The Shillelagh Tournament was a Division I men's

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

tournament hosted annually during the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season by the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team of the University of Notre Dame, competing at the NCAA Division I level as an associate member of the Big Ten Conference. The Irish play their home games at Com ...

program. It was first held during the

2008–09 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season The 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 10, 2008 and concluded with the 2009 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament's championship game on April 11, 2009 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Over the cour ...

as the successor to the Lightning College Hockey Classic. After the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

withdrew as tournament sponsor because of ownership changes, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey program took control of the event, moving it to the

Sears Centre The Now Arena (originally known as the Sears Centre, Sears Centre Arena and stylized as NOW Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a northwest suburb from Chicago, near land which formerly contained the Poplar Creek Musi ...

Hoffman Estates, Illinois Hoffman Estates is a village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, with a small section in Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 52,530. The village now serves a ...

. The tournament is named after the

shillelagh A shillelagh ( ; ga, sail éille or , "thonged willow") is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel, typically made from a stout knotty blackthorn stick with a large knob at the top. It is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore. Other ...

, a wooden club typically made from blackthorn or oak with a large knob on the end that is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore. The

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...

program has annually exchanged the Shillelagh Trophy with the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

from 1930–c. 1973, the Shillelagh Trophy with the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

since 1957, and the Jeweled Shillelagh with the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

since 1952. Notre Dame won the inaugural Shillelagh Tournament, defeating the

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a two-year progr ...

3–1 in the final game. After three seasons, the tournament was shelved for a couple years, leading some fans to believe it had run its course. But Notre Dame finally renewed it as a Thanksgiving tournament in November 2013 (rather than a New Year's tournament as it had been prior), in which the Irish were upset in the championship game. This renewal also moved the tournament from Hoffman Estates to Notre Dame's own Compton Family Ice Arena. The tournament did not return for the 2017–18 season.

Results

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey
{{Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey navbox Notre Dame Fighting Irish ice hockey College ice hockey tournaments in the United States