June 21, 2017
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame hockey team announced its 2017-18 schedule Wednesday. The Fighting Irish will play 24 Big Ten conference games as part of their inaugural season as an affiliate member.
REGULAR-SEASON BREAKDOWN
34 — Games
24 — Big Ten games
20 – Home games
14 — Road games
10 — Non-conference games
10 — Games against teams that participated in the 2017 NCAA Championship
Fans can subscribe to all of Notre Dame’s schedules including hockey, here: und.com/ecal
EARLY SEASON HOMESTAND
October looks to be another busy month for the Irish as they open the 2017-2018 season with a nine-game homestand, including an exhibition game against the USNTDP team (Oct. 1) and the regular-season home opener against Alabama-Huntsville (Oct. 6-7). The Irish will also play 2017 Frozen Four foe Denver (Oct. 13-14).
The Irish will also play host to Sacred Heart (Oct. 19-20), marking the first series between the two teams since the Irish swept the Pioneers to open the 2008-09 season. The Irish close out October with a two-game series against former CCHA opponent Nebraska-Omaha (Oct. 26-27).
INAUGURAL SEASON IN THE BIG TEN
The Irish will start their Big Ten tenure against Ohio State (Nov. 3-4) in their first road series of the season. The Irish last faced the Buckeyes in the 2014 Shillelagh Tournament and will make their first trip to Columbus since 2013.
Notre Dame will host Penn State for the first Big Ten clash at the Compton Family Ice Arena (Nov. 10-11) before heading to RPI (Nov. 17-18) to wrap up non-conference action.
The Irish will then welcome Minnesota to town. Last season, the Irish knocked the Gophers out of the 2016-17 NCAA tournament with a 3-2 win in first-round play at the Northeast Regional.
Notre Dame will close out the first half of the season on the road, with a series against Michigan State (Dec. 1-2) before heading to Wisconsin to face the Badgers (Dec. 8-9).
The New Year brings a home-and-home series against Michigan with the first game being held in Ann Arbor (Jan. 5), before returning to Notre Dame (Jan. 7).
Notre Dame’s second semester schedule consists of 12 straight Big Ten games before heading into the postseason. The six-week slate of games includes a home series against Wisconsin (Jan. 19-20), road series at Minnesota (Jan. 26-27) and Penn State (Feb. 2-3), a home series against Ohio State (Feb. 9-10), another home-and-home series against Michigan (Feb. 16 and 18) and a home series against Michigan State (Feb. 23-24).
B1G POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT
The 2018 Big Ten Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament will feature a new three-weekend format with all games taking place on the campus of the higher-seeded teams. The tournament will open March 2-4 with three best-of-three quarterfinal series, as the second-, third- and fourth-seeded teams will each host a series. The top-seeded team will have a bye to the single-elimination semifinals, which are scheduled for Saturday, March 10. The highest-seeded team remaining after the semifinals will host a championship game scheduled for Saturday, March 17.
SEASON TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE
Notre Dame hockey season tickets will be available this summer. If you would like to become a new season-ticket holder, deposits are being accepted via the link here. By placing your deposit, you will be contacted with season ticket locations before additional sales will be made to the general public.
— 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).