Dec. 9, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– Date/Site/Time: Sat.-Sun., December 11-12, 2010 – 7:05/4:05 p.m. – Joyce Center (2,713) – Notre Dame, Ind.
– The Teams: #11/#11 Notre Dame (10-5-2/8-3-1-1) vs. Northern Michigan (7-7-3/6-4-2-0)
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish will call the action with the pregame show beginning 20 minutes before the opening face off. Television: Sunday afternoon’s game will be televised live by Comcast Television with Matt Shepard and Lyle Phair calling all the action. This game can be seen locally in the South Bend area on Comcast Cable channel 3.
– Internet Broadcast: Audio: Both games of the Notre Dame-Northern Michigan series will have live audio streaming at the Notre Dame website – und.com. Video: Saturday night’s game will have live video streaming on the Notre Dame website at und.com and is free. Statistics: Gametracker will be available at the Notre Dame site – und.com.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Notre Dame closes out the first half of the 2010-11 season this weekend with a pair of games versus the Northern Michigan Wildcats at the Joyce Center on Sat.-Sun., Dec. 11-12. Saturday’s game has a 7:05 p.m. start time while Sunday’s game starts at 4:05 p.m. Sunday’s contest will be televised live by Comcast Television in Michigan with Matt Shepard and Lyle Phair calling the action. The game will be available to South Bend Comcast subscribers on local channel 3. On Sunday afternoon, the Irish also will sponsor a Teddy Bear Toss where fans will be able to throw a Teddy Bear on the ice following the first Notre Dame goal of the game. The Teddy Bears will then benefit Toys for Tots and go to needy children in the area this Christmas. Following the game, fans will have the opportunity to Skate with the Irish on the Joyce Center ice with a visit from Santa Claus included. Notre Dame brings a 10-5-2 overall record into the series and is 8-3-1-1 in the CCHA, good for 26 points and second place in the conference. The Irish are one point behind first-place Miami and one point ahead of third-place Michigan in the league standings. Notre Dame has two games in hand versus the RedHawks. The Irish split a weekend series at Miami last week, winning 5-4 on Friday and losing a 5-2 decision on Saturday. Northern Michigan is 7-7-3 on the year and 6-4-2 in the CCHA and is tied for fourth with Alaska and Ferris State with 20 points. The Wildcats had a win and a tie last weekend at home versus Western Michigan, winning 3-1 and then tying the Broncos, 4-4. WMU picked up the extra point in the shootout. Following Sunday’s game, the Irish will break for finals and the Christmas holidays and won’t be in action until Wed., Dec., 29 when they play host to Canisius in a 7:05 p.m. game at the Joyce Center.
IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: Notre Dame and Northern Michigan have met 46 times in the all-time series with the Wildcats holding a 21-19-6 edge in the series. At the Joyce Center, the series is even with each team winning 10 and losing 10 with four ties. Last season, the teams played twice at Notre Dame with Northern taking a 3-2 win and the Irish winning the shootout after a 2-2 tie the following night. Notre Dame is 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings with the Wildcats, including five consecutive wins during the 2008-09 season. The teams will meet again on Jan. 7-8 in Marquette, Mich. for games three and four of the series.
OH CANADA: The Irish will be without the services of sophomore center Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s, Ont.) this weekend as he is one of 39 players to be selected to attend Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp, Dec. 12-15, at Mastercard Arena in Toronto. From that group, the 22-man roster for the IIHF World Junior Championships will be selected. A 2010 first round draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings, Sheahan is one of four NCAA Division I college players invited to the Selection Camp. For the Irish this season, Sheahan has played in all 17 games and has six assists. The World Junior Championships will be held in Buffalo, N.Y., Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2011.
THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the weekend series with Northern Michigan ranked 11th in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com poll. Northern Michigan is receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: Last weekend’s series at Miami closed out a grueling stretch of the schedule for Notre Dame as it closed out a four-game road streak, a streak of nine of the last 11 games since Oct. 31 on the road, and a stretch of four consecutive weekends versus teams that were ranked in the national polls. Starting on Nov. 12-13 the Irish faced #9/#8 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich where they split with the Wolverines. On Nov. 19-20, the Irish played host to rv/#17 Michigan State at the Joyce Center, taking two wins versus the Spartans. The weekend of Nov. 26-27 saw the Irish face #10/#9 North Dakota in Grand Forks where they had a loss and a tie. Against #6/#6 Miami last weekend, the Irish again had a split to give them a 4-3-1 record in the eight games against ranked teams.
