Notre Dame Hockey preview capsule
COLLEGE HOCKEY
Who: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-6-1 overall, 12 points Big Ten) vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (11-1-0 overall, 27 points Big Ten)
When: Friday 8 p.m. ET and Saturday 6 p.m. ET.
Where: 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis, Minn.
TV: Friday, Fox Sports North+, BTN+; Saturday, Fox Sports North, BTN+.
Radio: WZOP-FM (94.3) and UND.com.
Rankings: Minnesota No. 1 USCHO.com (media) and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) polls. … Notre Dame receiving votes in both.
Recaps: Coach Jeff Jackson’s Irish beat Arizona State 5-4 Saturday and lost 5-3 Sunday in South Bend. … Coach Bob Motzko’s Gophers split series at Wisconsin, losing 3-1 Saturday to Badgers before winning 5-3 Sunday.
Shavings: Gophers hold 33-22-5 edge after going 3-2-2 last season. … This is Notre Dame’s second road series of season and Irish hope to match results of first one — 3-2 and 2-1 victories at then No. 4/3 Michigan Nov. 27-28. … Sophomore right wing Max Ellis was named Big Ten’s Second Star of Week after two goals and two assists against Sun Devils last weekend. … Alex Steeves (5-6-11) paces Irish in scoring followed by Graham Slaggert (3-5-8), Ellis (2-6-8), Michael Graham (2-6-8) and defenseman Nick Leivermann (2-6-8). … Nine Irish players hail from Minnesota. … Leivermann, from Eden Prairie, has scored five of his eight career goals against Gophers. … Medina’s Ryan Bischel (2.99 average, .889 saves percentage) and Dylan St. Cyr (3.02, .882) split goaltending last weekend. … Gophers average 3.58 goals and allow 1.58 goals per game. … They have 11 power-play goals and have allowed just two. … Notre Dame has scored just two power-play goals and surrendered 10. … Center Ben Meyers (5-7-12) leads Minnesota in scoring followed by Sampo Ranta (8-3-11) and Scott Reedy (6-5-11). … Freshman Mike Koster (2-5-7) and sophomore Ryan Johnson (0-6-6) lead defense in front of senior goalie Jack LaFontaine (1.28 average, .955 saves percentage, two shutouts).
Homecoming: Senior defenseman Matt Hellickson played for Rogers (Minn.) High School as well as Under-17 and Under-18 teams for U.S. National Team Development Program. … The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Hellickson has played in 129 consecutive games going back to the first game of his freshman year — the most of any active Big Ten player — and has scored 12 goals with 34 assists for 46 career points. … He is 0-4-4 in 16 games against Gophers.
Quoting Hellickson: (His homecoming) “I’m the happiest guy on the team right now because I’m going home to play the Gophers and that’s always fun. Growing up as a kid, watching them play on Friday and Saturday nights made me want to play college hockey. It means a lot.”
(Scouting Gophers) “Their strengths are their forwards; they have mobile defensemen, and they have a hot goaltender. They are clicking really well right now. Their special teams are doing great. We need to play a full 60 minutes with them.”
(Self-scouting Irish) “It’s been hard for us trying to find that consistency. … We need to be better on special teams this weekend and the rest of the season. …. Against a good skilled team like Minnesota, defense is the best offense.”
