WHO: #5/4 Notre Dame (8-2-2, 4-2-2-1 B1G) vs. Bowling Green (8-5-0, 5-3-0-0 WCHA)
WHEN: Friday, November 29 & Saturday, November 30 – 7 p.m. ET
WHERE: Friday – Compton Family Ice Arena, Notre Dame, Ind. | Saturday – Slater Family Ice Arena, Bowling Green, Ohio
WATCH: Friday – NBC Sports Streaming | Saturday – FloHockey Streaming
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
GAME NOTES (PDF)
FOR STARTERS
- Notre Dame and Bowling Green will be meeting for the first time since the 2012-13 season – the final year of CCHA play.
- The Fighting Irish went 5-1-0 against the Falcons that season, including a CCHA quarterfinal series sweep at the Compton Family Ice Arena (March 1-2) that included a game one overtime winner from Bryan Rust and a pair of Rust goals to go along with Anders Lee’s game winner in game two.
- After four consecutive games on the road, Notre Dame opens the weekend series against Bowling Green at home but remains in the midst of playing six of seven games on the road.
- Notre Dame is 4-0-0 this season in non-conference play and leads the country with a 5.25 goals-per game mark in non-conference games.
- There are seven unbeaten teams remaining in non-conference play: Army (2-0-0), Cornell (2-0-0), Denver (8-0-0), UMass (4-0-0), Minnesota State (3-0-1), Notre Dame (4-0-0) and Princeton (1-0-1).
- With a weekend sweep of the Buckeyes on Nov. 8-9, the Irish extended their winning streak at the Compton Family Ice Arena to 10 games dating back to the start of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament (March 9, 2018).
- The 10-game home unbeaten streak is tied for the third longest active streak in the country: UMass (16 games; 15-0-1), Harvard (13 games; 12-0-1); Notre Dame (10 games; 10-0-0), Maine (10 games; 9-0-1).
- Notre Dame has posted six comeback wins this season, including three third period comebacks (both wins over Ohio State and the overtime victory at Wisconsin) and added a third period comeback tie (and shootout win) at Michigan State on Nov. 22.
- The Irish are 2-0-2 in overtime this season, with game-winning goals from Pierce Crawford (vs. Ohio State on Nov. 8) and Alex Steeves (at Wisconsin on Nov. 16).
- Notre Dame is once again one of the nation’s least penalized teams, with its 7.6 PIM/ game ranking third-lowest in the country.
- Notre Dame’s .750 (8-2-2) winning percentage ranks tied for sixth in the country.
- At .570, the Fighting Irish rank second in the NCAA in faceoff winning percentage (Minnesota State is first at .592).
- Senior Mike O’Leary ranks tied for first on the Irish with 14 points (6-8-14) and dating back to last season’s series at Wisconsin on Jan. 18-19, O’Leary has 30 points (10-20- 30) in his last 30 games played (he had seven goals and 11 assist for 18 points in his first 96 career games).
- Sophomore forward Michael Graham became the most recent Fighting Irish player to score a goal this season when he netted the game-tying, extra attacker goal at Michigan State (Nov. 22) to become Notre Dame’s 17th goal scorer of the season.
THE NOTRE DAME – BOWLING GREEN SERIES
- Notre Dame and Bowling Green will be meeting for the first time since 2012-13 – the final season of the CCHA where the teams were conference opponents.
- The teams met six times in 2012-13, with the Irish going 5-1-0 against the Falcons, including a CCHA quarterfinal series sweep (March 15-16).
- In a 1-0 Notre Dame victory in game one of that quarterfinal series, current Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust had the overtime winner.
- In game two, Rust scored twice while Nick Larson and current captain of the New York Islanders Anders Lee also scored to lead the Irish to a 4-3 win.
- Lee had the game winner as he has the distinction of being the most recent Notre Dame player to score a goal against the Falcons.
- After defeating the Falcons, Notre Dame went on to beat Ohio State (3-1) and Michigan (3-1) to claim the final CCHA Championship.
- Notre Dame and Bowling Green played a total of seven CCHA postseason games with the Falcons holding a 4-3-0 advantage.
- Notre Dame and Bowling Green have met a total of 106 times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 60-37-8 edge.
- At Notre Dame, the Irish are 33-13-5 versus the Falcons. • Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson is 43-9-4 all-time against Bowling Green (at Notre Dame and Lake Superior State).
FAST STARTS
- Notre Dame’s unbeaten streak to open the 2019-20 season was snapped at eight games (7-0-1), which marked the best unbeaten streak to start a season in program history.
- The subsequent 8-1-1 start by the Irish was the best start since also opening with an 8-1-1 record in 2006-07 (finished 32-7-3).
- On Nov. 8-9, the Irish swept a pair of tightly contested games with Ohio State by erasing one-goal, third period deficits in both games: winning game one 3-2 in overtime and game two 2-1.
- It marked Notre Dame’s first sweep of a top-10 opponent since Nov. 24-25, 2017 when the Irish topped sixth-ranked Minnesota 1-0 and 5-2.
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