MIAMI RECAP: Friday, Dec. 3 – For the second Friday in a row, Notre Dame fell behind 2-0 after the first period only this time the Irish rallied for a 5-4 win over Miami, overcoming a pair of two-goal RedHawk leads. Freshman right wing Bryan Rust (Novi, Mich.) led the Irish with two goals and one assist while Ryan Guentzel (Sr., Woodbury, Minn.), Nick Larson (So., Apple Valley, Minn.) and T.J. Tynan added single goals in the win. Anders Lee (Fr., Edina, Minn.) had a career-high three assists in the game. Trent Vogelhuber, Reilly Smith, Carter Camper and Matt Tomassoni scored for the RedHawks. Vogelhuber and Smith scored for Miami in the final 3:15 of the first period to give Miami its 2-0 lead. Rust got his first goal of the night at 2:28 of the second when he beat Cody Reichard with a backhander to make it 2-1. Camper scored on the power play at 18:18 to give the RedHawks their second two-goal lead at 3-1. Before the end of the second period, the Irish struck again, this time Guentzel got his third of the year at 19:32 to cut the lead to 3-2. In the third, Rust picked up his second of the night at 5:23 to make it 3-3. Larson’s goal at 9:37 of the third gave the Irish their first lead of the night. Tomassoni tied it at 16:44 with his third of the season only to see Tynan team with Lee and Rust to get the game winner at 17:24. Notre Dame out shot Miami, 23-22 for the night. Mike Johnson (So., Verona, Wis.) made 18 saves as did Reichard in the Miami goal. The RedHawks were 2-for-4 on the power play while the Irish were 0-for-2. Saturday, Dec. 4 – The Miami RedHawks broke open a 1-0 game in the second period, scoring four times in the middle stanza, on the way to a 5-2 win over the Irish. Alden Hirshfeld scored three goals in a 7:05 span in the second period while Garrett Kennedy and Trent Vogelhuber scored solo goals for Miami in the win. Notre Dame got second-period goals from Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) and Jeff Costello (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis.) in the loss. Freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) got his first start in goal since Nov. 6 and played the first 40 minutes, giving up five goals on 15 shots to take the loss. Mike Johnson played the final 20 minutes, making eight saves. The Irish were 1-for-9 on the power play while Miami was 0-for-3. The two teams combined for 86 minutes in penalties with the Irish getting 10 for 36 minutes and the RedHawks 14 for 50.
TYNAN HONORED: Notre Dame freshman center T.J. Tynan was named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association rookie of the month for November to add to his honors this month after being named CCHA rookie of the month for the month of November. In eight games during November, Tynan led all CCHA rookies with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Two goals came on the power play, two were short-handed and one was a game winner. He was +5 for the month and took just 19 shots for a .316 shooting percentage. During November, Tynan scored in seven of the team’s eight games with five of the contests being multiple-point games. He was named the CCHA rookie of the month on two occasions – for games the week of Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. Tynan is the second Irish player to take CCHA rookie of the month honors this season as teammate Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was October’s winner.
COMING FROM BEHIND: Notre Dame rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits (2-0 after one period and 3-1 in the second period) on Dec. 3 at Miami and won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods of play. The Irish are now 1-4-0 when trailing after two periods.
CAREER NIGHTS: Two members of Notre Dame’s freshman class set career highs in the win over Miami on Dec. 3. Right wing Bryan Rust set career highs for goals (2) and points in a game (3) with his three-point night. Left wing Anders Lee had a career high with three assists in the contest and equaled a career high with three points in the game.
HOME WINNING STREAK: Notre Dame’s sweep of Michigan State (Nov. 19-20) gives the Irish six straight wins at home this season and an eight-game home winning streak dating back to Jan. 30 of last season. The last time that the Irish lost at home was on Jan. 29, 2010, a 5-3 loss to Nebraska-Omaha. The eight-game home win streak is the longest for Notre Dame since the Irish won eight in a row at home between Oct. 12, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2006.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshmen class has played a key role in the 10-5-2 start for the Irish. In the Dec. 3 win over Miami, members of the freshman class accounted for 11 (3g, 8a) of the team’s 13 points on the night.Nine members of the 12-man class saw action in the game with freshman Steven Summerhays serving as the back up in goal. The following night, the freshmen added a goal and an assist with Jeff Costello scoring on the power play and defenseman Shayne Taker (Surrey, B.C.) getting an assist. In the first 17 games of this season, the freshman class has accounted for 36 of the team’s 61 goals (59.0%), 49 of the 107 assists (45.8%) and 84 of team’s 168 points this season (50.0%). Summerhays has two of the team’s 10 wins in goal.
CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel is currently second on the Irish in scoring after 17 games as he has three goals and 15 assists for 18 points on the year. The assist and points totals are career highs for Guentzel who had a seven-game point streak (1g, 9a) snapped at Michigan on Nov. 13. He has now scored goals in two of his last four games. His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently sixth in the CCHA in scoring with 18 points and his 15 assists are third in the conference.
SHOOTING THE PUCK: Through the first 17 games of the season, Notre Dame has the edge in shots in a game 13 times while being tied once and the opposition outshooting the Irish three times. After being out shot in both games of the series at North Dakota, Notre Dame out shot Miami in both games of that series (23-22 and 29-23). Versus North Dakota, Notre Dame was out shot in both games with the Fighting Sioux setting season highs for an Irish opponent in both games. On Nov. 26, North Dakota out shot the Irish 39-30. The following night, the Sioux had a 41-28 margin for the overtime contest. Through the first 17 games, Notre Dame has had 522 shots on goal for a 30.7 shots per game average. Opponents have fired 453 shots on the Irish goal for a 26.6 shot per game average.
BEST OFâ⒬ˆTHEâ⒬ˆBEST: Over the past four seasons, the Notre Dame hockey program ranks among the top five programs in the country. Since the start of the 2006-07 season, the Irish have won 113 games and have a .672 winning percentage. The Irish are third in that time period in wins, trailing Michigan (123) and Miamiâ⒬ˆ(119). Notre Dame’s .672 winning percentage is also third behind Miami (.690) and Michigan (.681). Here are the top five teams by wins and winning percentage since 2006-07.
WINS WINNINGââ'¬Ë†.PCTMichigan (123) Miami (.690)Miami (119) Michigan (.681)Notre Dame (113) Notre Dame (.672)North Dakota (112) Boston College (.666)Boston College (112) Denver (.644)
DOING IT SHORT-HANDED: Notre Dame’s penalty-killing unit was at it again in the 2-2 tie with North Dakota as the Irish racked up their seventh short-handed goal of the season with T.J. Tynan getting his second of the year. Versus Michigan State (Nov. 19-20), Notre Dame scored short-handed three times in that series. The seven short-handed goals lead the nation going into this weekend’s series and is already three more than the team had in 2009-10. The seven shorties are the most for the Irish since the 1997-98 season when they had nine. Notre Dame has a way to go for the school record which is 19 and was set during the 1981-82 season. Tynan and defenseman Joe Lavin (Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.) lead the team with two each while Sean Lorenz (Sr., Littleton, Colo.), Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.) and Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) have one each. On the season, the Irish have seven short-handed goals and have given up just 10 power-play goals.
PENALTY SHOTS: Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) was awarded a penalty shot just 22 seconds into the Nov. 20 game with Michigan State and was stopped by goaltender Will Yanakeff. It was the first penalty shot by a Notre Dame player since Jan. 31, 2009 when Ryan Thang `10, scored in a 3-2 win at Michigan. It was the fourth for the Irish since the 2001-02 season. They are 2-for-4 in that span. The last time the opposition had a penalty shot against teh Irish came on Dec. 4, 2009 when Miami’s Carter Camper was stopped by Mike Johnson.
SHOOTOUT FACTS AND FIGURES: Notre Dame’s shootout win over Western Michigan on Oct. 30 was the first for Notre Dame in CCHA play since Nov. 19, 2009 against Michigan State. The Irish had lost four consecutive CCHA shootouts. Last season, Notre Dame was 2-5 in the shootout in CCHA games and 3-5 overall. The extra win was a shootout win in the championship game of the Shillelagh Tournament. In the three seasons that the CCHA has had the shootout, the Irish are 6-5 all-time (3-0 in `08-’09; 2-5 in `09-’10 and 1-0 in `10-’11).
ANOTHER MILESTONE: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30, 3-2 win over Western Michigan was the 200th CCHA win for Irish coach Jeff Jackson. Now in his 12th season at the Division I level, Jackson is 205-83-45 in his career in CCHA play in six seasons at Lake Superior State (1990-96) and six seasons at Notre Dame. Earlier in October (Oct. 14 vs. Lake Superior State), Jackson won his 300th career game as a Division I coach. His all-time record stands at 308-122-49 for a .695 winning percentage. His winning percentage is the tops among active coaches with 10 or more seasons.
FULLâ⒬ˆHOUSE: With sellout crowds in each of the first six home games, Notre Dame has now recorded 13 consecutive sellouts since Nov. 28, 2009. The Irish have had sell outs in 20 of the team’s last 24 home games and last year averaged 2,765 fans per game. Since Dec. 13, 2008, the Irish have recorded sellouts in 29 of their last 33 home games. A sellout at the Joyce Center is 2,713 with 2,857 capacity with standing room. Twice during the `09-’10 season – Jan. 15 vs. Michigan State and Jan. 29 against Nebraska-Omaha – 3,007 fans jammed into the Joyce Center. Prior to that number, the largest crowd to see an Irish hockey game was 3,310 on March of 1995 when Notre Dame play Illinois-Chicago. The following season, new seating was installed and capacity was reconfigured.
