Oct. 20, 2008
Farmington Hills, Mich. – The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announced today that Notre Dame sophomore defenseman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) has been selected as the CCHA’s defenseman of the week ending Oct. 19.
In Notre Dame’s two games last weekend, Cole scored one goal and added three assists in helping lead the Irish to back-to-back shutouts over Sacred Heart University by scores of 3-0 and 7-0.
Against the Pioneers on Friday, Oct. 17, the 6-1, 216-pound blueliner recorded one assist and was +1 in the game as Notre Dame shutout Sacred Heart, 3-0. The Pioneers were held to 18 shots in the game and were 0-for-4 on the power play.
In Saturday’s series finale, Cole equaled a career high with a three-point game, scoring one goal (ppg) and adding two assists in the 7-0 win against the Pioneers while going +3 in the contest. The Irish held Sacred Heart to just 17 shots on goal and stopped all eight power-play chances in the game.
The back-to-back shutouts were the first for the Irish since the beginning of the 2006-07 season when the Irish recorded consecutive shutouts versus Army (3-0) and Air Force (2-0) on Oct. 27-28, 2006 in both games of the Lightning College Hockey Classic.
For the season, Cole ranks third on the Irish in scoring with four points and leads all Notre Dame defensemen in scoring and his +4 mark is the best +/- on the team.
Cole and his teammates return to action this weekend as they open the CCHA schedule with a home series against 10th-rnaked Miami at the Joyce Center. The Irish, 2-1-0 on the year and ranked eighth in the nation, will face Miami on Friday, Oct. 24 at 7:35 p.m. and then again on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 7:05 p.m.