March 26, 2014
Notre Dame Hockey Game Notes
| Irish NCAA Tournament Central
Notre Dame, Ind. –
– The Games: #9/#9 Notre Dame (23-14-2) vs. #8/#8 St. Cloud State (21-10-5) #1/#2 Minnesota (25-6-6) vs. Robert Morris (19-17-5)
– Date/Site/Times: Saturday, March 29, 2014 – Xcel Energy Center (18,568) – 4:30 p.m./8:00 p.m. (CT)
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame’s NCAA West Regional semifinal game against St. Cloud State can be heard on Real Country 99.9 FM in South Bend and on WatchND. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish, will call the action. Television: The Notre Dame – St. Cloud State game will be carried live on ESPNU with Clay Matvick and Sean Ritchlin calling the action.
– Internet: Audio/Video Streaming: Live audio streaming for Notre Dame games in the NCAA West Regional will be available on the Notre Dame website at WatchND. Video streaming is available at WatchESPN. Live Stats: Available on the NCAA website at Ncaa.com. Twitter: Follow Irish hockey on Twitter at @NDHockey.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL: Notre Dame makes its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and for the second year in a row will face the same team in the first game for the Irish in the regionals. Notre Dame is the No. 2 seed in the NCAA West Regional that will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. The Irish will face the No. 3 seed – St. Cloud State – in the second game of the regional at 8:00 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, March 29. The first game will feature top-seeded Minnesota versus Robert Morris University at 4:30 p.m. (CT). The Notre Dame – St. Cloud State game will be televised on ESPNU and WatchESPN with Clay Matvick and Sean Ritchlin calling the action. The Minnesota-Robert Morris game will be seen on ESPN2. The winners of both games will advance to the West Regional final at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, March 30 with the game on ESPNU. The West Regional survivor will advance to the Frozen Four at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa., April 10-12. The Irish faced St. Cloud State in last season’s Midwest Regional in Toledo, Ohio and were dealt a 5-1 loss. Notre Dame was the top seed in that regional and the Huskies were No. 4. The Irish are currently 23-14-3 on the season and are ranked ninth in both the USA Today/U.S. Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls. St. Cloud State is 21-10-5 on the year and ranked eighth in both national polls. The Huskies won the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) regular-season title and lost in the quarterfinals to Miami, two games to none.
IRISH NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Notre Dame is making its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2003-04 season (`03-’04, `06-’07, `07-’08, `08-’09, `10-’11, `12-’13 and “13-’14) and the sixth with Coach Jeff Jackson behind the bench in nine seasons. The Irish lost in the opening game of the Midwest Regional in 2013-14. In 12 NCAA games, Notre Dame is 6-6 all-time with two trips to the Frozen Four (2008, 2011).
2004 - Midwest Regional, Grand Rapids, Mich. 2009 - Midwest Regional, Grand Rapids, Mich.#1 Minnesota 5, #4 Notre Dame 2 #4 Bemidji State 5, #1 Notre Dame 1
2007 - Midwest Regional, Grand Rapids, Mich. 2011 - Northeast Regional, Manchester, N.H.#1 Notre Dame 3, #4 Ala.-Huntsville 2 (2ot) #3 Notre Dame 4, #2 Merrimack 3 (OT)#3 Michigan St. 2, #1 Notre Dame 1 #3 Notre Dame 2, #4 New Hampshire 1
2008 - West Regional, Colorado Springs, Colo. 2011 - Frozen Four, St. Paul, Minn.#4 Notre Dame 7, #1 New Hampshire 3 #3 Minnesota Duluth 4, #4 Notre Dame 3#4 Notre Dame, 3, #3 Michigan State 1 2013 - Midwest Regional, Toledo, Ohio2008 - Frozen Four, Denver, Colo. #4 St. Cloud State 5, #1 Notre Dame 1#4 Notre Dame 5, #1 Michigan 4 (OT)#3 Boston College 4, #4 Notre Dame 1
IRISH VERSUS HUSKIES: Fancy these two teams meeting for the second consecutive year in NCAA Tournament action. Last season, the Huskies handed Notre Dame a 5-1 loss in the Midwest Regional in Toledo, Ohio to end the Irish season. That win came in the 11th game between the two schools in the series history and gave St. Cloud State a 6-5-0 advantage in those 11 contests. The team’s first met in the 1988-89 season, splitting a series in St. Cloud, Minn., as the Huskies won the opener, 4-3, with the Irish taking a 3-2 decision in the second game. The following year, 1989-90, the teams met four times, twice at each school. St. Cloud won three of those four meetings. They would not meet again until the 1996-97 season, playing a pair of games at the Joyce Center with the team’s splitting two contests. The Irish won 5-2 with SCSU taking a 2-1 win in the second game. Prior to last year’s tournament meeting, the last time they met was during the 1997-98 season with the Irish sweeping the Huskies, 4-3 in overtime and 4-1 in the second game. The teams are 3-3 at St. Cloud and 2-2 at Notre Dame. This will be the second meeting between the two schools in NCAA play with the Huskies holding a 1-0 edge.
