Notre Dame hockey vs. Northern Michigan

COLLEGE HOCKEY

Who: Northern Michigan (6-8) vs. Notre Dame (7-4-1).

Where: Lefty Smith Ice Rink (5,022) at Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend.

When: Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 7:30 p.m.

TV/Streaming: NBC Sports Chicago+, CBS Mid-Atlantic, SNY.

Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3).

Rankings: Notre Dame is No. 8 in both USCHO.com (media) and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) polls. … Northern Michigan is receiving votes in media poll.

Rivalry: Teams have met 52 times since 1981-82 season with Notre Dame holding a 23-21 edge. … In the last meeting on Oct. 27, 2012 at Marquette, Mich., Notre Dame won 3-2 in what was the final season of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. … This will be Northern Michigan’s first game on Lefty Smith Rink at Compton Family Ice Arena.

Recaps: Irish, idle last weekend, are coming off 3-1, 2-1 sweep at Michigan State Nov. 16-17. … Wildcats split Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Lake Superior State, losing 4-2 Friday and winning 2-1 Saturday.

Shavings: Senior defenseman Bobby Nardella (5 goals, 9 assists) and junior right wing Cal Burke (7 goals, 7 assists) pace Irish in scoring with 14 points each. … Senior left wing Joe Wegwerth, who has 7 goals, is tied for NCAA lead in game-winning goals with four. … Wildcats are led in scoring by senior forwards Troy Loggins (6-5-11) and Adam Rockwood (2-8-10) and junior defenseman Philip Beaulieu (1-8-9). … There’s a chance that Jackson may rest junior Cale Morris (5-4-1 record, 2.00 goals-against average, .934 saves percentage) in favor of sophomore Dylan St. Cyr (2-0-0, 1.50, .942) either tonight and/or in one of this weekend’s games with visitng RPI. … Senior Atte Tolvanen has played all 14 games for Northern Michigan, with 6-8-0 record, 2.31 average and .918 saves percentage. … Jackson needs five victories to pass the late Lefty Smith for the all-time coaching victories at Notre Dame. … Wildcats are coached by Grant Potulny, who played at Minnesota for and later assisted former Gophers coach Don Lucia, who played his college hockey at Notre Dame for Smith.

Quoting Jackson: (What he learned at Michigan State). “Anytime you go on road and win, it’s a good thing. A large part of why we won is we got good the goaltending (Morris stopped 55 of 57 shots in the two games). We finally scored a power-play goal, and we did not give up one against a very good power-play. There were some real positives.”

(About Northern Michigan). “They had a great season last year (25-15-3). They’ve been a little up and down this season but had some success – they beat Michigan State (4-3) at Michigan State, they’ve had some big wins. They are really good in in offensive zone and their goaltender is good. We know Grant really well. He’s done a really good job there. That team is definitely on the rise.”

– John Fineran, Tribune Correspondent