Irish look to end NCAA drought

Matt Cashore / Irishillustrated.om It’s been six years since Notre Dame hockey last won a game in the NCAA tournament. But the Irish are headed back to the scene of that success and hope to duplicate it, starting with a matchup against No. 1 seed Minnesota. Who: No. 4 seed Notre Dame (21-11-5) vs. No. 1 seed Minnesota (23-11-3) When: 3:30 p.m. today Where: SNHU Arena; Manchester, N.H. Radio: 94.3 FM (WZOC) TV: ESPNU Twitter: @ND_hockey Some members of the Notre Dame hockey program landed in Manchester, N.H., this week with fond NCAA tournament memories. It’s been six years since the Irish last started their postseason journey in the Northeast Regional. Things went well back in 2011. Notre Dame beat Merrimack and New Hampshire en route to their second Frozen Four appearance. Anders Lee, now in his fourth full season in professional hockey, was a freshman on that squad. He’s appeared in more than 250 games for the New York Islanders since. “In that specific weekend we got really good goaltending from Mike Johnson and we had two tough opponents,” said head coach Jeff Jackson. “We had two tough opponents. We had the hometown team, New Hampshire. And then Merrimack, who at that time was I think a No. 1 seed. That was the best team they’ve probably had at Merrimack. That was a tough game. We were fortunate to get that game into overtime then the great play by Anders Lee at the end. “But I think a lot of it had to do with the closeness and chemistry of that group that had a big impact. Those freshmen were fearless that year.” Minnesota-Duluth eventually…

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