Jan. 29, 2002
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Next Games: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-12-5/7-9-4) vs. Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks (14-10-2/10-10-2)
Date/Site/Times: Fri.-Sat., Feb. 1-2, 2002 – Joyce Center (2,713) – 7:05 p.m.
Broadcast Information: The games can be heard live on WDND South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620 with Dave Mager calling the action.
EIGHT GAMES TO GO: Notre Dame returns home this weekend for a pair of games with the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks at the Joyce Center on Feb. 1-2. With eight regular season games left on the docket, the Irish will be looking to take advantage of the home cooking this weekend as four of their final six regular season games will come on the road. The Irish are just 4-6-2 at home and will be looking to get their record back to the .500 mark. Notre Dame will also be looking to make a move for the final home playoff spot as they start the week tied with Miami for seventh place in the CCHA standings and are just five points behind third place Nebraska-Omaha as eight teams jockey for third through 10th place in the standings. The Irish have 18 points in 20 league games and are two points behind sixth-place Ohio State (20) for the final home playoff spot. The Buckeyes also have two games in hand. The Irish trail Northern Michigan and Alaska Fairbanks as those two teams are tied for fourth with 22 points. UAF has played two more league games and Northern Michigan two less than the Irish heading into this weekend’s series. Notre Dame is coming off a split at Miami last weekend where they won the Friday game 4-3 in overtime and then lost a 7-3 decision on Saturday night. Following this weekend’s visit from Alaska Fairbanks, the Irish travel to Michigan State (Feb. 8-9), are off Feb. 15-16 and then travel to Lake Superior State on Feb. 22-23 to close out the month of February. Notre Dame’s final two regular season games are at home on March 1-2 when the Irish play host to Bowling Green.
IRISH VERSUS NANOOKS: Notre Dame and Alaska Fairbanks have met 27 times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 13-12-2 edge. Notre Dame has had success in recent years versus the Nanooks as they are 8-0-2 over the last 10 meetings. Since Notre Dame returned to the CCHA for the 1992-93 season, the Irish are 13-6-2 versus Alaska Fairbanks. At the Joyce Center, Notre Dame holds a 7-3-0 record versus UAF. The Irish have won the last six meetings at the Joyce Center with the last loss against Alaska Fairbanks coming on Jan. 17, 1997 by a 5-4 margin. Last season, the two teams played twice at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks with the Irish getting a 4-4 tie on Feb. 23 and a 3-1 win on Feb. 24.
SCOUTING ALASKA FAIRBANKS: The Nanooks are the surprise team of the CCHA so far this season. Preseason prognosticators picked them to finish last in the league standings. Obviously, the Alaska Fairbanks coaches and players didn’t get the memo as they go into the weekend series with Notre Dame tied for fourth place with a 14-10-2 overall record and a 10-10-2 mark in league play. The Nanooks lost a pair of games at home versus Northern Michigan last weekend by 5-4 and 3-1 verdicts. UAF features a balanced attack with 12 players who have 10 or more points. The Nanooks are led offensively by forwards Ryan Campbell (9-16-25), Cam Keith (8-15-23) and Bobby Andrews (7-12-19). Aaron Voros is their top goal-getter with 11. The goaltending has been split with Preston McKay (9-6-1, 2.62, .910 sv. %) playing in 16 games and Lance Mayes (5-4-1, 3.08, .891 sv. %) playing in 12 contests. For more information on Alaska Fairbanks, check the Nanooks website at www.uaf.edu/UAF/athletics.html.
