Irish Return From Bye Week To Host Gophers

WHO: Notre Dame (12-11-5, 7-7-4-3 B1G) vs. Minnesota (13-11-4, 8-6-4-3 B1G)
WHEN: Friday, February 14 – 7 p.m. ET | Saturday, February 15 – 6 p.m. ET
WHERE: Compton Family Ice Arena
WATCH: Friday – NBCSN | Saturday –NBC Sports Chicago/Philadelphia+
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
TICKETS: Click here
GAME NOTES (PDF)

FOR STARTERS

• The Irish return to action after having the Big Ten bye last weekend to play host to Minnesota for a two-game series at Compton Family Ice Arena (Feb. 14-15).
• Notre Dame last played when it went 1-0-1 at Penn State, including a shootout win to earn the extra point, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and the Irish carry a three-game unbeaten streak into the weekend (2-0-1).
• Minnesota is coming off a weekend home split with Michigan State, taking game one 4-1 (Feb. 7) before the Spartans bounced back with a 4-2 win in game two (Feb. 8).
• Overall, the Gophers head to Notre Dame having won five of their last six games.
• Minnesota (31 points) sits in a three-way tied for second in the league standings, while Notre Dame (28 points) is three points back and in fifth.
• The top six teams are now separated by just six points in the standings (teams are awarded three points/win). with three weekends of regular-season play remaining.
• First-place Penn State, tied for second Ohio State and seventh-place Wisconsin are the teams who still have B1G bye weekends remaining.
• Cal Burke (3-1-4) has an active four-game point streak, while Cam Morrison (1-2-3) has a three-game point streak and Jake Pivonka (0-2-2) has a two-game point streak.
• In 10 games since Notre Dame returned from the winter break with a Jan. 3 game against Western Michigan, Alex Steeves has five goals and six assists for 11 points to take over the team lead in scoring with 22 points (9-13-22).
• Freshman forward Max Ellis was the most recent Fighting Irish player to score a goal this season when he netted the game winner in Notre Dame’s 3-0 victory over Penn State (Dec. 14), becoming Notre Dame’s 17th goal scorer this season.
• The Fighting Irish have posted six comeback wins this season, including three third period comebacks (both wins over Ohio State and the overtime victory at Wisconsin.
• Notre Dame has added a third period comeback tie and shootout win at Michigan State (Nov. 22) and at Penn State (Jan. 31).
• The Irish are 2-0-5 in overtime this season, with game-winning goals from Pierce Crawford (vs. Ohio State on Nov. 8) and Alex Steeves (at Wisconsin on Nov. 16).

NOTRE DAME — MINNESOTA SERIES

• Minnesota leads the all-time series 30-21-4 dating back to 1924-25 when the Irish lost 2-1 in overtime in the first meeting.
• Notre Dame recognizes its first win over Minnesota in 1926-27 when the Irish shutout their opponent, 2-0, in Minneapolis.
• Twenty-three contests between the two teams have been decided by a single goal, with the Irish narrowly leading that category 13-10.
• The teams have played each of the last eight seasons.
• Before the Irish joined the Big Ten, those meetings largely overlapped with Mario Lucia’s time at Notre Dame from 2012-16 (Mario is the son of former Minnesota head coach Don Lucia – a 1981 Notre Dame graduate/former defenseman).
• Earlier this season the Irish went 1-0-1 in Minneapolis (Nov. 1-2), including a game one, 2-2 tie (Minnesota won the 3-on-3 ot) and a game two, 5-3 victory.
• In the game two victory, Nick Leivermann notched his first career multi-point game with a pair of goals and Spencer Stastney, Charlie Raith and Trevor Janicke also scored for the Irish.
• Raith’s goal was the first of his career and proved to be the game winner.
• Minnesota took last season’s regular-season series with a 3-1-0 record but the Irish were able to post a 2-1 Big Ten Tournament semifinal win in overtime on March 17 en route to ultimately claiming a second consecutive Big Ten Tournament Championship.
• Including Cam Morrison for the Irish, each team scored in the first period of that semifinal game before Michael Graham broke the deadlock 53 seconds into overtime with a game-winning power-play tally.
• Mike O’Leary assisted on both Irish goals, while Cale Morris finished with 25 saves.
• Morris is 6-3-1 in 10 career starts against Minnesota with a 1.78 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage.
• Notre Dame’s active career leaders against the Gophers include Cam Morrison (11 GP, 1-10-11), Cal Burke (10 GP, 2-4-6) and Mike O’Leary (12 GP, 2-2-4).
• Three of sophomore defenseman Nick Leivermann’s four career goals have come against the Gophers.

GOALTENDER WIN TOTALS

• Senior goaltender Cale Morris is 55-31-9 in his Irish career.
• Morris is the fifth Fighting Irish goaltender to reach 50 career wins and he is climbing the all-time Notre Dame wins list:

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