Jan. 24, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Series: Notre Dame (8-13-3/6-9-3) at Ohio State (12-10-4/8-8-2)
• Date/Site/Times: Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 – 7:05 p.m. – Value City Arena (17,500) Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 – 8:05 p.m. – Value City Arena (17,500)
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1580, South Bend’s SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, “the voice of Irish hockey” will bring you all the play-by-play action. Television: Saturday’s game will be televised live by College Sports Television (CSTV) at 8:05 p.m. Matt McConnell and Dave Starman will provide the play-by-play and color commentary.
• Internet Broadcast: At the Notre Dame website – www.und.com.
BRING ON THE BUCKEYES: Notre Dame will play its second consecutive road series this weekend, Jan. 27-28, with a pair of games in Columbus, Ohio versus the Ohio State Buckeyes. Game times are set for 7:05 p.m. on Friday and 8:05 p.m. on Saturday with that game televised live by CSTV. Saturday’s game is available on DirecTV channel 610 and on various cable outlets. The Irish are in the midst of a January schedule that will see them play three of four weekends on the road. So far, through three weekends, Notre Dame is 2-2-2 in the first six games of the month. The Irish are coming off a weekend split at Northern Michigan where they dropped a 5-2 decision before coming from behind to win 4-3 on Jan. 21. Notre Dame comes into the week with an 8-13-3 overall record and a 6-9-3 mark in CCHA play, good for 15 points and 10th in the league standings. The Buckeyes spent last weekend in Fairbanks, Alaska where they also split, winning on Friday by a 5-1 score before getting shutout, 3-0, on Saturday. Ohio State comes into the series with a 12-10-4 record and is currently in sixth place in the CCHA with an 8-8-2 record for 18 points, just three ahead of the Irish in 10th place. Following this weekend, the Irish will have a home-and-home series with Michigan State, playing at home on Feb. 3 and at East Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 4.
IRISH VERSUS BUCKEYES: The two teams have met 51 times in the Irish record books with Ohio State holding a 24-21-6 edge in the all-time series. At Columbus, Ohio, the Buckeyes are 11-10-4 versus Notre Dame. The last Irish win in Columbus came on opening night in 2003-04 with Notre Dame taking a 5-2 win. Since that win, Ohio State has defeated the Irish six straight games. The two teams met in South Bend on Nov. 25-26 this season with the Buckeyes taking 4-1 and 5-2 victories.
BAD NEWS BUCKEYES: Ohio State has had its way with Notre Dame since the 2000-01 season. In 16 games between the two teams, the Irish are just 1-12-3 versus the Scarlet and Gray with the lone win coming on Oct. 10, 2003 at Value City Arena. With the two losses this season in November, the Irish have now lost six straight to the Buckeyes.
A SPLIT IN THE UPPER PENINSULA: Notre Dame rallied from a 3-1 deficit in game two of the weekend series at Northern Michigan to pull out a 4-3 win over the Wildcats. The come-from-behind win was the first for Notre Dame this season when trailing, entering the third period (1-13-0). Freshman Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) and defenseman Tom Sawatske (Jr., Duluth, Minn.) scored third-period goals, just eight seconds apart to give Notre Dame the win. The Irish opened the scoring on a Mark Van Guilder (So., Roseville, Minn.) power-play goal at 10:13 of the first period. Darin Olver answered back with Northern Michigan power-play goal just 40 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1. In the second period, Andrew Contois scored twice, at 4:35 and 6:43 (ppg) to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead. Following the second goal, Irish coach Jeff Jackson called a time out and replaced starting goaltender David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) with freshman Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) and the moved worked as Pearce stopped all 14 shots he faced in the game to pick up the win. Mike Walsh (Sr., Northville, Mich.) cut the lead to 3-2 at 12:36 of the second period when he deflected a Condra shot for his seventh goal of the season. That set up the third-period comeback. Condra fired the rebound of a Noah Babin (Jr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) shot past goaltender Bill Zaniboni on the power play at 8:42 and Sawatske took the following face off and carried the puck down the left side, beating Zaniboni with a wrist shot from the left wing circle for the game-winning goal at 8:50. On Friday night, the Irish had no answer for Darin Olver as the junior right wing scored three, third-period goals and added an assist for a four-point game in the 5-2 win. Patrick Murphy and Matt Siddall had second-period power-play goals to give Northern a 2-0 lead after two periods. The lead would go to 4-0 on two Olver goals before the Irish offense got on track. Tim Wallace (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) made it 4-1 with his 10th goal of the season via the power play at 12:03. Mike Walsh then cut the lead to 4-2 with a nice deflection of a Wallace shot at 17:44 but Olver sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 19:34. On the night, the Irish out shot Northern Michigan by a 30-16 margin.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Freshman right wing Erik Condra leads Notre Dame in scoring with four goals and 19 assists for 23 points in 24 games during his rookie year. He currently leads all CCHA freshmen in points with his 23 points and nationally is 10th among rookie scorers as he is averaging 0.96 points per game. His three-point game at Northern Michigan on Jan. 21 was his fourth of the season and he now has six games with two or more points on the year. He also ranks 14th in the CCHA scoring race and his 19 assists tie him for sixth in that category.