FAST FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the Northern Michigan series ranked first and second in the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points while Lee has nine goals and six assists for 18 points. With nine goals each, Lee and Tynan are tops among freshman goal scorers. Fellow freshman Mike Voran (2g, 8a, 8 pts) is tied for seventh among freshmen and is followed by Jeff Costello (5g, 3a, 8 pts) who is tied for 11th. Defensemen Kevin Lind (1g, 5a) and Shayne Taker (1g, 5a) are tied for 18th with six points and tied for third among CCHA rookie defensemen. Tynan is fourth overall in scoring in the league and he and Lee are tied for fifth in goals in the CCHA with nine each.
LATE ADDITIONS: Center T.J. Tynan’s fast start (9g, 11a) in the first 17 games has been a key to the 10-5-2 start for the Irish. The 5-8, 156-pound center has moved in to become one of the team’s quarterbacks on the power play. The Orland Park, Ill., native wasn’t even supposed to be on this year’s team. Even though he signed a national letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009, Tynan was going to defer and play another year with the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL where he was the Bucs’ leading scorer in `09-’10 and a member of the USHL’s all-rookie team. When Kyle Palmieri decided to sign with the Anaheim Ducks in early August, the call went out to Tynan and he joined the Irish roster. Freshman defenseman Kevin Lind (Homer Glen, Ill.) also signed a letter-of-intent in Nov. of `09 and was going to be playing this season with Tri-Cities in the USHL. He was asked to join the team in mid-August after Jarred Tinordi opted to play in the OHL. The 6-3, 221-pound Lind has played in 13 games and tops the defensemen in scoring with six points (one goal, five assists), and is tied for first with a +8 plus-minus.
GOT THEIR NUMBER: From 1992-93 through the 2007-08 season, Notre Dame struggled when it came to facing Michigan State. In that time span, the Irish were just 5-32-7 versus the Spartans. Since March 29, 2008, a span of 10 games, Notre Dame is 7-0-3 against Michigan State, including a 5-0-1 mark at the Joyce Center.
SHARING THE WEALTH: Through 17 games this season, the Irish are 10-5-2 on the year. In the 10 wins, Notre Dame has had nine different players score the game-winning goal. Only T.J. Tynan has two game winners this year.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson has now appeared in eight consecutive games, making seven starts in that span that began on Nov. 12 versus Michigan. In his last eight appearances, he is 4-2-1 with 2.98 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage. Johnson, who started the year with a 4-0-1 unbeaten streak in his first five starts is 8-3-2 on the year with a 2.61 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. As a freshman, Johnson took CCHA all-rookie team honors, playing in 29 games in `09-’10, going 10-13-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Behind Johnson are a pair of freshmen – Steven Summerhays and Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.). Summerhays is now 2-2-0 with a 4.12 goals-against average and a .795 save percentage. He owns wins over Bowling Green and Western Michigan while his losses have been to Boston University (10/10) and Miami (12/4). Summerhays joined the Irish after playing the last two seasons with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. In `09-’10, Summerhays was a first team all-USHL selection and the USHL goaltender of the year after going 31-2-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Joe Rogers who has yet to play this season. Rogers joins the Notre Dame roster after playing last season in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) with the Albert Lea Thunder. Rogers was 13-19-2 with a 3.97 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.
ONE IN THE BOOKS: Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) notched his first career goal in Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie at North Dakota on Nov. 27. That gives him a goal and four assists for five points in 15 games this season and a +8. This comes after a freshman year he would love to forget. The product of the USA Under-18 Team, Calabrese played in just three games, registering no points. Last Dec. 4, on the first shift of his third game, he suffered a broken leg at Miami that sidelined him for most of the season.
GOING TO THE GOAL: Freshman center David Gerths (Ankeny, Ia.) has become a specialist when it comes to scoring those “dirty” goals. The 6-0, 208-pounder does his best work right in front of the net. In 16 games this season, he has scored five goals with one assist for six points. His last goal came at North Dakota (Nov. 26) when he jammed a rebound under goaltender Aaron Dell.
NOSE FOR THE NET: Freshman left wing Jeff Costello now has points in five of his last six games, scoring four goals with an assist over the last three weekends. He scored on the power-play, his third of the year in the 5-2 loss at Miami. On the year, he has five goals and three assists for eight points. He is tied for the team lead with three power-play goals.
HOMETOWN HERO: Freshman defenseman Jared Beers (Mishawaka, Ind.) has worked his way into the Notre Dame lineup and doesn’t seem to want to come out. In nine games this season, Beers has four assists for four points and is +2 for the year. He picked up his first career points on Nov. 6 versus Bowling Green with a two-point night. Beers joins Mike McNeill `84-’88 (South Bend), Tommy Smith `88-89 (South Bend) and Carey Nemeth’93-’94 (Granger) as local players to play for the Irish. Beers played two seasons at Culver Academy and then saw action in the NAHL with the Kenai River Brown Bears (2008-09) and the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders in the USHL in 2009-10.