By JOHN FINERAN
After two weekends away, Notre Dame returns to the Big Ten Conference hockey wars this Friday and Saturday when No. 9/11 Ohio State visits the Compton Family Ice Arena for a two-game series. Both teams are coming off series splits.
WHEN: Friday, Feb. 7 at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 8 at 6:05 p.m.
WHERE: Charles W. “Lefty” Smith Ice Rink in Compton Family Ice Arena (4,852), South Bend, Ind.
RADIO: WSBT-AM (960), WSBT-FM (96.1) and UND.com (Tyler Reidy).
TV/STREAMING: Peacock (Tony Simeone, Conor Clingen and Steve Konroyd).
SERIES TIDBITS: Some tickets available. … Friday is “Fan Appreciation Night” with early arriving fans receiving first aid kits courtesy of the Beach Health System and prizes being given out throughout the game. … Saturday is “Chicago Blackhawks Night” with United Center legend Jim Cornelison singing the National Anthem and Blackhawks in-game host Genna Rose doing those honors throughout the game. … Landon Slaggert, the son of Irish associate head coach Andy Slaggert and brother of sophomore forward Carter Slaggert, has scored two goals since being recalled from the team’s AHL franchise, the Rockford IceHogs where he had amassed 10 goals and 25 points in 39 games this season. … Landon, a left wing who had one goal and four points in 16 games for the Blackhawks last season after concluding his college career at Notre Dame, scored seven seconds into last Saturday’s game at Florida, the quickest goal ever in team history to start a Blackhawks game.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES: No. 9/11 Ohio State enters series with 16-8-2 overall record and 9-6-1 Big Ten record, good for 28 points and solo third place. … The Buckeyes’ top line features the team’s leading scorers in graduate left wing Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (12 goals, 15 assists, 27 points), sophomore center Riley Thompson (12-12-24) and junior right wing Davis Burnside (8-13-21). … Graduate Aiden Hansen-Bukata (1-19-20) leads the defense. … Other Buckeyes scoring in double digits include sophomore center Max Montes (9-10-19), junior defenseman Damien Carfagna (5-12-17), graduate right wing Joe Dunlap (3-12-15), graduate center Patrick Guzzo (6-5-11) and freshman left wing James Hong (4-7-11). … Sophomore Sam Deckhut (5-4-9) and senior defenseman Brent Johnson (3-6-9) are two other players to watch. … Six-foot-4 sophomore Kristoffer Eberly and senior Logan Terness have shared the goaltending chores. … Eberly has a 2.17 goals-against average, a .917 saves percentage and an 11-3-1 record with two shutouts in 15 games; Terness has a 2.44 average, .914 saves percentage and 5-5-1 record in 13 games. … Thompson leads the team 234 faceoff wins (against 283 losses for a .453 percentage) followed by Guzzo (178-178, .500), sophomore center Ryan Gordon (137-116, .542) and Montes (120-117, .506). … Four Buckeyes have over 30 blocked shots this season – Johnson (39), Carfagna (35), Hansen-Bukata (34) and sophomore defenseman Nathan McBrayer (30). … Fontaine (6) and Thompson (5) have 11 of Ohio State’s 18 power-play goals.
NCAA statistics: Scoring offense, 3.19 goals per game (19th); scoring defense, 2.42 goals per game (16th); scoring margin, 0.77 goals per game (12th); power-play percentage, 0.202 (18 of 89) (32nd); penalty-kill percentage, 0.764 (55 of 72) (50th); faceoff win percentage, 0.484 (779-829) (45th); penalty minutes per game, 7.92 (52nd).
