Feb. 14, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. – Freshman left wing Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) has been named the CCHA rookie of the week for his play in Notre Dame’s weekend sweep of Bowling Green on Feb. 11-12. This marks the third time this season that Lee has been honored by the conference.
Lee turned in a four-point weekend, scoring a game-winning goal to go with three assists in 2-1 and 5-1 wins versus the Falcons. He led the Irish with 13 shots on goal in the two games and was +3 for the weekend. With two points in each contest, the 6-3, 218-pound forward has now scored at least two points in each of his last five games, dating back to Jan. 22. In his five-game point streak, Lee has five goals and six assists for 11 points.
The wins improve the eighth-ranked Irish to 18-9-5 for the year and 15-6-3-2 in the CCHA, good for 50 points and first place in the conference with four regular-season games remaining. Notre Dame leads second-place Michigan and Miami by one point in the standings. The Irish and Wolverines have two games in hand on the RedHawks.
In Friday’s 2-1 win over the Falcons, Lee had a hand in both goals, setting up the first and then scoring the game winner.
In the first period, Lee teamed up with his freshmen linemates – center T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) and right wing Bryan Rust (Novi, Mich.) – to put Notre Dame on top, 1-0. He won a puck along the left boards and got it in front to Tynan who got off the initial shot on Bowling Green’s Andrew Hammond who made the save. The puck found its way to Rust’s stick near the bottom of the right circle and he fired it into the net for his fifth of the season at 12:39.
Late in the third, it was Lee to the rescue as he scored the game-winning goal with 3:14 left to give the Irish a 2-1 victory. Late in their shift, Rust moved the puck to Lee inside the Bowling Green blue line. The big left wing worked his way across the blue line before firing a wrist shot that beat Hammond high to his stick side for his 19th goal of the year. The shot was Lee’s seventh of the game and he finished with a +2.
On Saturday, the Irish needed no late game heroics as Lee set up a pair of goals in the 5-1 win. He helped stake Notre Dame to a first-period lead when he teamed with Tynan to set up Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) for a power-play goal at 7:59 of the opening period. His second helper came just 24 seconds into the third period when he sent Rust and Tynan in on a two-on-one with Tynan scoring the goal that made it 4-1. Besides his two assists, Lee led the Irish with six shots on goal and was +1 for the game.
For the year, Lee is second on the Irish in scoring and is second in the nation and the CCHA in scoring for a rookie with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points. He has four power-play goals and a CCHA-leading five game winners for the season. Along with Tynan, he is tied for the team lead with 19 goals with that total being the best in the conference and the nation for a freshman in 2010-11.
Lee and his teammates return to action this weekend when they travel to Big Rapids, Mich., for a series with the Ferris State Bulldogs on Feb. 18-19. Game time both nights at Ewigleben Arena is 7:05 p.m.