March 23, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– The Games: #4/#4 Miami (23-9-6) vs. #11/#11 New Hampshire (21-10-6) #7/#7 Merrimack (25-9-4) vs. #9/#9 Notre Dame (23-13-5)
– Date/Site/Time: Saturday, March 26, 2011 – Verizon Wireless Arena (10,019) – 4:00 p.m./7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 27, 2011 – Verizon Wireless Arena (10,019) – 8:00 p.m.
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. WSBT Radio Sports Director Darin Pritchett will call all the action for the Irish beginning with the pregame show 20 minutes prior to the opening faceoff.
– Television: All three games of the NCAA Northeast Regional will be televised by ESPNU HD and ESPN3.com. Saturday’s game can be seen in South Bend on Comcast Channel 3 and in Chicago on Comcast Channel 101. The game also will be available on ESPNU on tape delay at 11:30 p.m. Sunday’s game will be live on ESPNU. Justin Kutcher and Damian DiGiulian will call all the action.
– Internet: All Notre Dame hockey games can be heard live on the internet via the Notre Dame website at www.und.com. Livestats: Livestats are available at the Notre Dame website at und.com.
BACK IN THE SHOW: Notre Dame returns to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five years and for the fifth time in the program’s history. The Irish are a three-seed in the Northeast Regional that will be played in Manchester, N.H., at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Notre Dame will face second-seed Merrimack in the second game of the regional at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 27. The first game will feature top-seeded Miami from the CCHA versus fourth-seed New Hampshire at 4:00 p.m. Both of Saturday’s games will be televised by ESPNU and ESPN3.com with Justin Kutcher and Damian DiGiulian calling all the action. The Notre Dame-Merrimack game will be shown on ESPNU on tape delay at 11:30 p.m., Locally, the game can be seen live on Comcast South Bend on Channel 3 and in Chicago on Chicago Comcast 101 Saturday night. Sunday’s regional championship game is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPNU and ESPNU3.com. Notre Dame enters the Northeast Regional with an overall record of 23-13-5 and is coming off a pair of losses at the CCHA Tournament, losing to Miami, 6-2, in the semifinals before falling to Michigan, 4-2, in the third-place game. Merrimack is 25-9-4 this season and is coming off a 1-1 weekend at the Hockey East championship in Boston. The Warriors defeated New Hampshire, 4-1, in the semifinals and then lost to Boston College in the title game. Miami is 23-9-6 this year and is coming off winning its first CCHA championship ever last weekend in Detroit at Joe Louis Arena. New Hampshire is 21-10-6 for the 2010-11 season and lost in the Hockey East semifinal to Merrimack on March 18, 4-1.
IRISH NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: This is Notre Dame’s fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the 43-year history of the program. The Irish advanced in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009 prior to this season. In NCAA Tournament games, Notre Dame is 4-4 all-time. In 2004, the Irish, a fourth seed, advanced to the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Regional to face two-time defending NCAA champion, Minnesota, dropping a 5-2 decision in the opening-round game to the Gophers. In 2007, Notre Dame was the No. 1 seed in the tournament and again played in Grand Rapids. The Irish faced Alabama-Huntsville in the opening game and beat the Chargers, 3-2, in double overtime. In the regional championship game, they fell to Michigan State, 2-1, as the Spartans went on to win the 2007 NCAA title. In March of 2008, the Irish were a fourth seed in the West Regional at Colorado Springs, Colo., and advanced to the Frozen Four with wins over New Hampshire (7-3) and Michigan State (3-1). In the Frozen Four at Denver, the Irish upset Michigan with a 5-4 overtime win to advance to the title game against Boston College where they lost, 4-1. In 2009, Notre Dame was again the tournament’s top seed and played in Grand Rapids, facing Bemidji State. The Irish were upset, 5-1, in the opening game of the tournament.
IRISH VERSUS WARRIORS: Notre Dame and Merrimack have met five times in the all-time series with the last meeting coming on Nov. 26, 1991. The Warriors lead the series, 3-2-0. The first time the two teams met was on Dec. 18, 1969 in the championship game of the Merrimack Tournament in Billerica, Mass. Notre Dame won that tournament with a 5-1 victory. During the 1988-89 season, the teams played three times with the Warriors winning twice at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center, 3-1 and 4-3, on Nov. 23 and 25 and then at North Andover on Jan. 7, 1989, 6-0. The final meeting was on Nov. 26, 1991, at Merrimack with the Irish taking a 2-1 decision.