JACKSON AND THE NCAAS: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson has seen his teams make the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 15 seasons as a Division I head coach (six with Notre Dame and six with Lake Superior State). During that time, his teams own a record of 19-10 (.655) in the NCAA Tournament. That includes a 13-5 mark at Lake State and a 6-5 record at Notre Dame. Jackson also has seen his teams make it to the Frozen Four five times (1992, 1993, 1994 at LSSU and 2008 and 2011 at Notre Dame), winning twice at Lake Superior. His record in the Frozen Four is 6-3 overall.
THE COACH AND THE POSTSEASON: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson has had his share of success in conference playoff games. In 15 seasons, with 14 coming as a member of the CCHA, Jackson’s teams have appeared in all 15 postseasons (six at Lake Superior State and eight at Notre Dame in the CCHA and one with Notre Dame in Hockey East). During those 15 seasons, Jackson’s teams are is 45-16 (.738) in conference postseason play. At Lake Superior, his teams were 24-2 while at Notre Dame, he is 21-14 (18-12 in CCHA, 3-2 in Hockey East). His teams have advanced to the finals in 12 of 15 seasons (six at LSSU and six at Notre Dame). In those 14 CCHA campaigns, his teams won seven CCHA titles (four at LSSU and three at Notre Dame).
IRISH VERSUS MINNESOTA: Notre Dame and Minnesota have met 41 times in the all-time series with the Gophers holding a 24-14-3 advantage. At Notre Dame, the Irish are 5-6-1 against Minnesota while at Minneapolis, the Irish are just 8-15-2. On neutral ice, the Irish are 1-3-0 versus the Gophers. The two teams have met once before in NCAA play – March 27, 2004 – in the opening round of the Midwest Regional at Grand Rapids, Mich., with Minnesota taking a 5-2 victory. The two teams have met twice this season at Notre Dame with the Irish taking a 4-1 win on Nov. 8 and Minnesota a 5-4 victory on Nov. 9 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
IRISH VERSUS ROBERT MORRIS: Notre Dame and Robert Morris have met twice with both games coming during the 2006-07 season with each team winning once. The Irish played the Colonials on Jan. 5, 2007 at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa., with Notre Dame taking a 6-2 victory. Two nights later at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center, the Colonials took a 4-2 win.
NCAA TOURNAMENT SCORING: Eighteen members of the 2013-14 Notre Dame hockey team have played in the NCAA Tournament during their Irish careers. Eleven were members of the 2010-11 team that won the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H., to advance to the Frozen Four. There, the Irish lost a 4-3 decision to eventual national champion, Minnesota Duluth. The other seven were on the team when the Irish played St. Cloud State in last year’s Midwest Regional in Toledo, Ohio.
Name GP G A PTST.J. Tynan 4 1 1 2Bryan Rust 4 0 2 2Stephen Johns 4 1 0 1Jeff Costello 4 1 0 1Mike Voran 4 1 0 1Shayne Taker 4 0 0 0David Gerths 4 0 0 0Kevin Lind 3 0 0 0Jared Beers 1 0 0 0Mario Lucia 1 0 0 0Thomas DiPauli 1 0 0 0Eric Johnson 1 0 0 0Steven Fogarty 1 0 0 0Robbie Russo 1 0 0 0Austin Wuthrich 1 0 0 0Peter Schneider 1 0 0 0
Goaltenders MIN W-L-T GA SVS SV% GAVGS. Summerhays 40:00 0-1-0 4 14 .778 6.00
HOCKEY’S TURN: Notre Dame winter sports teams have had a strong 2013-14 campaign with many of the teams competing in NCAA Championships in March. The Notre Dame hockey team joins the women’s basketball team that is currently competing in the NCAA Regionals this weekend at the Notre Dame Regional where they are the No. 1 seed. Notre Dame’s men’s swimming team has individuals competing this weekend at the NCAA Men’s Swimming Championship in Austin, Texas. The women’s swimming team tied for its best finish ever (16th) and saw junior Emma Reaney win the program’s first individual championship as she broke her own NCAA, U.S. Open and American record in winning the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:04.06. The Notre Dame fencing team finished sixth at the NCAA fencing championships with Gerek Meinhardt winning his second men’s foil individual title and Lee Kiefer taking her second consecutive women’s foil individual championship. The men’s track team was 17th at the NCAA men’s indoor track championships while the women were 29th.
