Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

#4 Irish To Host #13 Penn State In B1G Semifinal

March 4, 2018

By Dan Colleran


NOTRE DAME, Ind.
— The No. 4/5 University of Notre Dame hockey team will play host to a Big Ten Tournament semifinal game against No. 13/15 Penn State at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10 at the Compton Family Ice Arena. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Each opening round series of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament ended in sweeps on Saturday night (March 3), including No. 4 seed Penn State posting back-to-back home wins over No. 5 seed Minnesota by scores of 5-3 and 6-5.

Next Saturday’s other Big Ten Tournament semifinal game will feature No. 2 seed Ohio State hosting No. 3 seed Michigan at 7:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network).

The Irish posted a 3-0-1-1 (shootout win) record in four games against Penn State this season. In a home series on Nov. 10-11, Notre Dame skated to wins of 5-3 and 1-0. The Irish then took game one of the teams’ road series by a score of 5-3 on Feb. 2. The following night in game two, after playing to a 2-2 tie, Jordan Gross netted the shootout winner for the additional point in the Big Ten standings.

Tickets for Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal game are available here. Fans will receive a white rally towel at the game and tickets are still available due to the University’s spring break schedule.

The Irish earned a home semifinal game by winning the 2017-18 Big Ten regular season championship after posting a 17-6-1-1 record.

Senior captain Jake Evans leads the Irish with 38 points on 11 goals and a team-best 27 assists. A 2017-18 Senior CLASS Award® finalist, Evans has 130 career points on 39 goals and 91 assists in 152 games. To vote for the 2017-18 Senior Class Award, click here.

Evans, Gross and sophomore goaltender Cale Morris are also on the fan ballot for the 2018 Hobey Baker Award. Gross, who has skated in all 153 games of his Irish career, has seven goals and 17 assists for 24 points on the season. Morris has been a stalwart in the Notre Dame net, posting a 22-7-1 record to go along with a .945 save percentage and a 1.92 goals against average. To vote for the Hobey hopefuls, who are also All-American candidates, click here.

— ND —

Dan Colleran, Director of Athletics Communications at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).