Irish Faceoff With Friars For Frozen Four Berth

March 23, 2018

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut — The University of Notre Dame hockey team looks for its fourth Frozen Four bid on Saturday, March 24, when the Fighting Irish take on second-seeded Providence College.

The Irish and Friars, former Hockey East foes until the Irish moved to the Big Ten and won both league titles in their first season in the league, will meet at 6 p.m. ET at Webster Bank Arena. The game can be seen live on ESPNU and WatchESPN, while the radio call is available on 94.3 FM in South Bend and worldwide on UND.com.

Notre Dame (26-9-2) advanced to the regional final thanks to a 4-3 overtime victory against fourth-seeded Michigan Tech on Friday. Jordan Gross scored twice for the Irish, including the game-winning goal. Providence (24-11-4) advanced thanks to a 1-0 victory over the three seed, Clarkson, on Friday night.

Countdown To Puck Drop

156 | Senior defenseman Jordan Gross has skated in 156 consecutive games (each game of his Irish career).
94 | With 94 career assists, Jake Evans (38-94-128) ranks second in career assists by an active player (Brady Ferguson of Robert Morris has 101).
80 | Junior defenseman Dennis Gilbert ranks 10th nationally with 80 blocked shots this season. He totaled 70 blocks as a freshman and 78 as a sophomore.
27 | The Fighting Irish are outscoring opponents by a combined 27 goals over the second, third and overtime periods this season (82-55).
25 | With a 25-7-1 record, sophomore goaltender and Hobey Baker Top 10 Finalist Cale Morris leads the nation in victories.
21 | Notre Dame is 21-2-2 this season when scoring first.
13 | Head coach Jeff Jackson is in his 13th season behind the Notre Dame bench. He has led the Irish to nine NCAA tournament appearances and three Frozen Fours.
7 | With the 2018 Big Ten tournament and regular season titles, Notre Dame has now won seven conference championships in program history, each under Jeff Jackson (three regular season).
.945 | Hobey Baker Top 10 Finalist Cale Morris has a .945 save percentage, which leads the nation. He has posted the impressive save percentage while playing 21 games against the nation’s top-15 scoring offenses (ranked by goals per game).

For Starters

• Notre Dame marches on in its 10th NCAA Championship appearance after a 4-3 overtime victory against fourth-seeded Michigan Tech in the East Regional Semifinal on Friday, March 23.
• The victory gave the Irish three one-goal victories in as many postseason games.
• In 18 total NCAA tournament games for Notre Dame, seven have gone to overtime with the Irish posting a 5-2 record.
• This is the third consecutive NCAA appearance by the Irish, who are the only program in the 16-team championship field to have won their league regular season and tournament titles.
• The Irish are the second national seed in the field and with a record of 26-9-2 are now the top remaining seed thanks to Air Force’s upset of St. Cloud State in the first round.
• Notre Dame won the Big Ten regular-season title with a 17-6-1-1 league mark before capturing the B1G tournament championship thanks to a 3-2 overtime victory over Ohio State.
• Notre Dame has won three previous conference tournament championships including CCHA Tournament titles in 2007, 2009 and 2013.
• Hobey Baker Top 10 Finalist Cale Morris leads the nation in save percentage (.945) and victories (25). The sophomore net minder was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and Goaltender of the Year while collecting first team all-conference accolades. He made 36 saves in Notre Dame’s opening round win over Michigan Tech.
• Morris was joined on the first team All-Big Ten by seniors Jake Evans and Jordan Gross. Evans leads the Irish with 41 points (11-30-41) on the season, while Gross has 25 points (10-17-27). The duo connected for the game-winning goal against Michigan Tech, with Gross scoring from Evans and Jack Jenkins.
• Notre Dame is 9-9-0 all-time in the NCAA Tournament (9-8-0 under Jeff Jackson) and has advanced to the Frozen Four on three occasions. The most recent Frozen Four trip came a season ago, when the Irish won regional games against Minnesota and UMass Lowell before falling to eventual national champion Denver in the semifinals.
• Notre Dame entered the NCAA tournament having played more games against the field than any other institution (16). The Irish own a 10-4-2 record in games against the other 15 teams still competing, a record only topped by Denver’s 11-1-2 record versus the field. Along with Denver, Michigan (5-9-0) and Penn State (3-9-2) also own 14 games against the NCAA field.

Irish In Regional Finals

• Notre Dame will be playing in an NCAA Regional final for the fifth time in program history, with the Irish owning a 3-1 record in their previous four appearances (all under head coach Jeff Jackson).
• Last season, the Irish beat UMass Lowell in the NCAA Northeast Regional final in Manchester, New Hampshire on the strength of Andrew Oglevie‘s overtime goal scored at 2:44, with the assists going to Anders Bjork and Dylan Malmquist.
• The Irish also posted NCAA Regional Final wins in 2008 (3-1 over Michigan State in Grand Rapids, Michigan) and 2011 (2-1 over New Hampshire in Manchester, New Hampshire).

Quick Hits

• Jake Evans (39-94-133) now ranks tied for 22nd all-time in program history for career points and 15th in program history for career assists.
• Evans has skated in 128 consecutive games dating back to his freshman season.
• Dennis Gilbert is the only defenseman in the country with multiple shorthanded goals this season (two).
• Andrew Oglevie and Evans are tied for 16th in the country with four game-winning goals apiece.
• The Fighting Irish are ninth in the country in scoring defense with a 2.19 goals against per game mark and their penalty kill ranks second (88.7), trailing only Ohio State’s penalty kill of 89.3 percent.
• Jordan Gross, who has played in all 156 games of his Irish career, leads all active defensemen with 118 career points on 36 goals and 82 assists (Mark Auk of Michigan Tech and Garret Cockerill of Northeastern are tied for second with 84 points each).
• The Irish are 15-6-2 against ranked opponents this season.

Providence Connections

• Notre Dame and Providence have played 15 times with the Irish leading the all-time series, 8-5-2.
• The teams have not previously met in the NCAA tournament.
• Former Hockey East foes from the 2013-14 to 2016-17 seasons, the Irish and Friars played 10 times in that span with Notre Dame posting a 5-3-2 mark in those 10 games.
• Last season, Notre Dame went 3-0-1 against Providence, including a Hockey East quarterfinal sweep on March 10-11 at the Compton Family Ice Arena by scores of 5-0 and 5-2.
• Notre Dame’s offensive leaders versus the Friars include Jake Evans (8 GP, 3-4-7), Jordan Gross (8 GP, 2-3-5), Andrew Oglevie (4 GP, 1-4-5), Dennis Gilbert (6 GP, 0-5-5), Jack Jenkins (6 GP, 2-2-4), Cam Morrison (4 GP, 2-2-4) and Bobby Nardella (6 GP, 2-2-4).
• Current Notre Dame associate head coach Paul Pooley served as Providence College’s head coach from 1994-2005, leading the Friars to the 1996 Hockey East title and to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1996 and 2001.
• Both the Irish and Friars have starting goaltenders from Colorado, with Cale Morris hailing from Larkspur and Providence’s Hayden Hawkey calling Parker home.
• Irish head coach Jeff Jackson is 8-3-2 all-time against the Friars, including 2-0-0 in the Hockey East playoffs.