The Irish return home after a tough road trip at Michigan
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team returns to South Bend this weekend after two straight series in Michigan and five straight losses. Their opponent to try to get back on track this weekend are the Minnesota Golden Gophers who are currently ranked #4 in the country and come into these games with a 10-2 record. Things are not getting easier for a Notre Dame team that needs a win badly.
Where, When, How to Watch
- Where: Compton Family Ice Arena, Notre Dame, IN
- When: Friday, November 22, 7pm ET; Saturday, November 23, 6pm ET
- How to Watch: Both games streaming on Peacock
Notre Dame had two of their worst games of the season last weekend, losing twice at Michigan State just a week after losing twice at Michigan. The Irish surrendered 12 goals in two games in East Lansing and only managed to score 6. They now play a very good Minnesota team with the much anticipated trip to Belfast just over a week away.
Just when it seemed like Owen Say was taking control of the Irish net he had his worst game of the season, allowing seven goals to Michigan State before being pulled in the first game of the series. After starting five straight games he was back on the bench for game two and we may be looking at split series in net once again. Despite the rough showing though Say still has a .934 save percentage, but his GAA jumped up over 2 all the way to 2.42. Every player has a bad game, it is just a lot more noticeable when it happens to your starting goalie. One bad game does not wipe out the strong start to Say’s season, but if they do return to a timeshare they have a strong alternative in Nicholas Kempf who is not far behind Say statistically in a smaller workload.
The silver lining for the Irish is that the six goals they scored in the series was the most they’ve had since playing Long Island nearly a month ago. The even better news is that the secondary scoring began to step up and add to the points totals with several players having multiple points to edge closer to the double digit mark, including three points from Blake Biondi. Cole Knuble and Justin Janicke are still the only two players to hit the double digit total but several more are within striking distance.
Notre Dame and Minnesota played to a split 2-2 record a year ago and meet this weekend for the first time this season. Notre Dame returns a few underclassmen who had strong showings against the Gophers last season like Danny Nelson with 3 points in one game and Paul Fischer with 2. Minnesota is a different team this season though and they are off to an excellent start. They are first in the Big Ten with an undefeated conference record and have only lost two games so far on the season. They are loaded with NHL draft picks including multiple first rounders and boast a starting goalie whose statistics look like Owen Say’s before last weekend.
Prediction
Notre Dame needs a win badly, but they couldn’t have picked a tougher team to play against at the moment. Minnesota is a national title favorite and is playing like one with multiple ways to beat opponents. If the Irish can get a series split they should consider the weekend a success but they are at risk of their third straight sweep.