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH: Unranked Notre Dame enters series with 9-16-1 overall record and 3-12-1 Big Ten record for 11 points and seventh place. … Sophomore center Cole Knuble (9-18-27) continues to pace the Irish in scoring followed by senior captain Justin Janicke (10-14-24). … Janicke shares the goals scored lead with sophomore center Danny Nelson (10-9-19). … Others scoring in double figures include graduate right wing Blake Biondi (8-11-19), junior defenseman Axel Kumlin (4-12-16), sophomore left wing Brennan Ali (5-10-15), sophomore defenseman Paul Fischer (2-12-14), senior center Hunter Strand (7-5-12) and junior defenseman Michael Mastrodomenico (3-7-10). … Others to watch include graduate forward Ian Murphy (3-5-8), senior defenseman Ryan Helliwell (1-6-7), sophomore forward Carter Slaggert (3-2-5) and sophomore defenseman Henry Nelson (2-3-5). … Junior Owen Say and freshman Nicholas Kempf share the netminding duties. … Say has a 2.80 goals-against average, a .920 saves percentage and 7-9-0 record in 17 games, while Kempf has a 3.45 average, .903 saves percentage and 2-7-1 record in 10 games. … Danny Nelson continues to be one of the nation’s top faceoff men with his 313 wins (against 240 losses) and .566 percentage. … Strand (186-166, .528) and Knuble (149-123, .548) also have been steady on puck drops. … Graduate defenseman Zach Plucinski leads the team with 39 blocked shots, four ahead of Fischer and five ahead of Henry Nelson. … Biondi and Janicke lead the team in power-play goals with four each, one more than Danny Nelson.
NCAA statistics: Scoring offense, 2.81 goals per game (34th); scoring defense, 3.19 goals per game (48th); scoring margin, -0.38 goals per game (43rd); power-play percentage, 0.233 (17 of 73) (14th); penalty-kill percentage, 0.785 (62 of 79) (42nd); faceoff win percentage, 0.525 (854-774) (17th); penalty minutes per game, 9.35 (31st).
COACHES: Notre Dame, Jeff Jackson (416-282-74 in 20th season at school with NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2008, 2011, 2017 and 2018; 598-334-99 overall record includes 182-52-25 record in six seasons at Lake Superior State where his teams won national championships in 1992 and 1994 and finished runner-up in 1993). … Ohio State, Steve Rohlik (213-171-45 in 12th season with 2018 Frozen Four appearance).
QUOTING JEFF JACKSON: From Wednesday’s teleconference …
(Notre Dame): “Hopefully (the weekend off) gives us an opportunity to refocus and prepare for the stretch run. We gave them a couple of days off – it’s about fatigue and recovering from injuries, getting healthy. The bye week sometimes is a good thing, but then you have to prepare for the early part of the Friday night game because you haven’t played and want to stay competitive.”
(Finding consistency for the weekend): “That’s a majority thing. We’ve tried to put our finger on it. It’s varied throughout the season. In the second half, we haven’t been real sharp on Friday, and we’ve come back on Saturday. It’s almost like we need a wakeup call. Early in the season, it was kind of reversed – playing well on Fridays (with) Saturdays being a bit of a struggle. Consistency is such a critical thing. A lot of that comes from maturity and guys understanding that ‘Hey, we’ve got to be prepared to play every minute of every game.’ And not get comfortable with a 2-0 lead or feel out of it being down 2-0. We have to play the same way, play our game in every situation. Because right now, that consistency factor is the biggest missing piece to us having any kind of success in the last part of the season.”
(The sophomore class) “We have a good group of seniors and some older guys who are important to our lineup. But a lot of our leading players are sophomores, and that creates a situation where they have to learn to play back-to-back nights. I think Danny Nelson has made progress there; Cole Knuble has as well. They are much closer to playing the same game each night. It’s been more of a challenge with Paul Fischer playing back-to-back games. Brennan Ali has kind of tailed off a little bit; he got demoted on Saturday but scored a goal on the fourth line. We need him – he’s one of the few guys on the team who gives us some physical jam. He has to find a way to be more consistent.”
(Goaltenders) “Both (Owen Say and Nicholas Kempf) have been up-and-down a little bit. They’ve both played well at times, but the consistency has not been there and that’s part of the reason I’ve played both. If one of them had a hot hand, I’d love to run with him the last month. But I haven’t seen anyone step up. They’ve both had their good games, and they’ve both had their games where they could have been better.”
