Former Irish defenseman Teddy Ruth is one of 15 former Notre Dame hockey players that will be attending the first-ever Notre Dame Pro Hockey camp from August 27 to August 30 at the Compton Family Ice Arena

#8/#8 Notre Dame Gets Set To Battle Northern Michigan At The Joyce Center

Nov. 12, 2009

Notre Dame, Ind. –

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

• The Game: #8/#8 Notre Dame (5-4-1/2-1-1-0) vs. Northern Michigan (2-5-1/1-3-0-0)

• Date/Site/Time: Sat.-Sun., November 14-15, 2009 • Joyce Center • 5:05 p.m./4:05 p.m.

• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM, starting with the pregame show 20 minutes before the opening face off. Darin Pritchett will call the action for the Irish. Due to a scheduling conflict on Cat Country 99.9 FM, Sunday’s game with the Wildcats will be broadcast on Newstalk 960 WSBT starting at 3:45 p.m.

• Internet: Audio: Both games of the Northern Michigan series will have live audio streaming at und.com.

Live Video: Will be available for Saturday’s 5:05 p.m. game at und.com.

HERE COME THE WILDCATS: Notre Dame returns home from its trip to Alaska to face the Northern Michigan Wildcats in a Saturday-Sunday series on Nov. 14-15. Saturday’s game will start at 5:05 p.m. (this is a time change from the original 7:05 p.m. start time) and then Sunday’s game will drop the puck at 4:05 p.m. The Irish are coming off a weekend split in Fairbanks where they won the opening contest, 3-2, and then lost a 3-1 decision on Saturday night. Notre Dame brings a 5-4-1 mark into the series with Northern Michigan and is 2-1-1-0 in the CCHA, good for seven points in the standings. The Irish opened the week ranked eighth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and the USCHO.com poll. They will meet a Wildcat team that is coming off a split at Ohio State. Northern took a 1-0 win in the series opener and then fell, 5-4, on Saturday night in game two. The Wildcats visit the Joyce Center with a 2-5-1 overall record and are 1-3-0-0 in conference action, good for three league points. This series begins a streak of five “home” games in the next six as Notre Dame has a home-and-home series with Michigan State next weekend with the Irish home game at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, Ind. They then close out November with a home series against Bowling Green (Nov. 27-28).

TIME CHANGE REMINDER: Saturday’s game with Northern Michigan will start at 5:05 p.m. instead of the regularly scheduled 7:05 p.m. start.

IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: Notre Dame and Northern Michigan have met 44 times in the all-time series with the Wildcats leading by a 20-19-5 margin. At the Joyce Center, the Irish have a 10-9-3 advantage. Last season the teams met four times during the regular season and once in the CCHA playoffs. The Irish won all five games, winning twice in Marquette, Mich., 3-2 and 4-2, and then took two at the Joyce Center, 9-5 and 5-2. In the CCHA semifinals, the Irish knocked off the Wildcats, 2-1, to advance to the championship game. Notre Dame has won five straight and nine of the last 11 meetings between the teams going back to the 2005-06 season.

ALASKA RECAP: Friday, Nov. 6 – Freshman goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) stopped 35-of-37 Alaska Nanook shots on Friday night to help Notre Dame to a 3-2 win at the Carlson Center. Johnson got all the offensive support that he needed as Christiaan Minella (Sr., Aurora, Colo.), Ryan Thang (Sr., Edina, Minn.) and Kyle Lawson (Sr., New Hudson, Mich.) each scored for the Irish. Thang and Lawson scored on second-period, power-play goals. Dion Knelsen and Chad Gehon had Alaska’s goals on the night. The Irish win handed the Nanooks their first loss of the season and extended Notre Dame’s unbeaten streak against Alaska to 11 games (10-0-1) since Dec. 2, 2006. Lawson recorded his second consecutive two-point game (1g, 1a) and added his second game-winning goal this season. For the night, Notre Dame was out shot, 37-17. Greenham finished with 14 saves. The Irish were out shot, 16-3 in the final period. For the night, Notre Dame was 2-for-3 on the power play while Alaska was 0-for-2.

Saturday, Nov. 7 – For the first 40 minutes of Saturday’s game at the Carlson Center, the Irish looked like they might get a sweep of Alaska as freshman goaltender Mike Johnson made an early second-period goal by Ben Ryan (Jr., Brighton, Mich.) stand up with Notre Dame taking a 1-0 lead into the third period. The Nanooks had other ideas over the final 20 minutes as they scored three times in the third period to take a 3-1 win and a split of the series. Derek Klassen scored twice (2:33 and 19:56 into an empty net) and Andy Taranto had the game winner at 12:53. For the night, the Irish out shot Alaska, 27-24 with Johnson getting 21 saves and Alaska’s Scott Greenham making 26 stops. Notre Dame was 0-for-4 on the power play while the Nanooks were 0-for-2. This game marked the second time all season that the Irish failed to score on the power play.

