After a five-game stretch away from South Bend, Notre Dame hockey will host Ohio State at the Compton Family Ice Arena this weekend. The Irish head into the series at 4-17-1 and are still winless in Big Ten play at 0-12, while the Buckeyes check in at 7-12-1 (3-7-0 Big Ten). Ohio State is the final Big Ten team still yet to face the Irish in 2025-26.
Big Ten update
With Notre Dame exactly halfway through its conference schedule, it’s a good time to quickly take stock of the league as February approaches. Michigan remains the undisputed No. 1 team in both the conference and the country, but it’s just starting life without star goaltender Jack Ivankovic, who was injured in a series against Notre Dame two weeks ago. The Wolverines impressed last weekend, badly outshooting Minnesota in a road sweep.
Bunched six to nine points behind Michigan are Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions are especially hot, having won all four of their conference games to start the new year to claim second place. Meanwhile, Michigan State swept Wisconsin in Madison last weekend to leapfrog the Badgers in the standings.
Behind Minnesota, Ohio State and Notre Dame comprise the Big Ten’s bottom two. The Buckeyes have nine points to Notre Dame’s one, and Irish head coach Brock Sheahan has been open about working through the frustration of occupying last place.
“It's not easy when things are not going well, right?” Sheahan said. “I do think [that] when you pull back and zoom out and look at our game, there has been a lot of progress in our 5-on-5 game, our ability to generate more chances; it has gotten better.”
The Irish have lost nine in a row but they’ve shown positive signs in their last two series. In each of their last four road losses to Michigan and Penn State, they’ve generated more chances than their opponent (or come very close to doing it). However, for various reasons, Notre Dame hasn’t gotten over the hump yet.
Struggling special teams
The power play and penalty kill, two areas where Notre Dame thrived in the first half, have hurt the Irish in a big way recently. Their man-advantage unit, which led the nation in early December, has gone 1 for 19 in the new year. It scored only once in 12 opportunities at Penn State last weekend.
On the other side, the Irish now lead college hockey in penalty minutes, dragging their overworked penalty kill down from the national top-10 to 32nd. At Penn State, the Irish took themselves out of Friday’s game by allowing three power-play goals before giving up a key 5-on-3 goal Saturday night.
“The thing where [the series] got away to me is the penalties again… You put a talented team on the power play that much, they're going to score,” Sheahan recalled. “And then our power play, it's the way things have gone for us, right? [Our] power play’s been good all year, and we don't score on the power play.”
Notre Dame’s power play could be in for a get-right series this weekend, as Ohio State’s penalty kill has lived in the bottom half of the national rankings since the 2023-24 season. However, that may depend on the availability of junior defenseman Paul Fischer. The former fifth-round NHL draft pick is eligible to return from his two-game suspension this weekend, but Sheahan commented on Wednesday that he might not be able to go against Ohio State.
Fischer also factors into the Irish penalty kill, which will be tasked with an Ohio State power play that has improved from 47th nationally last season to 15th this year.
Knuble getting closer
While the Irish have had serious problems on the defensive end lately, some of their top offensive threats are hitting their stride. That includes junior forward Cole Knuble, who led Notre Dame in assists (27) and points (39) a year ago. The results haven’t always matched his underlying generation this season, but he’s posted eight points across his last nine games, adding a breakaway goal last Saturday.
“His recent play has been much better, as far as [being] more connected to the team,” Sheahan described. “I feel like he's been much more connected, moving the puck, playing much better off the puck, committed to a 200-foot game, which is when he's at his best … My hope is that for the remainder of these 14 games, he continues to generate at a high level and you see it even out, and then he starts putting the puck in the net more.”
Last weekend, Knuble played on a forward line with fellow juniors Evan Werner and Danny Nelson, and those three dominated the early part of game two. Werner has been excellent for a while, scoring six times over the last 11 games, while Nelson remains at the top of any opposing scouting report as Notre Dame’s highest-drafted player.
As they look to impose their game this weekend, the Irish will have a chance to capitalize on an Ohio State defensive unit that has taken a real step back from last year’s NCAA Tournament season. The Buckeyes, on average, are surrendering 3.45 goals per game this season (12th-most nationally).
Ohio State overview
The Buckeyes enter South Bend with an extra week of rest, as they did not take the ice last weekend. Before that, they hosted high-powered Michigan State, getting off to an awful start by allowing four goals in the first period of the series opener. However, they found a solution in benching junior goalie Kristoffer Eberly for freshman Sam Hillebrandt, who stopped 14 of 16 shots against on Friday before leading Ohio State to a 2-1 win on Saturday. We’ll see if he keeps the net this weekend, or if the Buckeyes return to their timeshare between the two goalies.
In the realm of skaters, 13th-year head coach Steve Rohlik mimicked a large part of his approach to turning the Buckeyes around last year, using the transfer portal to grab five experienced newcomers. However, they haven’t made the same type of impact last season’s additions did. Two of them, former RPI man Felix Caron and Minnesota State import Adam Eisele, rank among the team leaders in scoring. Longtime Buckeye Davis Burnside has been their greatest threat as of late, producing seven points across his last five games. On a roster dominated by juniors and sophomore, freshman blue-liner Jake Karabela paces the group with 17 points.
Though Ohio State swept the season series against Notre Dame last year, the Irish could swing this weekend’s games against the Buckeyes if they’re close late. With their last game an exception, the Buckeyes have struggled badly in tight third periods, playing to records of 2-7 in one-goal games and 6-5-1 when leading through two periods.
Notre Dame and Ohio State will drop the puck at 7 p.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturday before completing the season series on the Big Ten schedule’s final weekend of March 5 and 6 in Columbus.
