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Jan. 2, 2001

IRISH RETURN TO CCHA ACTION VERSUS FERRIS STATE

• Notre Dame Looks To Get On Track For 2001 Portion Of The Schedule
• Irish Fall To St. Lawrence (6-3) And R.P.I. (6-2) At R.P.I. Christmas Tournament
• Dan Carlson, Ryan Dolder And Brett Lebda Take Scoring Streaks Into The New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR:
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to put the 2000 part of the 2000-2001 schedule behind them as they look to get on the winning track this weekend versus the Ferris State Bulldogs…the two teams will meet in CCHA action on January 5-6 at the Joyce Center with face-off each night scheduled for 7:05 p.m….the Irish come into January with a 4-14-3 overall record and are 2-8-2 in league play…ND dropped two games at the R.P.I. Tournament on December 29-30, falling to the St. Lawrence Saints, 6-3 and then the 11th-ranked R.P.I. Engineers, 6-2…Notre Dame comes into the Ferris State series just one point ahead of the 12th place Bulldogs…Ferris State is 5-11-4 overall and 1-8-3 in CCHA play…the Bulldogs played in the Denver Cup Tournament last weekend and lost in the opener to Providence, 4-2, before defeating Air Force, 3-2, for third place…all 2000-01 Irish hockey games, with the exception of ND’s games at Alaska-Fairbanks (2/23 and 2/24) will be broadcast on WLHY radio (1620 AM) with the play-by-play also available via the internet at www.und.com…

IRISH VERSUS FERRIS STATE:
Notre Dame and Ferris State have faced off 40 times in the all-time series with the Bulldogs holding a 26-11-3 edge in the series…since Notre Dame rejoined the CCHA in 1992-93, the Bulldogs have a 15-9-2 edge…at the Joyce Center, Ferris State has enjoyed its share of success – winning 13, losing five and tying twice…last season, the two teams met five times, twice in the regular season and three times in the CCHA playoffs…during the regular season, ND lost both games, 4-1 at Big Rapids and 4-2 at Grand Rapids…in the CCHA playoffs, the Irish took two of three to advance to the CCHA semifinals…the Irish won game one, 4-3, dropped game two, 6-1 and won the third game, 4-2…since the 1997-98 season, the Irish are 3-2-1 versus the Bulldogs at the Joyce Center….

THE COACHES:
Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin owns a 75-113-25 mark (.411) in his sixth season at Notre Dame…versus Ferris State, Poulin-coached teams are 5-10-2…Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels is in his ninth year guiding the Bulldogs and owns a 126-168-30 record (.435)…against the Irish, Daniels-coached teams are 15-9-2…

SCOUTING FERRIS STATE:
Hockey information on the Ferris State Bulldogs can be found at www.ferris.edu/htmls/sports…additional information on Notre Dame, Ferris State and the CCHA is also available on the CCHA website at ccha.com…

IRISH AT RENSSELAER/HSBC HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT:
Notre Dame participated in the 50th annual Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament at Troy, N.Y. and suffered a pair of losses…in the opener on Friday, Dec. 29, the Irish dropped a 6-3 decision to the St. Lawrence Saints…after St. Lawrence jumped out to a 1-0 first period lead, Ryan Dolder (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) teamed up with David Inman (Jr., Toronto, Ont.) to tie the game, 1-1, at 9:12…St. Lawrence would run off four unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead early in the third period…the Irish rallied to cut the lead to 5-3 on a power play goal by Jay Kopischke (Sr., Alexandria, Minn.) at 3:48 and Paul Harris’ (So., Ridgefield, Conn.) first collegiate goal at 7:09…that would be as close as the Irish would get as St. Lawrence added an insurance goal for the 6-3 win…Notre Dame outshot St. Lawrence 37-25 in the game…ND’s Jeremiah Kimento (Jr., Palos Hills, Ill.) made 19 saves in the loss…the following day, Dec. 30, the Irish faced 11th-ranked R.P.I. in the third place game as the Engineers fell to Northeastern, 3-2 in overtime, in the second game of the tournament…the Engineers scored once in the first period and made it 2-0 just 16 seconds into the second period before ND got on the board…freshman defenseman Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) came late on an Irish power play, took a feed from Dan Carlson (Sr., Edina, Minn.) and beat R.P.I.’s Kevin Kurk at 2:59 of the second to cut the lead to 2-1…the Irish then gave up three unanswered goals in the second stanza to fall behind, 5-1, heading into the intermission…Dolder cut that lead to 5-2 with his eighth goal of the season, but that would be as close as ND would get in the 6-2 loss…Rensselaer outshot the Irish, 43-29 in the game…Tony Zasowski (So., Darien, Ill.) made a season high and career-best equalling 37 saves on the night…the loss was ND’s seventh in its last eight games…

