Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 18, 2025 49 BY TODD D. BURLAGE T he tough news? First-year Notre Dame head coach Brock Sheahan faces a daunting resto- ration project this season to return the Irish men's ice hockey program to its heights from not long ago, when it went to the NCAA Tournament six times in seven years, and added two Frozen Fours from 2016-22 under legendary head coach Jeff Jackson. The good news? The 41-year-old rookie college skip- per believes he has enough talent at ev- ery level of his lineup to turn around a team that went just 27-44-3 over the last two seasons and fell out of relevance both nationally and in the Big Ten. The first step for Sheahan is to prove the naysayers wrong — Notre Dame was picked this preseason to finish last in the seven-team Big Ten. That mission starts with an all-in be- lief from his players. "We all have a lot of faith in Brock [Sheahan] and the coaching staff that's come in," said Irish senior defenseman and team captain Michael Mastrodo- menico. "We're excited." After one exhibition game — a 5-2 win over the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Oct. 3 — Notre Dame was set to open its regular season against Arizona State at the 2025 Ice- breaker Tournament Oct. 10 in Tempe, Ariz. "We've changed a lot of the way we played," said Sheehan, a defenseman at Notre Dame from 2004-08 and an assistant coach under Jackson from 2023-25. "And to see where we're at, we have to play against real teams." When asked about the to-do list try- ing to restore his program to promi- nence, Sheahan said filling the scor- ing void left after the player departures from last season will be one key ele- ment. Notre Dame lost 38 percent of its point production from the 2024-25 team whose scoring offense ranked an uninspiring 39th nationally last season out of 60 Division I teams at 2.68 goals per game. Sheahan put a strategic emphasis this offseason on creating more scoring op- portunities by playing faster. "Early on this season, it's more about how consistent we are playing, how of- ten we're playing the style we want," Sheahan said. "If we do that over and over again, the wins will come as a re- sult of that process." First-team preseason All-Big Ten se- lection Cole Knuble will be leaned on heavily to improve the offense. The ju- nior forward led the Irish in points and assists as a sophomore last season with 39 and 27, respectively. Junior forward and team captain Danny Nelson also returns after contributing 26 points (13 goals and 13 assists) last season. These two veterans will be key to offensive im- provement with a new-look lineup and coaching staff with Jackson and veteran Irish assistant coach Andy Slaggert both leaving the program. Offensive improvement aside, if Notre Dame is going to return to its usual form this season, the defense also needs to dramatically improve. The Irish goaltending is expected to be solid behind highly celebrated sophomore Nicholas Kempf. But the Irish still al- lowed 3.34 goals per game last season, a mark that ranked last in the Big Ten and sixth-worst in the country. Based on what Mastrodomenico saw from the Irish defense this preseason, he believes improvement is inevitable. "We generate a lot of pressure. And in practice, it's suffocating," he said. "It's tough to play against, so it'll be fun to do that against other teams." ✦ Irish Roundup MEN'S GOLF Finished third out of 15 teams with 4-over-par team score of 844 in the Men's Fighting Irish Classic Oct. 6-7 in South Bend. WOMEN'S GOLF Placed seventh out of 14 teams with a 49-over-par team score of 901 at the Sunflower Invitational Oct. 6-7 in Lawrence, Kan. MEN'S SOCCER (7-2-3 OVERALL, 2-1-1 ACC) Played Virginia Tech to a 1-1 tie Oct. 3 at Alumni Stadium … Defeated Green Bay 4-2 Oct. 7 in South Bend. WOMEN'S SOCCER (11-0-1 OVERALL, 6-0-0 ACC) No. 2-ranked Notre Dame took down No. 23 Louisville 3-1 Oct. 3 in South Bend … Knocked off No. 5 Florida State 4-2 Oct. 9 in Alumni Stadium. VOLLEYBALL (5-7 OVERALL, 2-2 ACC) Suffered a 3-0 defeat at No. 4-ranked Stanford Oct. 3, but rebounded with a 3-0 victory at California Oct. 5. A New Era Begins For Fighting Irish Hockey N O T R E D A M E S P O R T S F irst-year Notre Dame head coach Brock Sheahan will be looking to return the Irish to prominence, both in the Big Ten and nationally. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS