WHO: Notre Dame (12-12-2, 10-10-2-2-1-2 B1G) vs. Penn State (9-9-0, 7-9-0-2-1-0 B1G)
WHEN: Friday, March 5 – 7:45 p.m. ET | Saturday, March 6 – 5:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena
WATCH: Friday – NBCSN & NBCSports.com | Saturday – RSNs & NBCSports.com
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
NOTES (PDF)
FOR STARTERS
- Notre Dame closes out the regular season at home this weekend with a two-game series against Penn State (March 5-6).
- Last weekend, Notre Dame posted a pair of 2-0 wins at Michigan State (Feb. 26-27).
- Penn State will be coming off a pause, with their last games coming against the Irish in the teams’ weekend split on Jan. 28-29.
- Winning percentage in conference play will now determine the seedings heading into next week’s Big Ten Tournament (due to the unbalanced schedule).
- Senior goaltender Dylan St. Cyr was named the Big Ten’s Second Star of the Week following the back-to-back shutouts of the Spartans.
- St. Cyr led Notre Dame to a pair of 2-0 victories, stopping all 27 shots he faced in game one and then turning around and totaling 29 saves in game two for his second and third shutouts of the season and the fourth and fifth shutouts of his Irish career.
- Dating back to game two at Wisconsin (Feb. 20), St. Cyr has a shutout streak of 125:27.
- St. Cyr has started 12 of Notre Dame’s last 13 games dating back to the 2-1 win at Minnesota on Jan. 16 while posting a 2.07 goals against average and a .934 save percentage during that span.
- Matt Hellickson was named one of 10 Senior CLASS award finalists (March 3).
- Landon Slaggert was named the HCA’s NCAA Rookie of the Month for February following his 11 points (3-8-11) in eight games (March 3).
- Alex Steeves leads the Irish with 14 goals and 28 points and has at least one point in 19 games this season.
- Steeves’ 14 goals rank tied for sixth nationally, while his 13 goals in Big Ten play rank second to Cole Caufield (21).
THE NOTRE DAME-PENN STATE SERIES
- Notre Dame has a 11-5-4 all-time record/series lead against Penn State in games played while both teams were at the NCAA DI level (ND leads 14-6-4 including games against Penn State from 1983-85).
- Earlier this season, the teams each won an overtime game at the Pegula Ice Arena (Jan. 28-29), with Penn State taking game one 2-1 and the Irish winning game two 3-2.
- Spencer Stasney had the overtime winner in game two for Notre Dame.
- 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 (16 GP, 3-9-12), Colin Theisen (16 GP, 1-5-6), Graham Slaggert (11 GP, 2-3-5), Alex Steeves (11 GP, 4-1-5), Spencer Stastney (11 GP, 2-2-4) and Michael Graham (11 GP, 1-3-4).
- In net, Dylan St. Cyr has played in three games against the Nittany Lions including both starts earlier this season and he is 1-1-0 with a 3.11 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.
—ND—