THE IRISH TOURNAMENT RECORD:
Notre Dame has now played in 17 in-season tournaments during its hockey history…in those tournaments, the Irish have finished first (4 times), second (4 times), third (once) and fourth (eight times)…the last time Notre Dame won an in-season tournament was in 1981 when the Irish, led by current head coach Dave Poulin, won the Great Lakes Invitational by beating Michigan and Michigan Tech….this year’s R.P.I. tournament was ND’s second appearance in the Troy, N.Y. tourney…the last time the Irish appeared was 1989 when they finished fourth…the Irish are 0-4 at the R.P.I. tournament….

USA…USA…USA:
Notre Dame has played the last four games without the services of sophomore center Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and freshman right wing Rob Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich) who are members of the 2001 U.S. Junior National hockey team competing in the World Junior Championships in Moscow, Russia through Jan. 5, 2001…the Irish duo has missed four games and will also miss the miss the Ferris State series…Dunlop, who was chosen the team captain on Dec. 25, is making his second appearance on the team after getting a goal and assist in seven games last year to help the U.S. to a fourth place finish in Sweden…throught the first four games of the tourney, the U.S. is 3-1…Dunlop has two assists and Globke has scored one goal…this marks the fifth consecutive year that Notre Dame has had a representative on the U.S. team…in all, the Irish have had eight players play in the World Junior Championships: Jack Brownschidle (1976-77, 78-79), Ben Simon (1996-97, 97-98), Joe Dusbabek (1997-98), Dan Carlson (1998-99), Brett Henning (1999-2000), David Inman (1999-2000), Dunlop and Globke…

INJURY REPORT:
Defenseman Tom Galvin (Fr., Miller Place, N.Y.) suffered severed tendons in his left arm at practice on November 2nd…he underwent surgery to repair the tendons and is out indefinitely. He has missed the last 13 games… Left wing Brett Henning (Jr., Huntington, N.Y.) suffered a cervical spine sprain against Lake Superior State (12/2) and is out of the lineup indefinitely…he has missed the last six games…the Irish have lost 45 man-games to injuries or illness this season…

PENALTY KILLING PROWESS:
The Fighting Irish surrendered three power play goals in 10 chances at the R.P.I. Tournament….that marked the first time the Irish had given up a man-advantage goal since Dec. 9 versus Miami…since Oct. 27, the Irish have given up just eight power play goals in 13 games, killing 62 of 70 opponent chances (88.6%)…from Oct. 27 through Dec. 2, the Irish killed off 24 consecutive opponent power plays, going the entire month of November (five games) without giving up a man-advantage goal…heading into this week’s games with Ferris State, the Irish have given up 23 power play goals in 118 chances for an 80.5% penalty killing efficiency…

IRISH STREAKS:
Seniors Dan Carlson and Ryan Dolder along with freshman Brett Lebda carry scoring streaks into this weekend’s games…Carlson has a three-game scoring streak (3-4-7)…Dolder also has a three-game streak with (2-3-5)…Lebda, a defenseman, checks in with a three-game streak of his own (2-5-7)…

CARLSON TO THE RESCUE:
Senior left wing Dan Carlson jolted the Irish offense to life in the 7-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha (12/20) with his first career hat trick and first career four-point (3g, 1a) games…Carlson also picked up the game winner and a shorthanded goal in the game…his hat trick was the first by a Notre Dame player since November 13, 1998 when Aniket Dhadphale scored three at Bowling Green…the four-point night was his fourth multiple point game of the season…the shorthanded goal was the fifth of his career and moves him into eighth on the all-time shorthanded list…at the R.P.I. Tournament, Carlson picked up three assists on the weekend….

LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE:
Defenseman Brett Lebda had a career night (Dec. 20) in just the 19th game of his Notre Dame career as he collected a goal and four assists in the 7-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha…the four assists were the most by a Notre Dame player in a game since Oct. 21, 1994 when Jamie Ling had five assists versus Waterloo…the five-point game was also the most by an Irish player since Ling racked up seven points (2g, 5a) versus Waterloo…Lebda’s goal came shorthanded when he scored into an empty net from 175 feet away…the speedy defenseman kept the hot had at the R.P.I. Tournament as he set up a goal and scored his third of the season during the two game tourney…

THE TOP OF THE LIST:
Senior right wing Ryan Dolder has picked up where he left off last season as he is Notre Dame’s second leading scorer through the first 21 games of the season with eight goals and nine assists for 17 points…last season, Dolder closed out his junior year by scoring a goal in each of the Ferris State playoff games to help the Irish to a trip to the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena…he has seven multiple point games this season…versus Northeastern (10/20) he personally wiped out a 2-0 first period deficit as he scored a pair of goals just 19 seconds apart early in the second period…the Hutchinson, Minn. native had a goal and an assist in the 5-2 Irish win over Miami (11/3) and added another goal and assist game versus Northern Michigan (11/25)…Dolder added a two-assist game at Nebraska-Omaha (12/20)…the senior right wing also had a goal in each of the games of the R.P.I. Tournament…

GILL THE THRILL:
Freshman center Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) posted another strong two-game series for the Irish centering a line with Dan Carlson on his left and Ryan Dolder on his right…Gill has now scored in four of his last six games (2-3-5) and has started to play a key role on the power play and killing penalties…the 6-0, 170-pound center is also one of ND’s top face-off men …on the year, he is fourth on the team in scoring with five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 21 games….

ROUGH STRETCH:
The month of December did not treat the Irish very well…ND was 1-7-0 in eight games during the month…the lone win was 7-3 Irish victory at Nebraska-Omaha (12/20) which snapped a five-game losing streak…that win also snapped the longest winless streak (0-7-2) for the Irish under Coach Dave Poulin…the last time ND went 10 games without a win was the 1993-94 season when ND had an 0-7-3 winless skid…

KOLY THE GOALIE:
Senior goaltender Kyle Kolquist made his first two starts of the season at Lake Superior State (Dec. 2-3) and just the second and third of his career…Kolquist made 25 saves in a 2-1 loss on December 1 and then made a career high 33 stops in just 40 minutes of the 4-1 loss on December 2…Kolquist has played in three games for the Irish this season after seeing action in just two games (69:09) in his previous three seasons…on November 25, the Duluth, Minn. native took over in relief versus Northern Michigan and made 27 saves to help the Irish salvage a 3-3 tie…before last weekend’s starts at Lake Superior, Kolquist’s only other start came on December 20, 1999 at home verus Princeton (21 saves, 4-2 loss)…in three games this season, the veteran goaltender is 0-2-1 with a 2.86 goals against average and a .924 save percentage…

SHOT MARKS:
The 48 shots on goal surrendered by the Irish to Lake Superior State were the most given up by Notre Dame since January 2, 1999 when North Dakota took 44 versus the Irish…the 20 shots taken by Lake Superior in the first period were a season high this season passing the 17 that were given up to Northeastern (10/21) and Northen Michigan (11/25)…

IRON MEN:
Senior right wing Ryan Dolder (Hutchinson, Minn.) has now played in 85 consecutive games and was one of just two Notre Dame players to play in all 42 games last season…the other was senior left wing Dan Carlson (Edina, Minn.) who has now played in 140 of 143 games in his three-plus years at Notre Dame (missing two while at the ’98-’99 World Juniors)…Carlson needs to appear in 13 more games to break John Schmidt’s ND record for career games played (152, ’78-’82).

