Rankings
Coach Jeff Jackson’s Irish are ranked No. 14 in USCHO.com (media) poll and receiving votes (16th) in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) poll. … Coach Bob Motzko’s Gophers are ranked No. 7 in both polls.
Recaps
Notre Dame bounced back from 3-2 (OT) loss to visiting RIT last Thursday with 6-0 victory over Tigers Friday. … Minnesota was swept by Minnesota Duluth, losing 5-3 at Minneapolis Friday and 2-1 at Duluth Saturday.
Rankings
Coach Jeff Jackson’s Irish are ranked No. 14 in USCHO.com (media) poll and receiving votes (16th) in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) poll. … Coach Bob Motzko’s Gophers are ranked No. 7 in both polls.
Recaps
Notre Dame bounced back from 3-2 (OT) loss to visiting RIT last Thursday with 6-0 victory over Tigers Friday. … Minnesota was swept by Minnesota Duluth, losing 5-3 at Minneapolis Friday and 2-1 at Duluth Saturday.
Rivalry
Teams have played 64 games dating back to 1924-25 season when Gophers scored two 2-1 victories in Minneapolis. … Minnesota leads series 35-24-5 including 20-13-3 in Minneapolis. … Goalie Jack LaFontaine and Gophers captured pair of 3-0 shutouts in South Bend last Feb. 12-13 after Irish won pair 3-2 and 2-1 from then top-ranked Gophers Jan. 15-16 in Minneapolis.
Shavings
Gophers are defending Big Ten champions after beating Wisconsin 6-4 in postseason tournament played at Notre Dame during the 2020-21 COVID-19 season. … LaFontaine, who won Mike Richter Award as outstanding goalie last season, has played all six games and has 3.22 goals-against average with .867 saves percentage. Blake McLaughlin (1-8-9) leads Gophers in scoring followed by Bryce Brodzinski (4-3-7), Ben Meyers (1-5-6) and Sammy Walker (3-2-5). … Grad-transfer goalie Matthew Galajda, who had 19 shutouts and was twice a Richter Award finalist at Cornell, made 22 saves in Notre Dame’s shutout of RIT and was named Big Ten hockey’s Third Star of the Week. … Galajda is 3-0 for the season with 1.33 average and .943 saves percentage splitting time with Minnesota native Ryan Bischel (1.92 average, .913 saves percentage). … Junior right wing Max Ellis (3-4-7) leads Irish in scoring followed by junior center Trevor Janicke (4-2-6) and sophomore wing Solag Bakich (1-4-5). … Senior center Cal Burke and sophomore left wing Landon Slaggert each have scored three goals. … Defense is led by seniors Nick Leivermann and Spencer Stastney and grad-transfers Adam Karashik and Chase Blackmun. … Notre Dame has killed off all 24 power-play opportunities by opposition. … Irish, who are in their fifth season in the Big Ten, won Big Ten championships in their first two seasons in the league