BATTLING BACK: Notre Dame’s come-from-behind win at Northern Michigan on Jan. 21 was the first for the Irish this season. Notre Dame went into that game with an 0-13-0 record when trailing after two. It was the team’s first come-from-behind win (when trailing, entering the third period) since Dec. 10, 2004, when they came from a 2-1 deficit to beat Michigan State, 3-2 in overtime.
UNLIKELY HEROES: Notre Dame’s 4-3 win at Northern Michigan produced a couple of unlikely heroes for the Irish in freshman goaltender Jordan Pearce and junior defenseman Tom Sawatske. Pearce saw his first action since Dec. 2 at Western Michigan when he entered the game with 13:28 left in the second period and the Irish trailing 3-1. Pearce stopped all 14 shots he faced in the game, including three on a five-minute power-play due to a major penalty with 3:49 left in the game, to pick up his first win since Nov. 10. Sawatske scored his first goal with the Irish on his ninth shot in a Notre Dame uniform for the game winner at 8:50 of the third period. The goal was Sawatske’s first collegiate goal since Nov. 29, 2003 versus Michigan State when he was a member of the Wisconsin Badgers.
TOP CITIZEN: Notre Dame senior defenseman Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) is one of seven finalists for college hockey’s Humanitarian Award that is awarded each year to college hockey’s top citizen. An assistant captain with the Irish, Trick oversees the team’s community service projects. He has been a two-year member of Notre Dame’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and has been the team’s organizer for various community service projects the last two seasons. Away from Notre Dame, Trick has worked with the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s (MAHA) Great Lakes Sled Dogs, a sled hockey program in Fraser, Mich, playing for the team, coaching and helping in fund-raising efforts. The Hockey Humanitarian Award is awarded every year at the NCAA Frozen Four in April.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Friday night, 5-2 loss to Northern Michigan, snapped Notre Dame’s three-game, road-unbeaten streak (2-0-1). Since Dec. 6, the Irish are now 3-1-1 in their last five games away from the Joyce Center. On the season, Notre Dame is 3-6-2 on the road and 5-7-1 at the Joyce Center.
AHEAD OF PACE: With 64 goals in the first 24 games of the season, the Irish have already surpassed last season’s mark of 60 goals that was recorded in 38 games. The 60 goals were the fewest ever scored by the Irish in a single season.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Irish goaltender David Brown has now played in 17 consecutive games for the Irish, making starts in 16 of them. Since Dec. 2, Brown is 4-4-2 in the Irish goal with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. For the season, he is 5-10-3 with a 3.02 goals against and a .896 save percentage.
ON A STREAK: Senior left wing Mike Walsh has scored goals in each of his last two games for his first two-game scoring streak of the season. He has scored goals in two straight games four times in his career with one being a three-game streak. This season, the power forward has seven goals and four assists for 11 points, surpassing his scoring totals (2-8-10) from a year ago.
POWER-PLAY POWER: Notre Dame has scored two or more power-play goals in four of its last seven games and has at least one power-play goal in seven straight games, dating back to Dec. 18 versus Lake Superior State. In those seven games, the Irish are 12-for-47 on the power play for a 25.5% success rate. For the year, Notre Dame now has 30 power-play goals in 164 chances (18.3%) in 24 games. Last season, the Irish had 23 power-play goals in 238 chances (9.8%) in 38 games. The Irish power play currently ranks sixth in the CCHA.
