Notre Dame hockey shines vs. Michigan State

It turned out to be a pretty good weekend for Notre Dame hockey.

The Fighting Irish climbed back towards the .500 mark with a semi-sweep of fourth-ranked Michigan State in South Bend. On Thursday night, it was freshman forward Sammy Nelson scoring twice, including the game-winner in overtime, as Notre Dame topped the visiting Spartans, 3-2. Both of Nelson's goals were set up by his brother, senior forward Danny Nelson, a second-round draft choice of the New York Islanders in 2023.

On Friday, the Irish pulled out a shootout win, with Nelson scoring the only goal of the extra session after a scoreless OT, although the game officially goes into the NCAA’s record books as a 1-1 tie.

Patrick Quinlan stands tall in Notre Dame net

In Thursday’s game, freshman goaltender Patrick Quinlan stopped 33 shots in net for the Irish, who fought back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to tie the contest midway through the third period on a goal from sophomore forward Panayioti Fimis before Nelson's sudden-death heroics. Shane Vansaghi, a second-round selection of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2025, tallied both goals for MSU.

Quinlan made 34 stops in the rematch, plus three more saves in the shootout. The second game was scoreless until UND's Evan Werner pushed a puck home with just over two minutes remaining in regulation, only to have MSU's Tommi Männistö tie the contest just 35 seconds later.

Notre Dame rebounding from long losing slide

The Irish (5-6-1 overall) are now on a four-game unbeaten streak, after suffering a six-game losing skid that lasted from Oct. 16-31, including 7-1 and 9-1 losses at Wisconsin, currently the No. 1 team in the nation. Since then, Notre Dame has begun Big Ten play with a sweep of Penn State, followed by the win and the tie against MSU. Up next are two games at Ohio State on Nov. 20-21, followed by a pre-Thanksgiving non-conference contest on Oct. 24 against Bowling Green.

Notre Dame is seeking its first winning hockey season since 2021-22 when it went 28-12-0 overall. That was also the last season that the Irish qualified for the NCAA tournament.