U-M Heads Outdoors for Game at Notre Dame; New Start Time Announced

THIS WEEK
Saturday, Jan. 5 -- vs. #6 Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.), 4:30 p.m.
TV: NBC Sports Network | Live Stats | Listen | Watch

The University of Michigan ice hockey team (6-7-6, 2-4-4-2 B1G) is set to face No. 6-ranked Notre Dame (12-5-1, 5-3-0-0 B1G) on Saturday (Jan. 5) for an outdoor game at Notre Dame Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network.

Update (Friday, Jan. 4, 2:30 p.m.): The game's start time has been pushed back an hour to 4:30 p.m., instead of the originally scheduled start time of 3:30 p.m., due to player safety concerns related to projected sunny conditions.

Michigan Outdoors

The contest will be the eighth outdoor game for Michigan ice hockey in the modern era (post-1960). The Wolverines squared off with Michigan State in the "Cold War" on Oct. 6, 2001, at Spartan Stadium, for the first collegiate game in modern history to be played outdoors. U-M took part in the Camp Randall Hockey Classic on Feb. 6, 2010, in Madison, Wisconsin. The Maize and Blue then hosted MSU in "The Big Chill at the Big House" on Dec. 11, 2010, which set a record for hockey attendance with an attendance of 104,173.

U-M also played in outdoor games at Progressive Field (Cleveland, Ohio) on Jan. 13, 2012, against Ohio State; Comerica Park (Detroit, Michigan) for two contests as part of the annual Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 27-28, 2013; and Soldier Field (Chicago, Illinois) against Michigan State in the "Hockey City Classic" on Feb. 7, 2015. Overall, Michigan holds a 3-3-1 record in these outdoor games.

The Notre Dame Series

Michigan and Notre Dame meet for the 142nd time in program history, with the series dating back to 1923. The Wolverines hold a 78-58-5 record in the all-time series against the Fighting Irish. The teams last played each other when they kicked off Big Ten play this season with each team picking up a win. The Wolverines beat the Irish, 2-1, in the weekend opener but fell, 6-2, in the finale.

Scouting the Irish

The Irish will come into Saturday's matchup ranked No. 6 in the country, and have won nine of their last 10 games -- including a 4-0 victory over Boston College on Monday (Dec. 31).

Junior forward Cal Burke leads Notre Dame with 20 points (team-high nine goals, 11 assists) this season. Senior defenseman Bobby Nardella controls the blue line for the Irish and has tallied 18 points (five goals, three assists) so far this season.

Cale Morris is Notre Dame's primary netminder, having played in 15 games this season with a record of 9-5-1. Morris' save percentage sits at .931 while allowing 2.13 goals per game.

GLI Recap

The Wolverines opened play at the 54th annual Great Lakes Invitational on Sunday (Dec. 30) with an opening-round matchup against Michigan Tech. Tied at 2 at the end of regulation and overtime, the teams went to a shootout. The Huskies went on to win after five shootout rounds to advance to the championship game.

After Michigan State fell to Lake Superior State in overtime in their game, Michigan and Michigan State were set for their third matchup of the season in the consolation game of the GLI on Monday (Dec. 31). Similar to the Sunday, the Wolverines and Spartans were tied at 2 after 60 minutes, sending the game into overtime. After a five-minute overtime period, the teams remained tied and the game finished in a tie.

Over the two games, Luke Morgan (goal, assist), Michael Pastujov (two assists), and Jack Becker (two assists) led the Wolverines with two points each. Freshman forward Nolan Moyle recorded his first Michigan goal against Michigan Tech. Junior forward Nick Pastujov scored a power-play goal against the Spartans to tie Josh Norris for the team lead with 10 goals on the season.

Red, White and Go Blue

U-M's Quinn Hughes and Josh Norris are competing at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, from Dec. 26, 2018-Jan. 5, 2019.

Hughes and Norris helped lead Team USA to a 3-1 record in the preliminary rounds to set up the United States for a matchup with the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals of the IIHFH World Junior Championships (Jan. 2). Norris has tallied four points (goal, three assists) while Hughes has two points (two assists).

U-M players have brought home 26 medals (12 gold, four silver, 10 bronze). Hughes, Norris and Will Lockwood were members of the team that last year brought home a bronze medal.

Quinn-tesential Blue-liner

Hughes has tallied 20 points (three goals, 17 assists) this season, which is the third-highest point total of any defenseman in the NCAA. He leads all blue-liners in assists and ranks fourth amongst all skaters in the country, and ranks third in the Big Ten.

No Joshin'

Josh Norris has scored 10 goals this year, which ranks tied for 16th in the country. His 19 points rank ninth best in the Big Ten.

Breakin' out the Pasta

Nick Pastujov has scored 10 goals this season, which puts him among the top-20 scorers in the NCAA (tied for 16th). Four of his 10 goals have come on the power play, which ranks him fourth in the Big Ten and ties him with Jake Slaker for the team lead.

The 'SNL' Line

Michigan's top line of Jake Slaker, Norris, and Lockwood have accounted for 38.6 percent (22 of 57) of the team's goals thus far and have recorded a combined 47 points.

Creating Chances

Michigan has taken 713 shots on goal, the second most in the country behind Penn State (735). The Maize and Blue is outshooting opponents by an average of 10.11 shots per game and has taken 192 more shots than they have allowed this year, which the fourth best margin in the country.

Up Ahead

Tuesday, Jan. 8 -- vs. Merrimack (Yost Ice Arena), 7:30 p.m.