CONDOLENCES: Thoughts and prayers go out to former Irish hockey coach Charles “Lefty” Smith on the death of his wife, Mary “Mickey” Smith, who passed away on Monday, Nov. 9. Married for 57 years, the Smiths have seven living children, 16 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. The funeral service will be held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Friday, Nov. 13.

END OF THE LINE: Notre Dame’s loss to Alaska on Nov. 7 snapped an 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1) for the Irish against the Nanooks. The streak started on Dec. 2, 2006. Prior to Nov. 7, the last time Alaska defeated Notre Dame was March 4, 2006, a 1-0 win in game two of the CCHA playoffs.

BACK-TO-BACK: Freshman goaltender Mike Johnson made his first back-to-back starts as a goaltender at Notre Dame in the Alaska series. On Friday, Nov. 6, Johnson made a career-high 35 saves in the 3-2 win over the Nanooks. Included were 16 saves in the third period as the Irish were out shot, 16-3, in the final stanza. On Saturday, Nov. 7, Johnson gave up two goals on 23 shots in a 3-1 loss to Alaska. For the weekend, he was 1-1-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average and stopped 56-of-60 shots for a 93.3% save percentage.

HOT HANDS: While the Irish have struggled to score over the first 10 games of the season, two players carry scoring streaks into the series with Northern Michigan this weekend. Junior center Ben Ryan has a career-high seven-game scoring streak that has seen him score three goals with six assists for nine points. He is Notre Dame’s leading scorer with three goals and seven assists for 10 points in the first 10 games. Senior defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) has put together a four-game point streak where he has scored two goals with four assists for six points. In each of the last two weekend series, Lawson has recorded three-point weekends. His goal against Alaska on Nov. 6 came on the power play and was the game winner. He is second on the team in scoring with three goals and six asssists for nine points.

BACK IN ACTION: Junior defenseman Teddy Ruth (Naperville, Ill.) has missed the first 10 games this season with a lower body injury. He has resumed skating and will return to action this weekend versus Northern Michigan.

WHERE ARE THE GOALS? Through the first 10 games of the season, Notre Dame has scored a total of 23 goals on the year. Of the 23 goals, only 10 have come with the two teams skating at even strength. The Irish have 12 goals on the power play and one short-handed tally to go with the nine even strength goals. In the first 10 games of the season, Notre Dame has not scored more than three goals in a game.

THE BIG 5-0: Ryan Thang’s second-period power-play goal versus Alaska on Nov. 6 was the 50th of his Irish hockey career. The senior captain enters Saturday’s game with 50 goals and 46 assists for 96 career points.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Notre Dame will take its home show on the road on Sunday, Nov. 22 when the Irish play host to the Michigan State Spartans at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, Ind. That game will have a 4:05 p.m. starting time. Tickets for that game are $14.00, $12.00 and $7.00 and are available at the Memorial Coliseum Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or at (800) 745-3000. The Notre Dame ticket office will have a limited quantity of tickets on sale for season ticket holders only. For information contact the Notre Dame ticket office at (574) 631-7356.

CHART CLIMBING: With his second power-play goal of the season in the 3-2 win on Nov. 6 at Alaska, senior left wing Ryan Thang moved into sole possession of ninth place on Notre Dame’s all-time power-play goal list with 23 in his career. The top nine on the list look like this:

Power-Play GoalsName (Seasons)                     PPG1.  Greg Meredith (1976-80)         432.  Dave Poulin (1978-82)           323.  Mike McNeill (1984-88)          314.  Lou Zadra (1988-92)             285.  Aniket Dhadphale (1995-99)      25    Tim Kuehl (1986-90)             25    Kirt Bjork (1979-83)            258.  Brian Walsh (1973-77)           249.  Ryan Thang (2006- )             23

CHART-CLIMBING, PART TWO: Notre Dame defenseman Kyle Lawson has three goals and six assists on the season for nine points to rank second on the team in scoring. For his career, Lawson has played in 133 games with 16 goals and 61 assists for 77 career points. He is moving closer to the top 10 in scoring among Notre Dame defensemen.

