March 13, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
• The Series: #12/#12 Notre Dame (22-12-4/15-9-4) vs. Ferris State (17-14-5/12-12-4)
• Date/Site/Time: Game 1 – Fri., March 14, 2008 • Joyce Center (2,713) • Notre Dame, Ind. Game 2 – Sat., March 15, 2008 • Joyce Center (2,713) • Notre Dame, Ind. Game 3 – Sun., March 16, 2008 • Joyce Center (2,713) • Notre Dame, Ind. (if necessary)
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on WDND ESPN Sportscenter 1490 with Mike Lockert calling all the action for the Irish.
• Internet: Irish hockey can be heard on the Internet at the Notre Dame website – www.und.com. All three games of the Ferris State series (if necessary) will be streamed live on und.com. All Notre Dame home games and all CCHA games are available via gametracker.
THE SECOND SEASON BEGINS: The Notre Dame hockey team returns to action this weekend as the Irish play host to the Ferris State Bulldogs in the best-of-three CCHA quarterfinal round at the Joyce Center. The series begins on Fri., March 14 at 7:35 p.m. with game two on Sat., March 15 at 7:05 p.m. and game three, if necessary, is set for Sun., March 16 at 7:05 p.m. All three games will be streamed live on the Notre Dame website – und.com. Notre Dame received a bye in the opening round of the CCHA playoffs as the Irish finished fourth in the regular season. Ferris State reached the quarterfinals with a first-round sweep of Western Michigan, winning 4-3 in overtime in the series opener and then 6-3 in game two on March 8. The Irish enter the playoffs with a 22-12-4 overall record and finished the CCHA regular season with a 15-9-4 mark. After starting the season 16-4-0, Notre Dame is 6-8-4 during the second half of the year. Ferris State finished fifth in the CCHA with a 12-12-4 mark and is 17-14-5 overall on the year. The Bulldogs finished the year strong, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. The winner of this series advances to the CCHA semifinals on March 21 at Joe Louis Arena.
IRISH VERSUS THE BULLDOGS: The two teams have met 60 times in the all-time series with Ferris State holding a 36-18-6 edge. This season, the two teams met four times with Ferris State going 2-1-1 in those games. The Irish and the Bulldogs split two games in Big Rapids, Mich., on Oct. 26-27 and then Ferris State had a win and a tie at the Joyce Center on Feb. 8-9. All-time at the Joyce Center, the Bulldogs are 20-10-4. The two teams have met once in playoff action and that came during 1999-2000 with Notre Dame taking the best-of-three series, two games to one to advance to Joe Louis Arena.
THE COACH AND THE PLAYOFFS: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson has had his share of success in the CCHA playoffs. In his eight previous CCHA seasons (six at Lake Superior State and two at Notre Dame), Jackson is 28-4 (.875) in conference postseason play. At Lake Superior, his teams were 24-2 while at Notre Dame, he is 4-2. His teams have advanced to the finals in seven of eight seasons (six at LSSU and one at Notre Dame).
IRISH CCHA PLAYOFF HISTORY: The Irish have now played 42 games in CCHA playoff history and are now 17-25 in those games. Notre Dame goes into the 2008 CCHA playoffs with a four-game playoff win streak.
