By JOHN FINERAN
In his 20th and final season behind the Notre Dame hockey bench, coach Jeff Jackson hasn’t had much to celebrate with his team.
But boy, did the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish ever celebrate Sunday night after their 4-1 victory over second-seed Minnesota in their Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals before 4,642 fans watching in the 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis. The clinching victory was the second in the best-of-three series for Notre Dame, which now will try to shock the hockey world again when it travels to Jackson’s alma mater, Michigan State, for a 6 p.m. one-game semifinal against the No. 2 Spartans.
“They were excited,” Jackson said after his team improved to 12-24-1. “This team has been through a lot this season, and it hasn’t been positive. The one thing about them is they’ve always been a good group with their attitude and work ethic. It’s hard to do that when you’ve lost as many games as we’ve lost. It’s a credit to them as far as keeping a good attitude. This wouldn’t have happened if our culture wasn’t strong.
“We needed to take a little bit away from Friday’s (3-2 victory) though I actually thought we played better Saturday (in the 4-2 loss to the Gophers),” Jackson continued after his team gave him the 601st victory of his illustrious coaching career, 419 of which have come in his 20 seasons behind the Irish bench.
“Even in the loss, I thought we had better scoring chances,” Jackson added. “I think we did a better job defensively, especially in and around the net. They throw pucks from everywhere at the net. We did a good job protecting that area, and obviously Owen played extremely well.”
In perhaps their best all-around game of the season despite being outshot 39-21 in the game by coach Bob Motzko’s more talented team with its 16 players drafted by National Hockey League teams, the Irish outworked and outhustled the 25-10-4 Gophers, who entered the game with a nation-leading 149 goals. Junior goaltender Owen Say got the starting nod for the third straight game and had perhaps his best game of the season, making 38 saves while allowing just one goal, a power-play goal by Minnesota’s 6-foot-4 junior right wing Matthew Wood in the third period.
Say got plenty of help from his teammates, who blocked 23 shots in the game, with senior defenseman Ryan Helliwell leading the way with six, one more than junior defenseman Axel Kumlin and two more than sophomore blueliner Paul Fischer. Senior center Hunter Strand and sophomore left wing Carter Slaggert each had two.
“And we scored some pretty key goals – each line had a goal tonight,” Jackson said. “That’s a big, big deal in the playoffs. For us to score four goals on them and to keep them to just one goal was pretty impressive. It was a great overall effort – I thought everyone contributed.”
Fourth-line center Jayden Davis opened the scoring at 17:25 of the first period, and graduate first-line left wing Grant Silianoff, who grew up in nearby Edina, made it 2-0 at 3:44 of the second period.
Then after Wood’s goal cut the Irish lead in half at 8:07, sophomore second-line center Cole Knuble, the team’s leading scorer, finished off a give-and-go with senior captain Justin Janicke of nearby Maple Grove to give the Irish a 3-1 lead at 12:09.
“After they scored, it was critical for us to score the next goal,” Jackson said.
Finally, senior third-line center Hunter Strand scored an empty-netter at 17:40 to close out the scoring. Next up is a 2½-hour bus ride to East Lansing on Friday afternoon and an overnight stay for Saturday’s 6 p.m. faceoff with the Spartans, who swept the Irish in two series this season. The other Big Ten Saturday semifinal will have Penn State traveling to Ohio State for an 8:30 p.m. faceoff.
Fresh from their 4-2 victory Saturday that evened the best-of-three series at one victory each, the Golden Gophers had a 5-1 edge in shots in the first eight minutes Sunday, four of them coming when Minnesota was unsuccessful on an early power play, its first of three on the night. The Gophers then increased the shot margin to 8-1 by the media timeout of 10:41.
But in 17th minute, Irish freshman right wing Jack Larrigan fired a shot at Minnesota netminder Nathan Airey who made the save. Davis outbattled Gophers defensemen Cal Thomas and Ryan Chesley to the loose puck and batted it past Airey at 17:25 to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Even though Minnesota would outshoot Notre Dame 14-7 in the period, the Irish were settled in, and they showed it early in the second period when first-line forwards Silianoff and Blake Biondi outbattled a Gopher in the corner to the left of Airey. Silianoff, a graduate left wing from nearby Edina, got possession of the puck and sent it to Biondi, a graduate right wing from upstate Hermantown.
Biondi, who scored the overtime game-winner in Notre Dame’s 4-3 upset of the Gophers here on Jan. 18, skated around the Minnesota net and tried to stuff it past Airey, who made the save. But the puck came out to the goalie’s left and Silianoff was there to jump on the rebound and give the Irish a 2-0 lead at 3:44.
The Irish killed off another Minnesota power play midway through the period with the best scoring chance belong to Janicke, who hit the pipe at 10:58. Notre Dame milked that lead to the end of the period as both teams finished with 10 shots on net.
Leading 2-0 going into the third, the Irish came out with a defensive mindset. Minnesota had a 7-0 shot run to begin the period, but Say stopped each one before Helliwell was whistled off for holding at 7:59. It took the Gophers just eight seconds to score as Wood, a transfer from Connecticut, put a 40-footer on net that Say, screened by two Gophers, did not see until it was behind him.
