Notre Dame Hockey: 3 players that will be drafted to the NHL
![MANCHESTER, NH - MARCH 30: Nick Sanford #33 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish warms up before a game against the Massachusetts Minutemen during the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Northeast Regional Championship final at the SNHU Arena on March 30, 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Minutemen won 4-0 to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time in school history. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) MANCHESTER, NH - MARCH 30: Nick Sanford #33 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish warms up before a game against the Massachusetts Minutemen during the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Northeast Regional Championship final at the SNHU Arena on March 30, 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Minutemen won 4-0 to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time in school history. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/7f294e21a0fe559d9d7f28d81984c1f7807f6f5a6697e885882de1ea6ec06c5b.jpg)
The University of Notre Dame loves its sports. A lot of people know them for their football program which is consistently a contender. Outside of the COVID-19 2020-21 season where they competed in the ACC Conference, they normally are just an independent school in that sport. Basketball is another sport where they are a more nationally recognized brand but they deserve their respect in hockey. This is a sport where they compete in the Big Ten and they have become a highly regarded program.
The Notre Dame hockey program is hoping to see plenty of their players drafted.
The 2021 NHL Draft is coming up really soon. The Buffalo Sabres are going to make the first overall pick followed by the Seattle Kraken. We pretty much have an idea of the top five or six players but we don’t know exactly which order. Thanks to a strong stretch of development out of Michigan, the NCAA is going to be well represented in the first round.
The question remains, will there be a lot of Notre Dame flavor in this draft? The answer is yes. There are certainly going to be some players taken from the program that are either already there or are committed. The prospects that Notre Dame has as draft potential players vary in talent and their projected draft selection.
It would mean a lot to fans of Notre Dame hockey to see them be well represented at the draft. That just means that the program is getting good with the potential to get better. If they show themselves well year after year, people are going to want to go there. You have already seen good Notre Dame alumni like Kyle Palmieri and Vinnie Hinostroza make names for themselves so there is certainly a chance for more. These are the three players to keep an eye on going into the 2021 NHL Draft: