Fourth-seeded Notre Dame will face the fifth seed Penn State Nittany Lions in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament in South Bend, Indiana.

The Big Ten condensed the tournament into a three-day sprint. If the Fighting Irish defeats Penn State on Sunday, they’ll face first-seeded Wisconsin the following day. The winner of that game will have just as short of a turnaround, as the final game will be on Tuesday.

“It’ll be a daunting weekend for anybody that has to play on Sunday to try, potentially, to play three games in three days,” head coach Jeff Jackson said in a media availability Tuesday. Teams in seeds 2-7 play on Sunday. As the top seed, Wisconsin gets a first-round bye and will play their first game of the tournament on Monday.

It’s About the Journey

The first half of the season was forgettable for Notre Dame. They only won four games and struggled to overcome inconsistent goaltending and special teams. But things turned around by New Year’s. They started the second half 3-1-0, including two wins against then-first ranked Minnesota. Goalie Dylan St. Cyr ran with an opportunity to play consistently, and the special teams started to click.

“All my years of coaching, I’ve tried to tinker with things to try to do things differently in the second half of the season to try to get [my] team playing at its best at [playoff time],” Jackson said. “It’s a matter of trying to change things to make sure you’re peaking at the right time.”

Coming into the tournament, Notre Dame is 4-1-0-1, since Feb. 19. Penn State, Notre Dame’s opponent on Sunday, lost twice two the Fighting Irish last weekend and hadn’t played a game since Jan. 29 due to a coronavirus outbreak in their system. Additionally, Notre Dame’s tie came against Wisconsin, and Notre Dame technically won the game in a shootout.

Jackson said there’s no “science” to making the necessary changes to perform during playoff time, but the team took some days off this week to get some rest and changed the subjects of practice and meetings to prepare themselves. Jackson is a veteran coach and knows what it takes to prepare his team.

“To me, it’s a matter of trying to build your team over a period of time and get them ready to play their best hockey at the most important time of the year,” he said. “I’ve had teams that were on the cusp of peaking going into the playoffs and I’ve had teams that peaked early and I’ve had teams that never peaked, but you try to prepare your team over the entire year for [the playoffs].”

Penn State

Jackson noted that even with high-intensity hockey during the playoffs, he needs his team to be executing its game plan. Luckily, they dominated Penn State 5-2 and 7-1 last week. No shortage of execution there.

The Nittany Lions came into those games following a month-long coronavirus shutdown. They only played 18 conference games this season, the least in the Big Ten. Players were isolated and dealt with the mental challenges that accompany it.

“I think they were very supportive of each other,” Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky told the Collegian, a Penn State publication. “It wasn’t one guy going through anything alone. They had plenty of emotional support.”

Even after last week’s routs, they’re eager to play playoff hockey.

“Mentally, it’s long overdue,” Penn State forward Alex Limoges said. “Everybody just wants to play, and so there was a lot of excitement getting back last weekend and still a lot of excitement right now.”

Beyond the First Round

If Notre Dame wins on Sunday, they’ll play Wisconsin on Monday in the second round. They only lost three times in regulation in the second half, which helped them leapfrog Minnesota and take first place in the Big Ten standings.

If Notre Dame can pull off the upset, they’ll take on one of Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State in the finals. Second seed Minnesota plays seventh seed Michigan State and Michigan plays Ohio State in the first round. The winners of each game will play in round two.

“Minnesota and Wisconsin are certainly two of the teams that are going to be a threat all the way to the National Championship,” Jackson pointed out. “Michigan is a close third with their youth. Penn State was on the rise before the COVID issue. But [Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan] probably led the way throughout the regular season and it’s going to be a tough challenge to get through two of those three teams if you get past Penn State.”

When to Watch

Notre Dame was 5-10-1 at home this season, which he blamed due to the unusual lack of fans. But Notre Dame is hosting the tournament and gets home ice throughout it. Here is the entire Big Ten Tournament schedule, with all games broadcasted on the Big Ten Network. Notre Dame kicks off the weekend with their game at noon on Sunday.

2021 BIG TEN HOCKEY TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
QUARTERFINALS
Sunday, March 14
12 p.m. No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 5 Penn State
4 p.m. No. 2 Minnesota vs. No. 7 Michigan State
8:30 p.m. No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 6 Ohio State

SEMIFINALS
Monday, March 15
4:30 p.m. No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Notre Dame/No. 5 Penn State
8:30 p.m. Semifinal #2 (winner 2 vs. 7 against winner 3 vs. 6)

Tuesday, March 16
8 p.m. Championship Game

Ben Baruch

Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.