Oct. 5, 2016
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The No. 8/9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team officially opens the 2016-17 season with a weekend home series versus Arizona State (Oct. 7-8), marking the first ever meetings between the two teams.
GAMES 1 & 2
Matchup: Arizona State at Notre Dame
Date: Friday, Oct. 7 | Saturday, Oct. 8
Time: 7:35 p.m. (ET) | 7:05 p.m. (ET)
Site: Notre Dame, Indiana
Arena: Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022)
Television: CSN Chicago+ | None
Live Streaming: NBC Sports app & NBCSports.com
Play-by-Play: Tony Simeone | Friday
Analyst: Conor Clingen | Friday
Play-by-Play: Darin Pritchett | Saturday
Live Radio: WZOC 94.3 FM | Friday & Saturday
Play-by-Play: Darin Pritchett
Live Audio: WatchND App (www.watchND.tv)
Live Stats:
Live Updates: @NDHockey
Series History: First meeting
OVERVIEW
— The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team opens the 2016-17 season with a weekend series versus Arizona State, marking the first meetings between the two teams.
— This season marks Notre Dame’s 49th year of varsity hockey, and the 12th under the guidance of Head Coach Jeff Jackson.
— This weekend’s series will be the first of three straight non-conference series the Irish play to open the 2016-17 season.
NOTRE DAME IN SEASON OPENERS
— The Irish are 24-22-2 all-time in season-opening games.
— Under Head Coach Jeff Jackson, Notre Dame is 5-6-0 in season openers.
ASU AT A GLANCE
— The Sun Devils will begin their first full season of NCAA Division I play on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
— Playing a mixed schedule last season, Arizona State went 5-22-2 against NCAA teams in 2015-16, including wins over Alaska and Lake Superior State.
— The Sun Devils are coached by Greg Powers (Arizona State ’99).
— ASU’s leading returning scorer is sophomore forward Jordan Masters, who had eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points as a freshman.
— Notre Dame will play college hockey’s two newest programs early in the 2016-17 season, including Arizona State (2015) and Penn State (2012).
EXHIBITION RECAP: ND 5, USNTDP 1
— The Irish built a 3-0 first period lead and went on to post a 5-1 win over the U.S. National Team Development Program (U18) in exhibition action on Oct. 2 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
— Notre Dame’s 3-0 lead came on two goals by Jordan Gross and a Dylan Malmquist tally.
— Logan Cockerill scored for Team USA at 19:13 of the second, but Jack Jenkins answered with a goal just 18 seconds later to make it a 4-1 game after two periods of play.
— Jenkins went on to close the scoring at 13:01 of the third period when he notched his second of the night.
— Cal Petersen finished with 20 saves on the night, while Adam Scheel made 32 saves in the Team USA net.
— Notre Dame’s power play finished 3-for-9 on the night, while the Irish penalty kill was a perfect 8-for-8.
— Head Coach Jeff Jackson served as the first head coach of the USNTDP from 1996-2000.
— Associate coach Andy Slaggert’s son, Graham, played in the game for the USNTDP team.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
— According to research by College Hockey Inc., Notre Dame is the third-youngest team in college hockey this season (as of Oct. 1, 2016):
Boston College — 20 years, 49 days
Boston University — 20 years, 108 days
Notre Dame — 20 years, 272 days
— Freshman forward Cam Morrison (born in August of 1998) is the fifth-youngest player in NCAA Division I men’s college hockey this season.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director 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).