WHO: #11/12 Notre Dame (21-9-0, 13-7-0-5-1-0 B1G) at Michigan State (11-18-1, 5-15-0-1-0-0 B1G)
WHEN: Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. ET // Saturday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. ET
WHERE: Munn Ice Arena
WATCH: BTN Plus
LISTEN: 94.3 FM | UND.com
SETTING THE STAGE
- Notre Dame will return to the road this weekend for a two-game series at Michigan State, marking the final regular-season road series for the Irish (7 p.m. on Feb. 18-19).
- The Fighting Irish are 8-4-0 on the road this season.
- Notre Dame is coming off a series split at Wisconsin, dropping game one 5-3 (Feb. 12) before rallying to take game two, 3-2 (Feb. 13).
- With the win over the Badgers, Notre Dame locked up a top-four seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
- Trevor Janicke had the game-winning goal and added an assist to lead the Irish to the game two win, while Matthew Galajda made 30 saves to earn the win.
- The Fighting Irish head into the weekend fourth in the Big Ten standings with 35 points, while Michigan State ranks seventh with 14 points.
- Jesse Lansdell carries a career-long, four-game point streak (2-2-4) into the weekend.
- Max Ellis leads the Irish with a career-best 27 points on a team-high 16 goals and 11 assists.
- Ellis’ 16 goals rank tied for 12th in the country (tied for third in the Big Ten).
- Since returning from break on Jan. 1, Spencer Stastney has three goals and 10 assists for 13 points in 13 games and he has at least one point in 10 of the 13 games.
- Stastney has a career-high 22 points on five goals and 17 assists.
- Trevor Janicke ranks second on the team with a career-high 12 goals and has scored a goal in five of Notre Dame’s last seven games.
- The Irish are 15-1-0 when scoring first this season and 19-1-0 when scoring at least three goals.
- Notre Dame is 6-2-0 in overtime this season, with the OT game-winning goals coming from Cam Burke (at Michigan Tech), Ryder Rolston (at Michigan), Max Ellis (at Michigan and at Penn State), Spencer Stastney (at Ohio State) and Landon Slaggert (vs. Minnesota).
- 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 five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the second-longest active streak in the NCAA, trailing only Minnesota Duluth (6), with Minnesota State (3) and St Cloud State (3) tied for third.
THE NOTRE DAME – MICHIGAN STATE SERIES
- Former CCHA rivals, the Irish and Spartans have met 133 times dating back to their first meeting in 1926, which was played at the University Rink in East Lansing, Michigan (Notre Dame won the first game, 3-1).
- All-time, the Spartans lead the series 70-48-15.
- The first meetings as a Notre Dame varsity sport were in the 1970-71 season when the Spartans came to South Bend and split a weekend series: Michigan State took the first game 10-5, before the Irish bounced back for a 4-3 victory the second night.
- Since the turn of the century (2000-01 season), the Irish hold the advantage as Notre Dame is 25-22-10 against Michigan State since 2000.
- Of those 55 games, 13 have gone to overtime and 19 have been decided by a single goal.
- Since joining the Big Ten, Notre Dame is 11-5-4 against Michigan State.
- The teams met earlier this season at Compton Family Ice Arena, with Notre Dame posting a 3-2 win in game one (Dec. 10) and Michigan State rebounding to take game two in overtime by a 1-0 score (Dec. 11).
- In that game one win, a pair of second period goals by Spencer Stastney and a third period game winner by Nick Leivermann erased a 2-0 Spartan lead, while Matthew Galajda earned the win with 22 saves.
- The Fighting Irish limited Michigan State to nine shots on goal over the final two periods in that victory.
- In game two, the Irish outshot the Spartans 30-24, but Drew DeRidder earned the shutout with Mitchell Lewandowski accounting for the overtime game winner.
- Ryan Bischel started that second game, stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced.
- Irish head coach Jeff Jackson is 34-20-12 all-time against his alma mater Michigan State (including his time at Lake Superior State).
- Jackson graduated from Michigan State in 1978 with a degree in communications, followed by an education degree in 1979.
- Jackson coached current Michigan State head coach Danton Cole and current Spartan assistant Chris Luongo during their junior hockey days with the Detroit Falcons and then Jackson also coached Cole during the 1983-84 season with the Fraser Flags of the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League (GLJHL).
- The current Notre Dame roster features Michigan natives: Max Ellis (Canton, Michigan) and Ryder Rolston (Birmingham, Michigan).
- Notre Dame’s career offensive leaders against the Spartans include Graham Slaggert (16 GP, 3-5-8), Spencer Stastney (16 GP, 2-4-6) and Nick Leivermann (15 GP, 2-3-5).
BALANCED ATTACK
- The Fighting Irish have seen several players step up and contribute to the offense throughout the 2021-22 season, with Notre Dame averaging 3.46 goals per game which ranks seventh in the country (third in the Big Ten).
- An impressive 16 players have double-digit point totals, including four players with at least 20 points on the season.
- Nineteen Notre Dame players have scored this season, while 22 have at least one point.
- In Notre Dame’s sweep of Penn State on Feb. 4-5, 10 Irish skaters accounted for the 10 Fighting Irish goals as Notre Dame took game one 7-2 and followed with a 3-0 win in game two.
- With Notre Dame facing several injuries in that series against the Nittany Lions, freshmen forwards Justin Janicke and Tyler Carpenter each scored their first career goals, while graduate transfer defensemen Adam Karashik and Chase Blackmun each netted their first goals with Notre Dame.
TOPS IN THE NATION
- The Fighting Irish boast the nation’s top penalty kill at 92.73% on the season (102-for-110).
- Notre Dame has also scored six shorthanded goals this season (Max Ellis 2, Cam Burke 2, Spencer Stastney, Graham Slaggert), which ranks tied for second in the country.
- The best year-end penalty kill percentage for the Irish came in 2006-07 when they posted a .904 mark, which currently ranks fourth in the NCAA records book.
- The top marks in the NCAA Records book:
- .920 — Michigan State (1998-99)
- .911 — Michigan State (2000-01)
- .909 — Michigan State (19997-98)
- .904 — Notre Dame (2006-07)
- .903 — Cornell (2000-01)
— ND —