Notre Dame comes into the NCAA Hockey Championship Frozen Four this week as the number-one team in the nation in the current USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll—although rankings and seeding often mean little in contests at this level.

If NCAA statistics are the gauge, here’s how to look at the matchups (Ohio State vs. Minnesota Duluth, followed by Notre Dame vs. Michigan) Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota:

--Notre Dame (number-one seed in the NCAA East Regional and the number-two overall seed) boasts the top-rated assist man in the field (senior forward Jake Evans at .82 per game) and the stingiest net-minder (sophomore Cale Morris with his 1.91 goals-against average and .945 save percentage that ranks first nationally).

Morris headlines a quartet of Frozen Four goalies, none of whom had a minute of NCAA experience until the 2018 regionals.

Evans is the top career scorer of all players in Saint Paul (39 goals, 95 assists, 134 points).

--Ohio State (number-one seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional and number-four overall seed) possesses the best overall defense (2.08 goals allowed), the best penalty-kill unit (.893) and the player with the most power-play goals (junior forward Mason Jobst—who is from Speedway, Indiana--with nine).

The Buckeyes also qualify as the team with the best scoring margin (plus-1.18).

--Michigan (number-two seed in the NCAA Northeast Regional and the number-eight overall seed) has the top individual scorer (senior forward Tony Calderone at .62 goals per game) and the highest-scoring offense (3.41 goals per game).

Calderone (24) and Jobst (21) are the only 20-goal scorers alive in the 2018 Frozen Four.

--Minnesota Duluth (number-three seed in the NCAA West Regional and number-12 overall seed) brings the most effective power-play unit (.239).

Both Notre Dame and Duluth played in the Frozen Four a year ago in Chicago (two year-after-year national semifinalists hasn’t happened in a decade)—and the last time this event played at the Xcel Energy Center in 2011, Notre Dame, Duluth and Michigan all were present. Duluth’s title that year began an ongoing run of seven consecutive years with different NCAA champions.

All four head coaches know their way around Frozen Fours:

--Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson won a pair of titles as Lake Superior State head coach (1992 and 1994) and a third as a Laker assistant coach (1988).

--Duluth’s Scott Sandelin coached the Bulldogs to the NCAA title in 2011—in the process defeating two of the same teams in the 2018 Frozen Four, Notre Dame and Michigan. He also was part of two NCAA title teams as a North Dakota assistant coach (1997 and 2000).

--Michigan’s Mel Pearson won two as a Wolverine assistant coach (1996 and 1998).

“It’s been a while since Michigan has been to the Frozen Four,” Pearson said Wednesday. “It’s great to be back.”

--Ohio State’s Steve Rohlik claimed an NCAA title as a player (1990 at Wisconsin).

This is Pearson’s 13th Frozen Four (first as a head coach), Jackson’s seventh (three at Lake Superior State and now four at Notre Dame), Sandelin’s ninth (four as Duluth head coach, four as a North Dakota assistant plus an NCAA title he helped win at North Dakota in 1984) and Rohlik’s third (he played on that 1990 Wisconsin title team and also helped Duluth to the 2004 Frozen Four as an assistant coach).

It’s the first time since 1969 that none of the Frozen Four head coaches attended the institution where he currently coaches.

The Irish roster features five players whose Minnesota roots translate to a bit of home cooking this week—senior forward Bo Brauer (Edina), senior defenseman Tony Bretzman (Mendota Heights), senior defenseman Jordan Gross (Maple Grove), freshman defenseman Matt Hellickson (Rogers) and junior forward Dylan Malmquist (Edina).

The Notre Dame team charter flew into the snow and cold of Saint Paul Tuesday night (the Irish flight was slated to depart South Bend at 6:30 p.m. but ultimately did not leave until after 9 p.m. because the Minneapolis airport temporarily shut down) in anticipation of renewing a Midwest hockey rivalry that goes back to the 1921-22 season. The Irish defeated the Wolverines twice that year, including once on the Badin Rink on the Notre Dame campus. Notre Dame and Michigan meet for the 140th time late Thursday night.

The Irish and Wolverines have met twice previously in NCAA play: Notre Dame won 5-4 in overtime in an NCAA Frozen Four semifinal in 2008 in Denver when Michigan was ranked number one in the country, while the Wolverines won 3-2 (also in overtime) in a 2016 Midwest Regional semifinal in Cincinnati.

Notre Dame and Michigan split their four 2017-18 meetings—the Irish winning twice (both 2-1 scores) in a Jan. 5 and 7 home-and-home weekend that extended Notre Dame’s overall win streak to 13 and their Big Ten opening streak to 12.

Michigan won twice in a similar Friday/Sunday home-and-home pairing Feb. 16 and 18 when Notre Dame was ranked number one--one weekend after the Irish clinched the Big Ten regular-season title. Before those two games Notre Dame had won seven of the last eight series meetings (the lone loss coming in that 2016 NCAA regional contest). The Wolverines ranked as the only team to defeat Notre Dame twice in 2017-18.

Calderone suggested that the two games in January—both one-goal Wolverine losses when the Irish were number one—actually gave Michigan confidence, leading the next weekend to its first sweep at Minnesota (then ranked ninth nationally) since 1977.

Despite Notre Dame’s multiple 2018 Big Ten titles (regular season and tournament) and 16-game win streak, this will be the third time since 1974 that no team in the country wins 30 games—even if the Irish (27-9-2) win it all.

And despite that hot start, the Irish come to Saint Paul having won only six of their last 10 games (Michigan is sizzling with nine victories in its last 10—Ohio State and Duluth both have won seven of 10).

Against the entire 2018 NCAA field, Notre Dame boasts the best record at 12-4-2. Ohio State has posted nine wins in that category, Michigan seven and Duluth four.

Of the four teams Notre Dame has won the most games after scoring first (21), trailing after one period (six), tied after one period (11) and in overtime (three--Ohio State also won three of those).

The Irish are 13-3 this season in one-goal games (Michigan and Ohio State have won seven apiece; Duluth has won five). Of Notre Dame’s 19 previous NCAA games, 12 have been one-goal affairs—including seven that required at least one overtime. Six of Notre Dame’s last seven NCAA assignments have turned into one-goal games (the only outlier is the 6-1 Irish loss to Denver in a 2017 Frozen Four semifinal).

The Frozen Four in 2018 is being held in the backyard of the University of Minnesota which did not make the field this year but has been an NCAA qualifier 37 times to lead the nation (Michigan also has earned bids 37 times). Former Gopher head coach Don Lucia (he’s a Notre Dame grad and former Irish hockey standout whose son Mario played for Notre Dame in 2012-16) stopped by Wednesday to visit with Jackson on the Irish bench during Notre Dame’s Xcel Energy Center practice.

There’s a heavy Big Ten Conference influence in Saint Paul with three of the four Frozen Four qualifiers coming from that league—the first time in 13 years a single conference has sent a trio of teams to the final weekend. It came in Notre Dame’s first season competing in hockey in the Big Ten—after previously facing Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State during their days together in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (the Irish played in that league from 1992-93 through 2012-13).

“There's not a bad team in the Big Ten and I think it shows right now with three out of the four in the Frozen Four right now,” said Gross.

Five of the previous eight Frozen Fours this decade have been won by number-one seeds. Notre Dame (and Ohio State) will try to make it six in 2018.

At the same time, Notre Dame as an athletic department will be trying to win its third NCAA title in three weekends—following fencing and women’s basketball. The only other time the Irish have won two national crowns in a year came in 1977-78 (football and men’s fencing).

Meanwhile, Michigan goaltender Hayden Lavigne noted how the appearance of the Wolverine men’s basketball team in the NCAA men’s basketball title game Monday has given the hockey players a boost as they play in their own Final Four this week: “Their energy has translated onto us.”

Lavigne also suggested that Notre Dame’s entrance into the Big Ten for hockey has “reignited” the Irish-Wolverine rivalry.

“Both teams know each other really well,” added Pearson, Michigan’s first-year head coach.

“Michigan is much improved,” said Jackson. “They've grown a lot over the last several months. I remember when I took over Notre Dame, it took us over half a year to get our culture in place, to get our system in place, to figure out what players we had. And they had to figure me out.

“I'm sure the same thing happened to Mel this year. From January to a month later when we played them again, I saw them better than they were earlier. He's done an incredible job this year. That program's back on the rise.”

Blue and gold? Maize and blue?

One of those combinations will play Saturday night for an NCAA title.