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When Notre Dame travels to face top-ranked Minnesota this weekend, it will be a homecoming of sorts for nine native Irish players. Among them is Michael Graham, one of four Notre Dame players from Eden Prairie. Graham, who is in a four-way tie for second on the Irish in scoring, is the subject of a new piece for the Brainerd Dispatch. Gophers fans know him well as the player who ended their team’s season during the 2019 Big Ten Tournament:
What a goal by Michael Graham in OT and Notre Dame ends Minnesota’s NCAA chances with a 2-1 win in South Bend. Irish will play the winner of Penn St-Ohio St (game tomorrow) for Big Ten. pic.twitter.com/oSeJsCVEgv
— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) March 17, 2019
Still, Graham’s high school days are remembered fondly in his home state. Naturally, that would include Lee Smith, his high school coach:
“Michael was a four-year standout for us. There are very few kids that we bring up from our (youth hockey) association as ninth-graders, but Michael had such incredible speed and hand skills, and he’s a good person and good player, we figured we had to bring him up. And we were very fortunate he decided to stay his senior year.”
As a senior, Graham began the season with the Fargo Force in USHL. Though he strongly was encouraged to stay there the entire season, he decided to returned to an Eden Prairie roster that had lots of future Division I talent, including current Irish teammate Nick Leivermann. The team came within one victory of becoming state champions.
But Graham is not coming back to his home state for nostalgia. He’s here to try and knock off the Gophers, something only No. 12 Wisconsin has done this season. However, the Badgers did that last week, albeit in Madison. A win and a tie at minimum would be a real shot in the arm for an Irish team struggling to stay at .500.