Preview: Notre Dame hockey hosts No. 6 Boston University this weekend the Compton
Previewing Notre Dame's weekend college hockey matchup with Boston University:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-2-0) vs. Boston University Terriers (1-1-0)
■ When/Where: Friday at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at Lefty Smith Rink (4,852) in Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend.
■ Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3) and UND.com. TV/Streaming: Peacock. Tickets: Available.
■ Coaches: Notre Dame, Jeff Jackson (393-249-71 in 19th season with NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2008, 2011, 2017 and 2018). … Boston University, Jay Pandolfo (30-12-0 in second season).
■ Recaps: Fighting Irish coming off 3-0 loss at Rochester Institute of Technology last Saturday night. … After opening season with 3-2 overtime victory at Bentley, Terriers suffered 6-4 loss at New Hampshire in Hockey East opener Friday and then lost 8-2 in exhibition against U.S. Under-18 team.
■ Rankings: Notre Dame is receiving votes in the USCHO.com media poll and not receiving votes in USA Hockey/The Rink Live coaches’ poll. … Boston University was the preseason No. 1 in both polls and is now No. 6 in both polls.
■ Rivalry: Fighting Irish lead series with former Hockey East rival 8-6-2 following last season’s 5-2 loss to Terriers in Boston on Nov. 23, 2022.
Scouting the Terriers
Boston U. roster features nine freshmen including leader scorer and forward Macklin Celebrini (3-1-4) who is one of top prospects for No. 1 pick in next summer’s NHL Draft. … Sophomore Lane Hutson (1-1-2) and freshmen Tom Willander (1-1-2) and Aiden Celebrini (Macklin’s older brother) (0-2-2) anchor defense in front of junior goaltender Mathieu Caron (3.97 goals-against average, .862 saves percentage), a transfer from Brown.
Notre Dame hockey preview: Coach Jeff Jackson has big expectations for 2023-24 season
Scouting the Fighting Irish
Senior captain/left wing Landon Slaggert leads team in scoring with two goals while freshmen centers Danny Nelson and Jayden Davis have one each. … Graduate All-America goaltender Ryan Bischel has 1.68 goals-against average and .928 saves percentage with one shutout. … Irish power play just one of 13. … Notre Dame outshot RIT 36-23 and won faceoff battles 40-23 with freshman Cole Knuble finishing 18-8 and Davis going 9-3.
What's coach Jeff Jackson say?
(On RIT loss) “The thing that stands out the most is finding a way to finish. The last game we had numerous chances to score and didn’t finish. We had empty nets we missed and numerous opportunities on the power play. That’s probably the biggest thing right now. Defensively, I didn’t think we were poor. RIT played well, the goalie played well. For me, it’s about generating more offense.”
(On positives) “We’ve played three games and have yet to give up 30 shots in a game which is a big improvement over a year ago. We are doing a better job coming out of our zone. We are possessing the puck a little better. That has to be a continued focal point moving forward. If we’re going to generate offense, we have to possess the puck. That’s a starting point.”
(On production) “Our freshmen are going to be freshmen even though they are very good players. We’re going need to get production out of our returning guys. That’s where it starts. Landon (Slaggert) had a good first weekend. Trevor Janicke has to generate some offense for us; Justin Janicke, Hunter Strand, Grant Silianoff … some of these guys need to be productive for us.”
(On Boston U.) “They are a typical B.U. team – they play fast, and they have the skill to back it up. They are a good transition team, and they have a good corps at the back end, too. Early on, when you do have a number of younger guys moving into the lineup, there’s an adjustment period to systems. As time goes on, they’re only going to get better as we are.”
— John Fineran, Tribune Correspondent
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame hockey: Previewing weekend series vs.Boston University
