The Irish close out their opening semester with a visit to the Buckeyes
Last time the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team took the ice it was for two games in Belfast, Ireland. They split those games with the Harvard University Crimson and Boston University Terriers, finishing second in the 2024 Friendship Four in the process. Their opening game win against Harvard was their first in almost a month, and now they are back in action to close out their opening semester before the holidays. This time they go into their break with two games visiting the Ohio State Buckeyes, one of the better teams in the Big Ten.
Where, When, How to Watch
- Where: Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
- When: Friday, December 13, 7pm ET; Saturday, December 14, 7pm ET
- How to Watch: Game one is streaming on B1G+ while game two will air on BTN
Notre Dame comes into their only series in December after slogging through a tough month of November. They made it out with only two win in the month and enter the weekend with a 6-10 record overall and only a 1-7 record in conference play. Ohio State meanwhile is ranked #15/16 in the country and has a record of 11-4-1 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten.
One of the main reasons for Notre Dame’s struggles so far this season has been their lack of depth scoring specifically, but their lack of scoring in general as well. The Irish are firmly middle of the pack in goals scored this season, with 46 goals scored in 16 games, or 2.875 goals per game. That is not a bad number, but certainly not elite based on their ranking in the country, and when you break it down it becomes more concerning. The only Irish player averaging over a point per game is Cole Knuble, and he has missed four games so far this season. Nobody on the team has come close to ten goals yet when the national leaders have past that mark, again Knuble leads this category with 7.
The Irish goaltending, which started the year off strong, has also come down to Earth a bit. Owen Say seemed to take control of the starting position a few weeks ago but several bad games opened the competition back up. Again, Say hasn’t been bad, evidenced by his 2.78 GAA and .922 SV% but those numbers also aren’t good enough to make up for a lack of offense and are also somewhat skewed by a great start against lesser competition. Nicholas Kempf has been the main alternative in goal but his numbers haven’t been as good as Say’s yet.
Ohio State has outscored Notre Dame but not by a wide margin, with 53 goals over their 16 games. What they have done is spread their goals around much better and all of their top scorers have played every game. In net the Buckeyes have rotated two goaltenders who have both played better than anybody in the Irish net, and that may be where this series really will be won or lost. As a team the Buckeyes are only allowing 2.06 goals per game and for an Irish team that is struggling to score at a meaningful rate that should be a worrying number.
Prediction
Last season Notre Dame won three of four against Ohio State. Obviously these are not the same teams, at least completely, but the Buckeyes only hold a slim advantage all time in game splayed in Columbus 23-21-7. Notre Dame doesn’t look like they are going to flip a switch into title contender immediately, but slow improvements can go along way with plenty of season left. If they can go into break with a road split this weekend that is a very good start.