RANKINGS: Notre Dame comes into the NCAA West Regional ranked ninth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls. St. Cloud State is ranked eighth in both polls. The University of Minnesota is ranked first in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine rankings and second by USCHO.com. Robert Morris is not ranked in either poll.
HOCKEY EAST SEMIFINALS RECAP: Massachusetts-Lowell 4, Notre Dame 0 The Notre Dame Fighting Irish knew they would have a tough test in facing the second-seeded UMass-Lowell River Hawks in the opening Hockey East semifinal game on Friday afternoon at TD Garden. The Irish had lost a pair of regular season games to the River Hawks in November by 1-0 and 3-1 scores with Lowell goaltender Connor Hellebucyk stopping 74-of-75 shots in that sweep. Well, the Irish still haven’t solved Hellebuyck as the River Hawks’ goaltender stopped all 35 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the season against Notre Dame, as he blanked the Irish, 4-0, to send UMass-Lowell into the Hockey East Championship game. The first team all-Hockey East selection finished the season stopping 109-of-110 shots against Notre Dame in three games. The River Hawks got single goals from Christian Folin, Derek Arnold, Evan Campbell and Zack Kamrass in the win. The Irish outshot UMass-Lowell, 35 to 22 with Steven Summerhays (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) making 18 saves in the Notre Dame goal. The Irish got off to a slow start in the opening period as they couldn’t seem to get started against the River Hawks stifling defense that seemed to frustrate the Notre Dame attack. UMass-Lowell opened the scoring at 10:13 of the opening period when Folin’s shot from the right point went off Irish defenseman Kevin Lind’s (Sr., Homer Glen, Ill.) skate and deflected past Steven Summerhays to make it a 1-0 game. Less than four minutes later, the River Hawks built the lead to 2-0 when Arnold whipped a wrist shot from the right circle over Summerhays’ glove for his 11th of the season for a two-goal lead after one period. UMass-Lowell took advantage of a pair of power plays to make it 4-0 after two periods. With David Gerths (Sr. Ankeny, Iowa) off for holding at 3:16 of the second period, the River Hawks made it 3-0 just 19 seconds into the penalty as Campbell was in the right place at the right time at the top of the crease to stuff a rebound past Summerhays for his eighth goal of the year. The River Hawks made it 4-0 with their second power-play goal of the game at 13:21 with the help of another Irish defender’s skate. Eric Johnson (Jr., Verona, Wis.) went off for interference at 12:21 and Kamrass would get the goal as he skated down the left wing boards and threw the puck in front looking for a deflection. The puck would go off of Stephen Johns (Sr., Wampum, Pa.) in front past Summerhays to give Kamrass the unassisted goal, his third of the season. In the third period, it was all about Hellebucyk as he held the Irish at bay, making 15 of his 35 saves in the final period to preserve the win. Notre Dame had just one power-play chance in the game and was 0-for-1. The River Hawks had three chances and scored twice. Six of Lowell’s eight goals against the Irish this season came on the power as the River Hawks finished the year going 6-for-12 with the man-advantage against Notre Dame.
