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2024–25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey season

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2024–25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
men's ice hockey season
Conference7th Big Ten
Home iceCompton Family Ice Arena
Rankings
USCHONR
USA HockeyNR
Record
Overall12–25–1
Conference4–19–1
Home5–12–0
Road6–12–0
Neutral1–1–1
Coaches and captains
Head coachJeff Jackson
Assistant coachesPaul Pooley
Andy Slaggert
Brock Sheahan
Captain(s)Tyler Carpenter
Justin Janicke
Ian Murphy
Grant Silianoff
Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey seasons
« 2023–24 2025–26 »

The 2024–25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey season was the 65th season of play for the program and 8th in the Big Ten Conference. The Fighting Irish represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Compton Family Ice Arena and were coached by Jeff Jackson in his 20th and final season with the team.

Season

[edit]

Entering the season, Notre Dame had rather unwelcome news that this would be the final season for Jeff Jackson as coach. While he was not announcing his retirement from the game, he decided that it was time for a change.[1] Wanting to rally around their departing coach, the Irish lost only one player outside of graduation and brought in a top goaltending prospect to replace their All-American, Ryan Bischel.

Notre Dame began the season well, posing a solid record in October. While the Irish looked like they were living up to their preseason ranking, cracks were already beginning to show. While Nicholas Kempf was ND's goalie of the future, the team wasn't ready to throw him to the wolves. Owen Say, a Mercyhurst transfer, was brought in to help shoulder the load and the two alternated starts from the beginning of the year. While this reduction in workload appeared to be succeeding in the first month, November came with a cold wind that harried the club. Notre Dame's defense began its impersonation of a colander in earnest, allowing both netminders to get bombarded by shots. The situation became so bad for Kempf that he saw his starts reduced, however, that only forced Say into the firing line more often and both he and the team suffered as a result. Say performed well in goal posting a .920 save percentage, but the Irish allowed the second most shots per game in the nation (35.2)[2] and the junior netminder was unable to save the day all by his lonesome. The offense was able to put up respectable numbers but could rarely overcome the team's porous defense.

After winning their conference opener, the Irish didn't win another Big Ten matchup until mid-January. The scoring did pick up enough for the team to earn a few wins in the latter part of the season but those efforts were fleeting and the Irish ended the regular season well established in last place. The team opened their postseason run against one of the favorites to compete for a national title, Minnesota. Despite being the heavy underdog, ND opened with the first two goals of the game. The Gophers were able to respond but Say turned aside many chances to retain the lead for the Irish. After the surprising win in the first match, Minnesota upped their game in round two, bombarding Say with even more attempts. Used to high-volume shots by then, Say was able to hold off the Gophers for more than half the game and the two entered the third ties at 1-all. Unfortunately, Say could not withstand the Gophers' attack forever and Minnesota racked up three goals in the final period to even the series. The rubber match was much the same as the second, with Minnesota dumping an avalanche of rubber onto the Notre Dame goaltender, however, this time he did not break. Say stopped 38 of 39 shots while the offense stepped up to take advantage of a vulnerable Gopher netminder by scoring 3 goals on just 20 shots. A empty-net marker at the end sealed the game and sent Notre Dame to the semifinals.[3]

In their match with Michigan State, Owen Say had possible the best performance of his career. He stopped 45 of 46 shots, with the only blemish coming on the fourth MSU power play of the game. Unfortunately, he received no help from the rest of his team. While the defense played its typical swiss-cheese style, the offense was also inept in that it failed to score a single goal. The loss brought Notre Dame's season to a close and ended the most successful coaching era in program history.[4]

