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• The Game: #12/#12 Notre Dame (4-3-0) at #2/#2 Boston College (5-1-0) • Date/Site/Time: Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 • Kelley Rink (7,884) • 7:00 p.m.
• The Game: #12/#12 Notre Dame (4-3-0) at Providence College (2-4-0) • Date/Site/Time: Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 • Schneider Arena (3,030) • 7:00 p.m.
• Broadcast Information: Television: Friday’s game will be telecast live by ESPN Classic and ESPN 360.com. Justin Kutcher and Damian DiGiulian will provide the play-by-play and color commentary.
• Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Mike Lockert, now in his seventh season, will call all the action for the Irish.
• Internet: All Notre Dame hockey games can be heard live on the internet via the Notre Dame website at www.und.com. All Irish home games not being televised also will be available through live video streaming at und.com.
ROAD TRIP: The Notre Dame hockey team will take a break from CCHA conference action this weekend as the Irish travel to New England for single games at Boston College (Fri., Nov. 7) and at Providence College (Sat., Nov. 8). Both game will start at 7:00 p.m. Notre Dame brings a 4-3-0 overall record into the road series after winning the first two games of the road swing with 3-2 and 4-2 wins at Northern Michigan last weekend. Those two wins improved the Irish to 2-1-0 on the road this season. Notre Dame is ranked 12th in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports poll. Boston College enters Friday night’s game with a 5-1-0 overall record and the Eagles are ranked second in both national polls. BC has won three straight and is coming off a home-and-home sweep of Merrimack, taking 4-1 and 4-3 overtime wins from the Warriors last weekend. The Notre Dame-Boston College game will be televised live by ESPN Classic and ESPN 360.com with Justin Kutcher and Damian DiGuilian calling the action. The Eagles play at Maine on Sunday. Providence College enters the weekend with a 2-4-0 record after dropping a home-and-home Hockey East series with Massachusetts last week by 9-4 and 5-1 scores. The Friars face the University of Vermont on Friday night at Schnedier Arena before meeting the Fighting Irish. Following this weekend, the Irish return home to play five of their next six games at the Joyce Center, starting with a visit from Lake Superior State on Nov. 14-15.
THE LAST TIME: When these teams last met on April 12, 2008, it was for all the marbles, as Boston College and Notre Dame faced off in the NCAA Championship game at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. The Eagles won that game by a 4-1 margin. The Irish return 17 players from that team while Boston College has 15 letterwinners from that team. Notre Dame advanced to the title game with a 5-4 overtime win against CCHA-rival Michigan in one semifinal while Boston College defeated North Dakota, 6-1 in the other. The game marked the first appearance for the Irish in the championship game while BC was making its ninth, winning its third national title.
IRISH VERSUS EAGLES: Notre Dame and Boston College have met 27 times in the all-time series with the Eagles holding a 15-10-2 edge. At Chestnut Hill, BC is 7-6-1 versus Notre Dame. The last time the teams met at Kelley Rink was Oct. 20, 2006 with the Irish taking a 7-1 win over the then top-ranked Eagles. Notre Dame is 3-1-1 in its last five meetings with Boston College. In each of the three Irish wins (2003-04 at Kelley Rink, 1-0; 2004-05 at the Joyce Center, 3-2; and 2006-07 at Kelley Rink, 7-1), the Eagles were ranked No. 1 in the country when they faced Notre Dame.