(Is Ohio State the Big Ten’s surprise team?): “They are and they aren’t. I think they are by the way everyone perceived them (in the preseason). This conference is hard to pick one through seven every year in the coaches’ poll. Every year it’s so hard to predict how teams are going to do based on the transfer portal. Ohio State did a great job in the transfer portal, and they brought in significant impact players. That’s something you can’t predict. So they have improved themselves a great deal; they’ve made a statement this year. They were picked last and they said, ‘Hey, we’re not a last-place team.’ And they’ve proved that – they’ve had a great season so far. And I wouldn’t expect that to change because they are solid across the board. They are sound on the back end, in goal and they have fairly good balance in their scoring upfront. They are a pretty complete team. They built on how they finished last year.”
THE RIVALRY: Irish lead series 47-45-12 after Buckeyes swept Dec. 13-14 series in Columbus, winning 2-1 (OT) Friday and 3-1 Saturday. … Rivalry began with 7-1 Irish victory at the Ohio State Ice Arena on March 1, 1969. … In games played in South Bend, Notre Dame leads 25-18-5 following 4-1 and 3-0 victories Nov. 10-11, 2023. … This season’s recaps:
Ohio State 2, Notre Dame 1 (OT) (Dec. 13, 2024): Brent Johnson scored at 1:53 of overtime to complete the Buckeyes’ comeback. … Danny Nelson gave Irish a 1-0 lead at 16:40 of the first period after feeds from Axel Kumlin and Cole Knuble. … Buckeyes tied it at 8:20 of the third period when Davis Burnside scored on the power play. … Ohio State outshot Notre Dame 43-19 in the game, including 18-5 in a scoreless second period. … Nicholas Kempf made 41 saves for the Irish, while Kristoffer Eberly had 18 for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State 3, Notre Dame 1 (Dec. 14, 2024): Buckeyes’ Brent Johnson opened the game’s scoring at 19:31 of the first period. … But the Irish tied it at 4:55 of the second period on center Danny Nelson’s goal off assists from Brennan Ali and Axel Kumlin. … Patrick Guzzo scored the game-winner at 16:02 of the second period and Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored an insurance goal on the power play at 18:50. … The Buckeyes outshot the Irish 37-15, including 16-2 in the first period. … Owen Say made 34 saves for the Irish, while Kristoffer Eberly had 14 for the Buckeyes.
LAST TIMES OUT: Notre Dame was idle last weekend following its split of non-conference home series with Lindenwood, rebounding with 4-2 victory Jan. 25 following 3-2 setback the previous evening. … Ohio State is coming off home Big Ten series split with No. 2 Michigan State, winning 4-2 Thursday, Jan. 30 and losing 4-1 the following night. … The recaps:
Lindenwood 3, Notre Dame 2 (Jan. 24): Irish jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on even-strength goals by Carter Slaggert (5:46) and Hunter Strand (6:44). … But Lions scored three unanswered goals in the second period on even-strength goals by Noah Houle (8:40, 14:43) and Tyler Loughman (17:49). … Notre Dame outshot Lindenwood 28-19, including 10-4 in the final period. … Owen Say made 16 saves for the Irish, while Owen Bartoszkiewicz had 26 for the Lions.
Notre Dame 4, Lindenwood 2 (Jan. 25): Once again, Irish took a 2-0 lead on Brennan Ali’s even-strength goal at 1:43 of the first period and Justin Janicke’s power-play goal at 1:43 of the second period. … Lindenwood’s Jack Southgate cut the lead in half with his even-strength goal at 11:15. … Tyler Carpenter scored the eventual game-winner for the Irish at 1:52 of the third period from a difficult angle off feeds from Paul Fischer and Grant Silianoff. … After John Evans (13:18) cut the Irish lead to one, 3-2, Danny Nelson scored an empty-net goal at 19:13 off feeds from Janicke and Fischer. … Notre Dame outshot Lindenwood 40-24, including 15-4 in the first period. … Nicholas Kempf had 22 saves for Notre Dame, while Owen Bartoszkiewicz had 36 for Lindenwood.
