Notre Dame Hockey Opens Saturday, Looking For A Rebound Season
Under the same great-unknown cloud that Jeff Jackson begins every Notre Dame hockey season, the veteran Irish head coach feels equal parts excitement and uncertainty as he opens his 19th year on the Irish bench.
On the concerning side, the Notre Dame skipper had to replace three of his team’s top-five scorers from last season when Notre Dame never found its footing, finished only 16-16-5, bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament in the first round, and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 (save for 2020 when the tourney was canceled).
On the encouraging side, Jackson explained that even while he’s still searching to fill the scoring void left after those three players departed, he believes his offense is already showing improvement from last season when it scored only 85 goals, the fewest in the seven-team Big Ten Conference.
“There’s always positives and there’s always concerns,” said Jackson, whose Irish will open their regular season Saturday and Sunday with a two-game set against Clarkson University. “We look better offensively, which is great. But defensively, we haven’t looked as good.”
Filling the voids
Jackson expects some of his needed scoring fills to come from freshman forwards Danny Nelson and Cole Knuble, two early-round 2023 NHL Draft picks.
Jackson also believes that senior forward and team captain Landon Slaggert (7 goals, 7 assists in 2022-23), and graduate forward Trevor Janicke (8 goals, 14 assists in 2022-23) to improve their offensive production this season as well.
The Irish back line will be headlined by defenseman Drew Bavaro, who’s back for his senior season and brings a veteran presence after leading this unit last season.
In net, graduate goalkeeper Ryan Bischel returns after a terrific 2022-23 season.
Bischel played in all 37 games last season and posted a .931 saves percentage. His 97 goals given up was the second-fewest allowed by a Big Ten net-minder.
“He’s certainly developed a level of confidence,” Jackson said of Bischel. “I still think he has a little rust in his system coming off the best year of his career. He’s going to have to get back into that mindset as far as getting dialed in.”
Jackson admitted that Bischel isn’t his only player who’s still trying to get back into their routine.
Each college hockey season begins abruptly and comes with very limited practice time in advance, so expect the usual growing pains out of the gate.
“Generally early on, it’s a lot of turnovers, guys trying to make plays that aren’t there. It will probably be exciting for the fans. It may not be so exciting for the coaching staff.”
As far as Notre Dame’s schedule, it’s a tough one, but it’s also home-rink heavy.
The Irish play 10 of its 11 non-conference games at the Compton Family Ice Arena on campus.
The non-league schedule features two home games against preseason No. 4 Boston University on Oct. 20-21, and a home date over Thanksgiving weekend against perennial power Boston College.
This is also coupled with a challenging Big Ten slate of games that has five teams from the league ranked in the preseason top 20.
“The biggest challenge is just getting the jitters out,” Jackson said of launching another promising season.