Departures

[edit]
Player Position Nationality Cause
Drew Bavaro Defenseman  United States Graduation (signed with Boston Bruins)
Ryan Bischel Goaltender  United States Graduation (signed with Providence Bruins)
Brady Bjork Forward  United States Graduation (retired)
Jake Boltmann Defenseman  United States Graduate transfer to Northeastern
Josh Graziano Goaltender  United States Graduate transfer to Boston University
Trevor Janicke Forward  United States Graduation (signed with Calgary Wranglers)
Patrick Moynihan Forward  United States Graduation (signed with Chicago Wolves)
Brayden Napoli Goaltender  United States Graduation (retired)
Ryan Siedem Defenseman  United States Graduation (signed with Hartford Wolf Pack)
Landon Slaggert Forward  United States Graduation (signed with Chicago Blackhawks)
Fin Williams Forward  Canada Transferred to Minnesota State

Recruiting

[edit]
Player Position Nationality Age Notes
Blake Biondi Forward  United States 22 Hermantown, MN; graduate transfer from Minnesota Duluth; selected 109th overall in 2020
Jimmy Jurcev Defenseman  United States 21 Palos Heights, IL
Nicholas Kempf Goaltender  United States 18 Morton Grove, IL; selected 114th overall in 2024
Jaedon Kerr Defenseman  United States 21 Elk River, MN
Axel Kumlin Defenseman  Sweden 22 Stockholm, SWE; transfer from Miami
Jack Larrigan Forward  United States 20 St. Louis, MO
Ian Murphy Forward  United States 25 Scituate, MA; graduate transfer from Princeton
Luke Robinson Defenseman  United States 24 Nashville, TN; graduate transfer from Air Force
Owen Say Goaltender  Canada 23 London, ON; transfer from Mercyhurst
Michael Schermerhorn Forward  United States 20 Traverse City, MI

Roster

[edit]

As of September 3, 2024.[5]

No. Nat. Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
2 United States Jimmy Jurcev Freshman D 6' 5" (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 2003-05-05 Palos Heights, Illinois Lincoln Stars (USHL)
3 United States Hunter Weiss Senior D 6' 3" (1.91 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 2001-03-29 Lake Forest, Illinois Minnesota Magicians (NAHL)
4 Canada Michael Mastrodomenico Junior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2004-04-19 Kirkland, Quebec Lincoln Stars (USHL)
5 Sweden Axel Kumlin Junior D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 196 lb (89 kg) 2002-02-23 Stockholm, Sweden Miami (NCHC)
8 United States Justin Janicke (C) Senior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 2003-06-30 Maple Grove, Minnesota USNTDP (USHL) SEA, 195th overall 2021
9 United States Grant Silianoff (C) Graduate F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 2001-01-04 Edina, Minnesota Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)
10 United States Hunter Strand Senior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2002-11-13 Anchorage, Alaska Tri-City Storm (USHL)
11 United States Danny Nelson Sophomore F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 2005-08-03 Maple Grove, Minnesota USNTDP (USHL) NYI, 49th overall 2023
12 United States Henry Nelson Sophomore D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 197 lb (89 kg) 2003-03-25 Maple Grove, Minnesota Lincoln Stars (USHL)
13 United States Brennan Ali Sophomore F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 194 lb (88 kg) 2004-02-09 Glencoe, Illinois Lincoln Stars (USHL) DET, 212th overall 2023
14 United States Maddox Fleming Sophomore F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 2004-02-13 Rochester, Minnesota Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)
15 Canada Jayden Davis Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2003-03-02 Calgary, Alberta Green Bay Gamblers (USHL)
16 United States Paul Fischer Sophomore D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 203 lb (92 kg) 2005-01-30 River Forest, Illinois USNTDP (USHL) EDM, 138th overall 2023
17 Canada Ryan Helliwell Senior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 2002-08-05 Burnaby, British Columbia Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL)
18 United States Jack Larrigan Freshman F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 178 lb (81 kg) 2004-04-09 St. Louis, Missouri Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)
20 Canada Niko Jovanovic Junior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 223 lb (101 kg) 2002-06-13 West Vancouver, British Columbia Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)
21 United States Jaedon Kerr Freshman D 6' 4" (1.93 m) 218 lb (99 kg) 2003-09-13 Elk River, Minnesota Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
22 United States Cole Knuble Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 191 lb (87 kg) 2004-07-01 Grand Rapids, Michigan Fargo Force (USHL) PHI, 103rd overall 2023
23 United States Michael Schermerhorn Freshman F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 216 lb (98 kg) 2003-10-14 Traverse City, Michigan New Mexico Ice Wolves (NAHL)
24 United States Ian Murphy (C) Graduate F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 193 lb (88 kg) 1999-04-06 Scituate, Massachusetts Princeton (ECAC)
25 United States Carter Slaggert Sophomore F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2005-03-04 South Bend, Indiana USNTDP (USHL)
26 United States Zach Plucinski Graduate D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 202 lb (92 kg) 2000-07-26 Eagle River, Alaska Omaha Lancers (USHL)
27 United States Blake Biondi Graduate F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 2002-04-24 Hermantown, Minnesota Minnesota Duluth (NCHC) MTL, 109th overall 2020
28 United States Tyler Carpenter (C) Senior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2000-08-27 Palatine, Illinois Omaha Lancers (USHL)
29 United States Jack Williams Junior G 6' 3" (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2001-06-21 St. Louis, Missouri Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
30 Canada Owen Say Junior G 6' 2" (1.88 m) 181 lb (82 kg) 2001-06-05 London, Ontario Mercyhurst (AHA)
31 United States Nicholas Kempf Freshman G 6' 2" (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 2006-03-01 Morton Grove, Illinois USNTDP (USHL) WSH, 114th overall 2024
32 United States Luke Robinson Graduate D 6' 3" (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 2000-02-16 Nashville, Tennessee Air Force (AHA)
35 United States James Mooney Senior G 5' 9" (1.75 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Purchase, New York Rye Country Day (USHS–NY)

