Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey is fighting for Big 10 title and NCAA playoff berth

Even before the Big 10 Tournament got started, we knew the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were pretty much a longshot to make the NCAA Tournament. It’s not that they were ridiculously far back in the rankings — it’s that they were on the cusp before the conference tournaments started. That means that even if they made it to the conference finals, other happenings around college hockey (such as upsets that would give automatic bids to lower ranked teams) would affect the Irish greatly.

Currently, the Irish are ranked #17 in the PairWise rankings as they get set to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers tonight at 7:00 PM in Compton Family Ice Arena.

As you can see... Notre Dame needs to WIN.

If the Irish win tonight, they will face the winner of the other Big 10 semi-final game between the Ohio State Buckeyes (regular season champs) and the Penn State Nittany Lions. If Penn State and Notre Dame both win, the Irish will host the championship game in South Bend.

SO LETS GOOOO!!!! Get pumped and be sure to watch the Irish and cheer them on. It’s ride or die time, and playoff hockey is the BEST kind of hockey. As we mentioned, Notre Dame may need that autobid for the NCAA tournament and another run at the Frozen Four — SO JUST KEEP WINNING!

CHECK OUT THE PREVIEW HERE