“The kids did what I asked them to do.”
That is what Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said after the Fighting Irish bested Minnesota in Big Ten quarterfinal action last weekend. After holding off the Golden Gophers for a 3-2 win Friday, the Irish lost 4-2 Saturday to force a deciding Sunday game
There was little doubt of the outcome. The Irish led 2-0 by the end of the second period on goals by Jayden Davis and Grant Silianoff, and after Minnesota got one back on the power play eight minutes into the third, Cole Knuble made it 3-1 four minutes later and Hunter Strand bagged the empty-netter.
Owen Say made 38 saves in that game, 14 alone in the third period in which the Irish were held to two shots on net.
Friday’s win marked Jackson’s 600th career victory, and packaged with knocking off one of the league’s regular-season co-champs could feel like a fitting sendoff for the man who announced his retirement prior to the beginning of the season.
But the season isn’t over. Now the Irish travel to East Lansing to face off against the other Big Ten regular-season co-champ and Jackson’s alma mater, Michigan State, in a single semifinal game.
As the top seed in the conference, Michigan State had a bye last week, and Spartans coach Adam Nightingale said that the team had two good weeks of practices but are looking forward to returning to action against “a really good Notre Dame team.”
“A ton of respect for their program,” said Nightingale. “We just played the recently, and I think you look at the talent they have up front, especially that top line, and the depth throughout and they’re getting good goaltending and they’re really good on the power play, so it’ll be a really good test for us.”
The other semifinal has Penn State traveling to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions were the other team to win their quarterfinal series on the road, sweeping Michigan with a 6-5 win in overtime Friday and a 5-2 win Saturday.
With his game-winning power-play goal at the five-minute mark of overtime – a goal he scored after putting the puck between his own legs – JJ Wiebusch completed his first career hat trick and gave the Nittany Lions their 11th win over Big Ten opponents since the start of 2025. Wiebusch added another Saturday, a game in which Carson Dyck’s second-period goal held up as the game winner.
Heading into that series in Ann Arbor, Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said that his team was “mentally tough” because of what the Nittany Lions experienced this season, adding that their second-half performance is a testimony to “how far we’ve grown in that aspect.”
In the second half, the Nittany Lions have clawed their way up to 12th in the PairWise Rankings from being down so low in December that their ascent seemed impossible.
Now the Buckeyes – who needed three games to best Penn State in front of practically zero fans in Nationwide Arena last weekend – are rewarded for their quarterfinal performance with one game against college hockey’s hottest team.
Penn State took the opening game of that quarterfinal series 4-1 before Ohio State responded with two 3-2 victories. In Saturday’s game, the Buckeyes were down 2-0 late in the third before Jake Rozzi’s goal brought them to within one, with Gunnarwolfe Fontaine’s late third-period goal tying the game and Riley Thompson’s third game-winning goal of the season winning it at 7:30 in overtime.
Ohio State never trailed in Sunday’s deciding game. Rozzi notched his second of the weekend in that one, with Max Montes getting the unassisted game-winner in the third period. Logan Terness was in net for the series, with 90 total saves on the weekend.
Here’s how teams in the semifinal field compare in a few categories, by the overall numbers.
No. 7 Notre Dame (12-24-1) at No. 1 Michigan State (24-6-4)
Scoring offense: Notre Dame, 2.76 goals per game (37th); Michigan State, 3.56 (seventh)
Scoring defense: Notre Dame, 3.41 goals allowed per game (56th); Michigan State, 2.06 (fourth)
Power play: Notre Dame, 23.1% (16th); Michigan State, 23.3% (15th)
Penalty kill: Notre Dame, 77.5% (43rd); Michigan State, 81.7% (24th)
Points leader: Notre Dame, Cole Knuble (12-27-39); Michigan State, Isaac Howard (23-23-46)
Top goal scorer: Notre Dame, Justin Janicke (15); Michigan State, Isaac Howard (23)
Goaltender: Notre Dame, Owen Say (2.90 GAA, .917 SV%); Michigan State, Trey Augustine (2.09 GAA, .925 SV%)
No. 5 Penn State (20-12-4) at No. 3 Ohio State (23-12-2)
Scoring offense: Penn State, 3.53 goals per game (ninth); Ohio State, 3.16 (20th)
Scoring defense: Penn State, 3.06 goals allowed per game (43rd); Ohio State, 2.46 (16th)
Power play: Penn State, 22.9% (20th); Ohio State, 18.1% (42nd)
Penalty kill: Penn State, 78.6% (38th); Ohio State, 78.6% (t-36th)
Points leader: Penn State, Aiden Fink (23-28-51); Ohio State, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (14-23-37)
Top goal scorer: Penn State, Aiden Fink (23); Ohio State, Riley Thompson (17)
Goaltender: Penn State, Arsenii Sergeev (2.63 GAA, .915 SV%); Ohio State, Logan Terness (2.24 GAA, .926 SV%)
Michigan State went 4-0-0 against Notre Dame in the regular season, outscoring the Fighting Irish 22-8 in those four games. The most recent series was the last of the regular season for the Spartans, a pair of 5-2 road wins Feb. 28-Mar. 1.
Ohio State was 2-1-1 against Penn State in the regular season, but the Nittany Lions got the better of the Buckeyes in Ohio State’s home barn. The Buckeyes swept 4-0 and 4-2 Dec. 5-6 in Pegula Ice Arena. Penn State took five of six points from the Buckeyes in Columbus Jan. 24-25 with a 6-6 tie and shootout point followed by a 3-2 overtime win.
Of the four teams in semifinal action, only Notre Dame needs the conference playoff championship to play in the NCAA tournament. The Spartans are No. 2 in the PairWise Rankings. At No. 10 and No. 12 respectively, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are safe, barring some serious post-season weirdness in other conferences.
The puck drops at 6:00 p.m. Saturday in Munn Ice Arena for the game between the Fighting Irish and Spartans. Penn State and Ohio State face off at 8:00 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena. Both games are televised by the Big Ten Network.
