The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a history of attractive and distinctive jerseys done in a classic style with some room for fun with their alternate jerseys, which have been done in both green and gold, often with a Celtic font for the logo and numbers.
College hockey at the University of Notre Dame dates as far back as 1912 and was active during the 1920's as well, but the school's modern program did not begin until 1968 after a 42 year absence. The Fighting Irish played three seasons as an independent school prior to joining the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 1971.
As part of a major shift in college hockey conference alignment, Notre Dame, along with Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech, left the WCHA and joined the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for the 1981-82 season. After finishing fourth in their first season in the CCHA, they dropped to eighth in 1982-83 before they dropped out of the CCHA when the program was downgraded to a club level sport in 1983-84. Notre Dame elevated the hockey program back to Division I status for 1984-85, but this time as an independent program for eight seasons, which included their remarkable 27-4-2 record in 1987-88.
The Fighting Irish once again rejoined the CCHA in time for the 1992-93 season, but found the going tough in the competitive conference, as it would be seven seasons before Notre Dame posted a winning record in the league. After a string of mid-pack finishes in the early 2000's and their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2004, the program hit bottom in 2004-05 when they finished dead last with a dismal 3-20-5 record in the conference and 5-27-6 overall. This led to a coaching change in which helped turned the program around.
After hiring former Lake Superior State University coach Jeff Jackson who had two national championships on his resume. After improving by eight wins in 2005-06, the Fighting Irish shocked the CCHA with their 21-4-3 conference record, which included their first ever #1 national ranking during the season, to win the CCHA regular season title in 2006-07 as well as winning the conference playoff championship to return to the NCAA playoffs once more where they advanced to their first Frozen Four in school history where they made it to the national championship final.
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Proving their first conference championship was no fluke, Notre Dame made the NCAA tournament again in 2007-08 and repeated their regular season and playoff titles again in 2008-09 prior to advancing to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive time and fourth overall. The Irish will be looking to maintain this new found level of success long term and join the ranks of perennial CCHA powers Michigan and Michigan State as contenders every season. A sign of the improvement in the Notre Dame program is that four Fighting Irish players have now been selected in the first round of the NHL draft, with Ian Cole 18th overall by St. Louis in 2007, Kyle Palmeri 26th by Anaheim in 2009 and most recently Riley Sheahan 21st by Detroit followed by Jarred Tinordi 22nd by Montreal in the 2010 Entry Draft.
Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sterling Black jersey.
The Hockey Leprechaun and Sport-Specific Logos
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have released their second sport-specific leprechaun logo and immediately put it on a new jersey for the upcoming season. Following the release of their Football Leprechaun logo in August, the South Bend, Indiana-based university unveiled their new Hockey Leprechaun mark on Thursday, October 16, ahead of the men’s team’s home opener.
Designed in-house by Fighting Irish Media with input from the school’s hockey program, the Hockey Leprechaun is “inspired by photography, fundamentals, and shooting and skating styles from both former and current student-athletes.”
The logo release was quickly followed up the next day with the launch of new alternate jerseys featuring the new mark on the front. Names on the back and numbers on the sleeves are navy blue, while numbers on the back are navy blue with white and green drop shadows. The home jersey has a white base while the away jersey is navy blue.
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The sport-specific leprechaun logos are designated as “secondary spirit marks” and will not replace the leprechaun in a fighting stance in the school’s athletics logo portfolio. The Notre Dame athletics department intends to roll out more sport-specific logos for varsity-level teams throughout the 2025-26 season and in future years.
The Fighting Irish Leprechaun logo first appeared on the cover of the November 20, 1964, edition of Time, featuring first-year Notre Dame head football coach Ara Parseghian. The image developed for the cover eventually was designed into the logo that Irish athletic fans across the nation are accustomed to seeing on clothing, memorabilia and more. … Its long-standing history represents the tenacious spirit of the Fighting Irish and their determination.
Friendship Four and the Book of Kells Inspiration
Notre Dame Hockey just sent waves through Notre Dame's athletic fashion history with special uniforms for their trip to Northern Ireland. Notre Dame Hockey has unveiled their specialty uniforms for the 2024 Friendship Four, which will be held in the capital city of Belfast, located in Northern Ireland. Notre Dame will play its first game there against Harvard, followed up by either Merrimack or Boston University.
The uniforms are already receiving raving opinions from Notre Dame and hockey fans across social media. The specialty uniforms are inspired by the Book of Kells: "An illuminated manuscript and Celtic Gospel book in Latin,[1] containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables." according to Wikipedia.
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Gopher Men's Hockey: Traveling to Notre Dame for B1G Semifinals!
With the University of Notre Dame hockey program's first ever international trip fast approaching, the team, in partnership with Under Armour and Fanatics, have released a specialty jersey for the Friendship Four tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The navy jersey features a gold script "Irish" across the chest along with a unique, stylized nameplate font specifically for the tournament.
Take the purest expression of the Notre Dame brand, blue and shiny gold, and infuse it with a story that honors Ireland's history and culture. The uniform features a custom number set, shoulder logo, and font all directly inspired by illustrations in the Book of Kells.
