WHO: #6/6 Notre Dame (11-5-1) vs. Boston College (6-6-2)
WHEN: Monday, December 31 – 5 p.m.
WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena
WATCH: NBC Sports Chicago+, NBC Sports Philadelphia+ & SNY
LISTEN: Click here
TICKETS: Click here
THE SERIES VS. BOSTON COLLEGE
- Boston College holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 21-19-3. The series began Dec. 20, 1969 and, since 1995, the teams have met every season except for three (1999-2000, 2005-06 and 2017-18).
- In 2016-17, the Irish and Eagles split their regular-season Hockey East series in the most recent meetings between the two teams (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 most recent 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.
- 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.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- 307 – In his 14th season, head coach Jeff Jackson now has 307 career wins at Notre Dame (307-182-55). Notre Dame’s all-time wins leader is Lefty Smith (307-320-31).
- 50 – Notre Dame is embarking upon the 50th season of varsity hockey at the University
- 38 – Over the last two seasons to date, the Fighting Irish have racked up 38 wins which ranks second in the NCAA behind only Minnesota State’s 41 (entering games on Dec. 28, 2018).
- 19 – Former Fighting Irish goaltender Cal Petersen, who led Notre Dame to the 2017 Frozen Four, made his NHL debut for Los Angeles on Nov. 13, becoming the 19th player to reach the NHL after skating for Jeff Jackson at Notre Dame.
- 11 – Since 2003, Notre Dame leads the series with Boston College with an 11-8-0 mark.
- 7 – With the 2018 Big Ten tournament and regular season titles, Notre Dame has now won even conference championships in program history, each under Jeff Jackson (three regular season)
- 2 – Against Mercyhurst on Oct. 12, junior Cal Burke notched a third period hat trick — the second of his career. He became the first Irish player since Anders Lee with multiple career hat tricks.
- 1.00 – At 1.00, Bobby Nardella is tied for eighth in the country in points per game among defensemen. Nardella has 17 points on five goals and 12 assists.
OTHER TIDBITS
- After a one-year hiatus with the Fighting Irish joining the Big Ten prior to the start of the 2017-18 season, Notre Dame and Boston College renew their rivalry, which included four seasons as conference foes in Hockey East.
- The Irish went into break after splitting a weekend road series at No. 9/10 Penn State (Dec. 7-8). Penn State’s game two win snapped Notre Dame’s seven-game winning streak.
- At the break, the Irish were one of eight teams with at least 11 wins on the season and they were sixth in the pairwise comparison rankings, used to determine NCAA tournament selections (the national break ended on Dec. 28).
- Notre Dame won eight of their final 10 games of the first semester (8-2-0) after starting the season 3-3-1 (last season the Irish also started 3-3-1 before putting together a program record 16-game winning streak).
- Notre Dame has played seven games this season in which the Irish and their opponent have both been ranked inside the top-10 at the time of puck drop (ND is 3-4-0 in those contests).
Let’s Take This Outside
- Notre Dame and Michigan will meet at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 5, 2019 in an outdoor game at Notre Dame Stadium.
- The rivals will meet four days following the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® featuring the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, on January 1, 2019.
- Just four months after Notre Dame and Michigan met in a football game at Notre Dame Stadium that saw the Irish post a 24-17 victory, the rivalry will take to the ice in the House That Rockne Built in a game that will be televised by the NBC Sports Network.
- Tickets for the game versus Michigan went on sale beginning on Monday, Nov. 5.
- Visit und.com/buytickets or call 833-ND-IRISH and keep up to date with all ticketing information by following us on Twitter @NDtix.