Jan. 18, 2010
Farmington Hills, Mich. – The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announced today that two Notre Dame hockey players have been selected players of the week for their play during the Michigan State series on Jan. 15-16. Senior defenseman Kyle Lawson (Sr., New Hudson, Mich.) was named the CCHA defensive player of the week for the second time this season while freshman left wing Nick Larson (Apple Valley, Minn.) is the league’s rookie of the week.
Lawson, the CCHA’s top defensive, defenseman in 2008-09, went on the offensive against the Spartans as he assisted on five of Notre Dame’s nine goals on the weekend while being +3 for the two games and blocking three shots as the Irish came-from-behind twice in 5-2 and 4-4 overtime ties.
In Friday’s 5-2 win against Michigan State, the Irish fell behind 2-0, early in the second period. Lawson helped bring the Irish back with a pair of assists as he set up back-to-back goals by Larson to tie the game in an eight-minute span of the middle period to make it 2-2. He had one shot on goal, was +3 for the night and had one blocked shot.
The following night at Munn Arena in East Lansing, Mich., the Irish fell behind, 3-0 early in the second period and Lawson would assist on three of the four goals in the comeback. First, he set up Calle Ridderwall (Jr., Stockholm, Sweden) at 12:42 on a power-play goal to make it 3-1. With the score, 3-2, in the third period, he first set up Ben Ryan (Jr., Brighton, Mich.) to tie the game at 3-3 and then had the lone helper on Ryan Thang’s (Sr., Edina, Minn.) power-play goal that put Notre Dame ahead, 4-3.
On the night, Lawson had two blocked shots and was even for the game. The Spartans would tie the score on a late power-play goal and then picked up an extra point in the CCHA standings by winning the shootout, 1-0.
For the season, Lawson is third in scoring on the team with four goals and a team-high 14 assists for 18 points. He ranks fourth among CCHA defensemen in scoring.
Larson recorded the best weekend of his young Irish career, getting two goals and two assists against Michigan State, including a career-best three-point game (2g, 1a) in the 5-2 win on Jan. 15 at the Joyce Center. In two games, Larson had six shots on goal and was +2 for the weekend.
In the series opener on Jan. 15, the freshman left wing single-handedly erased a 2-0 Michigan State lead with two goals in the second period, less than eight minutes apart. His first game at 7:02 of the period as he tracked down his own rebound near the blue line and whipped a shot over the glove of goaltender Drew Palmisano to make it 2-1. His second goal of the night tied the score at 2-2 when he combined with Lawson on a 2-on-1, snapping a wrist shot behind Palmisano for his fourth goal of the season. Larson then had a hand in putting Notre Dame ahead at 4:40 of the third when he assisted on Thang’s power-play game winner. His five shots on goal in the game were a season high.
On Saturday night, at Munn Arena, Larson picked up his second helper of the weekend when he helped set up another Thang power-play goal at 18:12 of the second period. That goal cut the Spartans’ lead to 3-2.
For the season, Larson has played in 23 games and has four goals and three assists for seven points with a pair of game-winning goals.
Lawson, Larson and their Irish teammates are 10-10-6 on the season and 6-7-5-3 in the CCHA, good for 25 points and a share of sixth place in the conference. Notre Dame returns to action this weekend, Jan. 22-23, when the Irish travel to Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., for a pair of 7:05 p.m. games.