If you’re looking for an example of growth from one season to another in college hockey, take a gander at Notre Dame’s stat chart.
The Irish, who hope to avenge the only time they’ve been swept so far this season when Minnesota comes to town this weekend, have had a more consistent offense this season. That fact is driven home by the fact that, with 10 regular-season games remaining, eight of Notre Dame’s top 10 scorers have already surpassed their point production from last season.
Junior Max Ellis (14 goals, 10 assists, 24 points) and sophomore Ryder Rolston (9-12-21) are leading the charge. Both players combined for six goals and 16 assists last season and Ellis registered only one point his freshman year.
“You hope, as coaches, that kids get better each year,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said of Ellis and Rolston on Wednesday. “A big part of it, for me, is their physical development in the weight room in the offseason, I think that’s where it starts. Then it evolves into confidence, once they have a little success, you know, success has a tendency to breed success. That’s kind of what’s happened with both of those two guys.
“They’ve both improved their game without the puck, that’s part of it as well. They’re not chasing and playing defense all the time and that means you’re playing with the puck.”
Along with a plethora of players from last season improving their game, Notre Dame has also been aided this season by graduate transfers Adam Karashik, Chase Blackmun, Jack Adams and Matthew Galajda.
Galajda has been solid in net, but Jackson also gave a shoutout to junior Ryan Bischel for making his nightly decision of who to start a difficult one.
“He’s had more competition than maybe anybody thought out of Ryan Bischel,” he said. “I expected Ryan to challenge him, but maybe not as much as he has. He’s had a really good year.
“Matt (Galajda) is really calm. He reminds me of some of the great guys we’ve had here like Cale Morris that play a quiet game and don’t give up a lot of rebounds. He’s a real quite but confident kid and I think that calmness is a positive influence on our team when things get a little bit erratic.”
Jackson added that he likes to physical aspect that Karashik, a captain at Connecticut last season, provides.
“Adam Karashik has certainly made an impact on the back end of our defense,” he said. “The physicality, the leadership, (he’s) just an overall high-quality individual that can also defend well and add a physical aspect to our game.”
Minnesota swept Notre Dame in Minneapolis at the end of October, winning the first game 4-1 and second 3-2. Friday’s game was closer than it looked, Minnesota scored a late goal to extend its 2-1 lead and added an empty netter with one second left in the contest. Both games were decided late and that shouldn’t be a surprise. Since Notre Dame joined the Big Ten 16 of the 24 games between the two schools have been either a one-goal game or tie.
Jackson said playing Minnesota requires a lot of patience because the Gophers aren’t a team that tends to beat themselves.
“I certainly knew when Bob (Motzko) went to Minnesota that they were going to play like St. Cloud, and they do now,” he said. “It’s taken him a couple years to really get his guys to buy into playing his style and his system. They get underrated for their defensive game, they’re very tight defensively without the puck.
“They present a double-headed threat, they have a lot of skill and ability and when they play that well defensively then they become a real challenge on transition offensively.”