Points By A DefensemanName (Seasons)                       G     A    Pts1.  John Schmidt (1978-82)          28    95    1232.  Jeff Brownschidle (1977-81)     39    92    1223.  Jack Brownschidle (1973-77)     31    78    1094.  Bob Thebeau (1982-86)           40    63    1035.  Paul Clarke (1973-77)           38    62    1006.  Bill Green (1969-73)            30    66     96    Kevin Markovitz (1986-90)       24    72     968.  Bill Nyrop (1970-74)            17    72     899.  Benoit Cotnoir (1995-99)        28    60     8810. Brett Lebda (2000-04)           26    59     85 -  Kyle Lawson (2006-)             16    61     77

BEST OF THE BEST: Over the past three-plus seasons, the Notre Dame hockey program is tops in the nation. Since the start of the 2006-07 campaign, the Irish have won 95 games and own a .723 winning percentage over that period. Notre Dame leads Michigan (92) in wins and winning percentage (.710). Here are the top five teams by wins and winning percentage since 2006-07.

WINS                       WINNING .PCTNotre Dame  95             Notre Dame (.723)Michigan  92               Michigan (.710)Miami  88                  Miami (.693)North Dakota 82            North Dakota (.650)Boston University 76       Boston Univ. (.645)

POWER-PLAY NOTES: In Notre Dame’s 3-1 loss at Alaska, the Irish were held scoreless on the power play for just the second time this season. Prior to that, they had scored two power-play goals in three consecutive game and for the fourth time on the year. Notre Dame has power-play goals in eight of 10 games this year. For the season, the Irish are 12-for-57 with the man advantage for a 21.1% success rate.

SHOOT OUT LOSS: Notre Dame’s 2-1 loss to Ohio State in the shoot out on Oct. 31 marked the first time that Notre Dame lost a shoot out since the CCHA implimented the tie breaker for the start of the 2008-09 season. The Irish are 3-1 all-time in the shoot out.

GOAL-SCORING MACHINE: Junior left wing Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden) leads Notre Dame with four goals this season with three of them coming on the power play. His four-game, goal-scoring streak that started on Oct. 16 versus Providence came to an end on Oct. 31 against Ohio State. During his streak, Ridderwall had four goals with one assist for five points. Over the last two seasons, he has scored 21 goals for Notre Dame with 14 of them coming via the power play.

HOME ICE STRUGGLES: Last season, the Irish were 13-3-2 at the Joyce Center and over the last three seasons owned a 37-9-7 mark on home ice. This season, the Irish are just 3-3-1 in their own barn. Last year, the Irish were 11-2 in one-goal games while this season, they are just 1-3 in one-goal games.

DEETH TOPS 100: Senior center Kevin Deeth (Gig Harbor, Wash.) became the 44th player in the 42-year history of the Notre Dame hockey program to reach 100 points for his career on Oct. 23. His assist on Calle Ridderwall’s first-period goal gave Deeth 32 goals and 68 assists for his 100th career point. He reached that mark in 133 games. In the Oct. 30 game with Ohio State, Deeth added his team-best sixth assist of the season. His 101 career points moves him into a tie for 42nd on the all-time points list. Right behind him is senior teammate Ryan Thang who has now played in 130 career games, scoring 50 goals with 46 assists for 96 points. He needs just four assists to join the 50/50 club for players with 50 goals and 50 assists in a career.

STEALING THE SHOW: Junior goaltender Brad Phillips made a career-high 34 saves as he handed the Boston University Terriers a 3-0 loss at Agganis Arena. Phillips got all the offensive support he needed in the second period when Billy Maday (So., Burr Ridge, Ill.) and Ben Ryan scored 12 seconds apart to give the Irish a 2-0 lead. Calle Ridderwall added a power-play goal in the third period for the 3-0 final score. Maday, Ryan and Ridderwall each had a goal and an assist in the game. Phillips made 27 of his 34 saves in the first and third periods, including 17 in the final stanza. Notre Dame was 8-for-8 killing penalties on the night and 1-for-6 on the power play. BU out shot the Irish, 34-16, in the game. The win was the first-ever for the Friars against Boston University (1-2-0 all-time).

TWO WEEKS IN HOCKEY EAST: The Irish closed out their run of four consecutive games with teams from Hockey East with a 2-2-0 record. The Irish split two games with Providence on Oct. 15-16, losing 3-2 in the first game before taking a 2-0 decision in the second contest. Notre Dame then won 3-0 at Boston University before falling 3-2 at home on Oct. 23. All-time, the Irish are 27-33-4 versus teams from Hockey East. Notre Dame now has just two non-league games remaining on the schedule with both games coming in the Shillelagh Tournament versus Colgate and either Niagara or North Dakota.

