Feb. 24, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior captain Cory McLean heads into the final weeks of his collegiate career for the Irish. In his four seasons with the Irish, McLean has been an integral part of a program that advanced to the CCHA Super Six in his first three years and in 2004 made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. A native of Fargo, North Dakota, McLean takes a look back on his four years at Notre Dame.
First off, it’s unbelievable how fast time goes. Here it is, already the end of February in my senior year. I sit in the Joyce Center and still remember my first practice of freshman year like it was yesterday. It’s safe to say that there have been a lot of ups and downs in the four years here, but for the most part, it’s been four years that I will never forget.
The funny thing in looking back is that I almost never made it here. Following my first year of junior hockey I was ready to hang up the skates. I didn’t enjoy the experience as much as I thought I might. I was seriously considering moving on, but I got a chance to go play for the Chicago Steel in the USHL for a great coach, Steve Richmond, and had a great experience there.
Being just two hours away in Chicago, it gave the coaches here a chance to come see me play. I was considering a lot of Ivy League schools, but after my official visit to Notre Dame, I just knew this was the best fit for me, not just the school, but also the hockey. The coaches as well as the rest of the hockey staff have been great and extremely supportive from the moment I stepped foot on campus.
Heading into the final regular season series with Michigan State, Cory McLean has played in 147 games at Notre Dame and has 26 goals and 40 assists for 66 career points.
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I can’t say enough about the experience that I’ve had at Notre Dame. It’s been a lot more than I ever expected when I decided to come here. I knew that Notre Dame was a great place, but I think the thing that I’ve realized is that the hockey program is a lot better than people give it credit for. We’ve made some noise since I’ve been here and hopefully that will continue in the coming years.
Academically, this is one of the best schools in the world. It definitely has opened a lot of doors for me and will give me a lot of options when I decide that I am done with hockey. You can’t ask for more than that when you decide what school to go to. The people that I’ve met here – from the professors, to the people who work on campus, to the students, to my friends and teammates – have all had a big impact on my life. It’s really been a great place to go to school and get an education while playing hockey too.
When I look back on my hockey career, the first thing that stands out in my mind are the guys that have been my teammates. It’s been a great group of guys that have played here in my four years. There have been a lot of different personalities, but one thing that has been consistent is the type of players that have been here. They’ve all been real good guys and I’m going to miss them a lot.
For me, the highlight of my career would be being part of the team that was the first-ever Notre Dame team to make it to the NCAA Tournament last season. That was probably the best year of hockey and the best team that I have ever been on since I’ve been playing.
McLean scored a goal in his first shift in Notre Dame’s first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament versus Minnesota.
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We had a great run and it was a lot of fun. It’s definitely a year that I will never forget. Getting a chance to play a team like Minnesota was a great challenge, but it was also fun for me, since I knew a lot of the guys on that team. We were definitely the underdog against them, but we opened some eyes by taking a 2-0 lead in the first period. It was great to score a goal against them on my first shift of the game. I couldn’t have dreamed it up any better.
Another great moment for me would be being selected team captain by my teammates. It was a great honor, especially coming off our success of last season. There were some huge shoes to fill. We had great leaders like Gilly (Aaron Gill), Komo (Neil Komodoski) and (Rob) Globke and for that matter the whole senior class.
This year has been tough with the loss of that many guys and our senior class being so small. It’s been a challenge, but it’s something that I look forward to every day. There’s always something going on with this group. I guess this year is a character builder with the way things have gone. We haven’t quit. We’re going to keep on going and hopefully come together at playoff time.
The biggest thing I’ve learned about being a captain this season is that you have to come to the rink everyday with the same intensity and focus that you have for a game. It’s easy to come to the rink when the team is struggling and just go through the motions and feel sorry for yourself, but as captain you have to bring that intensity you have for a game and hopefully guys will feed off that. It’s something that I try to do everyday, not only to improve myself, but the other guys as well.
Looking back on my career, I think that I have met my own expectations. I struggled my first year. I got hurt in my first game and came back a little too early. The game was so fast, things were flying all around me and it took awhile to get my confidence back. I never came in thinking I was going to score 30 goals a season, but I think that I’ve been pretty consistent all four years and scored some goals here and there. I think I did what I expected to do and hopefully what the coaches have expected of me as well.
As for my hockey future, I haven’t thought about it a whole lot. I’ll figure that out later, right now, I’m just trying to figure out a way to help this team win a game.
After hockey, I’m a finance major and would like to get into consulting in human resource-type stuff. I like being in a team atmosphere and working and interacting with other people so I hope that’s where my background will take me.
For now, we still have games left to play. I know that Senior Night is just a couple of weeks away. That will be a pretty emotional night for me. It’s my last game here at the Joyce Center. We’ve had a lot of great games over the last four years here and I’m definitely going to miss it. I will miss the guys and being a part of the locker room. You have to enjoy it while you can. You never know what might happen. It’s been a great experience that I will take with me forever.