Standings

[edit]
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OTW OTL 3/SW PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#6 Michigan State †* 24 15 5 4 2 1 2 50 92 60 37 26 7 4 129 77
#9 Minnesota 24 15 6 3 1 3 0 50 87 62 40 25 11 4 154 101
#11 Ohio State 24 14 9 1 3 2 0 42 72 62 40 24 14 2 127 106
#17 Michigan 24 12 10 2 5 1 2 36 76 83 36 18 15 3 112 118
#5 Penn State 24 9 11 4 2 1 3 33 78 88 40 22 14 4 139 120
Wisconsin 24 7 16 1 1 6 0 27 64 77 37 13 21 3 108 110
Notre Dame 24 4 19 1 2 2 1 14 60 97 38 12 25 1 102 127
Championship: March 22, 2025
† indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and results

[edit]
Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Decision Result Attendance Record
Exhibition
October 4 7:00 pm USNTDP* #19 Compton Family Ice ArenaNotre Dame, Indiana (Exhibition) Peacock Say W 5–2  5,054
Regular Season
October 11 7:00 pm at St. Lawrence* #20 Appleton ArenaCanton, New York ESPN+ Say W 4–1  1,510 1–0–0
October 12 7:00 pm at Clarkson* #20 Cheel ArenaPotsdam, New York ESPN+ Kempf W 5–2  3,110 2–0–0
October 18 7:00 pm Alaska* #18 Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say W 4–1  4,866 3–0–0
October 19 6:00 pm Alaska* #18 Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Kempf L 0–1  4,396 3–1–0
October 25 7:00 pm Long Island* #17 Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say W 4–1  4,194 4–1–0
October 26 6:00 pm Long Island* #17 Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Kempf L 2–5  4,125 4–2–0
November 1 7:00 pm Wisconsin #19 Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say W 3–2 OT 4,755 5–2–0 (1–0–0)
November 2 6:00 pm Wisconsin #19 Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say L 1–2  4,826 5–3–0 (1–1–0)
November 8 6:00 pm at #7 Michigan #20 Yost Ice ArenaAnn Arbor, Michigan (Rivalry)   Say L 1–2 OT 5,800 5–4–0 (1–2–0)
November 9 7:00 pm at #7 Michigan #20 Yost Ice Arena • Ann Arbor, Michigan (Rivalry)   Say L 2–4  5,800 5–5–0 (1–3–0)
November 15 7:00 pm at #4 Michigan State Munn Ice ArenaEast Lansing, Michigan BTN+ Say L 3–8  6,555 5–6–0 (1–4–0)
November 16 8:00 pm at #4 Michigan State Munn Ice Arena • East Lansing, Michigan BTN+ Kempf L 3–4  6,555 5–7–0 (1–5–0)
November 22 7:00 pm #4 Minnesota Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say L 3–6  5,249 5–8–0 (1–6–0)
November 23 6:00 pm #4 Minnesota Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Kempf L 3–5  5,011 5–9–0 (1–7–0)
Friendship Four
November 29 2:00 pm vs. Harvard* SSE Arena BelfastBelfast, Northern Ireland (Friendship Four Semifinal) NESN Say W 5–2  9,000 6–9–0
November 30 2:00 pm vs. #13 Boston University* SSE Arena Belfast • Belfast, Northern Ireland (Friendship Four Championship) NESN Say L 3–4  9,000 6–10–0