HOCKEY EAST PLAYOFF SCORING:HOCKEY EAST CAREER POSTSEASON STATISTICS:Name GP G A PTST.J. Tynan 5 0 6 6Bryan Rust 5 4 1 5Stephen Johns 5 3 2 5Peter Schneider 5 3 1 4Sam Herr 5 1 3 4Vince Hinostroza 5 1 3 4Jeff Costello 5 2 1 3Steven Fogarty 5 0 3 3Shayne Taker 5 0 3 3Kevin Lind 5 0 3 3Mario Lucia 5 1 1 2Thomas DiPauli 5 1 1 2Austin Wuthrich 5 0 1 1Eric Johnson 5 0 1 1Andy Ryan 5 0 1 1Mike Voran 5 0 0 0Ali Thomas 1 0 0 0Jared Beers 5 0 0 0David Gerths 4 0 0 0
Goaltenders MIN W-L-T GA SVS SV% GAVGSteven Summerhays 299:00 3-2-0 14 128 .901 2.81
HOCKEY EAST ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Notre Dame defenseman Stephen Johns was selected to the Hockey East all-tournament team for this season. Joining him on the team were:
Goaltender – Connor Hellebucyk (UMass-Lowell) Defense – Christian Folin (UMass-Lowell) Defense – Stephen Johns (Notre Dame) Forward – Kevin Goumas (New Hampshire) Forward – Joseph Pendenza (UMass-Lowell) Forward – A.J. White (UMass-Lowell)
Tournament MVP – Connor Hellebucyk (UML)
TOUGH TO BEAT: Notre Dame scored just one goal on the season in three meetings with Massachusetts-Lowell with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck recording two of the three shutouts by opposing goaltenders against the Irish in 2013-14. In the three meetings, Hellebucyk stopped 109-of-110 Irish shots on the year for a .991 save percentage against Notre Dame. He recorded a 40-save, 1-0 shutout on Nov.22 at Lowell. His playoff shutout saw him stop all 35 shots he faced.
THE LAST TIME: St. Cloud State 5, Notre Dame 1 March 30, 2013 Hutchinson Center – Toledo, Ohio
Joey Benik scored a pair of power-play goals and St. Cloud State got single goals from Ben Hanowski, Cory Thorson and Jonny Brodzinski as the Huskies ended Notre Dame’s season with a 5-1 loss at the NCAA Midwest Regional in front of a crowd of 2,988 at the Hutchinson Center. Mike Voran (Sr., Livonia, Mich.) scored the lone Notre Dame goal, snapping St. Cloud goaltender Ryan Faragher’s shutout bid at 7:44 of the third period short-handed. The loss ended the season for the Irish with a 25-13-3 overall record and snapped a six-game winning streak in March and a nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2) that started on Feb. 17. St. Cloud State improves to 24-15-1 for the year. St. Cloud State opened the scoring at 11:32 of the opening period as Hanowski scored his 17th goal of the season as he banged a rebound past Irish starter Steven Summerhays to make it 1-0. The Irish looked like they tied the game just 28 seconds later with Anders Lee putting the rebound of a Peter Schneider (Jr., Vienna, Austria) shot past Faragher. The officials went to the replay and ruled that Lee had directed the puck past Faragher with his foot and waved the goal off. “That play happened so quick. You are just trying to get the puck back to your stick and it went to the goalie instead,” said Lee following the game. “It was clearly a kicking motion. I was trying to get it back to my stick and get it back to the net. It was a reaction play at that high speed.” “I don’t think we got overly excited about the goal being overruled,” said Voran. “Anders came back to the bench and said it was definitely a kicking motion. We weren’t too high and I don’t think it disturbed us too much.” The Huskies out shot the Irish, 11-10, in the opening period. The second period belonged to St. Cloud State as the Huskies scored three times to open a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes of play. Benik gave St. Cloud a 2-0 lead at 9:28 of the second period when he scored on the power play, notching his fourth goal of the season. The lead would go to 3-0 at 13:35 off some strong forechecking by the Huskies as they kept the puck in play behind the net before it came in front to Thorson who tucked the shot between Summerhays’ pads for his 11th goal of the season. His linemates, Brooks Bertsch and Benik picked up assists on the goal. Brodzinski, St. Cloud’s leading goal scorer on the year, closed out the period with his 22nd of the year at 14:43 as he converted a pass from Jimmy Murray to make it a 4-0 game. In the third period, Mike Johnson replaced Summerhays in goal with the Notre Dame starter finishing the game with 14 saves on the afternoon. The Irish were forced to kill three consecutive penalties and held St. Cloud State off the scoreboard while finally breaking through on Faragher with a short-handed goal at 7:44 to make it a 4-1 game. The Huskies then closed out the scoring with their second power-play goal of the night with Benik cashing in the same way he did the first, banging a rebound past Johnson for his fifth of the season at 11:07 for the 5-1 final. On the night, the Huskies were 2-for-7 on the power play while the Irish had just one chance going 0-for-1. St. Cloud State out shot Notre Dame, 23-18 in the game. Faragher made 17 saves in picking up the victory. Johnson made four saves in the final 20 minutes of the game.
20 OR MORE WINS: With two wins in the Hockey East quarterfinals against Boston College, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays now has 21 wins this season, giving him back-to-back, 20-win seasons at Notre Dame. The 20-win campaign marks the eighth time a Notre Dame goaltender has won 20 or more games in a season in the 46-year history of the program. Summerhays joins Jordan Pearce `09 as the only two goaltenders with two 20-win seasons at Notre Dame. Pearce won 23 in 2007-08 and 30 in 2008-09.
TOP FOUR: Notre Dame goaltender Steven Summerhays is just one of four goaltenders in Irish history to have 50 or more wins in his career. With his win against Boston College on Sunday night, the senior goaltender is now second all-time in wins with 57. He needs just two more wins to catch Jordan Pearce `09 who had 59 in his career. Summerhays is 57-36-5 all-time at Notre Dame.
Goaltender Wins1. Jordan Pearce (2005-09) 592. Steven Summerhays (2010-) 573. Lance Madson (1986-90) 564. David Brown (2003-07) 55
GO TO GUY: Dating back to Feb. 24, 2012, (Summerhays’ sophomore year) Notre Dame goaltender Steven Summerhays has played in 78 of Notre Dame’s last 86 games, making 76 starts. During those 78 games, Summerhays is 45-27-4 with a 1.98 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage and 13 shutouts. For his career, he is now 57-37-5 with a 2.18 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. This season, Summerhays is 21-13-2 with a 2.00 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and seven shutouts. He is second in Hockey East in goals against (2.00), sixth in save percentage (.928), first in wins (21), first in minutes (2156:33) and first in shutouts (7).
DOWN THE STRETCH: Since Feb. 8 in a 2-1 win over Maine, Notre Dame is 8-2-1. That streak included an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) and a six-game winning streak before losing to Boston College, 4-2, in game two of the Hockey East Quarterfinals and then, 4-0 to UMass-Lowell in the Hockey East semifinals. In that run, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays is 8-2-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage with two personal shutouts and a shared shutout. The three shutouts were part of a Notre Dame record shutout streak of 231:50 for Summerhays from Feb. 15 to March 1.
THE SHUTOUT STREAK: Steven Summerhays saw his school record shutout streak come to an end in the 2-1 overtime win at Boston College on March 1. Summerhays gave up a third-period goal to Johnny Gaudreau at 1:31, giving him a shutout streak of 231:50. That breaks the record of the previous streak – 193:27 – set by David Brown `07 between Oct. 17-Nov. 8, 2003. That streak included three consecutive shutouts for Brown. Prior to Gaudreau’s goal, the last goal given up by Summerhays came at 13:49 of the third period on Feb. 14 in a 2-2 overtime tie against Providence College. He followed that with a 3-0 shutout of the Friars on Feb. 15, a 2-0 shutout of Boston University on Feb. 21 and then shared a 2-0 shutout with Joe Rogers (Sr., Marysville, Mich.) against BU on Feb. 22. Gaudreau’s goal came 41:31 into the game on March 1.
IRISH SHUTOUT MARK: The Notre Dame record for shutouts in a season as a team is nine and was set during the 2008-09 season (Jordan Pearce – 8, Tommy O’Brien – 1). This year’s team has eight – Steven Summerhays – 7 and Summerhays and Rogers have combined for one.
OFFENSIVE GOALTENDER: Steven Summerhays has recorded three assists this season from his goaltender’s position to set a new record for Irish goaltenders. For his career, he has the all-time record in assists with five.
23 WINS: Notre Dame’s 23 wins this season marks the 13th time in the program’s 46-year history that the Irish have won 20 or more games in a season. Jeff Jackson-coached teams have recorded six of those 20-win seasons in his nine years behind the Notre Dame bench. In nine of those seasons, the Irish have won 23 or more games – 23 in `72-’73, 23 in `81-’82, 27 in `87-’88, 32 in `06-’07, 27 in `07-’08, 31 in `08-’09, 25 in `10-’11 and 25 in `12-’13.
