, especially off the puck. … I think we are capable of playing the way we’re supposed to play. For me it’s about doing it more often. There’s enough evidence that we know what we’re supposed to do. It’s about doing it all the time. If we do that we will wear opponents down.”
(Michigan) “They are one of the best teams in the country … it’s a great opportunity for us to show how much growth we’ve had. … They are a highly gifted offensive team. They’ve scored a lot of goals and they’re not giving up much. Their goaltender seems to be solid from the video I’ve watched. They play fast; they play hard.”
(Notre Dame’s penalty-kill units) “Our goaltending has been great on the penalty-kill; Nick (Kempf) has done a great job. (Associate head coach) Mike Garman has done a great job running the penalty kill – the system we run is pretty much what we’ve run the last two years when I was coaching it. So there are a good number of guys who know what they are doing. One thing that has helped us a lot is our ‘P-K’ (penalty-kill) forecheck. It’s been good.”
(Andy Slaggert) “He’s recruited every player who has played here the last 30-some years here. He has been a cornerstone of the program, one of the major reasons why the program is where it’s at. I think coach (Jeff) Jackson will tell you that one of the best decisions he made was to keep coach Slaggert here. And even for me, with him leaving, having him here through the transition be really good on the recruiting side of things. He’s one of the best to ever do it, honestly. I’m so excited for him and his family that he’s able to move into a position where he will be able to see his kids play. I’m so supportive of the step he is taking, and the best part is he’s not moving – he’ll be around.”
(Rudy Chapman) “I know for our first home game (against St. Lawrence) our guys were very emotional during warmups when Rudy was not on the bench. You could see it. It shows the impact that Rudy and his family have had on this program and will continue to have on this program. He really was a part of what we are doing. Hopefully, we can make it a positive celebration. No matter what you do, the emotions are going to get to guys. … Hopefully he will be watching us from above and have a smile on his face watching us play our hearts out this weekend.”
NEXT UP: Following the series, the Irish travel to Minneapolis, Minn., to play the Golden Gophers in a Big Ten series on Friday, Nov. 7 and Saturday, Nov. 8. … The Wolverines return home to meet league rival Wisconsin in a two-game series Nov. 7-8. … Later this season, Notre Dame and Michigan will play on the Red Berenson Rink in the Yost Ice Arena at Ann Arbor, Mich., on Jan. 9-10, 2026.
BIG TEN STANDINGS AND SCHEDULE
(Numbers in parentheses are school’s rankings in this week’s USCHO.com media/USA Hockey-The Rink Live coaches polls):
Conference Overall
GP Pts W-L-T GF-GA W-L-T GF-GA
(2/2) Michigan 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 7-1-0 46-12
(4/4) Penn State 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 7-1-0 34-21
(1/1) Michigan State 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 5-1-0 23-11
(14/14) Wisconsin 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 4-0-2 22-9
(17/17) Ohio State 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 4-2-0 18-10
(nr/nr) Notre Dame 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 3-2-1 24-19
(19/18) Minnesota 0 0 0-0-0 0-0 2-5-1 20-26
SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 30
Penn State at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. (BTN)
Minnesota at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. (BTN)
Friday, Oct. 31
Michigan at Notre Dame, 7 p.m. (Peacock)
Penn State at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. (B1G+)
Saturday, Nov. 1
Michigan at Notre Dame, 6 p.m. (Peacock)
Minnesota at Wisconsin, 7 p.m. (B1G+)
Friday, Nov. 7
Notre Dame at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Wisconsin at Michigan, 7 p.m.
Penn State at Michigan State, TBA
Saturday, Nov. 8
Notre Dame at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Wisconsin at Michigan, 7 p.m.
Penn State at Michigan State, TBA
UPCOMING SCHEDULES FOR TOP 20 TEAMS IN USCHO.com MEDIA POLL
1. Michigan State (Big Ten) (5-1-0) is idle this weekend. Next: Nov. 7-8 vs. No. 4 Penn State.
2. Michigan (Big Ten) (7-1-0) at Notre Dame Friday. Next: Saturday at Notre Dame; Nov. 7-8 vs. No. 14 Wisconsin.
3. Western Michigan (NCHC) (4-2-0) at St. Cloud State Friday. Next: Saturday at St. Cloud State; Nov. 7-8 vs. No. 6 Denver.
4. Penn State (Big Ten) (7-1-0) at No. 17 Ohio State Thursday. Next: Friday at No. 17 Ohio State; Nov. 7-8 at No. 1 Michigan State.
5. Boston University (Hockey East) (3-3-1) at No. 12 Maine Friday. Next: Saturday at No. 12 Maine; Nov. 7 vs. Merrimack, Nov. 8 at Merrimack.