ONE LAST LOOK BACK: Notre Dame saw its dreams of a first national championship dashed by Nathan Gerbe and Boston College at Denver’s Pepsi Center as Gerbe scored two goals and assisted on two others as the third-ranked Eagles handed the fifth-ranked Irish a 4-1 loss in the national title game … Joe Whitney and Ben Smith had the other Boston College goals while Kevin Deeth scored the lone Notre Dame marker … the loss ended the Irish season with a 27-16-4 record while the Eagles finished the year with a 25-11-8 mark … after a scoreless first period, Gerbe broke the drought when he whipped a shot from the left faceoff circle over the left shoulder of Jordan Pearce at 2:23 for his 34th goal of the year … Gerbe made it 2-0 a little over three minutes later when he scored his second of the game stuffing a loose puck inside the right post at 5:37 … the Boston College lead would go to 3-0 at 8:11 when Whitney slapped one from the top of the slot past Pearce on a 4-on-3 power play for his 11th goal of the season … Notre Dame found its way to the scoreboard at 9:07 of the second stanza when Deeth fired a wrist shot over John Muse’s glove hand to make it 3-1 after two periods … in the third period, the Irish looked like they had cut the lead to 3-2 at 4:56 of the third when Ian Cole found Kyle Lawson to the right side of the BC goal … the puck bounced off Lawson’s skate and past Muse … referee Todd Anderson waved off the goal after a lengthy review saying that Lawson had made a distinct kicking motion with his skate to score the goal … the no-goal call took on an added significance when less than a minute later the Eagles made it 4-1 when Ben Smith knuckled a Gerbe centering pass behind Pearce for his 25th goal of the season at 5:31 of the third … from there, Muse held the Notre Dame offense at bay, finishing with 20 saves in the game … Pearce had 19 saves in the Notre Dame goal … Deeth and Cole were selected to the Frozen Four all-tournament team.
Scoring Summary: 1 2 3 F#5 Notre Dame 0 1 0 - 1#3 Boston College 0 3 1 - 4
1st: No Scoring.
2nd: BC: Nathan Gerbe 34 (Brian Gibbons, Ben Smith), 2:23; BC: Gerbe 35 (Smith, Dan Bertram), PPG, 5:37; BC: Joe Whitney 11 (Gerbe, Benn Ferriero), PPG, 8:11; ND: Kevin Deeth 11 (Kyle Lawson, Ian Cole), 9:07.
3rd: BC: Ben Smith 25 (Gerbe, Gibbons), 5:31.
Saves: ND: Jordan Pearce (58:31) 7 - 8 - 4 - 19 BC: John Muse (60:00) 5 - 7 - 8 - 20
Power Play: ND: 0-8; BC: 2-4Penalties: ND: 5 for 10 min.; BC: 8 for 16 min.Attendance: 18,632 (sellout)
NOTRE DAME VS. PROVIDENCE: These two teams have met just twice in the all-time series with each team winning one game. The last time the teams met was on Oct. 21, 2006 with the Irish winning a 6-1 decision at Schneider Arena. The first-ever meeting between the two schools came on Oct. 15, 1999 when the Friars defeated Notre Dame, 2-1, in the opening game of the Ice Breaker Tournament held at Denver’s Magness Arena. The head coach of that Providence team was current Irish associate head coach Paul Pooley.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN RECAP: Notre Dame traveled to Marquette, Mich., looking to snap a two-game losing streak and they accomplished that with a weekend sweep of the Wildcats. On Friday night, the Irish got power-play goals from Ryan Thang (Jr., Edina, Minn.), Dan Kissel (Jr., Crestwood, Ill.) and Christian Hanson (Sr., Venetia, Pa.) on the way to a 3-2 win over Northern Michigan. The Wildcats took an early 1-0 lead only to see Thang tie the game at 12:20 of the first with his third goal of the year. Kissel gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead at 4:44 of the second with his first of the year and Hanson closed the scoring with his third of the year at 7:29 of the final period to make it 3-1. Northern cut the lead to 3-2 on a Nathan Sigmund goal, but that was as close as the Wildcats would get in a 3-2 loss. Senior goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) stopped 25-of-27 shots in the win. Notre Dame killed all six Northern Michigan power-play chances in the game while going 3-for-10 on their chances. On Saturday night at the Berry Events Center, the Irish would jump out to a 4-0 lead late in the second period before giving up a pair of goals to the Wildcats. Kyle Lawson (Jr., New Hudson, Mich.) and Billy Maday (Fr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) scored on the power play while Ian Cole (So., Ann Arbor, Mich.) added a sixth attacker goal and Calle Ridderwall (So., Stockholm, Sweden) scored at even strength for Notre Dame. Lawson’s goal came at 5:34 of the first period while Maday, Cole and Ridderwall had second period goals for a 4-0 lead. Ray Kaunisto snapped Pearce’s shutout bid at 19:46 of the middle period and Phil Fox scored at 14:58 of the third for the 4-2 score. Notre Dame out shot Northern Michigan, 26-20, in the game. Pearce finished with 18 saves while Brian Stewart made 22 for Northern. The Irish were 2-for-5 on the power play while the Wildcats were 0-for-5.
