With Notre Dame’s season concluded, it is time for us at Team ND-Atl to close up shop with our last two articles for this season: this 2018 preview, followed by our favorite piece to write, the tribute to the graduating seniors. Please expect the latter in a few days.

Our Fighting Irish squad was pummeled by Denver to end the year, and this drew out a myriad of complaints and calls for radical change. Folks, time for a deep breath. This team looks good for 2018. There’s no reason to think the defense will decay, and the modernization of this offense has already started to occur, albeit with progress slowed due to injury.  There is a lot of talent and production coming back!!

Working from the back, let’s take a look:

The Defense

This unit has been a core strength for the Irish since the dawn of time.  There is no reason to believe Coaches Corrigan and Byrne will let this tradition lapse.

Goalies

Departing is multi-year starter Shane Doss, who earned All-American and All-ACC honors while carrying in the legacy of the Kemp brothers and the Ohio Machine’s Scotty Rodgers.  The presumptive new starter is the highly-regarded rising senior Owen Molloy.  Owen was the #3 rated goalie coming out of high school and good things are expected of him.  Testing him will be rising junior Mike “Rundgren”  Marchese and rising sophomore John Zullo of Chaminade HS.  Added to the mix will be incoming freshman Matthew Schmidt of Culver Academy.

This position group is deep and talented.  Given Notre Dame’s tradition of producing great goaltending, it seems probable that this will not be an area of great concern in 2018.

Close Defense

1st team All-American Garrett Epple (47 gb, 27 c) and Pat Healy (21 gb, 7 ct) graduated this week and will be missed.  Epple was a hammer on defense of a style not recently seen on this team and had many dominant performances this season.  Rising junior and starter Hugh Crance returns to anchor the defense having learned from Epple, Landis and Glazener, and having played on the U-19 national team.  Rising sophomore Jack Kielty (1 g, 17 gb, 7ct) played a lot this year and presumptively will join the starting lineup alongside Crance.  The third spot on the back line is clearly up in the air.  A lot of guys played a bit this year and are in the mix, including Atlanta’s Charlie Trense, Pat Hadley, Will “The Bagpiper” Young, Matthew Blommer, Charles Leonard and Michael Langdon.

We must also add that this #7 overall incoming freshman Arden Cohen must be in the discussion as well as #32 Carson Cochran.  Connecticut’s Jimmie Littlefield will also be joining this very deep defensive class.

Next year’s unit will be unusually young for a Coach Byrne unit, but not without experience.  We have to admit it would have been nice to see the reserves get more time on the field, but we’ve come to presume over the years that this outfit will be ready to play. If there is an area of concern, it is there is not an obvious replacement for physicality of Epple.

Defensive midfield

Injuries decimated this unit in 2017. Nick Koshansky (Go Friars!) and Bobby Collins will certainly be missed from this group, but the Irish return a whole lot of guys, and our hope is that this group will enjoy some health so that we can see the depth we hoped we would have had this year.

Leading the returners is the stellar 1st team All-American LSM John Sexton (4g, 46 gb, 23 gb), who is simply The Man at his position.  It will be nice having the clear best in the country returning to control the middle of the field.  Joining him at SSDM is All-American and speedster Drew Schantz, as well as Austin Gaiss, Eric Restic, and many others to consolidate a strong and very experienced unit.  We are hopeful the excellent Carlson Millikin will be granted a 6th year of eligibility to join this group.  We assume some of the younger defensemen noted above will also backup Sexton at LSM.

The Offense

The graduation of a force of nature like Sergio Perkovic will certainly change the nature of the Notre Dame offense.  However, the Irish are returning an absolute ton of production, with 6 of their 8 top scorers returning.  Further, in players like Ryder Garnsey, Brendan Gleason and Bryan Costabile, the coaching staff has allowed a lot more flair in the offense.  A work early in progress for sure, but this is reason for great optimism.

Attack

All.Three.Starters.Returning.

The leadership of captain and reserve attackman Anthony Marini will be missed, but returning is the king of all closers, Mikey Wynne (33g, .508%), the flashy Ryder Garnsey (20g, 23a), and the newcomer of the season Brendan Gleason (25g).  Brian Willets (4g, 4a) has gotten a fair amount of time at attack, and Jack Beare and Tyler Ruhl are available for minutes.  Plus, the #3 recruit in the country, Connor Morin, will be arriving for added firepower.

This is a good bunch of players that can score a lot and in multiple ways, especially with Mikey Wynne expanding his repertoire late in the season to include some dodging.

Midfield

Departing is the highest scoring Notre Dame midfielder of all time, Sergio Perkovic.  His gravity on the field controlled the way the opposing defenses played the Irish, and as a result, also controlled the offense.  His absence will require a whole new way of thinking for the coaching staff.  We see this as a great opportunity.

Bobby “The Netbreaker” Gray and Ben Pridemore have also graduated, but the roster is still has a lot of talent even if it’s not very deep at the position.  Byran Costabile (17g, 4a), Brendon Gleason (9g, 10a) and Pierre “Hockey Assist” Byrne form a core.  Timmy Phillips  adds some depth.

There is a ton of talent coming in this recruiting class that will be quickly called upon for depth.  Overall #16 Mikey Drake, #39 Mo Mirer (son of ND QB Rick Mirer), #54 Ryan Hallenbeck, #64 Mike Fay, and #69 Jake Frane are part of the huge crop of midfielders coming in that will be the core of the team for a long time.

Our colleague at 18 Stripes, Paul Rigney, has long argued that the inability of the coaching staff to think creatively with the midfield was a huge limitation to the 6-on-6 offense, and in turn, a huge limitation on the trajectory of this team.  As the design of offense in 2018 will need to be recreated regardless, we hope more modern ideas are incorporated.  Again, with all this youth on the team, the opportunity is there to start fresh.

Faceoff

The loss to Denver opened a wound that has been festering for two years.  The Irish need to keep pace with the top teams, and a .437 rate is simply not enough.  A top defense and a disciplined ride do not make up this gap.

P.J. Finley graduates after a long career as the top faceoff specialist for the team.  Injuries hampered him towards the end, but the Irish will miss his ability to convert wins into fast break opportunities.  John Travisano, Finley’s primary backup, returns for his senior year.  Notre Dame has high hopes for #3 faceoff recruit Kyle Hyland, who showed top-notch talent against Team USA and Michigan before going down for the season with injury.  Joining them will be incoming freshman Junior Almeida, whose highlight videos show has an excellent ability to quickly push the ball forward into the offensive zone.  The Irish dabbled with some long pole faceoffs late in the season, but we’re not convinced that this is a way to go, even as a change of pace.

Someone from this group simply has to emerge as a strong faceoff specialist.

PREDICTIONS

-Because of the youth on the team, Notre Dame may ease into its schedule moreso than they did this year with its RPI boosting difficulty.  We may see some Duke-like growing pains early in the season.

-2018 will be the start of an electric two-year run for the Fighting Irish.  The concentration of young players will gel into an unstoppable force.  There is every reason to expect this team to make a championship run with such a concentration of talent.

-Coach Corrigan’s team will continue its amazing 100% graduation rate, as well as provide his student-athletes with wonderful experiences and opportunities.

 

Let us know what you think in the comments!