Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Hockey Standouts Earn CCHA Weekly Awards

Oct. 12, 1998

The University of Notre Dame hockey team swept the first weekly Central Collegiate Hockey Association player of the week awards, with senior right wing Brian Urick (Minnetonka, Minn.) earning CCHA offensive player of the week honors while senior goaltender Forrest Karr (DeForest, Wis.) was named the conference’s defensive player of the week.

Irish freshman center David Inman (Toronto, Ont.) was edged out for CCHA rookie of the week honors by Michigan rookie goaltender Josh Blackburn, who began his career on Sunday with a 2-0 shutout win over Lake Superior.

Urick totaled four goals and one assist over the weekend in home victories over Lake Superior (4-2) and Western Michigan n (7-1) while finishing each game +2. His first-period goal tied the LSSU game, 1-1, while his empty-netter sealed the win over the Lakers. His power-play goal late in the first period of the Western Michigan game proved to be the game-winner, with Urick adding a goal early in the third period and assisting on Dan Carlson’s power-play score with 4:53 left to play. Karr registered 23 saves in the Lake Superior game and 20 versus Western Michigan while allowing just one even-strength goal during the weekend (by LSSU). He also led the way for an Irish penalty-killing unit that stopped nine of 11 opponent power-play chances during the two games.

Notre Dame-which opened with a 2-1 win at Wisconsin on Oct. 3 despite an opposing crowd of 13,000-plus-has posted wins in its first three games versus Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) or CCHA teams for the first time in the program’s history.

Inman continued his impressive debut as the second-line center, providing the primary assist on Matt Van Arkel’s rebound goal that provided the winning margin versus Lake Superior. The 6-1, 190-pound lefthanded flirted with a hat trick the next night versus WMU, forcing his own breakaway goal to open the scoring early in the first period before converting a tap-in power-play goal for a 3-1 Irish lead midway through the second period. Inman was +1 for the weekend while committing no penalties in the two games.

Urick is tied for the team lead in plus-minus (+5) while totaling no penalties through the first three games. His five-point weekend gives Urick 45 goals and 45 assists, inching him closer to the 100-point plateau and to distinction as the 27th Notre Dame player to total 50 career goals and 50 assists.

Over the past two seasons, Urick has 39 points (20G-19A) in 44 games while owning a team-best +20 plus-minus ratio and only 40 penalty minutes. The 6-1, 195-pound righthander has scored six of the team’s 21 game-winning goals during the past two seasons.

Karr’s impressive debut as the Irish starter includes posting a 1.34 season goals-against average and .948 save percentage (73 saves, four goals against) while playing a leading role in the .867 Irish penalty-killing unit (13-of-15). His career record now stands even at 11-11-1, including 9-3-1 over the past two seasons, while Karr owns a solid 2.52 GAA during the past two seasons (14 games, 784-plus minutes).