{"id":91886,"date":"2019-03-13T14:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=91886"},"modified":"2020-08-24T12:33:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T17:33:17","slug":"on-pairwise-bubble-notre-dame-simply-focused-on-big-ten-semifinal-saturday-against-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2019\/03\/13\/on-pairwise-bubble-notre-dame-simply-focused-on-big-ten-semifinal-saturday-against-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"On PairWise bubble, Notre Dame simply focused on Big Ten semifinal Saturday against Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
Notre Dame knocked off Michigan State in a Big Ten quarterfinal last weekend and has drawn Minnesota this weekend in the conference semifinals (photo: Fighting Irish Media).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notre Dame split its last three weekend series of the regular season, so not needing a third game in the first round of the Big Ten tournament was a welcome sight for coach Jeff Jackson.<\/p>\n

The Irish swept Michigan State at home last weekend in the best-of-three first round and will host Minnesota in a single-game semifinal on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I was pleased, relieved in a way, because my experience is that if you ever get to a third game in three days, anything\u2019s possible,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnything can be involved in the outcome of the game. It could be goaltending, it could be officiating, it could be a lot of different things, so never want to put yourself in that position where you\u2019re in a game that\u2019s potentially the end of your season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notre Dame finds itself squarely on the PairWise bubble, sitting 15th, but Jackson said he doesn\u2019t use the rankings to motivate the team to pick up two more victories and nab the Big Ten\u2019s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n

“I try not to talk too much about it with our team,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re just focusing on the Big Ten semifinal. We can\u2019t start looking beyond Saturday night. At this point in the season, every game is potentially your last game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson added that he likes the playoff format that is in its second go-round for the conference, even though he was wary of only having a one-game semifinal going into last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just allows you to put everything you have into one game,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other aspect is hopefully you get a good crowd for a single game. There\u2019s nothing more important than playing in front of a good crowd this time of year in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Irish replicate their performances from last weekend, they have a good shot at advancing.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame defeated MSU 1-0 on Friday and 2-0 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were two hard-fought games,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cMichigan State played well and I think both goaltenders played well. There wasn\u2019t a lot of ice to make plays, I can tell you that. It was a typical playoff game. Both teams didn\u2019t give up much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goaltender Cale Morris pitched back-to-back shutouts with 27 saves on Friday and 28 on Saturday. After a stellar sophomore campaign, where he posted a 27-8-1 record and 1.94 GAA, he currently has a 16-12-3 record and a 2.23 GAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s played pretty much the same all year long,\u201d Jackson said of his goaltender. \u201cHe\u2019s had a couple tough games that have kind of skewed his statistics. The first game of the year at the Ice Breaker and the last game of the first half against Penn State, those two games probably skewed his numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s played pretty consistently for us all year, but he was outstanding this weekend. He didn\u2019t give up much and did a good job of controlling his rebounds. He was square to the puck and he was really engaged, he was focused and he looked like he was on his game. That\u2019s all that I can expect or ask from him at this time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend the Irish will host Minnesota, a team that they went 1-3 against during the regular season. The Gophers have won seven of their last eight contests, with the loss being against Notre Dame in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw them earlier in the year and they were right on the cusp of turning the corner and when we played them in Minnesota, we were fortunate to jump on them the first night,\u201d Jackson said of the Gophers. \u201cThey\u2019re playing St. Cloud hockey, they\u2019re very stingy through the neutral zone and they don\u2019t give up a whole lot defensively. They\u2019re a really well-balanced team, they\u2019ve got some really talented offensive players and their defense is sound and their goaltending is sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, they\u2019re one of the hotter teams in college hockey, so we have to be prepared to play our very best and I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be a heck of a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Irish do win on Saturday, it\u2019ll be the first time they\u2019ve won more than two consecutive games during the second half of the season. It\u2019ll also mean that one of Jackson\u2019s points of emphasis came to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistency has been one thing that I\u2019ve been emphasizing with our team because we\u2019ve lacked it a little bit, probably more from an offensive perspective than any other area,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cSo winning back-to-back was really important, not just for our confidence, but to make sure that we put ourselves in a position to play in the semifinals this coming week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notre Dame split its last three weekend series of the regular season, so not needing a third game in the first round of the Big Ten tournament was a welcome sight for coach Jeff Jackson (photo: Fighting Irish Media).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":91887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[855],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn PairWise bubble, Notre Dame simply focused on Big Ten semifinal Saturday against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Notre Dame split its last three weekend series of the regular season, so not needing a third game in the first round of the Big Ten tournament was a welcome sight for coach Jeff Jackson (photo: Fighting Irish Media).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On PairWise bubble, Notre Dame simply focused on Big Ten semifinal Saturday against Minnesota - 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