The Irish traveled to Chicago for a tournament over the holiday weekend, facing off against Nebraska, Northwestern and Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne before beating Wisconsin-Plattville on Monday to take third place in the eight-team tournament.
Notre Dame fell in its first matchup of the weekend, losing 3-1 to Nebraska as the Cornhuskers netted an empty-net goal with a minute remaining to ice the game. On Saturday, the Irish rebounded with a 3-1 victory over host Northwestern with junior goaltender Justin Dancu earning the win. Sunday saw the Irish defeat IPFW 2-1 in a close game, with the team getting goals from junior forwards Joe Brogan and Mike Marino and sophomore goaltender Nick Stasack turning aside over 40 shots in the victory. With Nebraska's Sunday night victory over the Northwestern, the Cornhuskers secured first place in the pool and a spot in the tournament championship, and the Irish were relegated to the third-place game Monday morning. A hat-trick from Marino and strong goaltending by Dancu helped the Irish overcome a short bench to earn their third straight win.