NOAH KNOWS: Defenseman Noah Babin comes into the weekend with Ohio State on a three-game point streak (1-2-3). He is second among Irish defensemen in scoring with three goals and 10 assists for 13 points. He now has career-highs in assists and points, surpassing last year’s totals of five goals and six assists for 11 points. His three-point game (1g, 2a) against Lake Superior State (Dec. 18) was a career-high for the junior defenseman.
WALLY’S WORLD: Senior right wing Tim Wallace is having a career-year for the Irish in 2005-06. He already has career highs in goals (10), points (19) and power-play goals (4) in the first 24 games of the season. He has tied his career best with nine assists this season. Wallace recorded his fifth multiple-point game of the year on Jan. 20 with a goal and an assist at Northern Michigan. The senior right wing has four two-point games on the year and one game with three points (2g, 1a) – a career high. He has a pair of two-goal games to his credit – Oct. 28 vs. Princeton and Dec. 18 vs. Lake Superior – giving him three for his career. Wallace continues to add to his “Iron Man” streak as he has now played in 141 consecutive games for the Irish.
MAKING THE CLIMB: With the 4-1 win and 2-2 tie over Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 6-7, Notre Dame moved out of last place in the CCHA for the first time since Jan 15 of last season. The Irish already have three more CCHA wins (6 to 3) than last season and four more points (15 to 11) with 10 more league games left to play. The Irish start this week in 10th place in the league standings.
GETTING INVOLVED: Tom Sawatske became the third Notre Dame defenseman to score a goal this season with his third-period game winner versus Northern Michigan on Jan. 21. He joins Wes O’Neill (4) and Noah Babin (3) on the goal-scoring list for defensemen. For the year, O’Neill leads the team’s defensemen in scoring with four goals and 12 assists for 16 points. Babin is second with three goals and 10 assists for 13 points. Sophomore Brock Sheahan (Lethbridge, Alb.) has a career-high eight assists. Senior Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) has three assists. Sawatske has a goal and two assists for three points while sophomore Dan VeNard (Vernon Hills, Ill.) has one assist on the year. For the season, Notre Dame’s defense has contributed eight goals and 36 assists for 44 points on the year.
TOPPING THE LIST: The University of Notre Dame is in first place in the 2005-06 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Cup all-sports competition after the fall sports seasons. The Irish recorded 412 points based on a third-place finish at the NCAA men’s cross country championship, a seventh-place finish at the NCAA women’s cross country championship, a quarterfinal appearance in women’s soccer, a third-round appearance in men’s soccer, a third-round appearance by the volleyball team and while football finished ranked 11th in the final USA Today Poll. The top five teams in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings:
1. Notre Dame 4122. Penn State 308.53. Stanford 2824. Duke 2805. Wisconsin 277
STREAKING SCIBA: Junior center Josh Sciba has now scored points in five of his last six games (2-6-8) after having a four-game streak snapped on Jan. 20 at Northern Michigan. He bounced back the following night with a pair of assists in the 4-3 win versus the Wildcats. Sciba has had a career year in 2005-06 with highs in goals (12), assists (10), points (22), power-play goals (7) and short-handed tallies (1). His seven power-play goals are the most by a Notre Dame player since Aaron Gill `04 had nine in the 2003-04 season.
TURN THE PAIGE: Jason Paige’s (Jr., Saginaw, Mich.) game-tying goal on Jan. 13 snapped a six-game goal and point drought for the junior center. His last goal came on Dec. 3 in the 3-0 Irish win over Western Michigan. He had scored in consecutive games against the Broncos for his lone goals on the year until the Miami game. His goal was the lone even-strength goal for the Irish on the weekend versus Miami.
BACK IN THE POINTS COLUMN: Freshman center Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) recorded his first career assist in the 5-2 loss to Northern Michigan. It was his first points since scoring a goal on Nov. 10 versus Bowling Green. After recording four points (2g, 2a) in his first six games, freshman Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) went nine games without a point before snapping that streak by setting up Jason Paige’s game-tying goal on Friday, Nov. 13. In 18 games this season, Regan now has two goals and three assists for five points.
THREE FOR THE ROAD: Notre Dame’s three-point weekend versus Nebraska-Omaha was the first road series for the Irish with three or more points since Jan. 17-18, 2004 when Notre Dame won and tied at Wisconsin. It’s the most points the Irish have recorded in a CCHA road series since a sweep at Bowling Green on Feb. 14-15, 2003.
