Oct. 22, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format 
• The Series: #8/#8 Notre Dame (2-1-0/0-0-0-0) vs. #10/#10 Miami (1-1-2/1-0-1-0)
• Date/Site/Time: Fri.-Sat., October 24-25, 2008 • Joyce Center (2,713) • 7:35 p.m./7:05 p.m.
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Mike Lockert, now in his seventh season, will call all the action for the Irish.
• Internet: All Notre Dame hockey games can be heard live on the internet via the Notre Dame website at www.und.com. All Irish home games not being televised also will be available through live video streaming at und.com.
IRISH OPEN CCHA SCHEDULE WITH A VISIT FROM MIAMI: Notre Dame and Miami will renew their CCHA rivalry this weekend when the Irish play host to the RedHawks, Oct. 24-25, at the Joyce Center. Friday’s game will have a 7:35 p.m. starting time while face off on Saturday is at 7:05 p.m. Notre Dame is coming off a sweep of Sacred Heart, blanking the Pioneers, 3-0 and 7-0, at the Joyce Center last weekend. Miami is coming off a loss and a tie at Vermont in Burlington, Vt. The RedHawks dropped a 4-3 decision in the opening game of the series and then battled the Catamounts to a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s game. The Irish are 2-1-0 in the early going while Miami brings a 1-1-2 mark into the series. The RedHawks are 1-0-1 on the year in CCHA play as they lost the league’s first shootout to Ohio State and then won the second game of that series, Oct. 10-11. Notre Dame enters the weekend ranked eighth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CBS College Sports polls.
IRISH VERSUS REDHAWKS: Notre Dame and Miami have met 53 times in the all-time series with the RedHawks owning a 30-15-8 edge. At the Joyce Center, Miami is 11-7-6 against the Irish. The two teams met three times last season with the two regular season games played at Miami. There, Notre Dame won the opening game (Nov. 9), 2-1, with the Red Hawks winning the second contest (Nov. 10), 3-1. The third meeting came in the CCHA semifinal game at Joe Louis Arena in March. The Irish led that game, 1-0, only to see Miami score with four seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime. In the extra stanza, the RedHawks got the game-winning goal at 6:06 of the extra period for the 2-1 victory. The teams are 2-2-1 in the last five meetings and Miami has a 5-2-3 edge in the last 10 games.
CCHA DEFENSEMAN OF THE WEEK: Notre Dame sophomore defenseman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was named the CCHA defenseman of the week for his play in the series against Sacred Heart. In the two games, Cole had a goal and three assists and was +4 on the weekend while helping the Irish to a pair of shutout wins. In Friday’s 3-0 win, Cole had one assist and was +1 in the contest. In Saturday’s 7-0 blanking of the Pioneers, Cole had the second three-point game of his career with a goal and two assists while being +3 on the evening.
HOME OPENERS: Notre Dame’s 3-0 win over Sacred Heart on Oct. 17 in the home season opener improved the Irish to 23-17-1 in all-time home openers going back to the 1968-69 season.
SACRED HEART RECAP: Notre Dame opened its home schedule with a visit from the Sacred Heart Pioneers and proved to be rude hosts. The Irish turned in back-to-back shutouts in the series, limiting Sacred Heart to just 35 shots in two games on the way to 3-0 and 7-0 wins at the Joyce Center. In Friday’s series opener, Erik Condra (Sr., Livonia, Mich.) paced the Notre Dame offense with a power-play goal and an assist while defenseman Kyle Lawson (Jr., New Hudson, Mich.) and center Christian Hanson (Sr., Venetia, Pa.) added a goal each in the shutout win. Senior goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) made 18 saves to record his first shutout of the year and fifth of his Notre Dame career. The Irish out shot the Pioneers, 42-18, in the game. Sacred Heart goaltender Stefan Drew was outstanding making 39 saves to keep the Pioneers in the game. Condra gave Notre Dame a 1-0 lead at 15:09 of the first period on the power play with an assist to Ryan Thang (Jr., Edina, Minn.). The Irish would tack on a second first-period goal at 19:49 when Lawson scored a short-handed goal, the first of his career off assists from Condra and Kevin Deeth (Jr., Gig Harbor, Wash.). Hanson closed the scoring with an empty net goal at 19:43 of the third period for the final of 3-0. The Irish were 1-for-7 on the power play while Sacred Heart was 0-for-4. On Saturday night, junior goaltender Tom O’Brien (Mokena, Ill.) made his first career start and made the most of his opportunity, turning aside all 17 shots he faced on the way to his first career shutout, a 7-0 win over the Pioneers. Condra and Ian Cole led the Notre Dame attack, getting a goal and two assists each. Thang scored a pair of goals, one short-handed and one on the power play while freshman Billy Maday (Burr Ridge, Ill.), junior Christiaan Minella (Aurora, Colo.) and Deeth joined Condra and Cole with single goals in the game. The Irish scored two in the first, four in the second and one in the third on the way to the win. They out shot Sacred Heart, 28-17, in the game. Notre Dame scored three power-play goals on nine chances while Sacred Heart was 0-for-8.
