Sophomore defenseman Ian Cole was selected first team all-CCHA.  He becomes the third Notre Dame player to take first team honors along with David Brown (in 2006-07) and Benoit Cotnoir (1998-99).

Irish Defensemen Ian Cole And Teddy Ruth Named To U.S. Junior National Team

Dec. 3, 2008

Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame sophomore defensemen Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Teddy Ruth (Naperville, Ill.) have been selected to the 22-man U.S. Junior National Team roster that will compete in the World Junior Championships later this month. The tournament will be held from Dec. 26, 2008 through Jan. 5, 2009 in Ottawa, Ont., and features the top hockey players in the world under the age of 20.

Cole will be making his second appearance on the team and Ruth becomes the 12th Notre Dame hockey player to play for the U.S. Junior National team. The Irish defensive duo joins current Irish defenseman Kyle Lawson (Jr., New Hudson, Mich.) who was a member of the bronze-medal winning team in January of 2007. Other Irish players to play for the United States include: Jack Brownschidle (`76-’77, `78-’79), Ben Simon (`96-’97, `97-’98), Joe Dusbabek (`97-’98), Dan Carlson (`98-’99), Connor Dunlop (`99-’00, `00-’01), Brett Henning (`99-’00), David Inman (`99-’00), Rob Globke (`00-’01, `01-’02) and Brett Lebda (`01-’02).

Cole, a 6-1, 216-pound left shot defenseman, played on last year’s Junior National team that finished fourth in the tournament held in the Czech Republic. He played in all six games, getting five shots on goal and six minutes in penalties. A first round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues, Cole was a member of the U.S. National Team Developmental Program from 2005-07 where he played for the U.S. Under-17 and Under-18 teams.

With Notre Dame this season, Cole has been a regular, along with Ruth on the Irish blue line, helping the Irish to a 10-3-2 overall record and a No. 1 ranking in the national polls. Notre Dame is currently second in the CCHA with a 6-2-2-2 record; good for 16 points, three behind first-place Miami with two games in hand.

For the Irish, Cole is tied for second among Notre Dame defensemen with three goals and five assists for eight points in 15 games. He has one power-play goal and one game winner and is tied for the team lead with a +8 plus-minus rating. As a freshman, he led all Notre Dame defenders in goals with eight and was second with 20 points on the year. He picked up four power-play goals and two game winners and was an honorable mention all-rookie team selection in the CCHA while helping Notre Dame reach the national championship game versus Boston College.

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Sophomore defenseman Teddy Ruth was selected to the U.S. Junior National Team for the first time in his career.

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Ruth, a 6-1, 210-pounder, was a teammate of Cole’s with the U.S. National Team Developmental Program from 2005-07 where he played for the U.S. Under-17 and Under-18 teams. Selected in the second round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals, Ruth saw his rights traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets last March at the trading deadline for future Hall-of-Famer Sergei Federov.

With Notre Dame, Ruth, a physical, stay-at-home defender has played in 13 games and has one goal on the year while being +4 for the season. For the season, the Irish defense has limited the opposition to just 27 goals in 15 games for a 1.78 average. As a freshman, Ruth played in 42 games, scoring two goals and three assists for five points with his +13 rating the second best mark on the team.

Cole and Ruth will miss two regular-season games for the Irish while playing for the U.S. Junior National Team with both of those games coming at the Shillelagh Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Jan. 2-3.

The duo is among four players from the CCHA who will play in the tournament as they join Michigan’s Aaron Palushaj and Matt Rust. In all, 13 players from Division I schools, led by three from the University of Minnesota and two each from Notre Dame, New Hampshire, Boston University and Michigan, make up the squad. Teams from the National Hockey League already have drafted 20 of the 22 players selected with one eligible this year and the other a free agent.

The U.S. Team will play a pair of exhibition games prior to the tournament – one on Dec. 21 in Kingston, Ont., against Latvia and one on Tues., Dec. 23 versus Russia in Kingston. The U.S. will open pool play on Dec. 26 versus Germany. They are in the same pool as Germany, Czech Republic (Dec. 28), Kazakhstan (Dec. 30) and Canada (Dec. 31). The quarterfinals will be held on Friday, Jan. 2, the semifinals on Sat., Jan 3 and the Bronze/Gold Medal Games are on Monday, Jan. 5.

                     2009 U.S. JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM
Goaltenders (2)No. Name Ht. Wt. DOB R/L Hometown/Current Team
30 Thomas McCollum 6-2 206 12/7/89 L Sanborn, N.Y./Guelph Storm (OHL)1 Josh Unice 6-0 175 6/24/89 L Holland, Ohio/Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
DEFENSEMEN (7)No. Name Ht. Wt. DOB R/L Hometown/Current Team/NHL Rights24 Jonathan Blum * 6-1 185 1/30/89 R Rancho Margarita, Calif./Vancouver (WHL)28 Ian Cole * 6-1 218 2/21/89 L Ann Arbor, Mich./Notre Dame (CCHA)4 Cade Fairchild * 5-10 186 1/15/89 L Duluth, Minn./Minnesota (WCHA)20 Blake Kessel 6-2 204 4/13/89 R Madison, Wis./New Hampshire (HE)17 Ryan McDonagh 6-1 208 6/13/89 L Arden Hills, Minn./Wisconsin (WCHA)5 Teddy Ruth 6-0 205 2/14/89 R Naperville, Ill./Notre Dame (CCHA)8 Kevin Shattenkirk 5-11 193 1/29/89 R New Rochelle, N.Y./Boston Univ. (HE)
FORWARDS (13)No. Name Ht. Wt. DOB R/L Hometown/Current Team27 Drayson Bowman 6-1 195 3/8/89 L Littleton, Colo./Spokane (WHL)12 Jimmy Hayes 6-3 208 11/21/89 R Dorchester, Mass./Boston College (HEA)11 Mike Hoeffel 6-3 195 4/9/89 L North Oaks, Minn./Minnesota (WCHA)10 Tyler Johnson 5-9 175 7/29/89 L Spokane, Wash./Spokane (WHL)18 Danny Kristo 5-11 180 6/18/90 R Eden Prairie, Minn./Omaha (USHL)15 Jim O'Brien 6-2 190 1/29/89 R Maplewood, Minn./Seattle (WHL7 Aaron Palushaj 6-0 185 9/7/89 R Northville, Mich./Michigan (CCHA)9 Matt Rust * 5-10 195 3/23/89 L Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Michigan (CCHA)19 Jordan Schroeder * 5-9 183 9/29/90 R Prior Lake, Minn./Minnesota (WCHA)25 Eric Tangradi 6-3 214 2/10/89 L Philadelphia, Pa./Belleville (OHL)21 James vanRiemsdyk * 6-3 211 5/4/89 L Middletown, NJ/New Hampshire (HEA)14 Mitch Wahl 6-0 190 1/22/90 R Seal Beach, Calif./Spokane (WHL)33 Colin Wilson * 6-1 213 10/20/89 L Greenwich, Conn./Boston Univ. (HEA)
* 2008 U.S. National Junior Team Member