Notre Dame will join the Big Ten hockey conference in 2017.
Big Ten conference officials told the Star Tribune on Tuesday that it will expand to seven teams for men’s hockey, and Notre Dame later confirmed it would join as an affiliate member.
Notre Dame will play a final season in the Hockey East conference where it landed after the formation of the Big Ten in 2013. The program will bring over 50 years of varsity hockey tradition that includes eight NCAA tournament appearances, all since 2004, and two Frozen Four appearances to the young league.
“We’re looking at it as a step that will assist our schools and help us become even more competitive nationally,” Big Ten hockey deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia said. “We felt that affiliation membership is a mutually beneficial way to grow Big Ten hockey. … We’re going to be better off as a hockey conference for it.”
The Fighting Irish face off against future conference-rival Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday in Cincinnati, Ohio. Michigan beat the Gophers last weekend in the Big Ten tournament in St. Paul to end Minnesota’s season.
Notre Dame finished third in the 12-team Hockey East standings and was ranked No. 13 in the most recent USCHO poll.
“The competition has been excellent in the Hockey East and in the Big Ten, and that’s where we want to be competing, with the best,” said Tom Nevala, Notre Dame’s senior associate athletic director overseeing men’s hockey. “There is great excitement because we’re renewing the rivalries that we cherish, and it will be great to go to those campuses on a regular basis.
Notre Dame, which plays in the 5,000-seat Compton Family Center, was a member of the old WCHA conference with the Gophers, from 1971-1981.
“I think you’ve certainly put some pretty big brand names and athletic departments together in this mix,” Nevala added. “And it’s a great opportunity for the exposure for the sport national with that type of name recognitions. … I think it’s a great opportunity to really progress the college game as this group comes together.”
The Big Ten was formed in 2013 with the birth of Penn State’s men’s hockey varsity program. The six-team conference includes the Nittany Lions, Gophers, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State. The Gophers have won all three Big Ten regular-season championships and one conference tournament title.
Big Ten officials would not comment on the possibility of adding an eighth team in time for the 2017-18 season, although expansion is frequently a topic of discussion in and surrounding conference leadership.