At 9:41, Carter Slaggert finally tested Airey with Notre Dame’s first shot on net and the Irish got their legs under themselves again. As the period entered its 12th minute, Irish defenseman Michael Mastrodomenico got the puck out of the Irish zone to Knuble, who sent a cross-ice pass to Janicke breaking into the zone. Knuble then hustled behind a Gopher defenseman to receiver Janicke’s return pass. Knuble then skated in front of Airey and backhanded the puck into the net for his 12th goal and 39th point of the season and a 3-1 Irish lead.
At the 16:02 mark, Motzko pulled Airey for an extra attacker and Jackson called a timeout to settle his team for an anticipated Minnesota onslaught. But it never came. Instead, Fischer blocked a shot by Chesley and Slaggert got the puck over to Strand, who shot it three-quarters of the rink into the empty net at 17:40 for a 4-1 Irish lead.
Motzko again pulled Airey but the Gophers were a deflated bunch. When the final horn blew, the Irish mobbed Say, whose play over the weekend was spectacular. In the three games, the junior from London, Ont., who played his first two collegiate seasons at Mercyhurst and dazzled Jackson and the Irish with a 50-save performance in a 4-3 loss at the beginning of the 2023-24 season, finished with 99 saves while surrendering just seven goals to the nation’s No. 1 goal-scoring team – a save percentage of .934.
“If he’s not the first star of the week in the Big Ten, something’s not right,” Jackson chuckled. “He was outstanding all weekend.”
But the Irish coach got emotional for another reason. Rudy Chapman, the young hockey fan from Goshen who has been battling cancer and has been an inspiration to the Irish for the last couple of years, attended the series with his father and was awarded the game puck by Janicke and the players.
“For Rudy and his dad to make it here,” Jackson said with his voice cracking. “He’s our inspiration. He’s a fighter. We need to have that kind of fight.”
There was plenty of fight in the Fighting Irish this weekend in Minneapolis. Just ask the Golden Gophers.
NOTRE DAME 4, MINNESOTA 1
At 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis, Minn.
Notre Dame 1 1 2—4
Minnesota 0 0 1—1
First Period—Scoring: 1. Notre Dame, Jayden Davis 1 (Jack Larrigan, Zach Plucinski) EV 17:25. Penalties: Notre Dame 1-2, Minnesota 0-0.
Second Period—Scoring: 2. Notre Dame, Grant Silianoff 5 (Blake Biondi, Axel Kumlin) EV 3:44. Penalties: Notre Dame 1-2 (2-4), Minnesota 0-0 (0-0).
Third Period—Scoring: 3. Minnesota, Matthew Wood 17 (Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore) PP 8:07; 4. Notre Dame, Cole Knuble 12 (Justin Janicke, Michael Mastrodomenico) EV 12:09; 5. Notre Dame, Hunter Strand 8 (Carter Slaggert) 17:40. Penalties: Notre Dame 1-2 (3-6), Minnesota 0-0 (0-0).
Shots on goal: Notre Dame 21 (7-10-4), Minnesota 39 (14-10-15).
Goalie saves: Notre Dame, Owen Say 38 (14-10-14); Minnesota, Nathan Airey 17 (6-9-2).
Power-play opportunities: Notre Dame 0 of 0, Minnesota 1 of 3.
Faceoffs won: Notre Dame 36 (9-15-12), Minnesota 27 (10-7-10).
Blocked shots: Notre Dame 23 (6-7-10), Minnesota 9 (2-6-1).
Referees: Colin Kronforst and David Marcotte. Linesmen: Sam Shikowsky and Justin Cornell. Attendance: 4,642 (10,257).
Records: Notre Dame 12-24-1, Minnesota 25-10-4.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
Best-of-three quarterfinals
Friday, March 7
No. 7 Notre Dame 3, No. 2 Minnesota 2
No. 6 Wisconsin 4, No. 3 Ohio State 1
No. 5 Penn State 6, No. 4 Michigan 5 (OT)
Saturday, March 8
No. 2 Minnesota 4, No. 7 Notre Dame 2 (Series tied 1-1)
No. 3 Ohio State 3, No. 6 Wisconsin 2 (OT) (Series tied 1-1)
No. 5 Penn State 5, No. 4 Michigan 2 (Penn State wins series 2-0)
Sunday, March 9
No. 7 Notre Dame 4, No. 2 Minnesota 1 (Notre Dame wins series 2-1)
No. 3 Ohio State 3, No. 6 Wisconsin 2 (Ohio State wins series 2-1)
Single-elimination semifinals
Saturday, March 15
No. 7 Notre Dame (12-24-1) at No. 1 Michigan State (24-6-4), 6 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
No. 5 Penn State (20-12-4) at No. 3 Ohio State (23-12-2), 8:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
Saturday, March 22
Single-elimination championship
Lowest remaining seed at Highest remaining seed, 7:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network)