FIVE GOAL OUTBURST:
Notre Dame’s five-goal, second period outburst versus Northeastern (10/20) marked the first time that the Irish have scored five goals in a period since November 2, 1996…that night at Bowling Green, ND scored five, third period goals to pull out a 7-5 win versus the Falcons…a year ago, Notre Dame only scored six or more goals in a game once, a 7-4 win over Nebraska-Omaha on February 12th…

SEVEN GOAL OUTBURST:
The seven goals scored by Notre Dame in the 7-3 Irish win over UNO (12/20) was the most goals scored by ND this season…in fact, ND had scored just five goals in its previous five games…the last time the Irish scored seven or more goals in a game came on Feb. 12, 2000 in a 7-4 win at home versus Nebraska-Omaha…

STANDING ROOM ONLY:
The standing room only crowd of 2,749 at the Notre Dame-Boston College game on November 10 was the largest crowd to watch a Notre Dame home hockey game since March 3, 1995 when a sellout crowd of 3,310 saw the Irish defeat Illinois-Chicago, 5-2…the capacity of the Joyce Center was reduced to 2,667 the following season (1995-96) when new seating was installed…this year, seating has increased to 2,713 due to relocation of the band…since capacity became 2,667 for the 1995-96 season, Notre Dame has played in front of 35 sellout crowds at the Joyce Center….

RISING PROSPECTS:
Two members of Notre Dame’s freshman class, Rob Globke (Fr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Neil Komadoski (Fr., Chesterfield, Mo.) are ranked among the top U.S. College players by the NHL’s Central Scouting…the November report ranks Globke fourth overall while Komadoski is 18th…Komadoski is eligible for the 2001 draft while Globke would have to opt-in to be selected in 2001…13 of the top 40 players ranked are from the CCHA including three of the top four…

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Freshman Rob Globke was selected as the CCHA’s Rookie of the Week for the week ending October 22nd…the 6-2, 200-pound right wing had two goals and an assist in the three games versus Wayne State and Northeastern…he was the first Irish player to receive this honor since Tony Zasowski was named rookie of the week for the week ending January 24, 2000…

FRESHMEN LEADERS:
Freshmen Brett Lebda, Aaron Gill and Rob Globke rank among the top ten rookie scorers in the CCHA…Lebda is seventh among rookie scorers with (3-10-13)…Gill is eighth with (5-7-12) while Globke, who has missed the last four games is ninth with (7-4-11)…Lebda ranks second among freshmen defenseman in scoring, trailing only Western Michigan’s Mike Jarmuth (2-13-15)… they all trail Western Michigan’s Jeff Campbell who has 15-11-26 in 19 games this season…

ONE TIMERS:
With ND’s 1-0 loss to Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 19, the Irish have been held to one goal or less in eight games this season (0-7-1)…Notre Dame has scored just one goal in four of its last seven games, five of its last 10 and six of its last 11 games…prior to the 7-3 win, Notre Dame had scored just 13 goals in its last nine games (1.44 per game)…in the last 12 games, the Irish have scored 25 goals (2.08 per game)…

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT:
Through the first 21 games of the season, the Irish newcomers (seven freshman, one transfer) have shown their abilities by contributing to the ND attack with 15 goals and 28 assists for 43 of the team’s 128 points…that amounts to 29.4% of the goals, 36.4% of the assists and 33.6% of the team’s points…Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) leads the way with (3g, 10a), followed by Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) with (5g, 7a), Rob Globke with (7g, 4a), Jon Maruk (Eden Prairie, Minn.) with (0g, 5a), Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.) with (0g, 1a) and Tom Galvin with (0g, 1a)…