6. Denver (NCHC) (3-2-1) vs. Alaska-Anchorage Friday. Next: Saturday vs. Alaska-Anchorage; Nov. 7-8 at No. 3 Western Michigan.
7. Quinnipiac (ECAC) (5-2-1) is idle this weekend. Next: Nov. 4 vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Nov. 7 at Yale, Nov. 8 at Brown.
8. North Dakota (NCHC) (4-2-0) vs. No. 10 Minnesota Duluth Friday. Next: Saturday vs. No. 10 Minnesota Duluth; Nov. 7-8 at Omaha.
9. Connecticut (Hockey East) (3-3-0) vs. Harvard Friday. Next: Saturday vs. Merrimack, Nov. 7 vs. No. 16 Providence, Nov. 8 at No. 16 Providence.
10. Minnesota Duluth (NCHC) (7-1-0) at No. 8 North Dakota Friday. Next: Saturday at No. 8 North Dakota; Nov. 7-8 vs. St. Cloud State.
11. Boston College (Hockey East) (2-2-1) vs. Northeastern Thursday. Next: Friday at Northeastern; Nov. 7-8 at Vermont.
12. Maine (Hockey East) (3-2-1) vs. No. 5 Boston University Friday. Next: Saturday vs. No. 5 Boston University; Nov. 6-7 at No. 13 Massachusetts.
13. Massachusetts (Hockey East) (5-2-0) vs. No. 20 Cornell Friday. Next: Saturday vs. No. 20 Cornell; Nov. 6-7 vs. No. 12 Maine.
14. Wisconsin (Big Ten) (4-0-2) vs. No. 19 Minnesota Thursday. Next: Saturday vs. No. 19 Minnesota; Nov. 7-8 at No. 2 Michigan.
15. Colorado College (NCHC) (5-1-0) vs. Omaha Friday. Next: Saturday vs. Omaha; Nov. 7-8 at Arizona State.
16. Providence (Hockey East) (2-2-1) vs. UMass Lowell Friday. Next: Saturday at UMass Lowell, Nov. 7 at No. 9 Connecticut, Nov. 8 vs. No. 9 Connecticut.
17. Ohio State (Big Ten) (4-2-0) vs. No. 4 Penn State Thursday. Next: Friday vs. No. 4 Penn State; Nov. 14-15 at No. 14 Wisconsin.
18. Minnesota State (CCHA) (3-1-2) at St. Thomas Friday. Next: Saturday vs. St. Thomas; Nov. 7-8 vs. Bowling Green.
19. Minnesota (Big Ten) (2-5-1) at No. 14 Wisconsin Thursday. Next: Saturday at No. 14 Wisconsin; Nov. 7-8 vs. Notre Dame.
20. Cornell (ECAC) (0-0-0) at No. 13 Massachusetts Friday. Next: Saturday at No. 13 Massachusetts, Nov. 7 at Harvard, Nov. 8 at Dartmouth.
RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 30
Atlantic Hockey Association
Sacred Heart at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.
Non-conference
Maryville at Long Island, 7 p.m. (exhibition)
Friday, Oct. 31
Atlantic Hockey Association
Sacred Heart at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.
Niagara at Robert Morris, 7 p.m.
Bentley at Mercyhurst, 7 p.m.
ECAC
RPI at Union, 7 p.m.
Hockey East Association
Vermont at New Hampshire, 7 p.m.
NCHC
Arizona State at Miami, 7:05 p.m.
CCHA
Bemidji State at Bowling Green, 7:07 p.m.
Northern Michigan at Augustana, 8:07 p.m.
Non-conference
Maryville at Long Island, 7 p.m. (exhibition)
Lake Superior State at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.
Michigan Tech at Clarkson, 7 p.m.
Alaska Fairbanks at Princeton, 7 p.m.
Lindenwood at Ferris State, 7:07 p.m.
RIT at Colgate, 7:30 p.m.
Brown at Air Force, 9:05 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 1
ECAC
Union at RPI, 4 p.m.
Atlantic Hockey Association
Bentley at Mercyhurst, 5 p.m.
Robert Morris at Niagara, 6 p.m.
Army at Canisius, 7 p.m.
Hockey East Association
Vermont at New Hampshire, 7 p.m.
NCHC
Arizona State at Miami, 6:05 p.m.
CCHA
Bemidji State at Bowling Green, 6:07 p.m.
Northern Michigan at Augustana, 7:07 p.m.
Non-conference
Dartmouth at Stonehill, 7 p.m.
Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.
Lake Superior State at Clarkson, 7 p.m.
Alaska Fairbanks at Princeton, 7 p.m.
Brown at Air Force, 7:05 p.m.
Lindenwood at Ferris State, 7:07 p.m.
RIT at Colgate, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 2
Non-conference
Yale at Dartmouth, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Non-conference