Feb. 22, 2017
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 13/14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will end the regular season with a pivotal two-game series at No. 5/6 Boston University this weekend (February 24-25), which will determine final playoff seeding and, possibly, the Hockey East Championship.
Third-place Notre Dame (26 points) could still finish anywhere between first and fifth, depending on this weekend’s results. But at least one point would secure a top-four finish for the Irish. Second-place Boston University (27 points) is locked into finishing between first and fourth.
The Irish are now 4-0-2 over their last six games, which is their longest unbeaten streak of the season, while the Terriers are coming off a 1-0-1 weekend against New Hampshire, including an 8-4 win in game two.
“They have a great goaltender and a lot of highly skilled forwards,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson. “You’re going to play defense against BU, you have no choice — so the less you turn pucks over in key areas certainly makes the ice less stretched out.”
In addition to second-place Boston University hosting the third-place Irish, first-place Boston College will play a home-and-home series versus fourth-place UMass Lowell in a series that will begin on Thursday night (February 23).
Games 31 & 32
Matchup: Notre Dame at Boston University
Date: Friday, February 24 | Saturday, February 25
Time: 6:05 p.m. ET | 7:05 p.m. ET
Site: Boston, Massachusetts
Arena: Agganis Arena
Television: ASN (Friday) | None (Saturday)
Play-By-Play: Tim Neverett
Analyst: Billy Jaffe
Live Streaming: americansportsnet.com/live | campusinsiders.com/live
Live Radio | Audio: WZOC 94.3 FM & WatchND
Play-by-Play: Darin Pritchett
Live Stats: Hockeyeastonline.com
Live Updates: @NDHockey
Series History: ND leads 7-4-2 (13 games)
Notes To Know
- With an assist in last Saturday’s 3-3 tie versus Providence, junior forward Anders Bjork became the 51st player in program history to reach 100 career points.
- Junior goaltender Cal Petersen has started 82 consecutive games in the Irish net dating back to a 5-1 win over Maine on Feb. 7, 2015. It is the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history (men’s DI).
- Notre Dame is one of just four schools with three of the nation’s top-30 scorers, including Anders Bjork (19-24-43), Andrew Oglevie (18-16-34) and Jake Evans (10-23-33).
- The Irish are now 4-0-2 over their last six games, which is their longest unbeaten streak of the season and it is tied for the eighth-longest active unbeaten streak in the country.
- Notre Dame is the only team in the league to have won or tied each of its Hockey East series so far this season.
Irish Streaks And Trends
- Dennis Gilbert has a career-long, five-game point streak (0-9-9) and he also has 13 assists over the last 11 games.
- Anders Bjork has a four-game point streak (3-2-5).
- Jake Evans has a three-game point streak (1-3-4) and dating back to Dec. 2, Evans has notched at least one point in 16 of Notre Dame’s last 18 games (7-14-21).
- Bobby Nardella has a three-game point streak (1-3-4).
- Tory Dello has a two-game point streak (0-2-2).
- The Irish are 9-3-2 since returning from break (December 31).
Series Quick Hits
- Cal Petersen is 2-1-1 all-time against Boston University with a 1.73 goals against average and a .952 save percentage.
- Boston University (20 years and 108 days) and Notre Dame (20 years and 272) days opened the season with the second- and third-youngest rosters based on average age (research by College Hockey Inc.).
- The Notre Dame (8) and Boston University (10) rosters include a combined 18 NHL Draft selections.
— 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).