Jan. 18, 2016
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Following a weekend Hockey East sweep of Merrimack, the Notre Dame hockey team held at No. 13 in the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
The No. 13 ranking remains the highest the Irish have reached this season and Notre Dame has now been ranked in at least one poll for 10 consecutive weeks.
This past weekend (Jan. 15-16), Notre Dame swept a home series versus Merrimack to keep pace near the top of the league standings. With an 8-1-2 mark in Hockey East play, the Irish sit in third place, but have played fewer games than first-place UMass Lowell (9-2-3) and second-place Boston College (8-1-3).
On Friday night, the Irish took game one of the weekend series against the Warriors by a score of 7-2 and followed that up with a 5-1 win on Saturday night. Seven players recorded at least three points on the weekend, led by Anders Bjork’s six-point showing (2-4-6). Freshman defenseman Bobby Nardella had two goals and three assists for a five-point weekend and was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Week.
The Irish return to the road this weekend for a two-game series at Hockey East foe New Hampshire on Friday, Jan. 22 (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday, Jan. 23 (5:05 p.m.).
Unbeaten Streak Notes
— Notre Dame’s current 10-game unbeaten streak is the longest active mark in the country and is tied for the sixth longest mark in program history.
— It is Notre Dame’s longest unbeaten streak since going 8-0-3 from Oct. 21-Nov. 25, 2011.
— Sophomore goaltender Cal Petersen, who has started all 23 games for the Irish this season, has posted a 1.60 goal-against average and a .948 save percentage during the current unbeaten streak.
— Sophomore forward Anders Bjork has an eight-game point streak (6-7-13) dating back to the 3-1 win over Western Michigan on Nov. 28 that started the unbeaten streak (he missed the Denver series while playing with Team USA at the World Junior Championship).
— Bjork leads the team with 13 points during the unbeaten streak, followed by Jake Evans (2-8-10), Jordan Gross (2-8-10) and Bobby Nardella.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Prior to Providence, Colleran spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League. He is a 2006 graduate of Providence College, where he also earned an MBA in 2008.