NOTRE DAME AND MIAMI: The Irish and RedHawks are old friends who face each other in the CCHA on a regular basis, having met 62 times in the all-time series. Miami has a 36-16-10 advantage to date, including a 4-0 mark in games played on neutral ice. The teams faced each other last Friday night in the CCHA semifinals with the RedHawks taking a 6-2 win. During the regular season, the teams met four times with the series being even at 1-1-2.
IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: Notre Dame and New Hampshire have met five times in the all-time series with the Wildcats holding a 4-1-0 series lead. The first meeting came on Jan. 2, 1991 at Durham, where the Wildcats prevailed 5-3. The following year (1991-92), New Hampshire visited South Bend for a pair of games, Nov. 8-9 at the Joyce Center and again the Wildcats won, taking 7-1 and 8-2 decisions. The fourth meeting came in Durham on Nov. 27, 1999 with UNH taking a 2-1 win. The Irish finally got a win versus New Hampshire on March 28, 2008 in Colorado Springs, Colo. in the NCAA Regionals, winning a 7-3 game to move on to the regional finals versus Michigan State. Three players remain on the roster from that game – seniors Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.), Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden) and Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.).
THE RANKINGS: Four of the top 11 teams in the nation will meet in this weekend’s Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H. Top-seed Miami is ranked fourth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com poll. Second-seed Merrimack is seventh in both rankings while third-seed Notre Dame is ranked ninth in the nation. New Hampshire, the fourth seed is ranked 11th in both polls to start this week.
JACKSON AND THE NCAAS: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson has seen his teams make the NCAA Tournament in 10 of his 12 seasons as a Division I head coach (four with Notre Dame and six with Lake Superior State). During that time, his teams own a record of 17-8 (.680) in the NCAA Tournament. That includes a 13-5 record at Lake State and a 4-3 record at Notre Dame. Jackson also has seen his teams make it to the Frozen Four four times (1992, 1993, 1994 at LSSU and 2008 at Notre Dame), winning twice at Lake Superior. His record in the Frozen Four is 6-2 overall.
THE COACH AND THE PLAYOFFS: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson has had his share of success in the CCHA playoffs. In his 12 CCHA seasons (six at Lake Superior State and six at Notre Dame), Jackson is 36-12 (.750) in conference postseason play. At Lake Superior, his teams were 24-2 while at Notre Dame, he is 12-10. His teams have advanced to the finals in 10 of the 12 seasons (six at LSSU and four at Notre Dame). In those 12 seasons, his teams won six CCHA titles (four at LSSU and two at Notre Dame).
DID YOU KNOW: The last time Merrimack was in the NCAA Tournament was 1988. That year, the Warriors defeated Northeastern in the first round and then were eliminated by Lake Superior State in the second. Current Irish head coach Jeff Jackson was an assistant on that Lakers team that was on its way to the first of three NCAA Championships.
IRISH VERSUS HOCKEY EAST: When Notre Dame squares off against Merrimack on Saturday night, it won’t be the first game for the Irish versus a team from Hockey East. Notre Dame played Boston College once and Boston University twice this season and was 1-1-1 versus the Eagles and Terriers. The Irish defeated then, No. 1 Boston College, 2-1, at the Joyce Center on Oct. 23. Their second game of the season came versus BU in the IceBreaker Tournament where the Terriers defeated Notre Dame, 5-4, in the championship game on Oct. 10. On Jan. 2, the two teams met in the third-place game of the Shillelagh Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill., with that game ending in a 3-3 tie.
NO STRANGERS: Two members of the Notre Dame hockey roster are no strangers to the East Coast and to Merrimack College or the University of New Hampshire. Irish defenseman and team captain Joe Lavin is from Shrewsbury, Mass., and spent the first year and a half of his career at Providence College before transferring to Notre Dame. Irish associate head coach Paul Pooley was the head coach at Providence College for 11 years from 1994-2005 before leaving to rejoin Jeff Jackson at Notre Dame. The two worked together at Lake Superior State.
CCHA RECAP: The Irish returned to Joe Louis Arena for the fourth time in the last five years last weekend after missing the trip in 2009-10. The results weren’t quite what the Irish were looking for as they lost in the semifinals to Miami, 6-2, on March 18 and followed with a 4-2 loss to Michigan in the third-place game the following night. Versus Miami, the RedHawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and never looked back on the way to the 6-2 win. Junior Billy Maday (Burr Ridge, Ill.) scored on a 5-on-3 power play and Calle Ridderwall got a late second period goal to cut the lead to 5-2 at the end of two periods but that was as close as the Irish would get. In the third-place game, Notre Dame’s Riley Sheahan (So., St. Catharine’s, Ont.) got the first goal of the game, but Michigan made it 2-1 after one period. With the Wolverines leading 3-1, T.J. Tynan (Fr., Orland Park, Ill.) scored in the final two minutes with the goaltender pulled to cut the Michigan lead to 3-2 before the Wolverines got an empty net goal with five second left for the 4-2 win.
