Lost in the hoopla of Saturday’s football game is that there will be a 2020-21 season for Notre Dame hockey. On Thursday, the Big Ten announced its schedule running up to its pre-winter break. The Irish will begin their season next weekend with two home games against Wisconsin. Starting with Thanksgiving weekend, they will play two-game series on four consecutive weekends against Michigan, Arizona State, Ohio State and Michigan State in that order.
The rest of the schedule will be announced at a late date. All Big Ten teams will play 24 conference games, plus four additional homes games against the Sun Devils. Every team will qualify for the conference tournament, which will revert to single-elimination, one-weekend format it had during the Big Ten’s initial four years in hockey.
We’re very fortunate to see college hockey come back when it, like many other sports, was uncertain about its immediate future. Anything that makes it feel like normal times, we’re all for. It gives us peace of mind in this tumultuous moment.