Irish hockey returns to South Bend for non-conference opponent St. Lawrence this coming weekend in two games.
While Notre Dame is a member of the Big Ten, St. Lawrence competes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference and plays many private schools with elite hockey programs, including Ivy League squads like Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale. The Irish and Saints have played each other four times in the past, with Notre Dame recording three victories. The teams played last October, when Notre Dame beat St. Lawrence 4-1 in Canton, New York.
Both teams are anticipated to come into the series strong and searching for success. Notre Dame will be fighting to establish earlier dominance on offense after trailing No. 15 Arizona State and No. 8 Quinnipiac. St. Lawrence will be hoping to replicate the team’s success after recording its first win of the season in their last outing against Vermont.
St. Lawrence is currently 1-3 and are coming into the game confident after beating Vermont 5-2 at home. The Saints are not a particularly high-scoring team, only scoring five goals throughout their first three games, but their offense appears to have found its cohesiveness on the attack against Vermont. They have stacked up penalty minutes, far more than their opponents, and their penalty kill has been forced to minimize scoring with the one-man disadvantage.
For the Saints, senior forward Tyler Cristall and junior forward Gunnar Thoreson have been their top-producing players on offense. Both Cristall and Thoreson have recorded two goals and one assist. They will be players for Notre Dame’s defense to keep an eye on.
Despite coming into South Bend on a win, the Saints still have room for improvement on offense. Of the 10 goals they have scored, two have been scored on an empty net and only one on the power play. The remainder of their goals were scored on even strength, but the team needs to emphasize playmaking and goals through traffic.
The Irish have a strong freshmen core coming into this season, but veteran players have set an early example of excellence. Graduate student forward Sutter Muzzatti had a phenomenal game against Quinnipiac, scoring both Irish goals in the loss. He also recorded an assist against Arizona State, making him the team leader on offense with three points.
Junior defenseman Paul Fischer is close behind, with one goal and one assist. Fischer played a strong game against Quinnipiac, assisting on Muzzatti’s first goal. Although he has not scored a goal yet this season, senior defenseman Axel Kumlin has been the magic man helping to set up shots, with two assists. Kumlin has recently shown an innate sense on the attack, making necessary passes to get pucks into the net.
Notre Dame’s offense has had difficulty getting started early in the game, giving up three goals before scoring in the second period against the last two opponents they played. The slow start is not a trend the Irish want to see continue, especially when playing tough Big Ten opponents like Michigan at the end of the month. The Irish have proven they can make smart plays and score from a distance, so they definitely want to get offensive momentum moving early on to take control of the game.
The Irish defense played their strongest game in the 5-3 loss to No. 15 Arizona State, where defensemen were successful in limiting shots on goal and eliminating the need for unnecessary saves by sophomore goaltender Nicholas Kempf. After the game against Quinnipiac, the Irish will need to prioritize seeing Kempf even out his saves and being quicker to recover on rebounds so Notre Dame is not harmed by tap-in goals. Just like in the game against Arizona State, the Irish need their defensemen to work cohesively and be quick on reflexes to give Kempf help defending the crease to replicate the strong defense the team has shown they are capable of.
The Irish will take on the Saints at home this Thursday, Oct. 16, and Friday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. in Compton Family Ice Arena.
