Men’s Hockey To Play in Notre Dame, Minnesota Holiday Tourneys

The Harvard men’s ice hockey team’s 2015-2016 holiday plans are set.

The Crimson will compete in the Notre Dame-hosted Shillelagh Tournament during Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 27-28) in South Bend, Ind., before ringing in the New Year at the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Classic (Jan. 1-2) in Minneapolis.

While Harvard has yet to announce its official 2015-16 schedule, Notre Dame debuted its full schedule last week, and Minnesota debuted its schedule on Wednesday.

The Crimson will be a first-time participant in the Shillelagh Tournament, which Notre Dame has held five times since 2009. Harvard will face the Fighting Irish in the first-round Friday nightcap and will play either Western Michigan or Rensselaer the next day.

Harvard’s participation in the Mariucci Classic, meanwhile, will mark the team’s first appearance in the 25-year-old tournament since the 2004-2005 season and its fourth appearance overall. The Crimson will play Ferris State on New Year’s Day before meeting either Minnesota or UConn in either the final or consolation the next day.

The Shillelagh Tournament will be held at Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena (capacity: 5,022), where Nebraska-Omaha eliminated the Crimson in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament. The Golden Gophers’ Mariucci Arena (capacity: 10,000) will host the Classic.

With the Crimson guaranteed to participate in the 64th annual Beanpot in February, the 2015-2016 season will be the first in which a Ted Donato-coached team will compete in three midseason tournaments. The tournaments will also allow Harvard to match up against teams from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Big Ten—conferences that were unrepresented on the Crimson’s most recent regular season slate.

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @mdledecky.