Notre Dame-Michigan Frozen Four Preview: 10 To 1
After capturing the national title in fencing on March 25 and doing the same in women’s basketball April 1, Notre Dame’s hockey team is vying to complete the “hat trick” in St. Paul, Minn., this weekend.
Head coach Jeff Jackson’s No. 1-ranked Fighting Irish (27-9-2) take on fellow Big Ten hockey member Michigan (22-14-3) tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN in the second semifinal of the Frozen Four.
A third member of the Big Ten will also be in action when Ohio State (26-9-5) faces Minnesota-Duluth (23-16-3) in the first game. The two winners will meet on Saturday night for the national title.
Among the 16 teams that made the NCAA Tournament, four came from the seven-team Big Ten. The other three — Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan State — all have won at least one national title since 2002. The Irish won both the regular season and postseason tournament in Big Ten play.
“There’s not a weak program amongst them,” said Jackson of Notre Dame’s maiden voyage this season in the Big Ten which has helped toughen them for tournament action. “I expect the conference to get much more challenging than it currently is. It doesn’t surprise me the least there are three teams in the Frozen Four.”
“There weren’t any easy weekends throughout the year and it’s kind of showing now in the Frozen Four,” said Notre Dame star senior defenseman Jordan Gross.
Michigan is a prime example. After a slow start under new head coach Mel Pearson, the Wolverines enter as the hottest team in the Frozen Four with a 10-2-1 record in February and March — highlighted by 4-2 and 1-0 victories versus Notre Dame on Feb. 16 and 18, the former at home and the latter in Yost Arena. Earlier in the year, the Irish posted identical 2-1 wins versus Michigan home and away the weekend of Jan. 5-7.
Notre Dame and Duluth also were in last year’s Frozen Four. Last April the Irish were routed 6-1 by eventual national champion Denver in the semifinal, but that experience provided a valuable lesson.
Also, whereas last season the Irish were one of the last teams to get into the field as a No. 4 seed and pulled off huge upsets versus Minnesota and UMass Lowell, this year as a No. 1 seed it has a better grasp of what is in store.
“Last year we played against a really, really good Denver team, so I think that might have caught us off guard,” Gross said. “It might have been a situation where we were a little satisfied after two huge upset wins from the Regional.”
Sophomore goaltender Cale Morris — the Big Ten Player of the Year and Hobey Baker Award finalist — did not play in the event last season while apprenticing behind Cal Petersen, but he too knows what to anticipate.
“We had a young group of guys last year and I don’t want to say we got caught up in the moment but we really were kind of amazed by the whole situation of being there,” Morris said. “I feel this year we addressed that early and knew that we were just going to worry about ourselves and take care of what we can control.”
As for completing the hat trick…
“That’s why you come to Notre Dame,” Morris said. “It’s such a great athletic and academic school, so I’m not surprised all that there have already been two done. It would definitely be a great honor to bring home that third one.”
Here are some other storylines for the national title showdown, from 10 to 1:
10 Notre Dame is 10 games above .500 (13-3) in games won by one goal, and won each of the last five by that margin. Ohio State and Michigan have won seven such games apiece this year, while Duluth has five.
“We had a long stretch of games like that this year and I think it’s helped us be prepared for them and how to play in those games,” Jackson said. “There is some ‘puck luck’ involved in it too, it’s not just about our mentality. Hopefully it continues for another couple of games. Our team has shown resiliency, regardless of the situation we have been in.”
9 This is Notre Dame’s ninth NCAA Tournament under Jackson in his 13 seasons. It had only one such invite previously. In both the first year under Jackson (2007) and this season, an Irish player won the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, which is bestowed annually to an NCAA Division I senior who has made notable achievements in the “Four C’s”: Community, classroom, character and competition.
Forward Jake Evans is this year’s recipient. Goaltender David Brown was the other Irish winner in 2007. The Toronto native and first-team All-Big Ten selection Evans leads the Irish in points (42), assists (31) and game-winning goals (four).
8 Over the past eight seasons, five of the Frozen Four winners were No. 1 seeds. Notre Dame and Ohio State both earned top seeds this year and will attempt to make it six such national champions the past nine seasons.
7 This is Jackson’s seventh Frozen Four as a head coach, four of them at Notre Dame. Previously he guided Lake Superior State to three straight from 1992-94, winning the national title for the Lakers in 1992 and 1994.
6 Notre Dame players were named Academic All-Big Ten this season: juniors Dylan Malmquist and Andrew Oglevie, plus sophomores Cal Burke, Cale Morris, Luke Novak and Andrew Peeke.
5 Returning to the theme of one-goal wins, each of the last five contests for Notre Dame had such a finish. It began with a 4-3 win versus Michigan State in the regular season finale. Then in playoff action:
• In the Big Ten semifinal March 10, junior forward Jack Jenkins scored with 30.5 seconds remaining in regulation for a 3-2 victory.
• A week later on St. Patrick’s Day in the Big Ten Championship, sophomore forward Cam Morrison’s dramatic tally 9:23 into overtime won the conference title against No. 5 Ohio State.
• On March 23 against Michigan Tech in round one of NCAA Tournament action, Gross’ second goal of the game, this one at the 16:24 mark of overtime, advanced the Irish past the WCHA Champion, 4-3.
• The next day the heroics belonged to Malmquist when his game-winning goal came with 27 seconds remaining in regulation lifted Notre Dame to a 2-1 victory versus Providence to capture the East Regional.
Six of Notre Dame’s last seven NCAA Tournament games were decided by one goal.
4 This is Notre Dame’s fourth appearance in the Frozen Four since the first one in 2008. The only two programs in the past 11 years with more are Boston College and North Dakota with five apiece.
3 Michigan’s Hayden Lavigne is one of only three goaltenders in Notre Dame’s 38 games this year to hold the Irish scoreless. That came in the 1-0 win at Ann Arbor on Feb. 18.
Also, since the 1993-94 season, Notre Dame was just one of three schools to have won 16 or more straight, joining 2011-12 Boston College (19 wins) and 2016-17 Harvard (16) teams.
2 There have been two previous meetings between Notre Dame and Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. The Irish upset the No. 1 Wolverines 5-4 at the 2008 Frozen Four in Denver before losing to Boston College in the championship. Michigan then won 3-2 in overtime in the 2016 Midwest Regional semifinal in Cincinnati.
1 Hobey Baker Top 10 finalist Morris leads the nation in save percentage (.945) and victories (26).
“I don’t know if there’s any player in the country that’s had as big an impact on their team as Cale Morris,” Jackson said.
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