Nov. 22, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team dominated the CCHA’s weekly honors for the team’s play in its weekend sweep of Michigan State for the week ending Nov. 21. Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) was selected as the CCHA offensive player of the week while fellow senior Joe Lavin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was named the conference’s defensive player of the week. Freshman right wing Mike Voran (Livonia, Mich.) was the third Irish player to be honored as he was named the CCHA rookie of the week.
This marks the third consecutive week that a Notre Dame player has taken rookie of the week honors as T.J. Tynan (Fr., Orland Park, Ill.) was selected the previous two weeks.
Ryan took offensive player of the week honors after scoring a goal with four assists for a five-point weekend and was +4 in the 6-2 and 4-2 wins over the Spartans. In Friday’s 6-2 win, Ryan equaled a career-best with three assists while taking three shots and was +2 in the game. His first two assists gave the Irish a 2-0 lead by the 5:53 mark of the second period and his third assist set up Tynan’s insurance power-play goal at 17:29 of the middle period.
The following night, Ryan scored the opening goal of the game at 6:53 of the first period and then had a hand in Sean Lorenz’ (Jr., Littleton, Colo.) short-handed game winner with 2:23 left in the game. He had three more shots in the game and was +2. The senior center also had a penalty shot just 22 seconds into the game but was stopped by Spartans’ goaltender Will Yanakeff. For the season, Ryan is tied for the team lead in scoring with 16 points, on two goals and 14 assists.)
Senior captain Joe Lavin was named the CCHA defensive player of the week for his play versus Michigan State. He had a goal and two assists, was +4 and had six blocked shots.
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Lavin was named the CCHA defensive player of the week as he combined both offense and defense in helping the Irish to the sweep. Notre Dame’s team captain scored a short-handed goal and added two assists for three points while being +4 on the weekend with six blocked shots as he helped limit Michigan State to just two goals each night.
In Friday’s 6-2 win, Lavin got the Irish scoring started in a five-goal second period as he beat goaltender Drew Palmisano on a short-handed goal just 2:47 into the second period. Later in the period at 10:15, he set up Jeff Costello (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis.) for what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Lavin scored on his only shot of the game, was +2 and blocked three shots. Notre Dame killed off all three Spartan power-play chances in the game.
On Saturday, the 6-2, 198-pound blueliner played a key role over the final eight minutes of the game as Notre Dame killed off back-to-back five-minute major penalties, holding the Spartans to just one power-play goal. With the Irish nursing a 3-2 lead in the final minute, Lavin cleared the puck down the ice were Tynan out-raced the Michigan State defense to the puck and scored an insurance goal into an empty net with 25 seconds left in the game to make it 4-2 for his lone assist. He had two shots on goal, was +2 in the game and blocked three shots while the Irish penalty killers stopped six-of-seven MSU chances with the man advantage.
After 13 games, Lavin leads Notre Dame defensemen in scoring with three goals and four assists for seven points. He has two of the team’s six short-handed goals and ranks third in blocked shots with 16 while being +2 for the season.
Voran had his biggest weekend of his young career getting a goal with three assists for four points. He had six shots on goal and was +2 in the two games. In Friday’s 6-2 win, the freshman right wing, playing with fellow freshmen, Tynan and Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.), scored once and set up one goal as the trio combined for three goals and two assists. His goal closed out a five-goal first period for the Irish at 18:29 of the second when he stole the puck off goaltender Drew Palmisano on the right side of the goal and lifted it up under the cross bar for his second of the season. He then assisted on Lee’s goal in the third period that made it a 6-2 score. Voran had three shots on goal and was +1 for the night.
In Saturday’s 4-2 victory, Voran collected a pair of assists while getting three shots on goal and was +1. His first assist came with the Irish in a line change as Voran took a hit on the right boards near center ice before putting Calle Ridderwall (Sr., Stockholm, Sweden) and Ryan in on a two-on-one that Ryan cashed in on at 6:53 of the opening period. He was at it again on Notre Dame’s second goal when he set up Costello’s power-play goal that gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead at 8:29.
In 12 games this season, Voran is sixth on the Irish in scoring and third among freshmen scorers with two goals and six assists for eight points and is +6 on the year. The talented right wing is the fourth Irish player to receive rookie of the week honors this season with Tynan doing it twice and Lee once.
Notre Dame is now 9-3-1 overall and 7-2-1-1 in the CCHA, good for 23 points and first place in the conference, one point ahead of Michigan and two ahead of Miami. The Irish are currently ranked 11th in the nation in both the USA Today/Ameican Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls.
Ryan, Lavin, Voran and their Notre Dame teammates take to the road this weekend when the Irish travel to North Dakota for two games against the #10/#9 Fighting Sioux on Nov. 26-27. Friday’s game has a 7:37 p.m. (CT) start with face off on Saturday set for 7:07 p.m. (CT).