The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team had a disaster of a season last year. Still, with a lot of returning players and some elite new faces, the program heads into a new era where it'll look to get back to being in the National title conversation.
Notre Dame’s football program wasn’t built overnight, and it needed multiple reconstructions to be where it is today. After signing the nation's fifth-ranked recruiting class in 2026, the Irish currently hold top-three classes in both 2027 and 2028. But it wasn't always that way. One trip to the national championship changed everything. That same path could soon become reality for the hockey program, even after a nine-win season.
What changed for the football program was one run to the National Championship, and then recruiting exploded. Even after a season in which they missed the playoffs, they still have the second-highest odds of winning the title next season, and that’s because of the school and what winning can do for a program like Notre Dame.
It’s been less than 10 years since the Fighting Irish won their back-to-back Big Ten titles. The final years of the Jeff Jackson era and the coaching transition that followed left the program searching for its identity. To where last season, they finished last in the entire conference.
If things are so bad, why do I think their future is brighter than ever?
Year two is when a coach begins putting his fingerprints on a program, and Brock Sheahan enters this season with far more talent than his nine-win record suggests.
The Nelson family alone tells the story. Defenseman Henry Nelson returns, Islanders prospect Danny Nelson is back after another strong season, and this fall they'll be joined by Sammy Nelson, a projected lottery pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
The team also has last year’s leading scorer coming back with Evan Werner set to play his senior season.
They brought in 2025 National Champion Hagen Burrows, and human wrecking ball William Belle is gearing up for his senior season. Belle even received praise at the Toronto Maple Leafs development camp by now former assistant general manager Hayley Wickenheiser, who was asked about the physicality at the team’s scrimmage.
“William Belle out there is making some hits; he’s finishing every check, which is kind of what he has to do.” She told reporters post scrimmage where Belle was out there running anyone and everyone.
The program also has four commits for the 2027-28 season who were drafted this past June, with Eric Frossard (ANA) and Andre Mondoux (NYR), Parker Trottier (MTL), and Cole Zurawski (FLA.
Diego Gutierrez is committed for next season and is a projected first-round pick, and he’s a part of a growing pipeline of players from the U.S. National Team Development Program. Riley Zupfer with the Des Moines Buccaneers is also regarded as a likely high-round pick next season. Cannon Thibodeau, Aurelio Garcia, and goaltender Nathaniel Chizik are also players in the program this coming season who are future commits.
Talent alone doesn't build a powerhouse. Programs become elite when talent meets institutional investment, and Notre Dame has shown it's willing to provide that investment when the opportunity is there. Right now it seems like the program is heading in an upward trajectory, and the wallets will have to start opening for Sheahan and his staff if they’re able to prove that they have the infrastructure to win.
Although this season and next season's recruiting classes look very good, you can’t be a consistent recruiting program unless you win,w so for the Irish next season, it’s win at all costs. One thing the hockey team has over the football team is their schedule. The Big Ten schedule is no joke, so if you’re able to stand in with the heavyweights of the conference, once you make it to the national stage, you’ll already be prepared.
Notre Dame football didn't become one of the nation's best modern programs overnight. It took a breakthrough season to remind everyone- recruits, donors, and the college football world, what the Fighting Irish brand is capable of when it's winning at the highest level.
The hockey program hasn't had that defining moment yet, but the groundwork is getting laid down as I write this. The roster is filled with NHL-caliber talent, the recruiting pipeline continues to strengthen, and Brock Sheahan now has the opportunity to work with a young core and build them into something that can compete with the best teams in the country.
None of that guarantees Frozen Four appearances or national championships. College hockey is too competitive to make those promises. But when a program has elite recruits committing to them, future NHL draft picks wanting to wear its sweater, and one of the most recognizable brands in college athletics behind it, the ingredients are there for something bigger.