MIAMI RECAP: Aaron Gill (So., Rochester, Minn.) scored at 4:10 of overtime to give the Irish a 4-3 win in Friday’s series opener with the RedHawks. Notre Dame got two goals from Michael Chin (Jr., Urbana, Ill.) and a three-assist night from Connor Dunlop (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) in the victory. The Irish jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Evan Nielsen (Jr., Evanston, Ill.) at 4:39 and Chin at 14:42. Miami used the power play to get back into the game. Evan Cheverie scored the lone goal of the second period with the man-advantage at 19:51. Notre Dame looked like it had a 3-1 lead at 3:55 of the third when Dunlop scored on a delayed penalty. That goal was waved off by after the Irish were called for an illegal substitution as the sixth attacker came on the ice before goaltender Morgan Cey (Fr., Wilkie, Sask.) had reached the bench. Miami’s Greg Hogeboom scored his first of two on the night at 12:31, but Chin answered back just 25 seconds later at 12:56 with his second goal of the contest and 12th of the year for a 3-2 Notre Dame lead. Hogeboom tied the game at even-strength at 16:02 before Gill won it in overtime. Miami outshot the Irish 36-32 in the game with Cey making 33 saves to David Burleigh’s 28 for the RedHawks. Saturday night’s contest is one the Irish would like to forget as Miami’s Derek Edwardson had three goals and an assist and linemate Nick Jardine picked up two goals and two assists in the RedHawks’ 7-3 win. Edwardson got his first of the game just 1:07 into the game as Miami led 3-1 after one period and 5-2 after the second. Gill, Yan Stastny (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.) and Chin scored for the Irish with Chin’s third-period goal coming on the power play. All three players had a goal and an assist in the game. Cey made nine saves in the first period before giving way to Jeremiah Kimento (Sr., Palos Hills, Ill.) who took the loss in 40 minutes of play, making 15 saves. The Irish outshot Miami 42-31 in the game as Burleigh kicked out 39 shots for the win. Miami scored a pair of power play goals in the game and were four-for-11 with the extra man on the weekend. The Irish were just one-for-10 on their power play chances.
HEAD COACH DAVE POULIN: Irish head coach Dave Poulin is now in his seventh season behind the Notre Dame bench. He owns a 90-133-34 (.416) overall record and is 64-99-30 (.409) in CCHA contests. Against Alaska Fairbanks, Poulin-coached teams are 12-4-2.
OUT OF THE LINEUP: Freshman left wing Alex Lalonde (Newmarket, Ont.) has been ruled academically ineligible for the spring semester.
RIGHT ON THE CHIN: Junior right wing Michael Chin scored three goals and added an assist for a four-point weekend at Miami. His totals give him career-highs in goals (13), assists (8), points (21) and power play goals (3). He is now tied for the team lead with 13 goals on the season. That ties him for sixth in the CCHA in goal scoring. The two-goal game was the second of Chin’s career as he had one his freshman year versus Nebraska-Omaha (2/12/00). Versus Miami (Jan. 25), he equalled his career-high with nine shots on goal. He had 14 shots in two games versus Miami last weekend.
OVERTIME GAME-WINNERS: Aaron Gill’s overtime game-winner versus Miami (Jan. 25) was the first by an Irish player in a CCHA game since Feb. 5, 2000 when Dan Carslon got the winning goal in overtime at Ohio State. The last time Notre Dame won a game in overtime was Oct. 17, 2000 when Connor Dunlop got the game-deciding goal in overtime at home versus Wayne State. Over the last three seasons, Notre Dame is 4-1-20 in overtime. The lone loss came during January of 2000 when the Irish lost at home to Ferris State.
KIMENTO IN ACTION: Senior goaltender Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills, Ill.) saw his first action in goal for the Irish in the 7-3 loss to Miami (Jan. 25). Kimento took over for Morgan Cey in the second period and gave up four goals over the final 40 minutes of the game. On the night, he made 15 saves.
BACK ON THE BOARD: Freshman Yan Stastny snapped a seven-game scoring drought on Jan. 26 at Miami when he picked up a goal and an assist in the 7-3 loss. Stastny had not scored since a three-assist game at Bowling Green on Dec. 7. He missed three games since the Bowling Green game with injuries. He now has two goals and eight assists for 10 points on the season to lead all Irish rookie scorers.
GETTING IT DUN(LOP): Center Connor Dunlop picked up the third three-assist game of his career in the 4-3 overtime win at Miami. He added a fourth assist in the 7-3 loss giving him a four-point weekend allowing him to retake the scoring lead from David Inman. Dunlop now has six goals and 23 assists for 29 points. That ties him for sixth in the league scoring race. The 23 assists rank him fourth in the CCHA. On the season, Dunlop now has nine multiple point games (seven with two, one with three and one with four).
CAREER YEAR: Senior forward David Inman is in the midst of the best season of his Notre Dame career. With 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points, Inman is second in scoring for the Irish and is tied for 10th in league scoring. He has equalled his career high in goals (13) and has career highs in assists (15), points (28) and power play goals (6). For the season, Inman has seven multiple-point games. He collected his second two-goal game of the season and the sixth of his career on Jan. 4 versus Michigan. He has had one three-point game (1g, 2a) in the 4-1 win over Northern Michigan (Jan. 11) and a four-point night (2g-2a) at Northern Michigan (Nov. 2). His 20 career power play goals rank him 11th on the school’s all-time power play goal list.
SCORING EARLY: Senior David Inman and juniors Connor Dunlop and John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.) have combined to score 11 of Notre Dame’s first goals of the game this season. Inman leads the team with four while Dunlop and Wroblewski have three each.
SCORING FIRST: The Irish have scored the first goal of the game in 16 of their first 26 games and are 9-5-2 in those games. A year ago, the Irish scored the first goal in just 14 of their 39 games and were 7-3-4 in those games.
MAKING THE CEY-VE: Freshman goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) has started 12 straight games for the Irish and 13 of the last 14 going back to Dec. 1 versus Lake Superior State. Since that game versus the Lakers (a 7-0 shutout), Cey has given up just 31 goals. In those 13 games, Cey is 6-5-1 with a 2.51 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. On the season, he is 8-11-3 with a 3.03 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.
TURNING ON THE POWER: The Irish have struggled on the power play over the last seven games scoring just four times in 46 chances (8.7%) after going 1-for-10 in the weekend series versus Miami. For the season, the Irish are 19 for 137 (13.9%). Earlier this season, for the first time in two seasons (54 games), the Irish turned in back-to-back games with two or more power play goals. Notre Dame was two-for-10 versus Ferris State (11/9) and followed with a two-for-seven performance on (11/10). David Inman leads the team with six power play goals while Aaron Gill and Michael Chin have three each. John Wroblewski and Connor Dunlop each have two goals with the man-advantage while Brett Lebda, Rob Globke and Alex Lalonde each have one.
SHOT STUFF: The Irish won their second game of the season when outshot in the 4-3 overtime win versus Miami as the RedHawks had a 36-32 edge in the game. Notre Dame is now 2-6-4 when outshot in a game. The Irish are 7-5-1 when they outshoot the opposition.
PUCK SLOWDOWN: The 19 shots on goal by Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 18 was the fewest shots the Irish have given up in a game. The previous low was 20 by Lake Superior State on Dec. 1, 2001.
GALVIN-IZED: Defenseman Tom Galvin (So., Miller Place, N.Y.) has proven to be an offensive force on the Notre Dame blueline this season. The sophomore defenseman is sixth on the team in scoring with three goals and 12 assists for 15 points which ties him for eighth among CCHA defensemen in scoring. Galvin had the first two-goal game of his career on Dec. 7 versus the Falcons, getting the game-winner early in the second period.
ON THE OFFENSIVE: After 20 CCHA league games, the Fighting Irish are second in the league in scoring with 65 goals (3.25 per game). Only Michigan State with 66 (3.30 per game) has scored more goals. David Inman (10-14-24) is tied for third in CCHA games only and Connor Dunlop (6-17-23) is fifth in CCHA only scoring. Michael Chin (11-8-19) is tied for 10th. In 26 games overall, the Irish are tied for sixth among CCHA teams with 80 (3.08 per game). After scoring just 12 goals in their first five games (2.40 gpg), the Irish have scored 68 goals in their last 21 games (3.24 gpg).
GLOBKE GOALS: Sophomore forward Rob Globke snapped a 10-game personal goal-scoring drought in the weekend series with Lake Superior. After scoring two goals on Oct. 12 versus Union College, the Irish sniper did not score a goal until the Dec. 1 game with the Lakers when he picked up a goal and an assist. In the Dec. 2 game, Globke found the back of the net twice for his second multiple-goal game of the season. Since then, Globke has scored goals in four of the last seven games he’s played for the Irish. On the year, Globke now has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points.
PENALTY KILLING STRUGGLES: Notre Dame’s penalty killers struggled at Miami surrendering two power play goals in each game for four goals in 11 chances. Over the last eight games, Irish penalty killers have given up 10 power play goals in 33 chances for a 69.7% success rate during January. That follows a month of December where Irish penalty killers killed 35 of 38 opponent power play chances for a 92.1% success rate. Over the last 14 games, the Irish have killed 58 of 71 penalties for an 81.7% penalty killing efficiency. For the season, the Irish have killed 118 of 142 for an 83.1% rate which ranks them six in the CCHA and 18th in the nation.
ROAD SWEEPS: Notre Dame’s two wins over Princeton marked the first time the Irish swept a series on the road since Oct. 17-18, 1997 when they won two games at St. Cloud State (4-3 in ot and 4-1).