Ohio State 4, Michigan State 2 (Jan. 30): At Columbus, No. 11 Ohio State spotted No. 2 Michigan State a 1-0 lead on David Gucciardi’s even-strength goal at 3:07 of the first period. … Riley Thompson then scored twice for the Buckeyes, tying the game at 16:27 of the first period and giving his team the lead at 3:39 of the second period. … After MSU’s Karsen Dorwart tied the game with a power-play goal at 13:41 of the middle session, the Buckeyes got even-strength goals in the third period from Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (7:40) and Thomas Weis (13:33) for the victory. … Michigan State outshot Ohio State 37-29 for the game, including 13-8 in the second period. … Logan Terness made 35 saves for the Buckeyes, while Trey Augustine had 25 for the Spartans.
Michigan State 4, Ohio State 1 (Jan. 31): After a scoreless first period, James Hong’s goal at 4:36 tied the game at 1-1 following Michigan’s opening goal scored Tanner Kelly. … Isaac Howard (9:25) and Gavin O’Connell (12:27) then added second-period goals for the Spartans, who got an empty-net tally from Daniel Russell at 17:32 of the third period. … Michigan State outshot Ohio State 29-23. … Trey Augustine had 22 saves for the Spartans, while Kristoffer Eberly had 25 for the Buckeyes.
BIG TEN STANDINGS AND SCHEDULE: (Numbers in parentheses before school are its standings in this week’s USCHO.com media poll, this week’s USA Hockey-The Rink Live coaches poll and current PairWise rating)
- (2/2/2) Michigan State 12-3-3, 40 points (21-4-3 overall)
- (3/3/3) Minnesota 12-4-2, 38 points (21-6-3 overall)
- (9/11/10) Ohio State 9-6-1, 28 points (16-8-2 overall)
- (13/13/14) Michigan 9-8-1, 25 points (15-11-2 overall)
- (19/20/17) Wisconsin 6-11-1, 24 points (11-14-3 overall)
- (rv/rv/20) Penn State 3-10-3, 14 points (12-11-3 overall)
- (nr/nr/40) Notre Dame 3-12-1, 11 points (9-16-1 overall)
Friday, Feb. 7: Ohio State at Notre Dame, 7:05 p.m.; Michigan at Michigan State, 7 p.m.; Penn State at Wisconsin, 8 p.m. (Minnesota is idle)
Saturday, Feb. 8: Ohio State at Notre Dame, 6:05 p.m.; Michigan State vs. Michigan at Detroit (Duel at the D, Little Caesars Arena), 8 p.m.; Penn State at Wisconsin, 7 p.m. (Minnesota is idle)
Friday, Feb. 14: Notre Dame at Penn State, 7 p.m.; Minnesota at Michigan, 7 p.m.; Wisconsin at Ohio State, 7 p.m. (Michigan State is idle)
Saturday, Feb. 15: Notre Dame at Penn State, 5 p.m.; Minnesota at Michigan, 6 p.m.; Wisconsin at Ohio State, 8:30 p.m. (Michigan State is idle)
Friday, Feb. 21: Notre Dame at Wisconsin, 8:30 p.m.; Penn State at Michigan State, 6 p.m.; Ohio State at Minnesota, 8 p.m. (Michigan is idle)
Saturday, Feb. 22: Notre Dame at Wisconsin, 8:30 p.m.; Penn State at Michigan State, 6 p.m.; Ohio State at Minnesota, 6 p.m. (Michigan is idle)
Thursday, Feb. 27: Michigan at Ohio State, 8 p.m. (Wisconsin is off)
Friday, Feb. 28: Michigan State at Notre Dame, 7:05 p.m.; Michigan at Ohio State, 6 p.m.; Minnesota at Penn State, 8:30 p.m. (Wisconsin is off)
Saturday, March 1: Michigan State at Notre Dame, 6:05 p.m.; Minnesota at Penn State, 8 p.m. (Wisconsin is off)
Sunday, March 2: U.S. Under-18 Team at Wisconsin, 7 p.m. (exhibition)
Friday-Sunday, March 7-9: Big Ten Tournament best-of-three quarterfinal series.