FIRST TIMERS: Notre Dame’s weekend sweep at Northern Michigan marked the first time that the Irish have ever won a two-game series in Marquette, Mich., since the teams began playing during the 1981-82 season. Last weekend’s sweep coupled with a 2-1 win on Jan. 5 of last season gives Notre Dame three straight wins at Northern Michigan.
CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Goaltender Jordan Pearce and right wing Billy Maday were selected the CCHA’s goaltender and rookie of the week for the week ending Nov. 2. Pearce recorded both wins while stopping 43-of-47 shots (.915 sv.%) and helped the Irish kill all 11 Wildcat power-play chances. Maday took rookie of the week honors as he had a goal and two assists for three points in the two wins. In Friday’s 3-2 win, he helped set up a Dan Kissel power-play goal. On Saturday night, Maday scored a power-play goal and then helped set up Calle Ridderwall’s second-period goal. Maday has three goals and three assists for six points in the first seven games this season.
POWER SURGE: After going 0-for-16 on the power play in the Miami series, Notre Dame got back on track with the extra man versus Northern Michigan as the Irish were 5-for-15 (33.3%) and scored once with the goaltender pulled and a delayed penalty called on the Wildcats. This season, the Irish are 9-for-31 (29.0%) on the power play in their four victories and 0-for-24 in the three losses, going 0-for-8 in each game versus Denver and two with Miami. On the season, the Irish are 9-for-55 (16.4%) with the man advantage.
HELPING THE CAUSE: Junior defenseman Brett Blatchford (Temperance, Mich.) had one of the best weekends of his Notre Dame career, setting up a pair of goals in each game of the Northern Michigan series. Three of the four goals were power-play tallies. For his career, Blatchford now has four multiple-point games. The two this weekend were his first since his freshman year in 2006-07.
GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE: Notre Dame’s defense has gone on the offensive during the first seven games of the 2008-09 season. Irish defensemen have scored five goals and 13 assists this year for 18 of the team’s 55 points. Sophomore Ian Cole leads the team in scoring with three goals and four assists for seven points. He is followed by Kyle Lawson (2g, 3a) and Brett Blatchford (0g, 5a). Freshman blueliner Sean Lorenz (Littleton, Colo.) has added one assist on the year.
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: Sophomore defenseman Ian Cole leads the Irish in scoring with three goals and four assists for seven points in his first seven games this season. Last year as a freshman, Cole did not get his seventh point until his 20th game (Dec. 8) and didn’t pick up his third goal until the 26th game on Jan. 26. He finished the year with eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points.
ON THE SIDELINES: The Irish will be without the services of sophomore goaltender Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) for the entire season. Phillips injured his right knee in the preseason and will be out of action for the year. He was 4-1-0 as a freshman with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
FAST STARTER: Freshman right wing Billy Maday has gotten his collegiate career off to a fast start for the Irish. He goes into the Boston College game leading all Notre Dame freshmen in scoring with three goals and three assists for six points. In the CCHA, Maday is tied for the lead among freshmen in scoring with Ohio State’s Zac Dalpe and Miami’s Chris Wideman. The former Waterloo Black Hawk got his Irish career off to a fast start as he scored in his first game (Oct. 11 at Denver) on his first collegiate shot.
