Notre Dame hockey prepped for Ohio State this weekend

The Irish and Buckeyes are set to battle as they sit next to each other in the Big Ten standings

The following notes have been provided by Notre Dame Athletics:

Notre Dame continues with Big Ten road play this weekend, heading to #15/16 Ohio State for a weekend series versus the Buckeyes on Friday, Jan. 14 (7 p.m. ET) and Saturday, Jan. 15 (8 p.m. ET).

The teams are separated by one point in the Big Ten standings, with the Fighting Irish fourth with 22 points (8-4-0-3-1-0), while Ohio State is tied for second with 23 points (7-4-1-0-0-1).

Notre Dame is in the midst of playing seven games in the first 19 games of January, culminating in next Wednesday’s makeup game against Boston College (Jan. 19).

After taking five of six points at Penn State last weekend including a 4-2 game one win (Jan. 7) and a comeback 5-4 overtime win in game two (Jan. 8), the Fighting Irish are 6-2-0 on the road this season.

Max Ellis had two goals in the game one win versus the Nittany Lions and then scored the overtime winner in game two with 0.2 seconds remaining, with assists from Spencer Stastney and Jake Pivonka.

Nick Leivermann had a career-high three points in that overtime win, scoring his sixth goal of the season and adding a pair of assists.

Ellis leads the Irish with a career-best 24 points on a team-high 14 goals and 10 assists.

Ellis’ 14 goals rank tied for fifth in the country (tied for first in the Big Ten).

Ellis is averaging 0.667 goals per game, which ranks ninth in the NCAA.

Ellis is also tied for the NCAA lead with two shorthanded goals this season.

Senior defenseman Nick Leivermann is tied for second on the team with 17 points (6-11-17).

With the 17 points, Leivermann ranks tied for ninth in the NCAA in points by a defenseman.

Cam Burke and Ryder Rolston lead the Irish with three game-winning goal apiece, which also ranks tied for seventh in the NCAA.

All told, 15 Notre Dame players have scored so far this season, while 11 players have at least 10 points on the season.

The Irish are 11-1-0 when scoring first this season.

Notre Dame’s penalty kill is 75-for-81 on the season (.9259), which ranks second in the NCAA.

The Irish also have four shorthanded goals this season (Ellis 2, Cam Burke, Spencer Stastney), which ranks fifth-most in the country (first in the Big Ten).

Notre Dame has made each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, the longest streak in program history, and eight of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments overall

The five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the second-longest active streak in the NCAA, trailing only Minnesota Duluth (6), with Minnesota State (3) and St Cloud State (3) tied for third.