Holy War on Ice

The Holy War on Ice refers to the college ice hockey series between Boston College and Notre Dame. Boston College is a member of the Hockey East conference, while Notre Dame is a member of the Big Ten for ice hockey. They are the only members of the Atlantic Coast Conference who sponsor men's ice hockey at the NCAA Division I level. The two teams first met in 1969, predating the football rivalry from which the hockey series gets its name.

Holy War on Ice

Boston College Notre Dame
First meeting	December 20, 1969 Boston College 7, Notre Dame 3
Latest meeting	November 24, 2023 Boston College 6, Notre Dame 1
Next meeting	TBD
Trophy	Lefty Smith – John "Snooks" Kelley Memorial Trophy
Statistics
Meetings total	49
All-time series	Boston College leads 25–22–2
Largest victory	Notre Dame, 14–3 (1971)
Longest win streak	Boston College, 4 (1977–1991)
Longest unbeaten streak	Boston College, 8 (1995–2002)
Current win streak	Boston College, 1 (2023–present)
Current unbeaten streak	Boston College, 1 (2023–present)

430km
267miles

Notre Dame

Boston College

   

Locations of Boston College and Notre Dame

The teams play for the Lefty Smith – John "Snooks" Kelley Memorial Trophy.

History

The men's ice hockey series between the two schools originated in 1969, predating the football rivalry. Since Jerry York began his tenure as coach at BC in 1994, the series has been played regularly, receiving the moniker "Holy War on Ice," a reference to the football rivalry.^[1][2][3]

Boston College leads the all-time series 25–22–2, with the last meeting resulting in a 6–1 Eagles' victory on November 24, 2023, in South Bend.

The victor of the game between the Eagles and Irish is awarded the Lefty Smith – John "Snooks" Kelley Memorial Trophy, named for the teams' coaches when the series began in 1969.^[4]

In 2008, the two schools met in the 2008 Frozen Four final in Denver, CO, the first time the Eagles and Irish have met in the NCAA Tournament. Boston College skated to a 4–1 victory, claiming their third national championship and denying Notre Dame, a four-seed, the program's first.^[5][6]

Notre Dame briefly joined Boston College in Hockey East from 2013–14 to 2016–17.^[7] The two teams met twice annually during those four seasons, and their first contest as conference foes took place outdoors at Frozen Fenway in Boston, MA, where the Eagles skated to a 4–3 victory. They also met once in the postseason during the 2014 Hockey East Tournament. In that series, which was the first year of Notre Dame's league membership, the 8th seeded Irish defeated the top seeded Eagles in a best-of-three Quarterfinals at Chestnut Hill.

While Notre Dame left Hockey East to join the Big Ten in 2017–18, the series continued with at least one game annually.

Despite not meeting during the regular season of 2020–21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic preventing inter-conference games, the two teams seemed destined to meet regardless. The Eagles and Irish were slated to face each other in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament, playing in the Northeast regional at the Times Union Center, in Albany, New York. However, before the postseason meeting could happen, Notre Dame was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to positive COVID-19 tests among the team's personnel; the match was ruled a no-contest as the Eagles automatically advanced to the Regional Final.

The series resumed in 2022 after a two-season hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Game results

