Mario Lucia has scored six goals in Notre Dame’s last six games (6-2-8).

Unbeaten Streak Sends Irish Into Top-10

Jan. 25, 2016

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – After a weekend Hockey East road sweep at New Hampshire to extend the nation’s longest unbeaten streak to 12 games (9-0-3), the Fighting Irish hockey team jumped up to No. 9 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and to No. 10 in the USCHO.com poll.

Prior to the weekend, the Irish were ranked 13th in both polls.

The last time Notre Dame reached the top-10 of the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll was the 2014-15 preseason release of the poll, which had the Irish at No. 10.

The Last time the Irish reached the top-10 of the USCHO.com poll was on March 24, 2014 when they were ranked ninth heading into NCAA Tournament play.

Notre Dame is back in action on Friday night (Jan. 29) when it plays host to No. 5 Boston College in a 7:35 p.m. game at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

The two teams met earlier this season in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts with the Irish posting a dramatic 4-3 comeback win to close out the first semester (Dec. 10).

Aside from being a top-10 matchup, Friday’s game will also feature the two teams currently tied for second in the Hockey East standings as the Eagles (9-1-4 HEA) and Irish (10-1-2 HEA) both have 22 points in the league standings.

Notes
— Notre Dame moved its unbeaten streak to 12 games (9-0-3) with the weekend sweep of New Hampshire, its longest unbeaten streak since going 17-0-3 from Oct. 31-Jan. 17, 2009. The unbeaten streak is now the fifth-longest in program history.

Cal Petersen, who has started 38 straight games dating back to last season, has a 1.58 goals-against average and an impressive .947 save percentage during the unbeaten streak and he was named the Hockey East’s Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season following the sweep of UNH.

— Notre Dame has scored first in 21 of 25 games this season, which is the highest number of first goals in the country.

— After scoring three goals in the first 19 games of the season, senior forward Mario Lucia has scored six goals in Notre Dame’s last six games (6-2-8).

Anders Bjork will enter Friday on a career-long, 10-game point streak (7-8-15).

— Notre Dame is unbeaten in the 12 games in which Steven Fogarty has notched at least one point this season (10-0-2).

— ND —

Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).