CHILL(ING) REUNION: When sophomore Calle Ridderwall and freshman Billy Maday were put on the same line with center Kevin Deeth (Jr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) in the second game of the Miami series, it marked the first time that Ridderwall and Maday played on the same line at Notre Dame. The two aren’t strangers as they spent the 2005-06 season as linemates with the Chicago Chill Midget AA program, helping the Chill to a second-place finish at the USA Midget AA championships. Maday had 38 goals and 87 assists for 125 points in 74 games with the Chill while Ridderwall had 52 goals and 66 assists for 118 points that season. In three games together the duo have set up one goal against Miami and Maday set up Ridderwall’s first goal of the season at Northern Michigan.
KILLING PENALTIES: While the Irish were successful scoring on the power play at Northern Michigan, they also did a good job killing penalties against the Wildcats. Notre Dame was 11-for-11 on the weekend, stopping all six chances on Friday night and all five on Saturday. For the season, Notre Dame has killed 37-of-41 opponent power plays for a 90.2% success rate. The four power-play goals that the Irish have surrendered came in two games – two at Denver on Oct. 11 and two versus Miami on Oct. 25.
TWO IN A ROW: The two consecutive losses by Notre Dame to Miami on Oct. 24-25 marked the first time that the Irish have lost two in a row at home since March 3-4, 2006 when they lost both games of their first round, CCHA playoff series to Alaska, 3-1 and 1-0. The last time that Notre Dame was swept at home in a regular-season CCHA series was Nov. 25-26, 2005 when the Irish were swept at the Joyce Center by Ohio State, 4-1 and 5-2.
KNOCKING OFF NO. 1: Notre Dame played five games during the 2008-09 season versus teams ranked No. 1 in the nation. On Nov. 9-10, the Irish faced top-ranked Miami in Oxford, Ohio, splitting a weekend series with the RedHawks. In January (18-19), the Irish dropped two games to No. 1 Michigan, losing at Yost Arena and also at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Notre Dame met the top-ranked Wolverines a third time on Apr. 10 at the Frozen Four in Denver, Colo., and knocked off Michigan, 5-4 in overtime to advance to the national championship game. Here’s the list of Irish wins versus top-ranked teams in the 41-year history of the program.
4/10/08 - vs. Michigan, 5-4 ot (at Frozen Four)10/9/07 - at Miami, 2-110/21/06 - vs. Boston College, 7-110/22/04 - vs. Boston College, 3-210/23/03 - at Boston College, 1-01/3/99 - at North Dakota, 4-311/20/78 - at Minnesota, 3-21/13/78 - vs. Denver, 5-31/18/74 - vs. Michigan Tech, 7-12/24/73 - vs. Wisconsin, 4-32/23/73 - vs. Wisconsin, 8-5
MR. RELIABLE: Senior goaltender Jordan Pearce has been a regular in the Notre Dame goal over the last two seasons. Since Jan. 5, 2008, Pearce has appeared in 29 of the last 30 Irish games. Of those 29 games, 28 have been starts. Pearce saw his personal streak of 21 consecutive starts snapped on Oct. 18 of this season when junior Tom O’Brien (Mokena, Ill.) made his first career start versus Sacred Heart. Pearce has appeared in six of Notre Dame’s first seven games this season.
FIRST TIME OUT: Junior goaltender Tom O’Brien became the first Notre Dame goaltender to record a shutout in his first career start when he blanked Sacred Heart, 7-0, making 17 saves in the Oct. 18 contest. The previous earliest shutout was held by Jordan Pearce who recorded a shutout in just his second start in 2005. David Brown `07 had his first shutout in his third game as a freshman in October of 2003.
MOVING UP THE LIST: With his 3-0 shutout of Sacred Heart on Oct. 17, Jordan Pearce recorded the fifth shutout of his career, making 18 saves against the Pioneers. The shutout moves him into third on the all-time shutout list as he trails Morgan Cey `05, who has six, and David Brown `07, who finished his career with 12. Pearce’s shutout was the first at the Joyce Center since Dec. 1, 2007 when he whitewashed Nebraska-Omaha, 5-0.