1981-82Michigan W, 6-5Michigan W, 5-3vs. Bowling Green (@JLA) W, 8-5vs. Michigan State (@JLA) L, 1-4
1982-83at Bowling Green L, 3-8at Bowling Green L, 2-7
1992-93at Michigan L, 2-13at Michigan L, 1-8
1993-94at Western Michigan L, 3-6at Western Michigan L, 1-7
1994-95at Bowling Green L, 2-7at Bowling Green L, 4-5
1997-98at Michigan W, 4-2at Michigan L, 1-2 (ot)at Michigan L, 3-4
1998-99Northern Michigan W, 3-2Northern Michigan L, 1-7Northern Michigan L, 2-3
1999-2000Ferris State W, 4-3Ferris State L, 1-6Ferris State W, 4-2vs. Michigan State (@JLA) L, 0-4
2001-2002at Nebraska-Omaha L, 2-3 (2ot)at Nebraska-Omaha W, 2-1 (ot)at Nebraska-Omaha W, 2-1vs. No. Michigan (@JLA) L, 1-3
2002-03at Miami (OH) L, 2-4at Miami (OH) W, 1-0at Miami (OH) W, 5-0vs. Ohio State (@JLA) L, 2-3
2003-04Western Michigan W, 4-2Western Michigan L, 0-4Western Michigan W, 5-4 (ot)vs. Ohio State (@JLA) L, 5-6 ot
2004-05at Michigan L, 1-10at Michigan L, 0-1 (ot)
2005-06Alaska L, 1-3Alaska L, 0-1
2006-07Alaska W, 7-1Alaska W, 3-1vs. Lake Superior (@JLA) W, 3-0vs. Michigan (@JLA) W, 2-1
IRON MAN: Senior center Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) became Notre Dame’s all-time “Iron Man,” on March 1 when he played in his 154th consecutive game. He passes the mark of 153 that was set by Tim Wallace `06 who did not miss a game in his four seasons (2002-06). Van Guilder has now played in every game of his career and is tied for third all-time in games played with 154. The next player with a shot at the record is junior Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.). Condra comes into the CCHA playoffs having played in every game of his career to date – 116 consecutive games.
GAMES PLAYED MARKS: Seniors Mark Van Guilder and Brock Sheahan continue to move on the Notre Dame games played list. Van Guilder has now played in 154 career games while Sheahan has played in 152 to rank third and eighth respectively. Here’s the Top 10 Notre Dame all-time games played list:
Games PlayedName (Seasons) Games1. Dan Carlson (1997-01) 1582. Evan Nielsen (1999-03) 1563. Mark Van Guilder (2004- ) 154 Wes O'Neill (2003-07) 154 Jason Paige (2003-07) 1546. Tim Wallace (2002-06) 153 Aaron Gill (2000-04) 1538. Brock Sheahan (2004- ) 152 Brett Ledba (2000-04) 152 John Schmidt (1978-82) 152
MILESTONE: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson needs just one more win to give him 250 for his nine-year collegiate coaching career. Jackson brings a 249-90-36 overall record into the series with Ferris State. His .712 winning percentage is tops among active Division I coaches. In three seasons behind the Notre Dame bench, Jackson’s teams own a 67-38-11 record.
PERSONAL STREAK: Notre Dame goaltender Jordan Pearce is now 4-3-3 in his last 10 starts. In those games, he has a 1.77 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. Earlier this season, Pearce had a personal seven-game winning streak between Nov. 16 and Dec. 8. During the streak, Pearce was 7-0-0 with a 1.72 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage. For the season, Pearce is 18-11-4 with a 1.94 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage with two shutouts.
A LEAGUE TITLE: Notre Dame goaltender Jordan Pearce closed out the CCHA regular season with the best goals-against average in conference games, giving up 1.80 goals-per game. Miami’s Jeff Zatkoff was second with a 1.83 mark. This marks the second season in a row that a Notre Dame goaltender has won the goals-against title as David Brown was first in 2006-07 with a 1.77 league mark. This marks the fourth time since the 1982-83 season that the same school won back-to-back goaltending titles with different goaltenders.
1988-89 Bruce Hoffort - LSSU (2.67)1989-90 Darin Madeley - LSSU (2.37)
1997-98 Chad Alban - MSU (1.63)1998-99 Joe Blackburn - MSU (1.34)1999-00 Ryan Miller - MSU (1.34)
2006-07 David Brown - ND (1.77)2007-08 Jordan Pearce - ND (1.80)
SECOND HALF NUMBERS: After starting the 2007-08 season with a 16-4-0 record through Dec. 8, the Irish are 6-8-4 during the second half. Over the last 10 games, Notre Dame is 4-3-3. During the second half of the season that started on Dec. 29, the Irish have scored 38 goals (2.11) while giving up 40 (2.22). In the first half of the year (20 games) the Irish averaged 3.55 goals per game and were ranked third in the country in scoring. They are now 21st, averaging 2.86 goals-per-game.