MAKING THE MOST OF A CHANCE:
Sophomore defenseman Paul Harris (Ridgefield, Conn.) worked his way into the Irish lineup after battling injuries as a freshman and only playing in nine games …this season, Harris moved into the lineup at the Maverick Stampede after fellow soph Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.) came down with the flu prior to the Boston College game…the 6-2, 210-pound defenseman scored his first collegiate goal on Dec. 29 versus St. Lawrence…he added an assist the following night versus R.P.I. …in 15 games this season, Harris has picked up a goal and three assists for four points…he also owns a team-best +5…

Closing The Deal:
Notre Dame has built an impressive record in games that the Irish lead after two periods of play….ND is unbeaten in its last 45 games when holding a lead at the second intermission (39-0-6, including 11-0-3 in 1999-2000) … the Irish are 4-0-1 in 2000-01 when leading after two periods…the last time ND lost after holding a second-intermission lead was Jan. 9, 1998, in the second of three games at Alaska-Fairbanks … UAF’s Sean Fraser tied the game (2-2) with a power-play goal in the third minute of the final period before Chris Kirwan converted a breakaway with 0:45 left in overtime … the Irish also are 24-3-4 since the 1998-99 season when leading at the first intermission (10-1-1 in 1999-2000 and 2-1-1 in 2000-2001).

DID YOU KNOW:
According to the CCHA, the average height and weight for a player in the league is six-foot tall and 188-pounds…Notre Dame’s average team height is 72.04 inches – just over six-feet tall – which ranks the Irish fifth in the league in that department…ND is the biggest team in the league weight-wise as the Irish tip the scales at an average of 195.96-pounds per player…

OVERTIME NUMBERS:
Notre Dame is unbeaten in overtime in its last 14 overtime games going 3-0-11 since the beginning of the 1999-2000 season…the Irish are 1-0-3 this season and were 2-0-8 a year ago…the last time ND lost in overtime was March 5, 1999 at Miami…Notre Dame is also unbeaten in its last 14 home overtime games (3-0-11)…the last time the Irish lost in extra time at home was November 17, 1996 when the Irish fell to Mankato State, 4-3….

NOT SO SWEET HOME:
Notre Dame has struggled at home as the Irish have compiled a 2-7-1 record on the Joyce Center ice and are 0-7-1 in their last eight home games…the last home win came on Oct. 20 versus Northeastern (64)…Notre Dame was 23-10-6 (.667) from 1998-2000 at the Joyce Center and improved that to 25-10-6 (.683) before the current eight-game winless skid…since the building opened, ND is 275-226-34 (.544) in 535 home games…

Bloodlines:
Four current members of the Notre Dame hockey program-junior F Brett Henning, junior LW Jon Maruk, sophomore C Connor Dunlop and freshman D Neil Komadoski-hold a unique connection, as each of their fathers enjoyed a lengthy career in the National Hockey League.

• Lorne Henning played nine seasons with the New York Islanders (’72-’81) and has spent the past 15 years as an assistant and head coach in the NHL. An original member of the Islanders, Henning compiled 73G-111A as a forward over his 543-game career and played a major role in a four-year Stanley Cup dynasty (’80-’83). Henning served as an assistant with the Islanders from ’80-84 and ’87-’94, as head coach for the Minnesota North Stars (’85-’87) and the Islanders (’94-’95), and as a Chicago Blackhawks assistant from ’95-’98 before returning in ’98-’99 to the Islanders, as associate coach.
• Dennis Maruk played 14 NHL seasons-with the California Seals (’75-’76), Cleveland Barons (’76-’78), Minnesota North Stars (’78-’79, ’83-’88) and the Washington Capitols (’78-’83)-and finished as the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer in 1982 (60G-76A) while compiling 878 career points (356G-522A) in 888 games.
• Blake Dunlop played 11 seasons in pro hockey (’73-’84), including NHL stints with the Minnesota North Stars (’73-’77), Philadelphia Flyers (’77-’79), St. Louis Blues (’79-’84) and Detroit Red Wings (’83-’84), while totaling 130G-274A in 550 career NHL games.
• Rounding out the quartet is Neil Komadoski, Sr., who played eight NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings (’72-’78) and the St. Louis Blues (’77-’80), totaling 16G-76A and 632 penalty minutes in 501 career games.

