Minnesota-Duluth vs. Notre Dame 2018 live stream: Time, TV channel, and how to watch NCAA hockey championship online

The Frozen Four is now down to just two teams, with Notre Dame set to face Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday night for the 2018 NCAA hockey tournament championship game (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET).

Notre Dame is in its second title game in school history, thanks in large part to Jake Evans scoring with just 3.7 seconds remaining in Thursday’s national semifinal to beat Michigan. Saturday will be almost be a road game for the Irish, with the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. just a couple hours from Duluth’s campus.

Minnesota-Duluth was a No. 3 seed in the West region and beat Minnesota State-Mankato in overtime and Air Force to advance to the Frozen Four. The Bulldogs beat Ohio State in Thursday’s semifinal.

Minnesota-Duluth has one championship in school history, won in 2011 when the Frozen Four was last played in St. Paul. Coincidence? Notre Dame sure hopes so on Saturday.

Notre Dame vs. Minnesota-Duluth news & notes

Notre Dame beat Michigan in the semifinals, and Irish coach Jeff Jackson called the state of Michigan a “prime recruiting area” for his school, per the Detroit Free Press:

“I’ve always liked the Michigan kids because they seem to have that little bit of grit to their game, and they’re confident internally and it shows in the way they play their game.”

Losses in the NCHC tournament semifinals and third place game dropped Minnesota Duluth temporarily to 13th in the rankings, putting the Bulldogs in danger of missing out on an at-large bid to the NCAA hockey tournament. But thanks to its opponent on Saturday, Minnesota Duluth just barely made it in. Per the New York Times:

That made for a stressful two-hour bus ride back to Duluth, as players monitored developments on iPads and smartphones. It took Notre Dame’s triumph in the Big Ten tournament for the Bulldogs to slide up to 12th and claim the final at-large bid in the field by the barest of margins: .0001 of a point ahead of Minnesota.

By then the team was back in Duluth, watching the Irish score the overtime winner on the large flat-screen television in its Amsoil Arena dressing room. Players rejoiced as if they won the game themselves.

“Guys were yelling and hugging each other,” Bulldogs captain Karson Kuhlman said. “It was good feeling knowing we got a second life going into the N.C.A.A. tournament.”