CCHA DIFFERENCES: With the start of Notre Dame’s CCHA schedule this weekend, there are a couple diffences to remember with the final results of a game. First is the shootout – should a game remain tied after 60 minutes of regulation and a five-minute overtime, a winner will be decided via a shootout. Each team will select three shooters who will go one-on-one versus the opponent’s goaltender with the winner being the team that scores the most. If the game remains tied after the first three shooters, single shooters will continue until a winner is found. The team winning the shootout will receive two points in the standings while the loser just one. On the national level, the game is still considered a tie. Secondly, the standings in the conference will be different. A regulation or overtime win will see the winning team awarded three points with the loser none. If the game goes to a shootout, both teams will get one point with the shootout winner getting the extra point in the standings.

STREAK BUSTERS: Notre Dame’s 3-0 shutout win over Boston University, snapped a streak of 99-consecutive games that the Terriers had not been shutout. The last time BU was shutout came on Dec. 2, 2006 when the Terriers shutout Boston College, 1-0. The win also marked the first time since Jan. 15, 2008 that Boston University lost a non-conference game, a streak of 10 consecutive wins.

A STUNNING START: Prior to Brad Phillips’ 3-0 shutout at Boston University, freshman goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) showed the way with a 2-0 blanking of Providence College in his rookie debut on Oct. 16. Johnson stopped all 29 shots he faced in blanking the Friars, 2-0, becoming the second Irish goaltender to record a shutout in his first career contest. He joins teammate Tom O’Brien (Sr., Mokena, Ill.) who picked up a shutout in his first start last season, a 7-0 blanking of Sacred Heart on Oct. 18, 2008.

ROAD WARRIORS: During the 2008-09 season, Notre Dame turned in a 14-2-1 record on the road, the best in the program’s history. That included a nine-game road win streak and a 10-game unbeaten mark (9-0-1). After three games on the road, the Irish are 2-1-0 away from home this season.

FRESHMEN FIRSTS: Notre Dame freshmen forwards Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s, Ont.) and Kyle Palmieri (Montvale, N.J.) wasted little time getting on the scoresheet in the 3-2 loss to Alabama-Huntsville on Oct. 9. Sheahan scored on his first career shot, scoring on the power play at 3:02 of the first period to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead. He joins Billy Maday and Tim Wallace `06 as recent Notre Dame players to score on the first shots of their college careers. Palmieri joined in with a second-period power-play goal to get his first career score in his first game. He added a second goal on Saturday in the 3-1 victory. Palmieri led the team with 12 shots on goal for the weekend while Sheahan had 10 in the series.

LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Notre Dame senior captain Ryan Thang has been named one of 20 nominees for the 2009-10 Lowes Senior CLASS Award. The award is given annually to an NCAA Division I student-athlete in nine sports based on achievement’s in the “Four C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. Last season, two members of the Irish hockey team – Erik Condra `09 and Jordan Pearce `09 – were selected as one of 10 finalists for the honor. For the 2007-08 campaign, captain Mark Van Guilder `08 made it to the list of 10 finalists. For the 2006-07 season, goaltender David Brown `07 was selected as the first winner of the hockey award. The list of 20 candidates will be narrowed down midway through the season with the final 10 going on a ballot to select the national winner.

TOUGH TICKET: With seven home games in the month of October, Notre Dame recorded sell out crowds in five of those seven games and is averaging 2,726 per game (a sell out is 2,713). On Oct. 15, the Irish saw their streak of consecutive sellouts (12) snapped against Providence. A new streak started the following night as a standing-room only crowd of 2,857 saw the Irish defeat the Friars, 2-0. They followed that with a crowd of 2,997 on Friday, Oct. 23 versus Boston College. Notre Dame has now sold out 14 of its last 16 home games, dating back to Dec. 13, 2008 versus Bowling Green. The opening night crowd of 2,994 against Alabama-Huntsville is the largest crowd to see a home opener since 1995 as the building’s seating capacity was reconfigured following that year with 2,713 being a sellout since then. CAPTAINS: Senior left wing Ryan Thang will serve as Notre Dame’s captain for the 2009-10 season. Joining Thang as alternate captains in `09-’10, are senior defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.), senior center Kevin Deeth (Gig Harbor, Wash.) and junior defenseman Teddy Ruth (Naperville, Ill.). Thang and Lawson served as alternate captains in 2008-09, while this is the first season as captain for Deeth and Ruth.

STINGY IRISH: Over the last three seasons, the Irish have been ranked first in the nation twice with lowest goals-against average. For the 2006-07 season, Notre Dame was best in the nation with a 1.67 goals against. The Irish followed that in 2007-08 with a 2.13 goals-against average to rank fifth in the country and last year the goals-against average was best with a 1.73 average. Through the first 10 games of the 2009-10 season, the Irish are tied for fourth in the nation, giving up just 1.80 goals per game.