NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame hockey program is set to head East to faceoff against Big Ten foe, Penn State, Jan. 20-21 inside Pegula Ice Arena.
Both contests will be streamed on BTN+ with puck drop Friday night slated for 6:30 p.m. followed by a 5 p.m. start the following night to conclude the regular season series between the Irish and Nittany Lions.
QUICK HITS
- The Irish spent a weekend at home last week, facing off against No. 2/2 Minnesota for a two-game series. Notre Dame opened up the weekend with a shootout victory over the Golden Gophers, as Ryan Bischel made 36 saves between the pipes Friday night, including four highlight reel saves in the overtime session to keep the Irish hopes alive.
- In the shootout, Ryder Rolston net the lone goal for either side as the Irish picked up the extra point in conference play.
- The week prior at Wisconsin, the Irish split with the Badgers. After a 2-0 loss in game one, Notre Dame bounced back to a season-best six goals Saturday night en route to the 6-4 victory.
- Bischel picked up his nation-leading fourth shutout of the season in the team’s first game of the calendar year, defeating Alaska, 2-0, stopping all 25 shots faced in the contest.
- The Irish closed out the first half of their season with an 8-8-2 record following a split with No. 5/5 Penn State at home to enter the holiday break.
- In game two of that series, Bischel stopped a career-high 47 saves as the Irish picked up a 5-3 win, and amassed 81 saves over the two game weekend.
- With 730 total saves this season, Bischel currently ranks third nationally in the category.
NOTRE DAME vs. PENN STATE
- The two teams most recently met to close out the first half of the season at Compton Family Ice Arena. In the December series, the Irish split with the visiting Nittany Lions, 5-2 and 5-3, with ND taking the latter game.
- Captain Nick Leivermann led the team with three assists in their most recent outing with the Nittany Lions while Trevor Janicke (0-2-2), Justin Janicke (1-1-2) amd Chase Blackmun (0-2-2) all had multiple points on the weekend series.
- Ryan Bischel recorded a career-high saves in game two of the weekend series, registering 47 stops on 50 shots faced in Notre Dame’s 5-3 victory. In addition to his career night on Saturday, the senior netminder tallied 34 saves in game one’s loss for a two-game total of 81 saves.
- At State College, the Irish own an 8-3-3 record, sweeping their last set of road games against the…