The Irish remain home for a series with the Buckeyes
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team remains on home ice this weekend for a series against the Ohio State Buckeyes. This is the second series this season between the two teams with the first coming in early December in Columbus. Ohio State comes into the series ranked #9 in the country and third in the Big Ten while Notre Dame has fallen to the bottom of the conference.
Where, When, How to Watch
- Where: Compton Family Ice Arena, Notre Dame, IN
- When: Friday, February 7, 7pm ET; Saturday, February 8, 6pm ET
- How to Watch: Both games streaming on Peacock
Notre Dame has started the spring semester with four straight series splits, some a lot more impressive than others. At this point, there flaws are well known and what has plagued them early in the season continues to do so now. Danny Nelson has hit a hot streak since returning from the World Junior Championships and is now tied for the team lead in goals. Cole Knuble meanwhile continues to lead the team in points and is the only Irish player over a point per game. The two sophomores have been bright spots this season along with senior Justin Janicke and grad transfer Blake Biondi. Beyond that though the Irish have struggled for offense and consistency.
In net they lack the star goaltender that many fans have become accustomed to for the last 10 years or so. Owen Say has stabilized as a good but not great starter capable of keeping the team in games when they can score. Freshman Nicholas Kempf had a strong stretch in the middle of the season and has shown high potential, but his early season and recent form have shown there is still work for him to do to reach that level. I would expect Kempf to continue to get some games in net this season to help him develop as the starter for next season, but right now Say gives the team the best chance to win as long as the offense helps out.
Ohio State comes into this weekend in a bit of a rough stretch, losing 5 of their 8 games to start the spring semester. Despite that they are still ranked #9 in the country and third in the Big Ten. They also have several players outscoring the Irish best and have a goaltending tandem that is playing as well as almost any in the country. The Buckeyes also won both games against Notre Dame earlier this season, but those games were played in Columbus.
Prediction
On home ice and given recent trends, Notre Dame should be able to come away with a split this weekend. It certainly won’t be easy but for a while now the Irish have played to a striking difference in two games on any given weekend. While the consistency within series is lacking the consistency of results from one weekend to the next has been shown for well over a year now and I don’t expect it to stop here.