Notre Dame hockey falls to Michigan State in Big Ten Tournament
Notre Dame’s stay in the Big Ten Tournament has come to a close. And the Fighting Irish’s season may very well be finished, too.
Michigan State erased an early deficit at Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Ind., to win Sunday’s winner-takes-all Game 3 of the conference tournament quarterfinals, 4-2. Notre Dame fell to 16-15-5 on the season with the defeat.
With a .500 record and having come into Game 3 ranked No. 16 in the all-important PairWise Rankings, the Irish are in danger of being left out of the 16-team NCAA Tournament field for the first time since 2015. There was no tournament in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notre Dame won Game 1 of the series 1-0 on Friday night. The Spartans took Game 2, 4-2, on Saturday. The Irish jumped ahead Sunday evening on a first-period power play goal from sophomore Trevor Janicke, but Michigan State scored three consecutive goals to take control. In the end, head coach Jeff Jackson‘s Irish didn’t supply enough offense all weekend to come away with a win. Michigan State advances to face No. 1 seed Minnesota in a single-elimination semifinal on Saturday.
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Senior goalie Ryan Bischel carried Notre Dame with one of the best save percentages in the country all season, but 26 starts and 33 games played could have finally caught up to him. He let in a couple unscreened opportunities. Two of Michigan State’s Sunday goals, though, came quickly after the Spartans won offensive-zone face offs from the right dot. Bischel did not get enough help from teammates on those tallies. The Spartans also cashed in on a game-ending empty-netter with less than two minutes left.
Michigan State netminder Dylan St. Cyr, meanwhile, had an answer for all but two of Notre Dame’s 39 shot attempts. The Irish made a push to get back in the game late in the third period, but that’s when St. Cyr dazzled with some of his finest saves of the weekend. The 5-8 graduate student stood tall like a 6-5 Goliath in front of the goal mouth. The only third period shot he didn’t stop came on the power play with less than four minutes remaining. He did not give up a five-on-five goal in the game.
The Irish spent some extra time on the ice after the game to embrace teammates, very much looking like a group that felt its 2022-23 season had reached its conclusion. That fate will be up to the selection committee when the NCAA Tournament field is announced on March 19.