• RISING TO THE TOP:
  Senior LW Dan Carlson is one of the top returning scorers in the CCHA, as his 35 points in 1999-2000 (17G-18A) rank sixth among current CCHA players, behind Western Michigan’s David Gove (18G-28A), Michigan State’s Adam Hall (26G-13A), Miami’s Pat Leahy (16G-22A), MSU’s Rustyn Dolyny (18G-19A) and Ferris State’s Kevin Swider (15G-21A).

  CENTURY MARK:
  Senior defenseman Ryan Clark (Littleton, Colo.) played in his 100th career game versus Miami (Dec. 9) and has now played in 104 games in his career…he joins five other Irish players with 100 career games played…senior center Chad Chipchase (Clinton, Ont.) played in his 100th career game versus the Northeastern Huskies (10/21) and has now played in 115 during his career…right wing Matt Van Arkel played in his 100th career game versus Minnesota and has now played in 120 overall…the remainder of that group includes Dan Carlson (140), Ryan Dolder (124) and Jay Kopischke (121).

  USHL VETERANS:
  Notre Dame’s 2000-01 roster-and particularly the freshman class-has plenty of experience with the United States Hockey League, as each of the five scholarship freshman-and junior newcomer Jon Maruk (Twin City Vulcans)-played in the USHL last season … all told, 17 different ND players have skated in the USHL, as members of that league’s traditional programs or the USA Hockey Under-18 Team … that group includes senior D Ryan Clark and sophomore LW Jake Wiegand (Lincoln Stars), senior LW Jay Kopischke (North Iowa Huskies), senior RW Ryan Dolder and Maruk (Twin City Vulcans), sophomore RW Michael Chin and freshman F Kyle Dolder (Twin City Vulcans) and sophomore G Tony Zasowski (Omaha Lancers) … Chin also played one year with the USA program, as did nine other current Irish players (see note below).

  PATRIOTIC GROUP:
  Notre Dame’s current roster includes 10 players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP) and/or the National Junior Team … Notre Dame’s current total of eight NTDP alums is the most at any Division I school … that group includes junior F Brett Henning and four members of the sophomore class-RWs Michael Chin and John Wroblewski, C Connor Dunlop and D Paul Harris-plus a trio of freshmen: RW Rob Globke and D Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda … senior LW Dan Carlson played with Team USA at the 1998-99 World Junior Championship while Henning, Dunlop and junior C David Inman played with the USA at the 1999-2000 World Juniors … four Irish players-Dunlop, Globke, Komadoski and Wroblewski-remain among the top candidates for the USA’s 2000-01 National Junior Team while a pair of 2000 Irish graduates-center Ben Simon and RW Joe Dusbabek-played for the USA at the World Juniors in ’96-’97 (Simon) and ’97-’98 (Simon and Dusbabek).

  A SPECIAL PLAYER:
  Dan Carlson has played a key role on both special-teams units during his Notre Dame career and could become the fifth player to rank among Notre Dame career top 10 for both power-play goals and shorthanded goals … Carlson needs six PPGs to crack that ND career top-10 list (nine shy of fifth) while his five career shorthanded goals tie him for 8th in ND history, two back of the record shared by three players.

  Double (OT) Dip:
  Current Irish senior Dan Carlson turned in a rare feat during a three-week stretch of the 1999-2000 season, as the speedy left wing scored in overtime to beat both Western Michigan (4-3) and Ohio State (2-1) … that marked just the second time-and the first in 28 years- that an ND player has scored two overtime goals in the same season, as then-junior winger Paul Regan scored overtime goals in 1971-72 versus Michigan Tech (6-5) and Cornell (5-4).