BACK-TO-BACK BLANKINGS: Notre Dame’s consecutive shutouts versus Sacred Heart were the first back-to-back shutouts for the Irish since Oct. 27-28, 2006 when they shutout Army (3-0) and Air Force (2-0) to win the first-ever Lightning College Hockey Classic in Tampa, Fla. Notre Dame’s current shutout streak is now at 127:07 with the last goal against the Irish coming at 12:53 of the third period at Denver on October 11. The Pioneers’ Anthony Maiani scored that goal.
FIRST TIME OUT: Junior goaltender Tom O’Brien became the first Notre Dame goaltender to record a shutout in his first career start when he blanked Sacred Heart, 7-0, making 17 saves in the Oct. 18 contest. The previous earliest shutout was held by Jordan Pearce who recorded a shutout in just his second start in 2005. David Brown `07 had his first shutout in his third game as a freshman in October of 2003.
STREAK ENDER: When Tom O’Brien made the start in goal against Sacred Heart on Oct. 18, it marked the first time since Jan. 5, 2008 that Jordan Pearce did not see action in a game for the Irish. Prior to that game, Pearce had made 21 consecutive starts dating back to Jan. 25 of last season and had appeared in 25 consecutive games going back to Jan. 11 of last year. The last goaltender to see action other that Pearce before O’Brien last Saturday was sophomore Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.). Phillips started at Northern Michigan on Jan. 5 of 2008 and defeated the Wildcats, 2-1.
MOVING UP THE LIST: With his 3-0 shutout of Sacred Heart on Oct. 17, Jordan Pearce recorded the fifth shutout of his career, making 18 saves against the Pioneers. The shutout moves him into third on the all-time shutout list as he trails Morgan Cey `05, who has six, and David Brown `07, who finished his career with 12. Pearce’s shutout was the first at the Joyce Center since Dec. 1, 2007 when he whitewashed Nebraska-Omaha, 5-0.
CLUTCH SCORER: Ryan Thang’s game-winning goal in Saturday’s win over Sacred Heart gives him 12 for his career and moves him into a tie for fourth on the all-time list with David Bankoske `93. He is one off the school record of 13 for his career. Three people – Rob Globke `04, Brian Urick `99 and Dave Poulin `82 – hold that mark.
STREAKY DEETH: Junior center Kevin Deeth has picked up where he left off last season as he has now scored in all three games for the Irish this season and in five straight games (3-4-7) going back to last year’s Frozen Four. The speedy center scored a goal in the semifinal win over Michigan and then had Notre Dame’s lone goal in the 4-1 loss to Boston College in the national championship game. He has a two-assist game in the season opener against Denver, added his third assist in the win over Sacred Heart on Friday night and then picked up a goal and an assist in the 7-0 win on Saturday. He is currently tied for the team lead in scoring with a goal and four assists for five points.
SOMETHING SPECIAL: Notre Dame’s special teams had a good weekend against Sacred Heart. The Irish scored four power-play goals and then added two short-handed tallies to the score sheet. Overall, Notre Dame was 4-for-16 on the power play, including 3-for-9 in the 7-0 win, while killing all 12 Pioneer man advantages and getting one short-handed goal in each game.
FINDING THE BACK OF THE NET: Junior Christiaan Minella snapped a 46-game goal-scoring drought when he deflected a Brett Blatchford (Jr., Temperance, Mich.) shot past Sacred Heart goaltender Olivier St. Onge in the second period of the 7-0 shutout of Sacred Heart on Oct. 18. The goal was the second of Minella’s career and his first since scoring on Nov. 11, 2006 against the Bowling Green Falcons.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Erik Condra’s five-point weekend (2g, 3a) against Sacred Heart moved him from 33rd on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list to a tie for 27th with Pat Conroy `75. Condra now has 37 goals and 88 assists for 125 career points. His three assists on the weekend moved him out of a tie for 18th with his uncle, All-American Kirt Bjork `83 with 85, into a tie for 14th with another All-American, Greg Meredith `80. They both currently have 88 asssists.
OPENING ACTS: Notre Dame’s season-opening loss at Denver drops the Irish to 20-19-2 all-time in season openers. In the first road game of the season, they are now 16-22-3 in 41 road openers. Following the home-opening win against Sacred Heart, Notre Dame is now 23-17-1 in home lidlifters.
ON THE SIDELINES: The Irish will be without the services of sophomore goaltender Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) for the entire season. Phillips injured his right knee in the preseason and will be out of action for the year. He was 4-1-0 as a freshman with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
FINDING THE POWER: Notre Dame’s first-period power-play goal by Erik Condra in the 3-0 win over Sacred Heart (10/17) was the first man-advantage goal of the season for the Irish and snapped an 0-for-11 drought this season. The power-play goal also was the first for the Irish since March 28, 2008 when they scored at 17:25 of the first period in the NCAA first round. The goal snapped a streak of 32 consecutive power-play chances without a goal covering a span of six games.
LOTS OF RUBBER: Notre Dame’s 42 shots on goal against Sacred Heart on Friday night were the most in a game for the Irish since a 40-shot game against Northern Michigan on March 22, 2008 in the CCHA third-place game. Notre Dame lost that contest, 2-1. Pioneer goaltender Stefan Drew’s 39-save night was the most for an opposing goaltender since Western Michigan’s Riley Gill had 42 saves on Feb. 29, 2008, a 3-0 shutout for the Broncos.
THEY HAVE OUR NUMBER: Notre Dame’s loss to the University of Denver drops the Irish to just 10-35-3 all-time against the Pioneers. Playing at DU has been a problem for the Irish as they are now 2-22-2 in the all-time series at the Mile High City. The two teams were members of the WCHA from 1971-1981. Since leaving the WCHA following the 1980-81 season, the Irish are just 1-4-1 against Denver and 1-3-0 since Jeff Jackson took over as head coach in 2005-06.
NEW KIDS: Four freshmen made their collegiate debuts for Notre Dame at Denver. Forwards Billy Maday and Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and defensemen Nick Condon (Wausau, Wis.) and Sean Lorenz (Littleton, Colo.) all saw action in the game. Maday scored a goal, had two shots on net and was +1. Gaul had one minor penalty and was -1 for the night. Condon also had a minor penalty and was even while Lorenz was -1 in the game. Freshman defenseman Eric Ringel (Hinckley, Ohio) made his first career appearance on the Notre Dame blue line on Friday, Oct. 17 against Sacred Heart.
FOUR OR MORE: When the University of Denver scored four times in the third period of the 5-2 win on Oct. 11, it marked just the second time since the start of the 2005-06 season that the Irish had given up four goals in one period. The first time came on Nov. 4, 2005 when Notre Dame surrendered four goals in the third period to Michigan in an 8-5 loss. The four-goal period snaps a streak of 120 games where the Irish held opponents to three goals or less in a period. In fact, in those 120 games, the Irish had just five games (over three seasons) where opponents had three goals in one period. Last season the Irish surrendered five or more goals in a game just twice. They gave up five goals just once in 2006-07 and five times in 2005-06.
FOUR FOR US: After giving up four goals in the third period of the season opener at Denver (10/11), the Irish blitzed Sacred Heart for four goals in the second period of the 7-0 shutout on Oct. 18. The four-goal outburst was the first for Notre Dame since doing it on Dec. 8, 2007, getting four goals in the second period of a 7-0 shutout at Princeton. Notre Dame also scored four goals in a period on November 1, 2007 with four in the second versus Lake Superior State in a 7-3 victory.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Nineteen of 22 athletics programs at the University of Notre Dame compiled graduation rates of 100 percent, and none were below 90 percent, according to the fourth year of Graduation Success Rate measurements developed by the NCAA and released on Oct. 11. None of the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I ) programs in the country had a higher percentage of 100 GSR scores than did Notre Dame with its .863 figure (19 of 22). This marked the third time in the four years of the survey that Notre Dame has ranked number one in percentage of teams with 100 scores. Here are the top 10 in that category (only 10 institutions had 50% or more of their sports registering 100 marks):
Institution Pct 100 Scores/ Sports Rated1. Notre Dame .863 19/222. Northwestern .789 15/193. Boston College .740 20/274. Duke .681 15/225. Vanderbilt .667 8/126. Wake Forest .642 9/147. Stanford .629 17/278. U.S. Naval Academy .578 11/199. Rice .539 7/1310. Tulane .500 6/12
NCAA figures showed that all 11 Irish women’s programs posted a GSR of 100 percent — basketball, cross country/track, fencing, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball. Among Notre Dame’s men’s sports, baseball, basketball, cross country/track, fencing, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and tennis achieved 100 percent GSR scores. Ice hockey scored 96 percent, football scored 94 percent, and golf was at 90. Overall, that’s one more perfect score than a year ago for the Irish programs, after Notre Dame recorded 18 100 percent GSR scores (of 22 sports) in 2007. In 2005, among the 119 NCAA Division I-A football-playing institutions, Notre Dame had the highest percentage of its sports with 100 percent scores, with a .800 figure (16 of 20). The 2006 data put Notre Dame’s percentage at .773 (17 of 22), to rank second behind the U.S. Naval Academy. The 2007 data put Notre Dame’s percentage at .818 (18 of 22), which again ranked number one.
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN HONORS:Goaltender Jordan Pearce was selected as an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American during the 2007-08 season. Pearce, with a double major in anthropology/pre-med, was a second team selection on the At-Large team. He owns a 3.816 grade-point average and has made the Dean’s List in four of his first six semesters. Pearce became the first Notre Dame hockey player to take Academic All-American honors since Dan Carlson `01 and the fifth player overall. He joins Carlson (third team), Andy Jurkowski `00 (third team), Forrest Karr `99 (second team) and Steve Noble `97 and `98 (first team and second team). Two other Irish players were selected to the all-Region V team in `07-’08 – Mark Van Guilder `08 and Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.)
BACK-TO-BACK: Following the 2007-08 CCHA regular season, goaltender Jordan Pearce won the league’s top goaltender award based on his 1.80 goals-against average in CCHA games. Pearce followed David Brown `07, who had a 1.77 goals-against average to win the 2006-07 award. This marks the fourth time since the 1982-83 season that the same school has won back-to-back goaltending titles with different goaltenders between the pipes. Pearce and Brown are joined on that list by:
1988-89 Bruce Hoffort - LSSU (2.67)1989-90 Darin Madeley - LSSU (2.37)
1997-98 Chad Alban - MSU (1.63)1998-99 Joe Blackburn - MSU (1.34)1999-00 Ryan Miller - MSU (1.34)
CAPTAINS: Senior right wing Erik Condra will serve as Notre Dame’s captain for the 2008-09 season. Joining Condra as alternate captains in `08-’09, are senior center Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) along with junior left wing Ryan Thang (Edina, Minn.) and junior defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.). Condra served as an alternate captain in 2007-08 while this is the first season as captains for Hanson, Thang and Lawson.
