If you’re only as good as the company you keep, the Fighting Irish are better than their record would indicate.
At the bottom of the Big Ten standings, Notre Dame is 4-15-1 overall and still looking for its first conference win through 10 games. The Irish are in good company, though, when it comes to one important aspect of play: special teams.
“It is extremely interesting,” said coach Brock Sheahan, “to have your special teams doing so well with your overall team results not great.”
Notre Dame’s power play is seventh-best nationally, converting at 28.3% and one of three Big Ten PPs among the top 10 in the country. Not surprisingly, the other two are Michigan (31.4, second) and Wisconsin (30.7, fourth), teams that also have the top two offenses in the country.
Notre Dame’s offense is 49th nationally.
Likewise, the Irish penalty kill is outperforming Notre Dame’s overall team defense. While not among the top PK teams in the nation, Notre Dame is effective at a rate of 82.8% while down a man, good enough for 22nd – and hobnobbing with the likes of North Dakota (82.9, 21st) and Michigan State (82.7, 23rd), two teams that are among the top five in this week’s poll and among the top six in this week’s NPI.
Notre Dame’s defense is 60th nationally.
Sheahan, in his first year as Notre Dame’s head coach following the retirement of Jeff Jackson, said that the numbers seem counterintuitive but make sense when viewed through the lens of overall team consistency.
“Until we’re consistent five-on-five, we’re going to continue to struggle,” said Sheahan. “That’s not a talent thing or a personnel thing. I think guys are starting to understand that.”
Sheahan, a Notre Dame alum, had run the team’s penalty killing units since his return as an associate head coach at the start of the 2023-24 season. Now as head coach, he’s running the power play – “one of my favorite things to do” – and takes a holistic approach to play with the man advantage.
“We teach principles and reads and an attack mindset,” said Sheahan. “I think we have the type of players that have bought into it and enjoy doing it. Honestly, I think our power play numbers could be better. I look at what we’re generating, and I actually think we could be scoring more.”
Junior defenseman Paul Fischer said that Sheahan is “so process oriented” and that the approach has led to improvement in this year’s power play. Something else that helps is the commitment of the special teams players.
“We work at it a lot,” said Fischer. “It’s something we take pride in. We have a lot of guys on the power play in both units that are kind of hungry to always get better, and that’s a testament to that.”
Notre Dame finished the 2024-25 season with the 19th-best power play (22.7) nationally and a penalty kill that was 44th (77.4). Helping the Irish improve while down a man has been the job of first-year associate head coach Mike Garman.
Sheahan said that Garman is “extremely detailed,” adding, “The film work he does is unbelievable.”
Both Sheahan and Garman credit sophomore goaltender Nicholas Kempf for a lot of the success of the penalty kill. Sheahan calls Kempf “one of the best goalies in the country.”
Said Garman, “Any time they have a man advantage, you’re going to give up chances, and if your goalie can make some saves for you, that really helps. I would start there, big credit to Nick.”
In front of the net, Garman said that the PK skaters “have just been so detailed and bought in,” characteristics that help when players are learning new approaches.
“We talk a lot, I guess, about scoring chances and understanding the probabilities and what we really do not want to give up because of how high the probability to score is,” said Garman, “and what we’re okay giving up because it’s a lower probability. I think the guys have been able to read through that live and that’s been a big piece.”
It’s no accident that Garman and Sheahan have complementary approaches to special teams coaching. Before his time at Notre Dame, Garman was with the USHL’s Chicago Steel for eight years, the last three of which were spent as head coach. For two of those seasons before that (2019-21), Garman served as associate head coach under Sheahan. The Steel won the Clark Cup at the end of the 2020-21 season.
“We don’t talk really that often about any results that we have,” said Garman, “whether that’s special teams or whatever, but we talk a ton about are we getting better in our process.”
Sheahan said that focusing too much on what’s behind – and what’s too far down the road – can hamper any team. “Our process needs to be so much better. I think the guys understand just how important every small detail is.”
“There’s a lot of season in front of us,” said Sheahan. “There’s a lot of room for growth. It can be really frustrating in times like this. I went through this with the Chicago Steel where things just aren’t going well.
“What I do know is that this process does work if you’re truly invested in it. That’s been our main goal as a staff and as a group. If you were to watch us day to day and to watch us in practice, you wouldn’t know what our record is, and that’s a good thing. There’s still a belief in what we’re doing and there’s just so much learning. That’s been a big adjustment.”