YOUNGSTOWN PHANTOMS: The games will be the U17s' first contests against USHL opponents and against a team they will become quite familiar with. The Under-17 Team and Phantoms will square off eight times this season, the most frequent opponent on the year.

Youngstown dropped both games at the USHL Fall Classic in Cranberry Township, Pa., last weekend, falling to Lincoln, 3-2 and to Waterloo, 2-0. 

Five Phantoms skaters picked up a point across the two games with goals coming from forwards Ryan Alexander and Adam Ingram.

Kyle Chauvette and Owen Bartoszkewicz split the duties in net, finishing with 40 and 27 saves, respectively. 

MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS: The game will be Michigan State's first contest of the 2021-22 campaign after finishing last season with a 7-18-2 overall record.

MSU will have some familiar faces for the NTDP, both on the ice and on the bench. Spartans goaltenders Drew DeRidder (2017-18) and Jonathan Mor (2016-18) both donned the red, white and blue for the NTDP before winding up in East Lansing, Mich. DeRidder recorded 26 wins in net in his lone season at USA Hockey Arena, good for ninth most all-time in a single season at the program.

Up front, forward Erik Middendorf (2016-18) is an NTDP alum, where he finished his career with 51 points (23g-28a) across his two years. 

MSU head coach Danton Cole was a bench boss for the NTDP for seven seasons (2010-17), spanning the move from Ann Arbor to Plymouth. 

Peter Ward, recently named senior advisor to the coaching staff for the Spartans, was formerly the NTDP's director of player personnel. 

The NTDP and Spartans have previously met 16 times, with Michigan State reigning victorious in 10 of those contests. The teams' last meeting came on October 18, 2019, a 2-1 victory for MSU at Munn Ice Arena. 

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH: Notre Dame is coming off a successful 2020-21 season that saw them go 14-13-2 overall, 12-10-2 in Big Ten play. The Irish did struggle at Compton Family Ice Arena, skating to a 5-11-1 record at home but picking up the pace on the road, finishing the year at 9-2-1 outside of Indiana. 

The NTDP to Notre Dame connection runs extremely deep, having the third most NTDP alums of any college in the country. This year, Irish skaters Justin Janicke (2019-21), Hunter Strand (2018-20), Ryder Rolston (2017-19), Graham Slaggert (2015-17), Landon Slaggert (2018-20), Jake Pivonka (2016-18), Spencer Stastney (2016-18) and Trevor Janicke (2016-18) all played junior hockey for the NTDP.

Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson, known locally as "The Father" of the NTDP, was one of the biggest voices in creating the NTDP and was the program's first head coach, a position he held for three seasons. 

In 10 previous meetings, the NTDP has played the Fighting Irish to a 2-6-2 record, falling to Notre Dame, 4-2, in their last meeting in 2019.