Boston College victories

Notre Dame victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 December 20, 1969 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 7–3 2 December 29, 1969 South Bend, IN Boston College 7–4 3 December 30, 1970 Chestnut Hill, MA Notre Dame 5–3 4 December 18, 1971 Chicago, IL Notre Dame 14–3 5 December 20, 1971 New York, NY Notre Dame 7–4 6 December 22, 1972 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 11–4 7 December 30, 1973 South Bend, IN Boston College 4–3 8 December 22, 1974 Chestnut Hill, MA Notre Dame 7–4 9 December 22, 1975 South Bend, IN Notre Dame 6–5 10 December 19, 1976 Chestnut Hill, MA Notre Dame 7–4 11 December 23, 1977 South Bend, IN Boston College 8–4 12 December 22, 1978 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 10–5 13 January 5, 1989 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 7–5 14 January 4, 1991 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 8–1 15 December 28, 1994 Chestnut Hill, MA Notre Dame 3–2 16 October 27, 1995 South Bend, IN Boston College 7–5 17 November 8, 1996 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 6–1 18 October 24, 1997 South Bend, IN Boston College 3–2 19 November 6, 1998 Chestnut Hill, MA Tie 5–5 20 October 13, 2000 Omaha, NE #4 Boston College 4–1 21 November 10, 2000 South Bend, IN #2 Boston College 5–3 22 October 26, 2001 South Bend, IN Boston College 4–1 23 November 1, 2002 South Bend, IN Tie 3–3 24 October 24, 2003 Chestnut Hill, MA Notre Dame 1–0 25 October 22, 2004 South Bend, IN Notre Dame 3–2 No. Date Location Winner Score 26 October 20, 2006 Chestnut Hill, MA Notre Dame 7–1 27 April 12, 2008 Denver, CO #7 Boston College 4–1 28 November 7, 2008 Chestnut Hill, MA #12 Notre Dame 4–1 29 October 23, 2009 South Bend, IN #14 Boston College 3–2 30 October 23, 2010 South Bend, IN #17 Notre Dame 2–1 31 November 18, 2011 South Bend, IN #4 Notre Dame 3–2 32 November 9, 2012 Chestnut Hill, MA #1 Boston College 3–1 33 January 4, 2014 Boston, MA #6 Boston College 4–3 34 March 1, 2014 Chestnut Hill, MA #14 Notre Dame 2–1 35 March 14, 2014 Chestnut Hill, MA #11 Notre Dame 7–2 36 March 15, 2014 Chestnut Hill, MA #2 Boston College 4–2 37 March 16, 2014 Chestnut Hill, MA #11 Notre Dame 4–2 38 February 27, 2015 South Bend, IN #9 Boston College 2–0 39 February 28, 2015 South Bend, IN Notre Dame 3–1 40 December 10, 2015 Chestnut Hill, MA #18 Notre Dame 4–3 41 January 29, 2016 South Bend, IN #5 Boston College 4–0 42 December 10, 2016 South Bend, IN #14 Notre Dame 3–2 43 January 28, 2017 Chestnut Hill, MA #13 Boston College 6–4 44 December 31, 2018 South Bend, IN #6 Notre Dame 4–0 45 December 6, 2019 Chestnut Hill, MA #10 Boston College 4–0 46 December 8, 2019 South Bend, IN #10 Boston College 6–1 47 January 19, 2022 South Bend, IN #13 Notre Dame 8–2 48 November 25, 2022 Chestnut Hill, MA #19 Notre Dame 5–2 49 November 24, 2023 South Bend, IN #2 Boston College 6–1 Series: Boston College leads 25–22–2

Series facts

Statistic	BC	ND
Games played	49
Wins	25	22
Home wins	10	8
Road wins	12	12
Neutral site wins	3	2
Most goals scored in a game by one team	11 ('72)	14 ('71)
Most goals in a game by both teams	17 (1971 – ND 14, BC 3)
Fewest goals in a game by both teams	1 (2003 – ND 1, BC 0)
Fewest goals scored in a game by one team in a win	2 ('15)	1 ('03)
Most goals scored in a game by one team in a loss	5 ('75)	5 ('78, '89, '95)
Largest margin of victory	7 ('72, '91)	11 ('71)
Smallest margin of victory	1 ('73, '97, '09, '14)	1 ('75, '94, '03, '04, '10, '11, '14, '16)
Longest winning streak	4 ('77–'91)	3 ('70–'71, '74–'76, '03–'06)
Longest unbeaten streak	8 ('95–'02)	4 ('02–'06)

See also

• Holy War (Boston College–Notre Dame)
• Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey