#13/14 Irish Host Eagles In Midweek Matchup

WHO: #13/13 Notre Dame (16-7-0, 9-5-0-4-1-0 B1G) vs. Boston College (10-8-3, 5-6-2-1-0-1 HEA)

WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. ET

WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena

WATCH: Peacock // Fighting Irish TV (International)

LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com

NOTES (PDF)

SETTING THE STAGE

• Notre Dame will close out the non conference portion of its schedule by playing host to Boston College at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at Compton Family Ice Arena in a makeup game after the teams’ first semester meeting was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the BC program. 
• The Fighting Irish are 7-2-0 in non conference play this season and 9-4-0 at Compton Family Ice Arena.
• Notre Dame is coming off a two-game road series at Ohio State (Jan. 14-15), where it took game one in overtime, 3-2, before falling in game two, 4-1. 
• Spencer Stastney had that overtime game winner for his fourth goal of the season, while Landon Slaggert figured in all the scoring with a goal and two assists for a career-high three points.
• The Eagles were most recently swept in a home-and-home series with New Hampshire (Jan. 14-15), losing game one on the road, 3-2, before dropping game two at home, 5-2.
• The game against the Eagles will close out a busy start to the second half for Notre Dame, including seven games in the first 19 games of January.
• Max Ellis leads the Irish with a career-best 24 points on a team-high 14 goals and 10 assists.
• Ellis’ 14 goals rank tied for seventh in the country (tied for second in the Big Ten).
• Ellis and Cam Burke are tied for the NCAA lead with two shorthanded goals this season. 
• Burke and Ryder Rolston lead the Irish with three game-winning goal apiece.
• Burke now ranks second on the Irish with eight goals (he had seven goals in his previous three seasons combined ).
• Balanced attack: all told, 15 Notre Dame players have scored this season, while 12 players have at least 10 points on the season. 
• The Irish are 11-1-0 when scoring first this season.
• Notre Dame’s penalty kill is 81-for-88 on the season (.9205), which ranks second in the NCAA and trails only Quinnipiac (.9310).
• The Irish also have five shorthanded goals this season (Ellis 2, Cam Burke 2, Spencer Stastney), which ranks tied for second in the country (first in the Big Ten).
• 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 five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the second-longest active streak in the NCAA, trailing only Minnesota Duluth (6), with Minnesota State (3) and St Cloud State (3) tied for third.
• As the No. 4 seed, Notre Dame had been set to face top-seeded Boston College in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament in the Albany Regional, but the Irish were removed from the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols..

THE NOTRE DAME – BOSTON COLLEGE SERIES

• Longtime rivals and four year Hockey East foes, Notre Dame and Boston College have met every season since 1995-96 with the exception of the 1999-2000, 2005-06, 2017-18  and 2020-21 seasons.
• In Jerry York (1,118) and Jeff Jackson (546), the game will feature the two top active leaders in NCAA DI head coaching wins.
• Boston College holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 23-20-3, which began Dec. 20, 1969.
• The teams were slated to face each other in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament before the game was declared a no contest due to COVID-19 protocols within the Irish program.
• In the most recent meetings in 2019-20, Boston College swept a home-and-home series on Dec. 6 and 8, 2019 by scores of 4-0 and 6-1.
• Notre Dame posted a 4-0 win at the Compton Family Ice Arena on New Year’s Eve 2018 that featured goals from current Irish Matt Hellickson, Matt Steeves, Colin Theisen.
• In 2016-17, the Irish and Eagles split their regular-season Hockey East series in their final meetings as conference opponents (Notre Dame won 3-2 at home on Dec. 10, BC then posted a 6-4 win on Jan. 28 at Conte Forum).
• In that meeting at the Compton Family Ice Arena on Dec. 10, 2016, the Irish faced a two-goal deficit against third-ranked Boston College but rallied for a comeback win on two goals by Anders Bjork and an Andrew Oglevie tally. 
• Bjork buried the shorthanded, game-winner for the Irish at 17:30 of the second to lift the Irish to the win.
• Notre Dame also had a notable comeback against the Eagles at Conte Forum on Dec. 10, 2015 when they trailed 3-1 at 7:05 of the third period but rallied to score three straight goals to post a 4-3, come-from-behind win at third-ranked Boston College (Dennis Gilbert had the game winner).
• The Eagles helped dedicate the Compton Family Ice Arena on Nov. 18, 2011 as No. 4 Notre Dame downed No. 3 BC, 3-2 in overtime when Bryan Rust scored with 1.1 seconds remaining.
• Boston College led the first half of the series, going 14-7-2 against the Irish from 1969- 2002, but Notre Dame has led the rivalry since, going 12-10-0 since 2003.
• The teams met in the 2014 Hockey East quarterfinals with Notre Dame claiming the best-of-three series at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., upsetting the top-seeded Eagles.
• Other notable meetings include a 4-3 BC win at Fenway Park (Jan. 4, 2014), while BC also defeated the Irish 4-1 in the 2008 NCAA Championship Game in Denver, Colorado (Notre Dame’s first appearance in the NCAA Championship game).

STEPPING UP

• Several Fighting Irish skaters have increased their point totals this season over the past few years.
• After a freshman season with one goal in eight games and a sophomore season with 16 points in 24 games (5-11-16), Max Ellis has 14 goals and 10 assists for a career-best 24 points in 23 games.
• Ellis posted the first hat trick of his career, capped by scoring the overtime game-winning goal, at Michigan on Nov. 20 marking the first visiting player to record a hat trick at Yost Ice Arena in 15 years (2006).
• In 23 games this season, Cam Burke has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points, all of which represent career-high totals for the senior.
• Solag Bakich has a career-high 13 points (4-9-13) in 19 games this season after scoring once in 10 games as a freshman and then notching seven points (4-3-7) in 28 games as a sophomore. 
• Ryder Rolston had six points on a goal and five assists last season as a freshman and now has six goals and 12 assists for 18 points in 23 games as a sophomore.
• Defenseman Jake Boltmann joined the Irish for the second semester last season, skating in 19 games (0 points).
• This season, Boltmann has a goal and eight assists for nine points in 23 games.

HOBEY HOPEFULS

• Forward Max Ellis and goaltender Matthew Galajda have been named to the Hobey Baker Award’s Phase One Fan Ballot (Jan. 12).
• Given annually to college hockey’s top player, the Hobey Baker Award includes candidates exhibiting the exceptional character traits of the award’s namesake, Hobey Baker, with consideration given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship. 
• To vote, visit the website www.hobeybaker.com/vote.
• Phase two of fan balloting will come from the list of Top Ten Hobey Baker finalists beginning March 17 and closing March 27. The fans’ vote accounts for a full one percent of the total ballot in each phase in selecting this year’s award recipient.
• The 2022 Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced from a field of three Hobey Hat Trick finalists on Friday, April 8, 2022 during the NCAA Frozen Four Championship in Boston.

— ND —