Feb. 5, 2001

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STAYING ALIVE: Notre Dame’s 2000-2001 playoff hopes will be on the line this weekend when the Fighting Irish play host to the Bowling Green Falcons on Feb. 9-10 at the Joyce Center with face-off both nights set for 7:05 p.m. … the Irish come into the game in 12th place, four points behind 10th place Bowling Green for the final CCHA playoff … this is the only meeting this season between the two schools … last weekend, the Irish lost a pair on the road at Ohio State (5-2, 5-3), while Bowling Green was sweeping Lake Superior State at home (4-1 and 4-1) … the Irish come into the weekend with a 6-21-5 overall record and are 3-14-4 in the CCHA … Bowling Green is 10-14-4 on the year and 5-11-4 in league action … Notre Dame has 10 points, Lake Superior is in 11th with 12 points, Bowling Green is 10th with 14 and Ferris State is ninth with 17 … the Irish enter the final month of the season with seven games left – two at home with Bowling Green, at Michigan (2/16), at Alaska-Fairbanks (2/23-24) and a home-and-home series with Western Michigan (3/2-3) … Bowling Green has eight remaining – two at Notre Dame, two at Ferris State (2/16-17), two at home with Western Michigan (2/23-24) and two at home with Ferris State (3/2-3) … 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 Dave Mager calling the shots…the play-by-play also available via the internet at www.und.com.

IRISH VERSUS BOWLING GREEN: The two teams have met 53 times in the all-time series with Bowling Green owning a 28-21-4 advantage … since the Irish returned to the CCHA beginning with the `92-’93 season, Bowling Green has a 14-9-2 edge … at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame is 11-10-3 in 24 games, but BG is 5-4-1 since `92-’93 … the two teams met just twice last season (Feb. 18-19) at Bowling Green with Notre Dame winning 5-3 before the two teams battled to a 1-1 tie in the second game of the series … over the past four seasons, Notre Dame has a 7-2-2 in the 11 contests played over the last four seasons …BG has not played at the Joyce Center since Nov. 13, 1998, a 6-2 Irish win … the Irish are 6-2-2 in the last ten meetings between the two schools … in the last four years, the two teams have only played four games at the Joyce Center with the Irish going 2-1-1 in those games.

THE COACHES: Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin owns a 77-120-27 mark (.404) in his sixth season at Notre Dame…Poulin is 7-5-2 versus Bowling Green during his six years at Notre Dame…Falcons’ head coach Buddy Powers is 240-190-34 (.554) in 13 seasons as a head coach … he is 120-119-19 (.502) in this his seventh season at Bowling Green … Powers is 10-7-2 versus Notre Dame.

SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN: Hockey information on the Bowling Green Falcons is available at www.bgsufalcons.com … additional information on Notre Dame, Bowling Green and the CCHA is also available on the CCHA website at ccha.com…

OHIO STATE RECAP: The Irish dropped a pair of games at Ohio State last weekend, losing 5-2 on Friday night and 5-3 on Saturday …in Friday’s game, OSU’s Mike McCormick scored twice and Dave Steckel had a goal and two assists in the Buckeye victory … Dan Carlson (Sr., Edina, Minn.) scored both Irish goals, one at 6:15 of the second period and a shorthanded goal at 12:10 of the third period … Aaron Gill (Fr., Rochester, Minn.) assisted on both goals for the Irish … Ohio State outshot the Irish 32-26 … Tony Zasowski (So., Darien, Ill.) made 27 saves in making his third consecutive start … the Irish were shutout on the power play going 0-for-6 in the game … OSU scored twice in seven chances … on Saturday night, Notre Dame scored the first goal of the game as Gill got his 10th of the season … that marked just the ninth time in 32 games that the Irish have scored first (4-3-2 in those games) … OSU then scored the next four games with freshman center R.J. Umberger having a hand in all four with a goal and three assists … Ryan Dolder (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) cut the lead to 4-2 with a second period power play goal and Carlson scored his third goal of the weekend at 13:44 of the third cutting the lead to 5-3 … defenseman Evan Nielsen (So., Evanston, Ill.) had a pair of assists in the game for the second multiple-point game of his career … Notre Dame outshot OSU by a 32-29 marging … Zasowski, making his fourth consecutive start, made 27 saves on the night … the Irish did score two power play goals in the game, marking just the fifth time this season that the Irish have scored two goals in a game with the man-advantage.