Regular Season
December 13 7:00 pm at #15 Ohio State Value City ArenaColumbus, Ohio   Kempf L 1–2 OT 4,009 6–11–0 (1–8–0)
December 14 7:00 pm at #15 Ohio State Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio BTN Say L 1–3  4,363 6–12–0 (1–9–0)
January 3 8:30 pm vs. Penn State Wrigley FieldChicago, Illinois (Frozen Confines) BTN Kempf T 3–3 SOW 25,709 6–12–1 (1–9–1)
January 5 5:00 pm Penn State Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say L 0–3  5,027 6–13–1 (1–10–1)
January 10 7:00 pm #9 Michigan Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana (Rivlary) Peacock Kempf L 3–5  4,683 6–14–1 (1–11–1)
January 11 6:00 pm #9 Michigan Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana (Rivalry) Peacock Say W 7–4  4,969 7–14–1 (2–11–1)
January 17 8:00 pm at #3 Minnesota 3M Arena at MariucciMinneapolis, Minnesota Fox 9+ Kempf L 2–5  4,969 7–15–1 (2–12–1)
January 18 6:00 pm at #3 Minnesota 3M Arena at Mariucci • Minneapolis, Minnesota Fox 9+ Say W 4–3 OT 10,346 8–15–1 (3–12–1)
January 24 7:00 pm Lindenwood* Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say L 2–3  5,169 8–16–1
January 25 6:00 pm Lindenwood* Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Kempf W 4–2  5,125 9–16–1
February 7 7:00 pm #9 Ohio State Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say L 1–5  5,165 9–17–1 (3–13–1)
February 8 6:00 pm #9 Ohio State Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Kempf L 1–5  5,212 9–18–1 (3–14–1)
February 14 7:00 pm at #18 Penn State Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Say L 3–5  6,606 9–19–1 (3–15–1)
February 15 5:00 pm at #18 Penn State Pegula Ice Arena • University Park, Pennsylvania   Say L 2–3  6,589 9–20–1 (3–16–1)
February 21 6:30 pm at Wisconsin Kohl CenterMadison, Wisconsin   Kempf L 3–7  12,463 9–21–1 (3–17–1)
February 22 6:30 pm at Wisconsin Kohl Center • Madison, Wisconsin   Say W 6–1  12,959 10–21–1 (4–17–1)
February 28 7:00 pm #3 Michigan State Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Say L 2–5  5,043 10–22–1 (4–18–1)
March 1 6:00 pm #3 Michigan State Compton Family Ice Arena • Notre Dame, Indiana Peacock Kempf L 2–5  5,132 10–23–1 (4–19–1)
Big Ten Tournament
March 7 8:00 pm at #3 Minnesota 3M Arena at Mariucci • Minneapolis, Minnesota (Quarterfinals) B1G+ Say W 3–2  5,551 11–23–1
March 8 8:00 pm at #3 Minnesota 3M Arena at Mariucci • Minneapolis, Minnesota (Quarterfinals) B1G+ Say L 2–4  6,331 11–24–1
March 9 7:00 pm at #3 Minnesota 3M Arena at Mariucci • Minneapolis, Minnesota (Quarterfinals) B1G+ Say W 4–1  4,642 12–24–1
March 15 6:00 pm at #2 Michigan State Munn Ice Arena • East Lansing, Michigan (Semifinals) BTN Say L 0–1  6,555 12–25–1
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.
Source:[6]

Scoring statistics

[edit]
Name Position Games Goals Assists Points PIM
Cole Knuble C/RW 34 12 27 39 12
Justin Janicke C/LW 38 15 19 34 29
Blake Biondi C 38 12 15 27 14
Danny Nelson C/LW 36 13 13 26 35
Axel Kumlin D 38 6 15 21 12
Paul Fischer D 36 2 19 21 16
Brennan Ali C/LW 38 7 12 19 18
Hunter Strand C 38 8 8 16 20
Mike Mastrodomenico D 30 4 11 15 18
Ian Murphy C/RW 38 4 7 11 24
Carter Slaggert LW/RW 38 4 6 10 16
Grant Silianoff RW 38 5 3 8 18
Henry Nelson D 30 3 5 8 32
Ryan Helliwell D 37 1 6 7 39
Jack Larrigan LW/RW 29 1 5 6 4
Jaedon Kerr D 22 1 3 4 6
Jimmy Jurcev D 31 1 3 4 10
Jayden Davis C/LW 22 1 2 3 8
Maddox Fleming LW/RW 22 0 3 3 10
Zachary Plucinski D 34 0 3 3 18
Tyler Carpenter F 38 1 1 2 0
Niko Jovanovic C/LW 12 1 0 1 0
Michael Schermerhorn C/LW 1 0 0 0 0
Jack Williams G 1 0 0 0 0
Hunter Weiss D 3 0 0 0 0
Nicholas Kempf G 13 0 0 0 0
Owen Say G 27 0 0 0 0
Bench - - - - - 18
Total 101 174 275 503

[7]

Goaltending statistics

[edit]
Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
Owen Say 27 1530:57 10 15 0 72 829 0 .920 2.82
Nicholas Kempf 13 722:03 2 10 1 45 384 0 .895 3.74
Jack Williams 1 10:26 0 0 0 1 8 0 .889 5.75
Empty Net - 31:26 - - - 9 - - - -
Total 38 2294:52 12 25 1 127 1221 0 .906 3.32

Rankings

[edit]
Poll Week
Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 (Final)
USCHO.com 19 20 18 17 19 20 RV RV RV RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
USA Hockey 19 18 18 17т 20 RV RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.[8]
Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.

Awards and honors

[edit]
Player Award Ref
Cole Knuble Big Ten Second Team [9]

2025 NHL Entry Draft

[edit]
Round Pick Player NHL team
5 137 William Belle Toronto Maple Leafs

† incoming freshman [10]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Outgoing Notre Dame hockey coach Jeff Jackson pulls no punches about state of sport". ND Insider. June 26, 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  2. ^ "2024-25 National Team Statistics". College Hockey Inc. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  3. ^ "Notre Dame at Minnesota - HIGHLIGHTS - Big Ten Hockey - 03/09/2025". YouTube. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  4. ^ "Notre Dame Hockey 2025-26 History & Records" (PDF). Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  5. ^ "2024-25 Hockey Roster". Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  6. ^ "2024–25 Hockey schedule". College Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  7. ^ "Univ. of Notre Dame 2024-2025 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  8. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  9. ^ "Big Ten Conference Announces Hockey Postseason Awards". BigTen.org. March 18, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
  10. ^ "NCAA player rankings, selections in 2025 NHL Draft". USCHO.com. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
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