Hockey: Notre Dame vs. Niagara
COLLEGE HOCKEY
Who: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-5-0) vs. Niagara Purple Eagles (4-10-2)
When: Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m.
Where: Lefty Smith Rink at Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022), South Bend.
TV/Streaming: Peacock TV and Peacock App. Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3) and UND.com.
Tickets: Mobile single-game tickets and plans available through UND.com/BuyTickets. … Face masks must be worn in Compton except when eating and drinking.
► More:Stastney’s two goals help No. 8 Notre Dame hockey team rally past Spartans 3-2
Recaps: Both teams coming off pre-Christmas splits. … In home-and-home Atlantic Hockey Association series, coach Jason Lammers’ Purple Eagles rebounded from 4-0 loss at Canisius on Dec. 9 with 3-2 overtime victory over visiting Canisius Dec. 10. … Coach Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish split two-game Big Ten Hockey Conference series with visiting Michigan State, winning 3-2 on Dec. 10 before falling 1-0 in overtime Dec. 11.
Rankings: Notre Dame is ranked No. 10 in latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) and USCHO.com (media) polls. … Niagara is unranked.
Rivalry: Notre Dame leads 2-0-1 in series which began with 3-3 overtime tie in consolation game of the Maverick Stampede at Omaha, Nebraska, on Oct. 14, 2000 (Irish won shootout to finish third). … Irish swept Purple Eagles 6-3 and 7-0 at Compton Family Ice Arena on Oct. 24-25, 2014.
Scouting Irish: Notre Dame enters series 6-1 in non-Big Ten Conference games and only has rescheduled home game with Boston College (Jan. 19) remaining in non-league action. ... Sophomore left wing Landon Slaggert was to miss series as he was supposed to play for Team USA in the World Junior Championships in Alberta. … The tournament has since been canceled due to a COVID outbreak. Team USA, which opened Sunday with 3-2 victory over Slovakia on Slaggert’s game-winning goal, was forced to forfeit second game Tuesday to Switzerland because of COVID-19 issues. … Junior right wing Max Ellis (11-9-20) leads Irish in scoring by four points over sophomore right wing Ryder Rolston (6-10-16) and six over senior defenseman Nick Leivermann (5-9-14). … Leivermann is one of four players with five goals – Landon Slaggert, junior right wing Trevor Janicke and senior center Graham Slaggert are the others. … Rolston leads Irish in game-winning goals with three, one more than senior center Cam Burke. … Two of Ellis’ goals have come while Irish were playing shorthanded. … Senior Spencer Stastney (2-7-9), grad-transfer Adam Karashik (0-9-9) and freshman Jake Boltmann (1-7-8) lead blueline corps. … Grad-transfer Matthew Galajda (1.72 goals-against average, .931 saves percentage and 8-2-0 record, two shutouts) and junior Ryan Bischel (2.08 average, .921 saves percentage, 4-3-0 record) split netminding chores against Michigan State. … Notre Dame has outscored opposition 23-7 in second period. … Notre Dame is fourth with 17 points in Big Ten behind league-leader Michigan (23), Minnesota (19) and Ohio State (18). … NCAA team statistics (59 schools ranked): Scoring offense, 3.41 goals per game (14th nationally); scoring defense, 1.94 goals per game (5th); scoring margin, 1.47 goals per game (7th); faceoff-wins percentage, 0.527 (512-459) (12th); power-play percentage, 0.190 (11 of 58) (27th); penalty-kill percentage, 0.922 (59 of 64) (2nd); penalty minutes per game, 10.18 (42nd). ... Next up: Irish are on road for Big Ten series at Penn State (Jan. 7-8) and Ohio State (Jan. 14-15).
Scouting Purple Eagles: Junior center Albin Nilsson, a native of Sweden, scored game-winning goal Dec. 10 against Canisius at 3:23 of overtime. … Nilsson (4-7-11) and junior right wing Ryan Naumovski (5-6-11) lead Niagara in scoring ahead of senior forwards Ryan Cox (4-4-8) and Luke Edgerton (1-7-8). … Senior Chris Harpur (0-6-6), sophomore Josef Mysak (2-2-4) and senior Zac Herrmann (1-3-4) lead defense. … Junior Chad Veltri (2.91 goals-against average, .896 saves percentage, 4-6-1 record) and freshman Jake Sibell (3.99 average, .880 saves percentage, 0-4-1 record) share netminding chores. … Niagara is tied for seventh with American International with 14 points, nine behind league-leader Bentley in the Atlantic Hockey Association. … NCAA team statistics (59 schools ranked): Scoring offense, 1.88 goals per game (52nd nationally); scoring defense, 3.56 goals per game (48th); scoring margin, -1.69 (57th); faceoff-wins percentage, 0.489 (476-497) (36th); power-play percentage, 0.186 (13 of 70) (31st); penalty-kill percentage, 0.738 (45 of 61) (50th); penalty minutes per game, 10.69 (35th).
—John Fineran, Tribune Correspondent
BIG TEN STANDINGS
(Conference)
Pts, GP, W-L-T, OW-OL, SW, GF-GA
Michigan 23, 12, 7-5-0, 0-2, 0, 45-34
Minnesota 19, 10, 6-4-0, 0-1, 0, 33-26
Ohio State 18, 10, 6-4-0, 0-0, 0, 32-24
Notre Dame 17, 10, 6-4-0, 2-1, 0, 29-22
Michigan State 14, 10, 5-5-0, 1-0, 0, 24-30
Wisconsin 9, 10, 3-7-0, 1-1, 0, 22-34
Penn State 8, 10, 3-7-0, 1-0, 0, 26-41
(Overall, W-L-T, .Pct, GF-GA)
Michigan 14-6-0, .700, 81-51; Minnesota 10-8-0, .556, 61-49; Ohio State 12-6-0, .667, 61-42; Notre Dame 12-5-0, .706, 58-33; Michigan State 10-7-1, .583, 44-45; Wisconsin 6-12-1, .342, 36-60; Penn State 11-8-0, .579, 65-58.
Tuesday, Dec. 28 schedule
Holiday Face-Off at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin 3, Yale 2 (OT)
(Providence 6, Bowling Green 2)
Wednesday, Dec. 29 schedule
Great Lakes Invitational
Western Michigan at Michigan State, 7 p.m.
Michigan Tech at Michigan, 7 p.m.
Holiday Face-Off at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin vs. Providence, 8:30 p.m., championship
(Bowling Green vs. Yale, 5 p.m., consolation)
Thursday, Dec. 30 schedule
Great Lakes Invitational
Michigan Tech at Michigan State, 5 p.m.
Western Michigan at Michigan, canceled
Friday, Dec. 31 schedule
Long Island at Ohio State, 7 p.m.
Maine at Penn State, canceled
Saturday, Jan. 1 schedule
Niagara at Notre Dame, 5 p.m.
Long Island at Ohio State, 7 p.m.
Maine at Penn State, canceled
Sunday, Jan. 2 schedule
Niagara at Notre Dame, 5 p.m.