Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Frozen Four Bound Irish Honored

March 27, 2017

Irish Frozen Four Central

By Dan Colleran

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team advanced to the 2017 NCAA Frozen Four by defeating UMass Lowell in overtime, 3-2, on Sunday evening at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Over the weekend, the Irish erased deficits against both No. 1 seed Minnesota and No. 2 seed UMass Lowell to post back-to-back 3-2 victories. In the 12 regional semifinal and regional final games, Notre Dame was the only team to trail in the second period or later and post a win.

Anders Bjork scored a pair of goals against the Gophers, including the game winner, and then assisted on all three goals in the Regional Final win over the River Hawks. He was voted the NCAA East Regional’s Most Outstanding Player and was also named to the All-Tournament Team. A Hobey Baker Top Ten Finalist, he was also named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday (March 28).

Cam Morrison, who had an assist in the win over Minnesota and then scored Notre Dame’s first two goals in the win over UMass Lowell, also picked up Hockey East accolades on Monday as he was named the Rookie of the Week for the first time this season.

Joining Bjork on the All-Tournament Team were sophomore forward Andrew Oglevie, junior defenseman Jordan Gross and junior goaltender Cal Petersen.

Returning to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2011, the Fighting Irish will play Denver at 9:30 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, April 8 at the United Center in Chicago. The other semifinal game will feature Minnesota Duluth against Harvard at 6:00 p.m. (ET).

In The News

Of Note

  • The Irish have now reached the Frozen Four three times in school history (2008, 2011 and 2017).
  • Junior goaltender Cal Petersen made his 89th-consecutive start in the Notre Dame net, which is the fourth-longest streak in the NCAA Div. I records book.
  • Petersen has also appeared in 90 consecutive games, which is the fifth-longest mark in the NCAA Div. I records book.
  • Junior forward Anders Bjork has six points in three career NCAA Tournament games on three goals and three assists.
  • This season marks the eighth NCAA appearance by the Irish under head coach Jeff Jackson, dating back to 2006, and he led Notre Dame to the Frozen Four in 2008, 2011 and 2017.
  • The Irish moved up to No. 4 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

— 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).