THE NOTRE DAME – MINNESOTA SERIES
- Minnesota leads the all-time series 37-24-5 dating back to 1924-25 when the Irish lost 2-1 in overtime in the first meeting.
- Notre Dame recognizes its first win over Minnesota in 1926-27 when the Irish shutout their opponent, 2-0, in Minneapolis.
- Thirty contests between the two teams have been decided by a single goal, with the Irish narrowly leading that category 16-14.
- Since Notre Dame joined the Big Ten, 16 of 24 meetings have been one goal games or ended in a tie (14 one goal games and two ties).
- The teams are playing for a 10th consecutive season.
- Before the Irish joined the Big Ten, those meetings largely overlapped with Mario Lucia’s time at Notre Dame from 2012-16 (Mario is the son of former Minnesota head coach Don Lucia – a 1981 Notre Dame graduate/former defenseman).
- Earlier this season, Minnesota swept a home series by scores of 4-1 and 3-2.
- Solag Bakich’s goal early in the third period had tied that second game at 2-2 but Bryce Brodzinki netted the game winner with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.
- Matthew Galajda played game one of that series and posted 25 saves, with Ryan Bischel getting the nod in game two (21 saves).
- Last season, the Irish swept then top-ranked Minnesota at 3M Arena by scores of 3-2 and 2-1 on Jan. 15-16 and then the Gophers swept a series at Notre Dame on Feb. 12-13 in a pair of 3-0 wins.
- During the 2019-20 regular season, the Irish went 1-1-2 against Minnesota, including a 1-0-1 mark in Minneapolis (Nov. 1-2).
- That road series at Minnesota included a 2-2 game one tie (Minnesota won the 3-on-3 ot) and a 5-3 game two victory.
- Then in the 2020 playoffs, the Gophers eliminated the Irish, two games to one on March 6-8.
- The teams eliminated each other from the postseason in 2019 and 2020 with the Irish posting a 2-1 Big Ten Tournament semifinal win in overtime on March 16, 2019 en route to ultimately claiming a second consecutive Big Ten Tournament Championship.
- Notre Dame’s active career leaders against the Gophers include Nick Leivermann (17 GP; 5-1-6), Graham Slaggert (18 GP; 2-4-6), Spencer Stastney (18 GP; 1-4-5) and Trevor Janicke (13 GP; 3-2-5).
- Five of Leivermann’s 17 career goals have come against the Gophers.