Ric Schafer

Born1951
New Brighton, Minnesota

1970–1974Notre Dame

Position(s)Center

Ric Schafer
Biographical details
Born	1951 (1951) New Brighton, Minnesota
Alma mater	University of Notre Dame
Playing career
1970–1974	Notre Dame

Position(s)	Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1975–1980	Notre Dame (assistant)
1980–1987	Alaska-Fairbanks
1987–1995	Notre Dame

Head coaching record
Overall	213–237–17 (.474)

Ric Schafer (born 1951) is a retired American ice hockey player and head coach best remembered for his time with the men's program at Notre Dame.

Schafer was one of many Minnesota players brought to South Bend under Lefty Smith. When he started play for the Fighting Irish the NCAA had just removed its restriction on freshman playing for varsity teams which allowed Schafer to earn four letters with the team as well as serve as team captain his senior season.

After graduating Schafer returned to Notre Dame as an assistant in 1975 and worked in that capacity until 1980. At the same time that Notre Dame was experiencing a budgetary issue with its program^[1] Alaska-Fairbanks was elevating its club to Division I status and they chose Schafer to be their new head coach.^[2]

At the start Alaska-Fairbanks was a bad team. Schafer was only able to guide them to one win at the top level their first season and four more the following campaign. By the third year, however, the team turned their fortunes around and produced a 19-7 record.^[3] The Nanooks posted two consecutive 20+ win seasons in the mid-1980s before the team joined its first conference, the Great West Hockey Conference. Schafer got his team a second place finish the first year of conference play but was unable to improve on that mark before his former coach Lefty Smith retired and he accepted the head coaching post at his alma mater.

When Schafer took over Notre Dame's program in 1987 the team was in turmoil, having drastically slashed its recruiting budget and eliminated all hockey scholarships. While technically a Division I Independent at the time Notre Dame was playing against mostly Division III teams which was the main cause for its 27-4-2 record and ACHA Tournament Championship in Schafer's first year with the team. The team's fortunes declined when the ACHA collapsed the following year but Schafer was able to hold the program together through the rough patch.

By 1992 enough interest in the team had been generated to warrant the administration returning some scholarships to the program and Notre Dame was readmitted to the CCHA.^[4] Unfortunately the stigma from downgrading its program stuck with the Fighting Irish and Schafer was unable to bring in many top recruits. Notre Dame finished near the bottom of the league standings for three straight seasons and in 1995 he was relieved of his coaching duties.

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Alaska–Fairbanks Nanooks Independent (1980–1985)
1980–81	Alaska–Fairbanks	1–23–0
1981–82	Alaska–Fairbanks	4–19–0
1982–83	Alaska–Fairbanks	19–7–0
1983–84	Alaska–Fairbanks	22–7–0
1984–85	Alaska–Fairbanks	21–12–1
Alaska–Fairbanks:		67–68–1
Alaska–Fairbanks Nanooks (GWHC) (1985–1987)
1985–86	Alaska–Fairbanks	17–7–1	6–5–1	2nd
1986–87	Alaska–Fairbanks	17–10–0	7–9–0	3rd
Alaska–Fairbanks:		34–17–1	13–14–1
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Independent (1988–1992)
1987–88	Notre Dame	27–4–2			ACHA Champion
1988–89	Notre Dame	10–26–2
1989–90	Notre Dame	18–15–0
1990–91	Notre Dame	16–15–2
1991–92	Notre Dame	12–18–1
Notre Dame:		83–78–7
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (CCHA) (1992–1995)
1992–93	Notre Dame	7–27–2	5–23–2	10th	CCHA First Round
1993–94	Notre Dame	11–22–5	9–16–5	8th	CCHA First Round
1994–95	Notre Dame	11–25–1	7–19–1	9th	CCHA Quarterfinals
Notre Dame:		29–74–8	21–58–8
Total:		213–237–17
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

v t e Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey
Formerly the Alaska Agricultural College Polar Bears, Alaska–Fairbanks Polar Bears and Alaska–Fairbanks Nanooks
Playing venues	Carlson Center (1990–present)
Head coaches	Alfred Bastress (1935–1939) Joe Gerlach (1940–1941) Jim Welsch (1949–1950) Coach Urick (1950–1951) Coach Gilhooley (1953–1954) Chris Christensen (1954–1955) Ken Smith (1956–1957) Bill Borland (1957–1958) Bill Daltri (1960–1963) Larry Bidlake (1963–1964) Jack Peterson (1964–1965) Ed Armstrong (1965–1966) Jim Perry (1967–1969) Fred Stevenson (1969–1971) Gary Weitz (1971–1972) Ray Korkiala (1972–1973) Bob Gaddis (1973–1974) Tim Homan (1977–1978) Ric Schafer (1980–1987) Don Lucia (1987–1993) Dave Laurion (1993–1999) Guy Gadowsky (1999–2004) Tavis MacMillan (2004–2007) Doc DelCastillo (2007–2008) Dallas Ferguson (2008–2017) Lance West (2017–2018) Erik Largen (2018–present)
Seasons	1925–26 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1950–51 1953–54 1954–55 1956–57 1957–58 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1977–78 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 ~~2020–21~~ 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	Great West (1985–1988) CCHA (1995–2013) WCHA (2013–2021)
Rivalries	Alaska Anchorage Seawolves
NCAA Tournament appearances	2010 (vacated)
University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK

v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Joyce Center (1968–2011) Compton Family Ice Arena (2011–present)
Head coaches	G.R. Walsh (1912–1913) Paul Castner (1919–1923) Tom Lieb (1923–1926) Benjamin Dubois (1926–1927) Lefty Smith (1968–1987) Ric Schafer (1987–1995) Dave Poulin (1995–2005) Jeff Jackson (2005–2025) Brock Sheahan (2025–present)
Seasons	1911–12 1912–13 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	WCHA (1971–1981) CCHA (1981–1983, 1992–2013) Hockey East (2013–2017) Big Ten (2017–present)
Rivalries	Boston College Holy War on Ice Michigan
Culture & lore	Shillelagh Tournament
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Brian Walsh (234 Points) Greg Meredith (104 Goals) Jordan Pearce (59 Wins)
Frozen Four appearances	2008 2011 2017 2018
NCAA Tournament appearances	2004 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
Conference Tournament titles	CCHA: 2007 2009 2013 Big Ten: 2018 2019
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN

Head coaching record

References

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