ROAD WARRIORS: Junior center Josh Sciba and sophomore right wing Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) each had three-point games at Nebraska-Omaha in the Jan. 7, 4-1 win. Sciba had a power-play goal and two assists while Van Guilder scored a short-handed marker with two assists on the night. For both, it was the second three-point games of the season and their careers. Both players added an assist in Saturday’s 2-2 tie for four points on the weekend.
FOUR IN THE NHL: When former Irish standout Ben Simon `00 was recalled by the Columbus BlueJackets on Jan. 6, it gave Notre Dame four alums playing in the National Hockey League. Simon joined Rob Globke `04 (Florida), Brett Lebda `04 (Detroit) and Mark Eaton (Nashville) as former Notre Dame players in the NHL this season. Only one other time, have the Irish had more players in the NHL in one season. That came during the 1982-83 season when the Irish had five players see time in the NHL. That group included: Jim Brown `82 (three games with Los Angeles), Jack Brownschidle `77 (72 games with St. Louis), Jeff Brownschidle `81 (four games with Hartford), Don Jackson `78 (71 games with Edmonton) and Dave Poulin `82 (two games with Philadelphia).
THE QUICKEST AND THE LATEST: Tim Wallace’s goal at 00:09 of the first period versus Western Michigan on Dec. 2 was the quickest goal at the start of a game in Notre Dame history. It broke the mark of 12 seconds set by Sterling Black on Jan. 6, 1990 versus Arizona. Erik Condra’s goal with nine seconds left on the clock versus Minnesota State (Dec. 6) was the latest regulation-time, game-winning goal ever for the Irish, edging T.J. Jindra’s (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) short-handed game winner against Boston College last season by six seconds (19:45).
POWER-PLAY PRODUCER: Wes O’Neill recorded his fourth goal of the season in the 3-2 loss versus Miami. All four of his goals this season have come with the man advantage. The big defenseman recorded the first three-point game of his career at Minnesota State (Dec. 6) with three assists on the night. On the year, O’Neill has four multiple-point games and for his career, now has nine games with two or more points. On the season, the 2004 New York Islander draft choice has four goals and 12 assists for 16 points. Of his 16 points, 14 have come on the power play (4g, 10a). In his two-plus seasons with the Irish, O’Neill now has 12 goals and 36 assists for 48 points with 30 of those coming via the power play (10g, 20a).
FIVE AND COUNTING: David Brown’s 3-0 shutout versus Western Michigan (Dec. 3) was the fifth of his career and first this season. The junior puck stopper had four in his freshman year of 2003-04. The shutout moves him into sole possession of second place in the Irish record book for shutouts with five. Only Morgan Cey `05, with six, has more shutouts than Brown in Notre Dame history.
TWO AT A TIME: Senior left wing Mike Walsh recorded his second multiple-point game of the season on Dec. 3 in the 3-0 win over Western Michigan. In 20 games this season, Walsh has five goals and three assists for eight points. His other two-point game (1g, 1a) came in Notre Dame’s 9-4 win over Bowling Green on Nov. 10.
CAREER YEAR: Mark Van Guilder’s four goals and 12 assists on the season for 16 points gives him a career highs in all three categories. He recorded the fourth multiple-point game of his career with a goal and two assists versus Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 6.
ALL TIED UP: Notre Dame has now recorded 2-2 ties in three of it’s last four games, giving the Irish 52 overtime games since the start of the 1999-2000 season. In those games, the Irish are 7-6-39. During the 2004-05 season, Notre Dame played in nine overtime contests, going 1-2-6 in those games. The lone overtime win came on Dec. 10 versus Michigan State and was the first regular-season overtime win since Jan. 25, 2002, snapping a 16-game winless (0-2-14) skid in regular-season overtime games. This season, the Irish are 0-0-3 in overtime.
IRON MEN: Junior right wing Tim Wallace has played in all 141 games during his three-plus seasons at Notre Dame. He became Notre Dame’s all-time “Iron Man,” passing former defenseman Evan Nielsen (`03) who held the record with 114 games between 2000-03. Other Irish consecutive game streaks of 35 games or more include:
Mark Van Guilder – 62 games
Mike Walsh – 57 games
Van Guilder joins Wallace as the only two players with two or more years experience on the Irish roster who have not missed a game during their careers. Chris Trick saw his streak of 61 consecutive games snapped on Jan. 20 when he did not play at Northern Michigan.