WHO: Notre Dame (7-8-1, 5-6-1-0-1-1 B1G) at Penn State (8-8-0, 6-8-0-1-0-0 B1G)
WHEN: Thursday, January 28 – 6 p.m. ET | Friday, January 29 – 6 p.m. ET
WHERE: Pegula Ice Arena, University Park, Pa.
WATCH: Thursday & Friday – BTN+
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
GAME NOTES (PDF)
FOR STARTERS
- The Fighting Irish head back out on the road after suffering a home sweep against seventh-ranked Michigan (Jan. 21-22), just one week after sweeping then top-ranked Minnesota on the road (Jan. 15-16).
- Penn State is coming off a weekend split with Wisconsin, dropping game one 4-1 (Jan. 21) before rebounding to take game two 5-4 (Jan. 22).
- Notre Dame (18 points) and Penn State (17 points) sit in fourth and fifth, respectively in the Big Ten standings heading into this week’s series.
- Notre Dame is 2-0-1 in the last three meetings with the Nittany Lions.
- Penn State is the only Big Ten team Notre Dame has yet to play at least twice this season thus far.
- The Irish are 4-0-0 on the road this season, posting series sweeps at Michigan (Nov. 27-28) and at Minnesota (Jan. 15-16).
- The Irish are the only team in the country with at least four road games played and an undefeated record (Lake Superior State is 3-0-0).
- Notre Dame’s seven game-winning goals this season have been scored by six players: Jesse Lansdell, Alex Steeves, Grant Silianoff, Graham Slaggert (2), Nick Leivermann and Max Ellis.
THE NOTRE DAME-PENN STATE SERIES
- Notre Dame has a 10-4-4 all-time record/series lead against Penn State in games played while both teams were at the NCAA DI level (ND leads 13-5-4 including games against Penn State from 1983-85).
- Last season, the Fighting Irish went 3-1-0 against Penn State as the teams split a series at the Compton Family Ice Arena as Penn State won game one 4-2 (Dec. 13) and a 4-2 Notre Dame win on Dec. 13.
- Then at Penn State, the teams skated to a 3-3 tie in game one (Jan. 31), with Cam Burke’s shootout winner securing the extra point, and Notre Dame posted a 4-2 win in game two (Feb. 1).
- In 2018-19, the teams met five times, culminating in Notre Dame’s 3-2 win in the Big Ten Championship game on March 24, 2019.
- Spencer Stastney, Cal Burke and Cam Morrison (game winner) scored for the Irish in the championship game, while Cale Morris made 46 saves en route to earning Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors for the second consecutive season.
- That championship game win over Penn State marked the 500th career victory for head coach Jeff Jackson.
- In 2017-18, Notre Dame was undefeated in five contests against Penn State (4-0-1) including a Big Ten Tournament semifinal victory..
- In the 2018 Big Ten Tournament semifinals at the Compton Family Ice Arena, Jack Jenkins netted the game winner with 31 seconds left in regulation for a 3-2 win, propelling the Irish to the championship and sparking their “cardiac kids” run where they won five straight games by scoring the game-winner in the final minute of regulation or in overtime.
- Notre Dame’s career offensive leaders against Penn State include Matt Hellickson (14 GP, 3-9-12) and Michael Graham (9 GP, 1-3-4).
- In net, neither senior Dylan St. Cyr nor sophomore Ryan Bischel has started against the Nittany Lions as 2020 graduate Cale Morris went 9-3-2 in 14 career starts against Penn State over the previous three seasons.
—ND—