The 2022–23 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey season was the 63rd season of play for the program and 6th in the Big Ten Conference. The Fighting Irish represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. They were coached by Jeff Jackson, in his 18th season and played their home games at Compton Family Ice Arena.
Entering the season, coach Jackson brought back a veteran lineup and augmented the roster with several graduate transfers. With Nick Leivermann leading the defensive corps and Ryan Bischel holding the crease, Notre Dame was well apportioned on the back end. Unfortunately, the team had a severe lack of offense. Over the course of the year, the Fighting Irish scored 42 fewer goals than they had in 2022. That dramatic drop-off had a chilling effect on a team that had national aspirations. The Irish hovered around .500 for most of the season and were only once able to string more than two wins together. Fortunately, for Notre Dame, the Big Ten was the strongest conference this season and enabled the team to be in position for a potential at-large bid despite having nearly as many wins as losses.
The Irish ended the regular season well, taking two consecutive weekends from high-ranked teams and raising themselves into the top-16. The good stretch also lifted the team up to 4th in the conference standings, giving Notre Dame a home site for the quarterfinals. With other teams still vying for a tournament appearance, the Irish needed a decent postseason run to remain above the cut line and they were faced with Michigan State in the first round. The Spartans, too, were competing for an at-large bid and whichever of the two lost the best-of-three series would be knocked out of contention.[1] Ryan Bischel held off a strong MSU attack in the first game, earning a 1–0 victory for the Irish. The second game started much the same and Notre Dame had a 1-goal lead after the first period. In the second period, however, the wheels came off for the Irish as Michigan State scored 4 consecutive goals and evened the series at 1-all. In the deciding game, Notre Dame played as well as could be expected, outshooting MSU 39–28, going 2 for 4 on the power play and not taking a single penalty in the game. However, former Irish netminder, Dylan St. Cyr, came back to haunt his old team and stopped 37 shots to lead the Spartans to a 2–4 victory.[2]
| Cam Burke | Forward | Graduate transfer to Boston College | ||
| Max Ellis | Forward | Signed professional contract (Toronto Maple Leafs) | ||
| Goaltender | Graduation (signed with Djurgårdens IF Hockey) | |||
| Adam Karashik | Defenseman | Graduation (signed with Lehigh Valley Phantoms) | ||
| Conor Klaers | Goaltender | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Jake Pivonka | Forward | Graduate transfer to Omaha | ||
| Charlie Raith | Defenseman | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Graham Slaggert | Forward | Graduation (signed with Toronto Marlies) | ||
| Defenseman | Graduation (signed with Nashville Predators) |
| Drew Bavaro | Defenseman | 22 | Bradenton, FL
| ||
| Benjamin Brinkman | Defenseman | 21 | Edina, MN | ||
| Niko Jovanovic | Forward | 20 | North Vancouver, BC | ||
| Michael Mastrodomenico | Defenseman | 18 | Kirkland, QC | ||
| Jackson Pierson | Forward | 23 | Zionsville, IN
| ||
| Chayse Primeau | Forward | 25 | Margate, NJ
| ||
| Fin Williams | Forward | 19 | North Vancouver, BC | ||
| Jack Williams | Goaltender | 21 | St. Louis, MO |
As of August 25, 2022.[3]
|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition|-!colspan=12 style=";" | |-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |
| 37 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 18 | |||
| 37 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 12 | |||
| 27 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 4 | |||
| 29 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 18 | |||
| 37 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 31 | |||
| 36 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 64 | |||
| 37 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 21 | |||
| 36 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 32 | |||
| 32 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 10 | |||
| 35 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 34 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 10 | |||
| 33 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 6 | |||
| 31 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |||
| 35 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 20 | |||
| 30 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 | |||
| 31 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 27 | |||
| 37 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 48 | |||
| 35 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 20 | |||
| 31 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 19 | |||
| 22 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |||
| 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 22 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |||
| 37 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bench | - | - | - | - | - | 18 | |
| Total | 85 | 157 | 242 | 424 |
|---|
| 37 | 2182:51 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 87 | 1183 | 5 | .931 | 2.39 | ||
| 2 | 41:27 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 0 | .889 | 2.90 | ||
| Empty Net | - | 24:38 | - | - | - | 8 | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | 37 | 2248:56 | 16 | 16 | 5 | 97 | 1199 | 5 | .925 | 2.59 |
|---|
See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.
| 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 | 9 | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | 11 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 19 | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | 20 | NR | NR | NR | 20 | NR | 19 | 20 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR |
| USA Today | 8 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 18 | NR | NR | 20 | 17 | NR | 18 | 19 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 19 | |||
| Ryan Bischel | AHCA West All-American Second Team | [5] |
| Ryan Bischel | Big Ten Goaltender of the Year | [6] |
| Ryan Bischel | Big Ten First Team | [7] |
| 2 | 49 | Danny Nelson † | New York Islanders | |
| 4 | 103 | Cole Knuble † | Philadelphia Flyers | |
| 5 | 138 | Paul Fischer † | St. Louis Blues |