After the 4-1 victory over Boston College on Friday night, what is next for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish?

This is ND’s first win against a top 10 team in four tries. The Irish went 0-3 against Denver and Miami (losing to them twice) and were looking for answers in the Northern Michigan series. They seemed to have gotten the memo.

Jeff Jackson’s squad outscored the NMU team 7-4 in the two games picking up contributions from the whole team. Combined, the power play went 5-for-15 and the PK unit did not allow a goal in 11 attempts by NMU.

How did that translate into a win last night against BC? The Eagles had a deadly power play coming into the game, converting 27.1% of the time. Notre Dame however, for the third straight game would not allow a power play goal, tightening up the middle of the ice, and keeping the puck to the point and the corners. The Eagles only had four shots on goal in that span.

Irish goaltender Jordan Pearce is playing the best hockey of his career. He is picking up right where he left off last year and improving in every aspect of his game.

Although no one has been totally impressive in the goal column, the offense is doing just enough to get key goals in key moments.

Example: last night’s game had Christian Hanson score a key power play goal 1:07 after Brock Bradford had tied the game at 1-1.

So what does this win mean for the Irish? It means a lot!

Come Pairwise ranking time in mid January, you can expect the Irish to be right up there in the top few spots. ND’s schedule until January 30 includes Ferris State, Bowling Green, Lake Superior, Western Michigan, Alaska, and the Shillelagh tournament in Hoffman Estates. However, the Irish will be put to the test on January 30 when they go to Yost Ice Arena against Michigan before coming back to South Bend on January 31 against the same Michigan team.

Looking ahead again, the Irish will face Michigan State in the last two games of the CCHA season, which could mean huge implications.

Their schedule right now would only have six ranked teams nationally; however, do not consider it a soft schedule by any means. The fact that the CCHA is improving and teams such as Union, Mass-Lowell, and Minnesota-Duluth could be left means there could be more teams nationally ranked by the time they play Notre Dame.

Some said to watch out for the Irish when Jeff Jackson became the coach in South Bend. After two years of success in 2006-07 and 2007-08, the Irish look like they’re heading in a similar direction in 2008-09.