DOCTOR, DOCTOR: Seniors Erik Condra and Jordan Pearce don’t have much in common on the ice as one is known for shooting pucks and the other for stopping them. Off the ice, the senior duo have a great deal in common as they are both pre-med majors at Notre Dame, balancing the books and hockey and doing both rather well. Condra has a double major in psychology and pre-med whil Pearce has his double major in anthropology and pre-med. On the ice, Condra is the team’s top returning scorer as he led the Irish with 15 goals and 23 assists for 38 points as a junior. Pearce started 43 games in goal for the Irish, going 23-15-4 with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. He had the best goals against in the CCHA with a 1.80 mark in conference games. The native of Anchorage, Alaska was the team’s Most Valuable Player and won the Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award while being selected to the CCHA’s Scholar-Athlete team and a second team Academic All-American.
DROP THE PUCK: For the fourth year in a row, Notre Dame hockey opened its season with the annual “Drop The Puck Reception” at the Joyce Center for season ticket holders and fans. This year’s event was held on Oct. 6 and featured Brian Burke, the executive vice-president and general manager of the Anaheim Ducks and the G.M. of the 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Burke joins former Detroit Red Wings’ player and current team vice-president Steve Yzerman (2007), Chicago Black Hawk and Versus/NBC TV analayst Ed Olczyk (2006) and Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, who handled the honors at the first Drop The Puck reception on Sept. 6, 2005 with over 400 fans in attendance. Bowman, who won nine Stanley Cups in his illustrious coaching career, also was invited by Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis to address his team at practice that day, just four days prior to the upset win at Michigan.
FAMILY GUYS: Three members of the Notre Dame hockey team – senior forwards Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) and Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) and sophomore goaltender Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) – have family ties to the Irish athletics program. Condra’s uncle is All-American forward Kirt Bjork `83 who played at Notre Dame from 1979-83. He scored 76 goals with 85 assists for 161 career points in 141 career games. Bjork took All-America honors in 1983 when he had 29 goals and 34 assists for 63 points. Regan’s uncle – Sean Regan – was a defenseman for the Irish from 1981-83 before finishing his career at the University of Minnesota. Phillips’ uncle, is former Irish quarterback Terry Andrysiak `89, who played at Notre Dame from 1985 to 1988.
FAMOUS FATHERS: Two members of the 2007-08 Notre Dame hockey team – senior center Christian Hanson and sophomore goaltender Brian Brooke (Eden Prairie, Minn.) – have hockey in their blood as their fathers played at the highest level in the National Hockey League. Hanson’s father, Dave Hanson, played 10 years of prossional hockey between 1974-75 and 1983-84, including stints with the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota North Stars and the World Hockey Association’s (WHA) Minnesota Fighting Saints and the New England Whalers. Fans might also be familiar with Dave Hanson, as one of the famed Hanson Brothers, made famous in the hockey movie – Slapshot. Hanson is still involved in hockey as he currently serves as the director of the Island Sports Center, home of Robert Morris University’s hockey team, in suburban Pittsburgh. Brooke’s father, Bob Brooke, played seven seasons in the NHL between 1984 and 1990 with the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars and New Jersey. A 1983 hockey All-American at Yale, Brooke also was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team.
HOW SWEDE IT IS: Freshman left wing Calle Ridderwall obviously enjoys performing on the big stage. The native of Stockholm, Sweden saved his best for last during the 2007-08 season when he scored a pair of goals, including the game winner, five minutes into overtime to defeat Michigan, 5-4, in the semifinal game of the Frozen Four on April 10. Ridderwall came into the NCAA Tournament with just three goals on the year before scoring twice in one of the biggest wins in Irish hockey history. He finished the season with five goals and two assists for seven points.
MINUTES MAN: Goaltender Jordan Pearce entered the 2007-08 season having played in just 12 games and 622 minutes in the first two years of his Irish hockey career. During the `07-’08 campaign, Pearce showed everyone that he could play as he set Notre Dame goaltending marks for games played (43), games started (42) and minutes played (2,557:46). He finished the season ranked second in the nation in minutes played behind Boston College’s John Muse who saw action in 2,725:06 minutes for the Eagles.