Notre Dame hockey finally got off the schneid last weekend, picking up its first conference win in 14 tries. Now, the Irish (5-18-1, 1-13 Big Ten) welcome Bowling Green (14-6-4, 11-4-3 CCHA) for the first half of a home-and-home on Friday night. With the weight of a ten-game losing streak off their backs, has something changed in the Irish locker room? Can Notre Dame finally build some momentum?
“[The win] was almost like a relief for the guys, but for us, it hasn’t changed much,” head coach Brock Sheahan said Wednesday. “We’ve got to keep getting better, we won one game. We won one hockey game. For me, it’s actually more frustrating, because it shows how capable we are, and that we should be doing this more.”
Notre Dame has not strung together consecutive wins since Oct. 17 and 24. The opportunity to build on last Saturday’s 6-1 victory over Ohio State comes at a ripe time in the schedule, with Bowling Green rounding out Notre Dame’s non-conference slate. After this weekend, five straight Big Ten series will roll until the end of the season.
“Hopefully [winning] reinforces what we’re asking them to do,” Sheahan said. “We’ve been good in practice for a while, now it’s finally starting to bleed into games.”
Never underestimate the good vibes of winning. Time will tell if last weekend’s spark translates into the Irish getting hot at the coldest time of the year. Here are the notes you need to know before this weekend’s series.
Fischer set to return
Notre Dame withheld explaining the absence of junior defenseman Paul Fischer last weekend against Ohio State, but he appears poised to make a return. Fischer was suspended two games by the Big Ten for hitting Michigan freshman forward Michael Hage from behind on Jan. 10. He served that suspension Jan. 16-17 at Penn State, but remained out for both games last weekend too.
“Paul should be back, knock on wood, which will be a massive boost for our team,” Sheahan said. “He’s been one of our best players, if not our best player, all year.”
Fischer is Notre Dame’s nominee for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the nation’s top men’s college hockey player. He also leads all team defensemen in points, with 16.
The Irish are also hopeful for the return of junior forward Jayden Davis to the lineup. Davis has been banged up of late, and also missed both games last weekend against the Buckeyes.
“When he’s available and healthy, our lineup has been better,” Sheahan said. “He’s just had trouble staying healthy. We’ll see, if it’s not this weekend, hopefully it’s next weekend.”
Davis provides grit to Notre Dame’s fourth line, regularly centering the group and factoring into the Irish penalty-kill.
Big Ten in penalty trouble
Speaking of the penalty-kill, Big Ten hockey fans have seen lots of them this year. The top four teams nationally in penalty minutes per game all hail from the seven team conference: Penn State (20.5 min/game), Michigan (18.5 min/game), Notre Dame (17.9 min/game) and Michigan State (17.7 min/game).
The disparity from the rest of the country has reached a point where it’s getting attention. After both games last weekend against Ohio State, Sheahan expressed some confusion on the source of the high penalty numbers.
“If you look at our league, the top four teams in the country in penalties are in our league,” Sheahan said after Notre Dame’s 4-2 loss last Friday. “I got to really watch some of the calls tonight. I don’t really know if it’s lack of discipline or just our league.”
There’s no question that the Irish struggle with discipline, which has been a theme addressed by Sheahan and his staff all season. But the first-year head coach said after last Saturday’s contest that the tight standard of officiating has become a factor Notre Dame must be mindful of.
“Again, we are killing too much. Just some of that is the standard of reffing, you know, so we have to understand that. It’s on us to understand what is being called,” he said.
Sheahan was more muted on the issue in his press conference Wednesday, but pointed out that the pace of play in the conference may have something to do with all the calls.
“I think the refs are doing their best. It’s really fast, it’s a talented league, they’re trying to hold a standard,” Sheahan said. “When we’ve shot ourselves in the foot, they’re penalties … We’ve got to be smarter.”
Sheahan is correct on all counts. There’s no doubt that the Irish need to focus on discipline going forward. But at this point, the Big Ten might want to take a look at the issue too. Fans don’t buy tickets to see skilled hockey players parade to the box. The quality of college hockey may be the best it’s ever been-conferences and teams need to work together to play more hockey at five-on-five.
CCHA memories
Fans of the old CCHA must have smiled when they saw Notre Dame lined up home-and-home series against Western Michigan and Bowling Green this month. All three teams skated as part of the conference until its initial disbandment in 2013. Sheahan frequently faced off against the Broncos and Falcons as a player with Notre Dame from 2004-2008. He’s made an effort to get those old foes back on the schedule.
“I think we play [Western Michigan] the next six years. Western is a hard place to play. They’re a great program, obviously they won the national championship. I loved playing there as a player,” he said.
Expect Notre Dame to continue their home-and-homes with the Broncos, though the split bill with the Falcons may be limited to this year only. Sheahan said this year’s Bowling Green home-and-home came around only as a solution to finding an additional home game that would fill the slot vacated by the biannual Boston College game.
The Falcons will remain on the schedule in the near future, though, just not in the home-and-home format. They fit nicely within a trio of quality non-conference rivalries for the Irish.
“I don’t know when we last played BG, but when I played here we played them four times a year, and it was always a great rivalry,” Sheahan said. “Hopefully we always play BC, keep playing Western, and then mix it up as we keep going.”