Notre Dame Hockey: Fighting Irish are the Big Ten champions

The Irish had an up and down regular season, but none of that matters as they are not playing their best hockey and are the B1G Champions.

It was a regular season of highs and lows for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey club. They play in the Big Ten where the conference as a whole had a down year, but if it wasn’t for a recent surge by Notre Dame the conference would only be sending one team to the NCAA College Hockey Championship Tournament.

The conference works similarly to the March Madness basketball tournament except fewer teams make it off the bat. The Big Ten was likely going to only send Ohio State if they won the title of the conference, but now they will likely make it with an “at large” bid and the Irish will get in via being the B1G Champions.

So just how good has the Notre Dame hockey team been over the last few seasons? The answer can be summed up by summarizing their recent achievements. This is their second year in a row as champions of the Big Ten Hockey Conference.

This conference has some great programs like the aforementioned Penn State and Ohio State, along with some other good schools like Michigan. Notre Dame is independent in football and plays in the ACC in basketball and baseball, so it is good to see them bring some success to the B1G which has a large following in the midwest.

Along with the two consecutive B1G championships, this will be their fourth straight NCAA tournament bid which is the longest streak in program history. That is an incredible achievement for them to build on. Notre Dame Hockey is on the rise and the faster people start paying attention the faster they can enjoy all the fun.

In the win, coach Jeff Jackson notched his 500th win. Another outstanding achievement for a very good coach who knows how to get his players to compete hard for him. Cam Morrison scored what ended up being the game-winning goal in the second period. The Irish protected their one-goal lead in the third period and hung on for a very close victory. Goaltender Cale Morris was named Big Ten Tournament MVP.

Now the Irish wait for the announcement of the NCAA Championship bracket, which will come out during a selection show on ESPNU tonight at 6:00 PM CT. Notre Dame is peaking at the right time and they have hopes of making it to this year’s Frozen Four in Buffalo, NY. Two years ago when the Frozen Four was in Chicago, the Irish made it all the way there to play at the United Center. They hope now to recapture some of that magic.