WHO: Notre Dame (1-0-0) at Michigan Tech // at Northern Michigan
WHEN: Friday, October 15 at 7 p.m. ET // Saturday, October 16 at 6:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: John MacInnes Student Arena // Berry Event Center
WATCH: FloHockey (streaming only)
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
NOTES (PDF)
SETTING THE STAGE
- After opening the season with a 5-2 victory over Long Island on Saturday (Oct. 9), Notre Dame heads out on the road for the first time this season.
- The No. 17 Fighting Irish play at No. 16 Michigan Tech on Friday (Oct. 15), marking their first trip to Houghton since the 1981-82 season.
- Then Notre Dame plays at Northern Michigan on Saturday (Oct. 16), its first game in Marquette since October of 2012.
- During the shortened 2020-21 season Notre Dame was one of the top road teams in the country, posting a 9-2-1 mark away from Compton Family Ice Arena.
- Last Saturday against the Sharks, Nick Leivermann (1-1-2), Solag Bakich (1-1-2) and Trevor Janicke (2A) led a balanced offensive attack and graduate student Matthew Galajda made 15 saves to earn his first win with the Irish and the 61st win of his career.
- Freshman Hunter Strand scored his first career goal, while it marked Bakich’s first multi-point game and the first two assist game for Janicke.
- The 2021-22 season marks Notre Dame’s 17th under head coach Jeff Jackson and its fifth season in the Big Ten.
- Overall, it is the 53rd season of NCAA Division I hockey for Notre Dame.
- Notre Dame returns four of its top-five point scorers from 2020-21, including Graham Slaggert (7-18-25), Landon Slaggert (8-14-22), Nick Leivermann (5-12-17) and Max Ellis (5-11-16).
- The Irish welcome four graduate transfers into the fold for the 2021-22 campaign, including forward Jack Adams, defenseman Chase Blackmun, goaltender Matthew Galajda, and defenseman Adam Karashik.
- Five freshmen also join the Irish this season in forward Tyler Carpenter, defenseman Ryan Helliwell, forward Justin Janicke, forward Hunter Strand and defenseman Hunter Weiss.
- Goaltender Josh Graziano also transferred into the program as a sophomore, having last played collegiately at Union.
- Notre Dame has made each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, the longest streak in program history, and eight of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments overall.
THE MICHIGAN TECH SERIES
- Notre Dame and Michigan Tech have met 55 times, with Tech leading the all-time series 31-22-2 (15-9-2 at home).
- Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson was an assistant at Lake Superior State during Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawahan’s senior season.
- Former Irish All-American Bobby Nardella’s younger brother, Nick, is a sophomore forward at Michigan Tech.
- The Irish and Huskies last played on March 23, 2018 in a memorable NCAA East Regional semifinal game in Bridgeport, Connecticut that saw Notre Dame come away with a 4-3 overtime victory which led to an eventual appearance in the 2018 NCAA Championship game.
- In that contest, Michigan Tech’s Jake Jackson tied it late in the third period before Jordan Gross netted the overtime game winner at 16:24, with the assists going to Jake Evans and Jack Jenkins.
- Cale Morris posted 36 saves in the win, which was Notre Dame’s third of five straight victories to come in the last minute of play or in overtime as it claimed the Big Ten Tournament Championship and made the NCAA title game.
- Prior to the 2018 NCAA Regional meeting, the teams split a series on Jan 6-7, 2017 at Compton Family Ice Arena, with the Irish taking game one, 3-1, before the Huskies rebounded to take the second game, 4-2.
- The Irish have not traveled to Michigan Tech since the 1981-82 season when they split a two-game series at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
- Notre Dame hockey’s first intercollegiate game was at the Amphidrome in Houghton, Michigan (L, 7-2 versus the Michigan College of Mines on Feb. 3, 1921); while Notre Dame’s first win against another college came at the Colosseum in Calumet (W, 3-2 versus the Michigan College of Mines on Feb. 4, 1921).
- Also of note, legendary Notre Dame football player George Gipp hailed from Laurium, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula.
THE NORTHERN MICHIGAN SERIES
- Notre Dame and Northern Michigan have played 53 times, with the Irish holding the slight edge 24-21-8 in the all-time series.
- Notre Dame also leads the series 10-8-4 in games played at Northern Michigan and the Irish are 6-0-2 in their last eight meetings with the Wildcats.
- The teams last met on Nov. 27, 2018 when Cal Burke’s overtime goal lifted the Irish to a 2-1 victory at Compton Family Ice Arena.
- Current Notre Dame players Cam Burke, Graham Slaggert, Jake Pivonka and Spencer Stastney each played in that contest.
- The Fighting Irish last played at Northern Michigan on Oct. 26-27, 2012 when they posted a road sweep by winning game one 5-2 and coming back to take game two 3-2.
- Bryan Rust and Anders Lee each scored in the game one win, while Steven Fogarty had a pair of goals in the game two victory.