CARLSON ON THE MOVE: Left wing Dan Carlson continues to be Notre Dame’s most consistent scorer this season as he leads the team with 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points … with a shorthanded goal at Ohio State, Carlson is now tied for fourth in that category with six and needs just one more shorthander to tie three others for the all-time school lead … Carlson also needs just two more goals (48g, 74a) to become the 28th player in school history to record 50 goals/50 assists in his career.

INJURY REPORT: Left wing Brett Henning (Jr., Huntington, N.Y.) has announced his decision to retire from playing hockey due to a disc condition in his cervical spine…the condition materialized due to a trauma sustained in the second Lake Superior State game (12/2)…Henning has missed the last 17 games…the Irish have lost 57 man-games to injuries or illness this season.

RED HOT LINE: The Irish line of Dan Carlson, Aaron Gill and Ryan Dolder, all Minnesota natives, has carried the Irish since December 19 at Nebraska-Omaha…the trio has scored in 11 of its 14 games together and had a nine-game streak snapped versus Michigan…in 14 games together, the line collected 19 goals and 25 assists for 44 points…Carlson leads the group with nine goals, 10 assists and 19 points, Dolder follows with six goals, eight assists and 14 points and Gill has four goals, seven assists and 11 points.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO: Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin, looking to spread the offense through his lineup, broke up the top Irish line of Carlson, Gill and Dolder, for the second game of the Ohio State series … despite the change, the trio still scored three goals and had two assists in the 5-3 loss … Carlson had a goal while Gill and Dolder chipped in a goal and an assist each.

STREAKERS: Dan Carlson and Aaron Gill each head into this weekend’s games with Bowling Green with three-game scoring streaks … Carlson has 3 goals and one assist for four points in his while Gill has 2 goals and 4 assists for six points in his point streak.

LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE: Freshman defenseman Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) comes into the weekend series with Bowling Green ranked third in the CCHA among defensemen in scoring with 19 points (5g, 14a)…he trails Michigan’s Jeff Jillson (8-17-25) and Northem Michigan’s Jimmy Jackson (4-17-21)…Lebda’s 19 points leads all CCHA freshmen defensemen…his 19 points are the most by an Irish rookie defender since Mark Eaton recorded 29 point (12g, 17a) in the 1997-98 campaign…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…the rookie blueliner had three points (1g, 2a) versus Ferris State…his goal came on the power play (second of the year) in the 3-2 loss with just 17 seconds left to send the game into overtime…at Yale (1/28) Lebda had a goal and an assist in ND’s 4-3 win…he is second to Aaron Gill (10-13-23) among Irish freshmen in scoring with five goals and 14 assists for 19 points.

CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Dolder is closing out his collegiate career in fine fashion…heading into this week’s action, Dolder has career highs in goals (13), assists (15) and points (28) … last season was his best year at Notre Dame as he had 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points…he is currently second on the squad in scoring (13-15-28)… Dolder picked up the first shorthanded goal of his career at Western Michigan (1/13) and then got his second a week later versus Ohio State (1/20)…he has a team-high 10 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…versus Ferris State, Dolder had a goal and an assist in the series…at Westen Michigan (1/13), he scored the game tying goal shorthanded and added and assist in the 3-3 tie…

