The Irish are back on the road for a conference matchup
For the second straight week, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team is on the road in the state of Michigan. A week ago they lost both games to the Michigan Wolverines. This time around they will be taking on the Michigan State Spartans and looking for a better result.
Where, When, How to Watch
- Where: Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing Michigan
- When: Friday, November 15, 7pm ET; Saturday, November 16, 8pm ET
- How to Watch: Both games streaming on B1G+
While it is early in the season, Notre Dame has not had the best start to conference play so far. They currently hold a 1-3 record which is good for sixth of seven teams ahead of only the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Irish are now 5-5 on the season and have fallen out of the top 20 teams in the rankings. Meanwhile their opponent this weekend, Michigan State, is ranked #4 in the country.
On the back end, Notre Dame goaltender Owen Say continued his strong start to the season. He made a career high 45 saves in game one last weekend and is third best in the country so far this season with a .953 save percentage. He has allowed more than two goals only once this season. Say has taken control of the starting net and will continue to be a two game per series starter as long as he plays even close to this level.
While Say has been the best Irish player in preventing goals, the scoring is still led by Cole Knuble with some help from Justin Janicke. Those two are the only Irish players with double digit points on the season and are averaging at least a point per game each. After them are a pair of defensemen in Axel Kumlin and Michael Mastrodomenico with 5 points each. While the scoring needs to pick up for Notre Dame the encouraging thing is that the entire lineup is getting involved, just not at the rate needed. While only two players have double digit points there are only three regulars who have played in every Irish game so far and not recorded a point.
Goal scoring has been as big an issue for the Spartans this season as it has for Notre Dame. They have the same number of overall team goals but have only one player with double digit points. On defense and especially in goal is where they have excelled so far this season. Both goalies for the Spartans have over a .940 save percentage. Regular starter Trey Augustine is allowing only 1.57 goals per game and he lost just once in seven starts. He’s also familiar with Notre Dame, having played them four times last year and winning three of those matchups.
Prediction
As mentioned above, Notre Dame went just 1-3 against Michigan State last year and many of the major pieces return for both teams from a year ago. The good news for Notre Dame is that, the way these teams are built, we should expect to see two low scoring games. When the margins are tight any bounce can change the game and if Notre Dame can find a way to come away with a split this weekend it will be a success.