Feb. 26, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team will open the first round of the CCHA playoffs at the Compton Family Ice Arena on Friday, March 2, when the Irish play host to the Ohio State Buckeyes in a 7:35 p.m. game. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for the series opener due to men’s basketball hosting Providence at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night.
Game two of the best-of-three series will be played on Saturday, March 3 at 7:35 p.m. and game three, if necessary will be played on Sunday, March 4 with a 7:05 p.m. start.
Notre Dame hockey fans are encouraged to wear white for the playoffs to create a “White Out” effect versus the Buckeyes and white pom-pons will be given away at the games.
Tickets for all three games of the first-round series will go on sale on Monday, February 27 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Murnane Family Ticket Office in Purcell Pavilion, online at UND.com or by phone at (574) 631-7356.
The two teams finished tied for eighth place in the CCHA standings – Notre Dame with a 12-13-3-0 conference mark, good for 39 points and Ohio State with an 11-12-5-1 record, for its 39 points. The Irish owned the first tiebreaker; conference wins (12-11) to take the eighth spot and home ice in the opening round.
Notre Dame and Ohio State played twice this season as the teams opened the 2011-12 CCHA schedule on Oct. 14-15 in the final games played at the Joyce Center. The Irish won the opening game, 5-2, and the Buckeyes took the Oct. 15 contest with a 4-3 victory.
The two schools have met three other times in the CCHA postseason, twice at Joe Louis Arena in the first round of the Super Six and once in the first round with Ohio State winning all four games. In 2002-03, the teams met at Joe Louis Arena with the Buckeyes taking a 3-2 win. The following year – 2003-04 – the Buckeyes handed Notre Dame a 6-5 overtime loss in the opening game of the Super Six. In 2009-10, the teams met in a first round series in Columbus, Ohio with the Buckeyes taking 3-1 and 8-2 wins to end the season for the Irish.
Ohio State leads the all-time series with a 31-27-9 record with the series tied at Notre Dame at 13-13-4. The Buckeyes have never played at the Compton Family Ice Arena.