Freshman right wing Ben Ryan was named the CCHA rookie of the week for his play in the Bowling Green series last weekend.

Brock Sheahan and Ben Ryan Take CCHA Weekly Honors

Jan. 28, 2008

Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior defenseman Brock Sheahan (Lethbridge, Alb.) and freshman right wing Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) have been selected as the CCHA defenseman of the week and the conference’s rookie of the week respectively for their play in a pair of Irish wins against Bowling Green on Jan. 25-26.

Sheahan, one of the CCHA’s top defensive defensemen, was part of a stingy Irish defense that gave up just two goals versus the Falcons while allowing 43 shots in the two victories. The senior blue liner had one assist in each game and was +3 for the weekend. He recorded three blocked shots in the home-and-home series and helped Notre Dame’s penalty killers kill off all 12 Bowling Green power-play chances.

Ryan had two goals and two assists for four points in the two games while being +2 on the weekend. His three-point (two goals, one assist) game in Saturday’s 4-1 win was a career-best game for the rookie forward.

On Friday night, the Irish took a 6-1 win at the Joyce Center versus the Falcons. Sheahan assisted on a Calle Ridderwall (Fr., Stockholm, Sweden) goal in the second period that gave Notre Dame a 5-0 lead. He was +2 on the night and was credited with two blocked shots. Ryan assisted on a Mark Van Guilder (Sr., Roseville, Minn.) goal that made it 4-0 in the second period and was +1 with one shot on goal in the game.

On Saturday night, the two teams met at Bowling Green, Ohio with the Irish taking a 4-1 win. Again, Sheahan contributed an assist on Kevin Deeth’s (So., Gig Harbor, Wash.) final goal of the game while being +1 with one blocked shot. Ryan had a hand in three of Notre Dame’s four goals, scoring twice on the power play while adding an assist for three points. He opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:33 of the first period for a 1-0 Irish lead. In the second period, Ryan assisted on an Ian Cole (Fr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) goal that gave Notre Dame a 2-0 lead. The freshman right wing capped his career-best three-point night with his second power-play goal at 16:31 of the third to make it 3-1. Ryan was selected as the game’s Perani Cup first star for his performance.

The weekend sweep improved Notre Dame to 20-9-1 on the year and 13-6-1 in CCHA play, good for 27 points and fourth-place in the CCHA. The Irish are now ranked eighth in the nation in both national polls.

Sheahan has played in all 30 games and has nine assists on the year. He leads the Irish with a +18 plus-minus that ties him for seventh among all CCHA players.

Ryan is tied for fourth on the team with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points. He has three power-play goals and is even for the season.

Notre Dame returns to action on Friday, Feb. 1 when the Irish play host to the U.S. Under-18 team in exhibition action at the Joyce Center with face off set for 7:35 p.m.