TURNING IT AROUND ON THE ROAD: The March 15, 4-2 loss to Boston College at Conte Forum snapped a four-game (3-0-1) unbeaten streak for the Irish on the road in Hockey East. After splitting two games at Vermont in November, the Irish were 0-5-1 on the road in Hockey East until winning, 3-0, at Providence on Feb. 15. During the regular season (including the game at Fenway Park), the Irish were 3-6-1 on the road in Hockey East. Since the win at Providence (Feb. 15), Notre Dame is 4-1-1 in its last six road games versus Hockey East opponents. For the season, Notre Dame is now 7-7-1 away from the Compton Family Ice Arena.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Irish are 16-5-1 at home this season and since Jan. 26 of last season are 23-5-1 (.810) at the Compton Family Ice Arena. The Irish were 14-6-0 at home last year and the last time they won more than 16 games at home was 1987-88 when they were 18-2-0 on home ice.
SEASON HIGH: The seven goals scored by the Irish on March 14 equals a season high for Notre Dame. The Irish also had seven goals against Michigan Tech (Oct. 20) and Alabama-Huntsville (Jan. 10). The 14 assists for the Irish were a season high, passing the mark of 13 set against Michigan Tech. Thirteen different players had a point in the 7-2 win over Boston College.
POWER-PLAY STRUGGLES: The Irish were 0-for-1 on the power play in the Hockey East semifinal against UMass-Lowell and are now just 4-for-28 (14.3%) in their last nine games. On the road, this season, Notre Dame has scored just seven power-play goals in 71 chances for a 9.9% success rate. For the season, the Irish are 34-for-186 for an 18.3% success rate.
KILLING PENALTIES: Notre Dame has surrendered at least one power-play goal in each of its last six games (gave up two to UMass-Lowell on March 21) and has now killed 34-of-43 opponent penalties since Feb. 1 for an 79.1% success rate. Since Jan. 1, the Irish are 67-of-80 on the penalty kill, killing off 83.8% of opponent chances. For the season, the Irish are now 144-of-172 on the penalty kill for an 84.2% success rate. That ranks Notre Dame fourth in Hockey East behind Boston College, Providence and Vermont while the Irish are 15th nationally.
RANKED WINS: Notre Dame’s last four games have been against ranked teams and has seen the Irish go 2-2 in that span with two wins over No. 2 Boston College and losses to No. 2 BC and No. 7 UMass-Lowell. Notre Dame is now 8-7-1 against teams in the national rankings. The Irish are 5-2-1 in their last eight games against ranked teams. Notre Dame is the only team in the nation with wins over two different No. 1-ranked teams this season. The Irish defeated No. 1 Minnesota in November and No. 1 Boston College in March. Only Wisconsin has two wins against a No. 1 team but both of those victories came against Minnesota.
TYNAN TIME: Senior center T.J. Tynan (Sr., Orland Park, Ill.) continues to climb on Notre Dame’s all-time points list and is now 10th on the career assist list. With four assists in the series against Boston College, he now has 54 goals and 106 assists for 160 points in 163 games. He is now 13th on the all-time points list, moving ahead of Erik Condra `09. His assists rank him 10th all-time on that list and he is one of 11 players at Notre Dame with 100 or more career assists. He is the 32nd player in Notre Dame hockey history to score at least 50 goals and have 50 assists for his career. For the season, Tynan leads the Irish in scoring with eight goals and 29 assists for 37 points in 39 games.
RUST NEVER SLEEPS: After getting just two assists in the first six games of the season, Notre Dame right wing Bryan Rust (Sr., Novi, Mich.) has 29 points (16g, 13a) in his past 33 games and is now third on the team in scoring with 16 goals (career high) and 15 assists for 31 points with four power-play goals, two short-handed tallies and three game winners. During the month of November, Rust had 10 points, including a career-best, three-assist game in the 5-2 win over Alabama Huntsville in the Shillelagh Tournament. He has 19 points (13g, 6a) in his last 21 games (since Jan. 4). The Irish alternate captain is coming off the best season of his career in 2012-13. when he had a career year with bests in goals (15), assists (19), points (34), shots (121), power-play goals (5), game winners (4) and plus-minus (+25).
HERR-TYNAN-RUST: Notre Dame’s line of Sam Herr (So., Hinsdale, Ill.), T.J. Tynan and Bryan Rust has combined for 24 goals and 33 assists for 57 points since Jan. 4 against Boston College. Herr, the left wing, has six goals and 10 assists for 16 points. Tynan, the center, has scored five times to go with 17 assists and 22 points. Rust, the right wing, has 13 goals and six assists for 19 points in those 21 games.