Gophers' men's hockey series preview

Gophers at No. 18 Notre Dame • 6:35 p.m. Friday (ASN), 5:30 p.m. Saturday (NBCSN) • 1500-AM

Gophers at a glance: The Gophers had a week off after a 2-3 start to the season. They have had only two weekends with back-to-back games in the first month of the season, and coach Don Lucia said he would have preferred to keep playing. The Gophers ended a season-opening three-game losing streak by sweeping Northeastern two weeks ago at Mariucci Arena. They scored eight goals in two games after just scoring one through the first three losses. Hudson Fasching scored three of those goals and Michael Brodzinski had a goal and three assists against Northeastern. "[The sweep] was huge for us," Brodzinski said. "We realized we can play at a high tempo and I think we've just go to control that tempo when we go to Notre Dame."

Notre Dame at a glance: Coming off a sweep of Connecticut that included an 8-2 victory in New York, the Fighting Irish (3-1-2) have 26 goals over six games. Nine players have five points or more, led by Steven Fogarty's eight (four goals, four assists), Thomas DiPauli (three goals, four assists) and Mario Lucia (two goals, five assists). The younger Lucia will face off against his dad for the final time this weekend. They have met five times over the course of Mario's college career, with the Gophers winning four of the five games. Notre Dame's two ties in October were against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, who swept the Gophers earlier this season. … Friday's telecast is produced on the American Sports Network and should be available over the air (Ch. 23.3), on Comcast (253 in Minneapolis, 211 in St. Paul), DirecTV (665) and Dish Network (429).

JASON GONZALEZ