CCHA DEFENSEMAN OF THE WEEK: Notre Dame sophomore defenseman Ian Cole was named the CCHA defenseman of the week ending Oct. 19 for his play against Sacred Heart. In the two games, Cole had a goal and three assists and was +4 on the weekend while helping the Irish to a pair of shutout wins. In Friday’s 3-0 win, Cole had one assist and was +1 in the contest. In Saturday’s 7-0 blanking of the Pioneers, Cole had the second three-point game of his career with a goal and two assists while being +3 on the evening.
CLUTCH SCORER: Ryan Thang’s game-winning goal in the Oct. 18 win over Sacred Heart gives him 12 for his career and moves him into a tie for fourth on the all-time list with David Bankoske `93. He is one off the school record of 13 for his career. Three people – Rob Globke `04, Brian Urick `99 and Dave Poulin `82 – hold that mark.
FINDING THE BACK OF THE NET: Junior Christiaan Minella (Aurora, Colo.) snapped a 46-game goal-scoring drought when he deflected a Brett Blatchford shot past Sacred Heart goaltender Olivier St. Onge in the second period of the 7-0 shutout of Sacred Heart on Oct. 18. The goal was the second of Minella’s career and his first since scoring on Nov. 11, 2006 against the Bowling Green Falcons.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Erik Condra (Sr., Livonia, Mich.) is tied for second on the team in scoring with two goals and four assists for six points. That has moved him into a tie for 26th on the all-time points list with Kevin Humphreys `81 with 126 career points. Condra now has 37 goals and 89 assists for his 126 points. He is all alone in 14th place on the all-time assists list with 89.
OPENING ACTS: Notre Dame’s season-opening loss at Denver drops the Irish to 20-19-2 all-time in season openers. In the first road game of the season, they are now 16-22-3 in 41 road openers. Following the home-opening win against Sacred Heart, Notre Dame is now 23-17-1 in home lidlifters.
HOME OPENERS: Notre Dame’s 3-0 win over Sacred Heart on Oct. 17 in the home season opener improved the Irish to 23-17-1 in all-time home openers going back to the 1968-69 season.
LOTS OF RUBBER: Notre Dame’s 42 shots on goal against Sacred Heart on Oct. 17 were the most in a game for the Irish since a 40-shot game against Northern Michigan on March 22, 2008 in the CCHA third-place game. Notre Dame lost that contest, 2-1. Pioneer goaltender Stefan Drew’s 39-save night was the most for an opposing goaltender since Western Michigan’s Riley Gill had 42 saves on Feb. 29, 2008, a 3-0 shutout for the Broncos.
RANKINGS UPDATE: Notre Dame entered the 2008-09 season ranked fourth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CBS College Sports polls. The Irish finished the 2007-08 campaign ranked third in the USA Today poll and 12th in the USCHO.com polls. During the `07-’08 season, the Irish were ranked every week of the season for the first time in the program’s 41-year history. Going back to the 2006-07 season, Notre Dame has been ranked in both polls for 42 consecutive weeks, the longest stretch for the Irish icers. During the `06-’07 season, Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 for seven straight weeks from Feb. 5 to March 25. Prior to that, the Irish had been No. 1 just one other time, for a week during the 1976-77 season.
Week-by-week with the Irish this season:
2008-09 Irish National RankingsDate USA TODAY USCHO.com10/01 3rd ---10/06 4th 4th10/13 8th 8th10/20 8th 8th10/27 13th 13th11/3 12th 12th
NEW KIDS: Four freshmen made their collegiate debuts for Notre Dame at Denver on Oct. 11. Forwards Billy Maday and Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and defensemen Nick Condon (Wausau, Wis.) and Sean Lorenz (Littleton, Colo.) all saw action in the game. Maday scored a goal, had two shots on net and was +1. Gaul had one minor penalty and was -1 for the night. Condon also had a minor penalty and was even while Lorenz was -1 in the game. Freshman defenseman Eric Ringel (Hinckley, Ohio) made his first career appearance on the Notre Dame blue line on Friday, Oct. 17 against Sacred Heart. The sixth member of the class, Richard Ryan (Toronto, Ont.), saw his first career action on Oct. 25 versus Miami.