HOCKEY HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Irish right wing Ryan Dolder was nominated for the 2001 Hockey Humanitarian Award in December, but was not selected to the list of five finalists in late January … the award will be presented at the 2001 Frozen Four in Albany, N.Y. the weekend of Apr., 5-7…the award is presented annually to the college hockey player, male or female from Division 1, 2 or 3, who has made a difference off the ice as well as on, to the team, to the program, to the school, and to the community in which the player lives…Dolder, a senior, is one of four players from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) to be nominated for the award…he joins Alaska-Fairbanks’ Ryan Reinheller, a 2000 finalist for the award, Michigan State’s Damon Whitten and Nebraska-Omaha’s Jason Cupp among the 12 nominees.
2001 Hockey Humanitarian Nominees Lee Bilodeau – Cornell University
Edward Bourget – Sacred Heart University
Jason Cupp – Nebraska-Omaha
Ryan Dolder – University of Notre Dame
David Foley – Nichols College
Brian Gionta – Boston College
Jonathan Lent – Framingham State Rocky Reeves – Buffalo State
Ryan Reinheller – Alaska-Fairbanks Gloria Sonnen – Bowdoin College Christina Sorbara – Brown University Damon Whitten – Michigan State

PENALTY KILLING PROWESS: Ohio State scored five power play goals in 13 chances in the two game series versus the Irish … since Jan. 6 versus Ferris State, the Irish have given up at least one power play goal in nine consecutive games…the Irish penalty killing has been up and down this season: Games 1-8: 15 ppg in 48 chances (68.7%)
Games 9-19: 5 ppg in 60 chances (91.7%)
Games 20-32: 20 ppg in 77 chances (74.1%)
Season: 40 ppg in 185 chances (78.4%)

40 SAVES: Sophomore goaltender Tony Zasowski made a career-high 40 saves in Notre Dame’s 4-3 win over Yale on Jan. 28…the 40 saves were the most by an Irish goaltender since Matt Eisler made 44 versus Michigan in a 3-1 loss on Feb. 17, 1997…Zasowski’s 40 saves was also the most by an Irish goaltender in a Notre Dame victory since Eisler kicked out 40 St. Cloud State shots in a 5-2 Notre Dame win on Jan. 24, 1997…

BY THE NUMBERS: The Irish are 1-4-0 in their last five games (all on the road), 2-6-2 in their last 10 and 2-7-2 since Jan. 1 … the Jan. 12 win versus Western Michigan was also the first for the Irish at the Joyce Center since Oct. 20 when they knocked off Northeastern, 6-4…the win snapped an 0-9-1 winless skid on home ice…ND finishes the season with eight of its last 11 on the road..

LAST TIME: Notre Dame’s 4-1 win over Western Michigan on Jan. 12 marked the first Irish win against a ranked team since they defeated fifth-ranked Michigan State, 1-0, on Dec. 4, 1999…Tony Zasowski was the goaltender in that one and the win came at the Joyce Center…

OVERTIME NUMBERS: Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie with Ohio State (1/20/01) was the seventh time this season that the Irish have played overtime…ND is 1-1-5 in those games…Notre Dame’s 3-2 overtime loss to Ferris State (Jan. 6) snapped ND’s 14-game unbeaten streak in overtime games (3-0-11)…the OT loss by the Irish was the first since March 5, 1999 when they fell at Miami…ND had also gone 14 overtime games without a loss at home (3-0-11), not dropping a game in overtime at the Joyce Center since a Nov. 17, 1996 loss to Mankato State…

FRESHMEN LEADERS: Freshmen Aaron Gill, Brett Lebda and Rob Globke are ranked among the top nine rookie scorers in the CCHA…Gill (10-13-23) is ranked fifth among all rookies while Lebda (5-14-19) are currently tied for sixth with Michigan State’s Jeremy Jackson…Lebda is the top scoring rookie defenseman in the league…Globke is tied for eighth and checks in with 16 points on 12 goals and four assists…his 12 goals tie him for third with ranks him second among freshmen with Ohio State’s R.J. Umberger……they all trail Western Michigan’s Jeff Campbell who has 18-16-34 in 27 games this season and ranks eighth in league scoring…

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…

IRON MEN: Senior right wing Ryan Dolder (Hutchinson, Minn.) has now played in 96 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 151 of 153 games in his three-plus years at Notre Dame (missing two while at the ’98-’99 World Juniors)…Carlson should become the school’s all-time leader in games played this weekend versus Bowling Green as he needs to appear in two more games to break John Schmidt’s ND record for career games played (152, ’78-’82).

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…

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 six career shorthanded goals tie him for 4th in ND history, one back of the record (7) shared by three players.

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) ranked 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). Those six players are among the league’s top players again this year: 2 – Gove (20-30-50), 9 – Carlson (13-19-32), t12 -Dolyny (9-19-28), 18 – Swider (12-15-27), t21 – Leahy (7-18-25) and t32 – Hall (13-9-22)…

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 36 sellout crowds at the Joyce Center….

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…

HIGH SCORING FRESHMAN: Globke’s 12 goals this season are the most by an Irish freshman since the 1996-97 season when Joe Dusbabek scored 13…Irish head coach Dave Poulin holds the school record for goals by a freshman with 28 during his first season (1978-79).

ROOKIE DUO: Center Aaron Gill scored his 10th goal of the season on Feb. 3 at Ohio State giving the Irish a pair of freshmen with 10 or more goals in his their rookie years…he and Rob Globke (12) are the first Irish duo to have 10 or more goals since 1996-97 when Joe Dusbabek had 13 and defenseman Mark Eaton had 12…Eaton would have been a member of this year’s senior class if he had not opted to turn pro with Philadelphia following his freshman year.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Through the first 32 games of the season, the Irish newcomers (seven freshman, one transfer) have shown their abilities by contributing to the ND attack with 27 goals and 44 assists for 71 of the team’s 197 points…that amounts to 34.6% of the goals, 37.0% of the assists and 36.0% of the team’s points…Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) leads the way with (10g, 13a), Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) is second with (5g, 14a) and is followed by Rob Globke with (12g, 4a), Jon Maruk (Eden Prairie, Minn.) with (0g, 5a), Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.) with (0g, 5a) and Tom Galvin with (0g, 3a)…

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…midseason report ranks Globke third among Division I college players and 21st among North Americans…Komadoski is rated 15th among college players and 86th among North Americans…Komadoski is eligible for the 2001 draft while Globke would have to opt-in to be selected in 2001…

ONE TIMERS: ND’s 9-0 loss to Michigan (1/23) was the second time this season that the Irish have been blanked…the first came on Dec. 19, a 1-0 shutout at Nebraska-Omaha…the Irish have been held to one goal or less in nine games this season (0-8-1)…

Closing The Deal: Notre Dame’s win at Yale (4-3) continued its success in games that the Irish lead after two periods…ND is now unbeaten in its last 48 games when holding a lead at the second intermission (41-0-7, including 11-0-3 in 1999-2000) … the Irish are 6-0-2 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).

NOT SO SWEET HOME: Notre Dame has struggled at home as the Irish have compiled a 3-10-2 record on the Joyce Center ice…prior to the Jan. 12 win over Western Michigan, the Irish were 0-9-1 in their last ten 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 ten-game winless skid…since the building opened, ND is 276-229-35 (.546) in 540 home games…

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…

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 (see p. 39 of the 2000-01 Notre Dame media guide for photos from their playing days).

• 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 Capitals (’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.

CENTURY MARK: Junior center David Inman (Toronto, Ont.) played in his 100th career game on Feb. 2 at Ohio State and has now played in 101 in his career … he joins five other Irish players with 100+ games in his career … senior defenseman Ryan Clark (Littleton, Colo.) played in his 100th career game versus Miami (Dec. 9) and has now played in 114 games in his career …senior center Chad Chipchase (Clinton, Ont.) played in his 100th career game versus the Northeastern Huskies (10/21) and has now played in 126 during his career…right wing Matt Van Arkel played in his 100th career game versus Minnesota and has now played in 132 overall…the remainder of that group includes Dan Carlson (151) and Ryan Dolder (134).

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 (Des Moines Buccaneers) 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).