POSTSEASON HONORS: Sophomore defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) was an honorable mention all-CCHA selection in voting done by the league’s coaches. Lawson ranked fifth among defensemen in points as he had one first-place vote and a total of 17 points. Freshman defenseman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was an honorable mention CCHA all-rookie selection for his play this season. Junior goaltender Jordan Pearce was Notre Dame’s Scholar-Athlete winner and is one of 11 candidates for the CCHA’s Scholar-Athlete Award. Pearce is also Notre Dame’s Perani Cup winner as he had 24 points. Erik Condra was second with 22.
PACKING THE PLACE: Notre Dame finished the 2007-08 regular season with sellout crowds in each of its last eight games (including the U.S. Under-18 exhibition game). For the season, the Irish have played in front of sellouts in 11 of their 16 home dates (including the exhibition game) and are averaging 2,722 fans per game.
MORE THAN FIVE: The five goals given up by Jordan Pearce in the 5-3 loss to Ferris State on Feb. 8 marked the first time that an Irish goaltender had given up five goals or more in a game since Nov. 4, 2005 when David Brown `07, surrendered seven in an 8-5 loss to Michigan at the Joyce Center.
BACK ON TOP: Through the first 38 games of the season, Notre Dame ranks first in the CCHA and is second in the nation in killing penalties. The Irish have killed 157-of-174 opponent power plays for an 90.2% success rate. The Irish also are tied for fourth on the national level with eight short-handed goals. Since Jan. 19, Notre Dame has given up just three power-play goals in 47 chances for a 93.6% success rate.
OFFENSIVE CATALYST: Freshman defenseman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) has recorded a pair of multiple-point games in two of his last three games. He picked up a pair of assists on Feb. 23 in a 2-2 tie with Ohio State and then set up two goals in the 3-1 win over Western Michigan on March 1. For the year, Cole is second among Irish defensemen in scoring with four goals, nine assists and 13 points.
MARCH IS HERE: February was a month the Irish would love to forget. Notre Dame was 1-3-3 in the month, scoring just 11 goals while giving up 17. During the month, the Irish averaged 34.3 shots per game, but scored 11 times in 240 shots for a 4.6% scoring percentage. During the month, Notre Dame was 5-for-40 on the power play (12.5%) while the penalty killers gave up three goals on 29 chances (89.7%). Jordan Pearce was 1-3-3 in the month with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. Notre Dame’s top scorer was Erik Condra with two goals and two assists for four points. No other player had more than one goal.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Notre Dame fell to 12th in the nation in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CSTV polls after the weekend split with Western Michigan on Feb. 29-March 1. The Irish have been in the national rankings for all 22 weeks this season.
CLUTCH SCORER: Ryan Thang’s (So., Edina, Minn.) goal with 5:11 left in the Feb. 8 win at Alaska proved to be the game-winning goal. On the season, Thang now has 15 goals with five coming as game winners and one as a game-tying goal. On Jan. 13, he scored with 38 seconds left versus Michigan State for a 1-1 tie. In 78 career games, the sophomore left wing has 35 goals with 16 coming on the power play and 11 of them game winners. His 11 game winners rank him sixth all-time at Notre Dame in the game-winning goals department for the Irish.
Game-Winning GoalsName (Seasons) GWG1. Rob Globke (2000-04) 13 Brian Urick (1995-99) 13 Dave Poulin (1978-82) 134. Dave Bankoske (1988-93) 125. Ryan Thang (2006- ) 11 Paul Regan (1969-73) 117. Tim Kuehl (1986-90) 10 Tom Mooney (1984-88) 10 Greg Meredith (1976-80) 10