  MAKING HIS MARK:
  Former Notre Dame hockey standout, Brian Urick (’99) was named the American Hockey League’s Player of the Week for the week ending October 22, 2000…Urick helped lead the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Edmonton Oilers top farm club, to three wins during the week scoring four goals with two assists for six points…he was named First Star twice, following a 6-5 win (2 G’s 2 A’s) versus Quebec and after Hamilton’s 4-3 win over Philadelphia (1 goal)…

  Academic All-Americans:
  Notre Dame is the nation’s only Division I hockey program to produce a GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American during each of the past four seasons (as part of the fall-winter at-large program), with C Steve Noble earning second-team honors in 1996-97 and first-team honors in ’97-’98, followed by G Forrest Karr in ’98-’99 (second team) and LW Andy Jurkowski in 1999-2000 (third team).

  CLUSTER PARTNERS, PART II:
  The rotating CCHA cluster schedule has yielded four games for the Irish in 2000-01 versus Ohio State, Miami and Western Michigan-with two vs. the other eight squads in the 28-game schedule … the following CCHA teams will not visit the Joyce Center in 2000-01: Alaska Fairbanks, Lake Superior, Michigan and Nebraska Omaha … the Irish will not make regular-season trips in 2000-01 to Bowing Green, Ferris State, Northern Michigan and Michigan State … ND’s 1999-2000 cluster partners were UAF, MSU and UNO, with the 2001-02 partners to include Bowling Green, Ferris State and Michigan.

  FEELING A DRAFT:
  Five current Notre Dame players have been selected in the National Hockey League draft since 1997…the five include – seniors Jay Kopischke (8th round, L.A. Kings) and Ryan Clark (9th round, N.Y. Islanders), both taken in the 1997 draft… juniors David Inman (2nd round, New York Rangers) and Brett Henning (9th round, New York Islanders) were both selected in the 1999 draft and sophomore Evan Nielsen (8th round, Atlanta Thrashers) was chosen in the 2000 draft…just two other teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association-Michigan (7) and Michigan State (6)-have more draft picks on their 2000-2001 rosters than Notre Dame.

  Midwest Magic:
  Notre Dame continues to reap the benefits of the rapidly-improving youth hockey programs in the lower Midwest (namely Illinois and Missouri), as one-third of the current roster includes players from Illinois (6) or Missouri (2) … four of those players also are products of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP): sophomore RW Michael Chin (Urbana, Ill.), sophomore C Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and first-year D Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.) … sophomore D Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.) was invited to join the NTDP but returned for his senior year at The Taft School … ND’s other Illinois natives include the team’s top two returning goaltenders-junior Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills) and Tony Zasowski (Darien)-plus senior RW Matt Van Arkel (Richton Park). … prior to 1995, the ND hockey program had produced just eight total letterwinners from Illinois and two from Missouri.

  ROAD TRIP ANYONE?:
  The Notre Dame hockey program again will travel plenty of miles during the 2000-01 season, as the Irish are slated to traverse the equivalent of nearly 17,000 miles in the upcoming season-after travelling nearly 18,000 in 1999-2000 (17,907, or close to three-quarters of the Earth’s diameter) … the longer trips of 2000-01 include the season-opening game versus Minnesota, a trip to Omaha for the Maverick Shootout (plus a later series with Nebraska Omaha), an upper-peninsula visit to Lake Superior, the RPI Christmas Tournament in Troy, N.Y., a pair of games versus Yale in New Haven, Conn., and a return journey to Fairbanks, Alaska (ND’s third trip to UAF in the last four seasons) … the 1999-2000 campaign likewiseincluded trips to Omaha and Fairbanks, plus a pair of visits to tournaments in Denver, Colo., a Thanksgiving tournament at New Hampshire and an upper-peninsula visit to Northern Michigan … here’s a breakdown of the 2000-01 trips, based on average roundtrip land mileage: