not play this week. but in the mavericks (2-1-1), notre dame faces a familiar foe. The Irish were formerly a member of the cch A, omaha’s conference, and the two teams have faced off a total of 32 times to date, the most recent in 2012, when the Irish topped the mavericks by a score of 3-2 to win the Ice breaker Tournament c hampionship in Kansas c ity, m issouri.
“We haven’t played them in a few years, and it’s a different looking program than it was a few years back, especially being in the national c onference,” Jackson said on the mavericks.
“They play a high tempo game offensively, they’ve got some really good forwards up front, they’ve got a good goaltender … They certainly, in that conference, are a team that is going to compete and be successful ... I’m sure it’s going to be an extremely challenging series.”
“... They’re going to challenge us defensively, so we’re going to have to take care of the puck first and foremost, and not put them in a position to transition too much, because if they do, they are pretty skilled… s o, we’re going to have to defend well, but I think in order for us to be successful we are going to have to do a good job with the puck.”
While notre dame has played every game at home so far this season, the Irish have had low attendance so far in c ompton Family Ice Arena, and while football season and fall break have certainly played a factor, Jackson and the team know how important the atmosphere is in home games.
“The building has been kind of quiet the first half of the year. The band has done a great job, but we haven’t gotten great crowds, and I think that can influence our guys’ engagement in the game,” Jackson said. “It’s always easy to play in this place when it’s full,” Jackson said. s enior captain Jake evans added his take as well.
“The crowds have been pretty good this year, but sometimes it gets a bit discouraging looking up and seeing those empty seats,” he said. “being young guys, we like to build off the energy of this crowd, and off the band and off the students. It’s definitely an advantage when the building is loud and it’s intimidating for the other team to hear 5,000 fans screaming up there. As a home team, you just build off the fans and want to work hard for them and do well for them.”
having played a few games thus far, the team has already played a number of tough games, including against defending national champions denver. For Jackson, the Irish still have a long way to go.
“I think this team needs to get back to the early years we’ve had with this program. That is, we will need to be very good in our execution of our system and very good defensively” Jackson said. “I think we have a lot more
competitive guys than we did the last couple of years and we need to use that to our advantage, but the competitiveness is only going to be a factor if we execute, because it’s hard to use that competitiveness if you
8 touchdowns on the season. Adams, however, said he’s given little thought to his chances of receiving end-of-year accolades.
“I haven’t experienced any hype around campus,” Adams said. “The only thing I’ve experienced is getting that notification of exams coming up. so that heisman talk doesn’t stop that.
“so I’m just doing the same thing I’ve always been doing. I mean, my team has always been with me. And I love hanging out with these guys, going to work with them each and every day. We as a team have never let any outside noise get in between of what we’re trying to build here. And I don’t think that changes anything of what our mission is and what we’re trying to accomplish as a team. Although it is an honor, we’re just going to stay focused on our track and continue to prepare for each team each and every week.”
Adams instead said he was just working on improving individually, and said he was proud of the way he was able to make an impact in blocking against the Trojans.
“specifically more of the last game I think I did a better job of blocking,” Adams said. I was really impressed on how I was able to react to different looks and being able to kind of blocking the perimeter. That’s something
that I try to take pride in is how well I’m able to pass protect and kind of block in the run game. I thought I did it pretty well, a pretty good job of doing that on saturday.
“I have to continue to improve on that. Just like I have to improve on everything else in my game. but like I said, yesterday had a pretty good practice. but I have to come back out today and try and improve and try to do better. And that’s the exciting thing about it is each and every week you have something to build on and something to improve on. And we’re just excited as a team to be able to face a new opponent who is going to, again, bring us their best. so we love taking on challenges like that. And it’s exciting to work on that with the guys on your team and kind of try to perfect their craft.” blowouts
The Irish have made a habit of beating teams with ease so far this year, with all six victories coming by 20 points or more, but losing their only close game, a 2019 contest with Georgia. senior linebacker drue Tranquill said the Irish mindset has been to dominate their opposition, but the team is capable of handling a closer game if necessary.
“I don’t know that I look forward to anything other than coming in and having the mindset of punishing our opponents,” Tranquill said. “That’s what we’re trying to do each and every
week and whether that’s winning by 28 or winning by seven, it doesn’t really matter as long as we get the win at the end of the day. so we’ve prepared ourselves for big wins and how to
handle ourselves by stepping on our opponents and not allowing them to get back in the games. And we’ve prepared ourselves in terms of having to win close games at the end of the game.
don’t do the right thing with the puck and create situations where you can use that physicality or that competitiveness.”
Contact Connor Mulvena at cmulvena@nd.edu
“And so whatever that presents itself on saturday, we’ll see. but we’re prepared for either.”
Contact Daniel O’Boyle at doboyle1@nd.edu
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