CENTRAL SCOUTING RATINGS: The National Hockey League’s Central Scouting Service has released it’s midseason rankings of North American players eligible for the 2002 Entry Draft which will be held in Toronto, June 22-23. Included in the list of 240 players are 13 players from the CCHA including three Notre Dame players. Forward Rob Globke is ranked eighth overall while center Yan Stastny is ranked 94th and forward Alex Lalonde is 240th.
THEY’RE BACK: Notre Dame center Rob Globke and defenseman Brett Lebda returned to the Irish lineup versus Northern Michigan (Jan. 11-12) after helping the U.S. Junior National team to a 4-1-2 record and a fifth-place finish at the World Junior Championships. Globke had two goals and an assist for three points in seven games while Lebda had two goals in the tournament. The Irish have had at least one player on the National Junior team in each of the last six years and along with Boston College have had 11 players in that period.
EVERYONE CONTIBUTES: Through 24 games this season, the Irish have gotten goals from 18 different players. Only three players – Neil Komadoski, Cory McLean and Joe Zurenko – who have played in eight or more games have not scored this season. The Irish have also had nine different players score game-winning goals this season.
PENALTY SHOTS: After not being involved with a penalty shot either for or against for over two seasons, Notre Dame has had two called this season. On Dec. 8 at Bowling Green, Irish goaltender Morgan Cey stopped BG’s Greg Day at 9:52 of the second period. That was the first penalty shot called against the Irish since Mar. 13, 1999 when Matt Eisler stopped Michigan’s Bill Muckalt in a 4-2 Notre Dame win in the CCHA playoffs. Earlier this season (Oct. 12), sophomore Rob Globke scored on a penalty shot versus Union College’s Brandon Snee at 3:41 of the third period in the 7-4 loss to Union College. That was the first penalty shot by an an Irish player since Feb. 5, 1998 when Brian Urick was stopped by Ohio State’s Jeff Maund.
PERANI CUP STANDINGS: Perani’s Hockey World is the CCHA’s sponsor of the league’s “Three Stars of the Game.” Members of the media are asked to select the game’s three stars for which points are accumulated – 1st Star gets five points, 2nd Star gets three and 3rd Star gets one. Here are the standings for Notre Dame players in CCHA games only:
SAM’S THE MAN: Senior left wing Sam Cornelius, playing in just his third game of the season, scored the winning goal in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Princeton. After Jon Maruk (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) outmuscled the Princeton defense to drive to the goal, Cornelius was there to jam the rebound past Dave Stathos just 2:27 into the third period to give Notre Dame a 3-1 lead. Cornelius followed the goal versus Princeton by helping set up Michael Chin’s goal in the 2-1 loss to Michigan. A converted defenseman, Cornelius has now scored three goals in his career with two of them being game-winners. His first game-winner came during his freshman year (1998-99) versus Ferris State.
END OF THE LINE: Earlier this season, Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey recorded a career-best shutout streak of 111:24 between Nov. 17 and Dec. 7. Cey held Western Michigan off the scoreboard the final 13:40 of the third period on Nov. 17 and then followed that with a Dec. 1 shutout of Lake Superior State. The streak was snapped when Bowling Green scored at 17:44 of the second period in the 6-3 win over Bowling Green on Dec. 7.
CAREER BESTS: Michael Chin, Yan Stastny and Tom Galvin all had career-best games in the 6-3 win over Bowling Green (Dec. 7). Chin (a goal and two assists) and Stastny (three assists) each had career-high three-point games. Galvin had the first two-goal game of his career.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Defenseman Evan Nielsen (Jr., Evanston, Ill.) was selected the CCHA’s Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Dec. 2. Nielsen anchored Notre Dame’s in the 7-0 shutout and a 5-2 win over Lake Superior State. He was also part of a penalty-killing unit that killed 14 consecutive Laker power play chances. The Irish captain also joined the offensive attack scoring a goal and adding an assist in the 7-0 win. For the weekend, Nielsen was a +5. He is the first Notre Dame player to take defensive player of the week honors since Feb. 20, 2000 when Tony Zasowski was selected for the honor.
CEY CAN YOU SEE: Freshman goaltender Morgan Cey recorded his first Notre Dame shutout by making 20 saves in Notre Dame’s 7-0 win over Lake Superior (12/1). The shutout was the first by an Irish goaltender since Dec. 4, 1999 when Tony Zasowski blanked Michigan State, 1-0. The shutout was the 27th in Notre Dame history and the 10th by an Irish goaltender in CCHA play. The 7-0 win was the largest margin of victory by an Irish goaltender against a CCHA team.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: The seven goals scored by Notre Dame in the 7-0 shutout of Lake Superior State is the largest margin of victory the Irish have ever had in a CCHA contest. The seven-goal win was the biggest by Notre Dame since a 10-2 win over St. Francis Xavier on Oct. 14, 1994.
WCHA TOP 50: Irish hockey great Bill Nyrop has been selected to the WCHA’s Top 50 all-time players list that will be announced throughout the 2001-02 season, the 50th anniversary of the league. Nyrop was included in the first list of 10 players announced on Nov. 29. The Irish were members of the WCHA from 1971 through 1981. Nyrop played at Notre Dame from 1970-74 and was Notre Dame’s first All-American – selected first team All-America and second team all-WCHA following the 1972-73 season. During his Notre Dame career, he played in 132 games with 17 goals and 72 assists for 89 points. Selected in the fourth round of the 1972 NHL Entry Draft, he played on three Stanley Cup championship teams (1976, 1977 and 1978) with the Montreal Canadiens. He died at the age of 43 in December of 1995.
FIVE IN A ROW: Goaltender Morgan Cey started the first five games of his Notre Dame career to join Greg Louder (1990-94) as the only two goaltenders to play the first five games of their careers. Cey and Louder are the last two rookies to start a season opener in goal at Notre Dame. Cey made 28 saves in a 2-1 loss to Union College on Oct. 11. Louder made 36 saves in a 7-2 loss at Minnesota on Oct. 23, 1990. Cey’s streak was stopped after five games when junior Tony Zasowski made his first start of the season versus Northeastern. Louder went on to start all 33 games that season, missing just 30 minutes of play, while turning in a 16-15-2 record. For the year, Cey has started 15 of Notre Dame’s 18 games on the season.
ONE FOR ZASOWSKI: Goaltender Tony Zasowski picked up his first win of the season in Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Lake Superior State. The junior goaltender made 17 saves. The start versus the Lakers was his third of the season. He recorded ties at Northeastern (Oct. 27) and versus Ferris State (Nov. 10). For the year, Zasowski is 1-0-2 with a 2.53 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.
BRONCO BUSTER: The Western Michigan Broncos bring out the best in Notre Dame defenseman Neil Komadoski (So., St. Louis, Mo.). In the 4-4 tie (Nov. 16), Komadoski picked up the second multiple-point game of his career (two assists) with both coming versus Western Michigan. Last season, Komadoski had a pair of assists in the Jan. 12 game. In his career, the rugged defenseman has five points (1g, 4a) in six games versus the Broncos.
FOUR-POINT WEEKEND: Sophomore defenseman Tom Galvin (So., Miller Place, N.Y.) scored as many points in two games versus Ferris State (Nov. 9-10) as he did in 26 games last year. Galvin turned in the first two multiple-point games of his career with a pair of assists in each contest. Last season, the 5-9, 187-pound blueliner had four assists for the year. Galvin leads Notre Dame defensemen with three goals and 11 assists for 14 points.
CAREER FIRSTS: T.J. Mathieson (So., Clarksville, Md.) and Kyle Dolder (So., Hutchinson, Minn.) each scored their first collegiate goals in the 5-2 win over Ferris State (11/9). For Dolder, his goal was also the first game-winning goal of his career. Defenseman Tom Galvin also had the first multiple point games of his career collecting two assists in each of the Ferris State games (11/9 and 11/10). Goaltender Tony Zasowski (Jr., Darien, Ill.) recorded the first assist of his Notre Dame career when he helped set up Brett Lebda’s second period goal in the 3-3 tie with Ferris State (11/10).
FOUR BY FOUR: Connor Dunlop’s four-point and four-assist game on Nov. 2 at Northern Michigan were career-bests for the junior center. The four-point game extended his point-scoring streak to a personal-best of five consecutive games (1-9-10). The last Notre Dame player to get four assists in a game was defenseman Brett Lebda, who had four assists in a five-point game at Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 20, 2000.
LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE: Sophomore defenseman Brett Lebda turned in the first two-goal game of his career in the 5-4 win over Northern Michigan. For the offensive-minded blueliner, the two goals were his first of the season. In the win over Northern, Lebda also had a career-high 10 shots on goal, passing his previous best of eight set in his rookie year versus Niagara at the Maverick Stampede.
IRON MEN: Sophomore defenseman Brett Lebda (So., Buffalo Grove, Ill.) saw his streak of 55 consecutive games snapped when he did not play for the Irish at Princeton (12/28-29). His streak was broken while he played for the U.S. Junior National Team at the World Junior Championships. Lebda had the longest streak of consecutive games for the Irish since graduated right wing Ryan Dolder played in 103 consecutive games over a three-season period including every game in 1999-00 and 2000-01. Lebda has now played in 61 of 65 games in his career. Dolder’s teammate, Dan Carlson was the only other Irish player to played in every game over his last two seasons. Carlson finished his career playing in 101 consecutive games. For his career, Carlson played in 158 of a possible 160 games. The only two he missed came while playing at the World Junior Championships in 1998-99. Notre Dame’s consecutive game leaders (as of Jan. 18, 2001):
PENALTY MARK: With 24 penalties for 78 minutes in the loss to Northern Michigan, the Irish set school records for both penalties and minutes. The previous record for penalties was 22 at Michigan State (3/4/00). The previous penalty-minute record was 77 and was also set versus Northern Michigan on Dec. 12, 1981. Rob Globke (So., West Bloomfield, Mich.) led the Irish with six penalties for 31 minutes.
CLOSING THE DEAL: After going 50 games (42-0-8) without losing when taking a lead into the third period, the Irish lost two in a row with a third-period lead. The losses at Ohio State (10/21) and Boston College (10/26) snapped the 50-game unbeaten string that went back to Jan. 9, 1998. Prior to this season, that was the last time the Irish lost when leading after two periods. In that game, 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. Since the loss at Boston College, the Irish are now 7-0-1 in games that they lead after two periods of play.
FOR OPENERS: Notre Dame’s 2-1 season-opening loss to Union College on Oct. 11 makes the Irish 17-18-0 in season openers in the 35 years of hockey during the modern era at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is 0-3 in its last three season openers with the last win coming on Oct. 2, 1998, a 2-1 win over Wisconsin in the first game played at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Notre Dame is also 20-15 in its first 35 home openers. The Irish opened with a win at home last season, a 2-1 overtime win versus Wayne State.
FIVE-GOAL PERIOD: Union College exploded for five third-period goals in the 7-4 win over the Irish on Oct. 12. The last time the Irish surrendered five goals in a period was on Nov. 20, 1998 when Western Michigan scored five goals in the third period of a 9-5 Notre Dame victory.
Bloodlines: Four current members of the Notre Dame hockey program – senior forward Jon Maruk, junior center Connor Dunlop, sophomore defenseman Neil Komadoski and freshman forward Yan Stastny – hold a unique connection, as each of their fathers enjoyed a lengthy career in the National Hockey League. Dennis Maruk played 14 NHL seasons-with the California Golden Seals (’75-’76), Cleveland Barons (’76-’78), Minnesota North Stars (’78-’79, ’83-’88) andthe 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.
Neil Komadoski, Sr., 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.
Rounding out the quartet is Peter Stastny who played 15 seasons in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques (’80-’90), the New Jersey Devils (’90-’93) and the St. Louis Blues (’93-’95) is currently the 23rd all-time scorer in league history with 450 goals, 789 assists and 1,239 points in 997 games. A six-time NHL all-star, Stastny is the highest scoring European-born player in NHL history and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1998. The 1981 NHL rookie-of-the-year, Stastny is currently a special assignment scout for the St. Louis Blues and will serve as general manager for the 2002 Slovakia Olympic team.
Notre Dame’s NHL connection doesn’t stop there. Senior Brett Henning who suffered a career-ending neck injury last season is the son of former NHL player and coach Lorne Henning who played nine seasons with the New York Islanders (’72-’81) and has been involved in coaching over the last 15 years. An original member of the Islanders, Henning compiled 73 goals and 111 assists 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.
Freshman forward Alexander “Newsy” Lalonde also has NHL lineage as he is a distant relative of NHL pioneer and Hall of Famer, Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde. Lalonde played for the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Americans between 1917 and 1927 for a total of six seasons in which he scored 124 goals and 41 assists for 165 points in 99 games.
Academic All-AmericanS: Notre Dame is the nation’s only Division I hockey program to produce a Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American during each of the past five seasons (as part of the fall-winter at-large program). Dan Carlson kept the streak going in 2000-01 by earning third team honors with a 3.49 gpa and a double major in finance and computer applications. He joins two-time selection Steve Noble who took second-team honors in 1996-97 and first-team honors in ’97-’98, goaltender Forrest Karr who was a second teamer in ’98-’99 and left wing Andy Jurkowski who was a third team selection in 1999-2000. CCHA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Notre Dame 2001 graduate and two-time team MVP, left wing Dan Carlson (Edina, Minn.) was named to the prestigious eight-player CCHA All-Academic Team for 2000-01, making Notre Dame the CCHA’s only school to produce an All-Academic honoree each of the last six seasons. Carlson led the Irish in scoring for the second consecutive season (17-25-42) and was also an honorable mention all-CCHA selection. A six-time Dean’s List student, Carlson graduated from Notre Dame with a 3.49 cumulative grade point average and a double major in finance and computer applications. Notre Dame has produced eight previous first team CCHA All-Academic selections since rejoining the CCHA in ’92-’93: Curtis Janicke and Carl Picconatto (’92-’93), Garry Gruber (’95-’96), Steve Noble (’96-’97, ’97-’98), Forrest Karr and Aniket Dhadphale (’98-’99) and Andy Jurkowski (99′-’00). During that nine-year span, only Western Michigan (10) has produced more CCHA All-Academic selections than Notre Dame’s nine.
CENTURY MEN: Left wing Dan Carlson became the fourth Notre Dame hockey player to reach 100 points for his career in the last four seasons. He finished his career with 50 goals and 82 assists for 132 career points, good for 20th on the school’s all-time scoring list. The Edina, Minn., native joins right wing Brian Urick (57G-69A) and left wing Aniket Dhadphale (61G-44A) who each reached 100 points in the 1998-99 season and center Ben Simon (44G-86A) who reached the milestone in 1999-2000. Carlson is just the fifth Notre Dame player to score over 100 points in his career since the Irish returned to the CCHA in ’92-’93. Only center Jamie Ling (1992-96) has scored more points (51-102-153) than Carlson over the past nine seasons. David Inman is the Irish player with the best chance to reach 100 points this season. The senior forward has 47 goals and 36 assists for 83 points in his career.
PATRIOTIC GROUP: The Notre Dame hockey team is no stranger to the National Team Development Program (NTDP) which includes the Under-18 and Under-17 teams. Nine members of this year’s Irish hockey roster have come through the National program. In fact, Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota currently have the most NTDP alums (9). For the Irish, that group includes injured senior forward Brett Henning, four members of the junior class – forwards Michael Chin, Connor Dunlopand John Wroblewski and defenseman Paul Harris – plus three sophomores: center Rob Globke and defensemen Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda. From Notre Dame’s freshman class, defenseman Derek Smith played for the Under-18 team during the 2000-01 campaign.
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 (3). Four are products of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP): junior right wing Michael Chin (Urbana, Ill.), junior center Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and freshmen defensemen Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.). Junior defenseman Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.) was invited to join the NTDP but returned for his senior year at The Taft School.
Notre Dame’s other Illinois natives includes the team’s top returning goaltenders – senior Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills) and junior Tony Zasowski (Darien) – plus freshman defenseman Joe Zurenko (Arlington Heights). Joining Dunlop and Komadoski from the St. Louis area is freshman forward Yan Stastny (St. Louis). Prior to 1995, the Notre Dame hockey program had produced just eight total letterwinners from Illinois and two from Missouri.
WINNERS: Two of the newest members of the Notre Dame hockey team were members of national champion teams during the 2000-01 season. Forwards Yan Stastny and Brad Wanchulak were members of junior hockey national championship teams in the United States and Canada. Stastny played for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers while Wanchulak played for the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Stastny scored six goals and added six assists in 12 postseason games as Omaha won the USHL’s Clark Cup as league champions and then followed by winning the Gold Cup as champions of junior hockey in the U.S. Wanchulak also played a key role in helping Camrose to the Canadian national title. He was the AJHL playoff Most Valuable Player helping the Kodiaks to the AJHL title. In the Royal Bank Cup, which brings together the champions of all the Canadian junior leagues, Wanchulak scored the winning goal in the championship game versus Flin Flon.