NCAA TOURNAMENT SCORING: Only five members of the 2010-11 Notre Dame hockey team have seen action in an NCAA Tournament.
Name GP G A PTSCalle Ridderwall 5 2 0 2Ben Ryan 5 0 2 2Ryan Guentzel 4 0 1 1Billy Maday 1 0 0 0Sean Lorenz 1 0 0 0
CCHA POST-SEASON SCORING: Twenty-three members of the 2010-11 Notre Dame hockey team have seen CCHA playoff action. Those players have played a total of 140 games, scoring 28 goals with 30 assists for 58 points.
CCHA CAREER POST-SEASON SCORING:Name GP G A PTSCalle Ridderwall 16 7 1 8Ben Ryan 14 5 3 8T.J. Tynan 5 3 3 6Ryan Guentzel 14 1 5 6Billy Maday 11 3 2 5Jeff Costello 5 2 2 4Riley Sheahan 7 2 1 3Nick Larson 6 1 2 3Joe Lavin 7 1 2 3Bryan Rust 5 1 2 3Stephen Johns 5 0 2 2Sam Calabrese 5 0 2 2Shayne Taker 5 0 2 2Anders Lee 5 1 0 1Rich Ryan 2 1 0 1Mike Voran 5 0 1 1Sean Lorenz 11 0 0 0Patrick Gaul 2 0 0 0David Gerths 5 0 0 0Jared Beers 4 0 0 0Kevin Lind 1 0 0 0
Goaltenders MIN W-L-T GA SVS SV% GAVGSteven Summerhays 75:33 0-1-0 3 25 .893 2.38Mike Johnson 305:43 2-4-0 21 120 .872 3.43
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshman class has played a key role in Notre Dame’s success this season. The “rookies” accounted for one goal and three assists in the two losses in the CCHA Tournament with the team getting four goals and six assists for 10 points.Through 41 games, the freshman class has accounted for 77 of the team’s 142 goals (54.2%), 120 of the 252 assists (47.6%) and 197 of team’s 394 points this season (50.0%). Freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays has five of the team’s 23 wins in goal.
50 AND OVER: With a goal and two assists in the CCHA Tournament, freshman center T.J. Tynan became just the third Irish rookie to score over 50 points in his career. Tynan now has 22 goals and 30 assists for 52 points this season. That moves him into third on the all-time list behind Dave Poulin `82 and John Noble `74, who had 59-point campaigns in their rookie seasons. are ahead of Tynan. Earlier this season, Tynan and fellow freshman Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) became the 11th and 12th freshmen to go over 40 points in their first year at Notre Dame. Lee now has 22 goals and 19 assists for 41 points. The duo is just the eighth and ninth Notre Dame freshmen to score 20 or more goals in a season as they have the sixth-best total among Irish rookies.
Notre Dame Freshman Scoring LeadersDave Poulin (`78-'79) 28-31-59John Noble (`69-'70) 24-35-59T.J. Tynan (`10-'11) 22-30-52Paul Regan (`69-'70) 27-20-47Kevin Hoene (`68-'69) 24-22-46Greg Meredith (`76-'77) 23-22-45David Bankoske (`88-'89) 11-34-45Mike McNeill (`84-'85) 16-26-42Anders Lee (`10-'11) 22-19-41Ryan Thang (`06-'07) 20-21-41Ian Williams (`70-'71) 15-26-41Jamie Ling (`92-'93) 14-26-40
DYNAMIC DUO: T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee enter the NCAA Tournament with 22 goals each this season. This marks the first time that Notre Dame has had two 20-goal scorers in one season since 1990-91 when Lou Zadra `92 had 24 goals and Mike Curry `92 added 20 for the Irish. Lee and Tynan’s 22 goals are the most by a Notre Dame player since Aniket Dhadphale `99 scored 25 during the 1997-98 season. Tynan became the first player to record 50 points in a season since 1991-92 when Curtis Janicke `93 scored 50 points. His 52 points are the most by a Notre Dame players since 1989-90 when David Bankoske `93 had 56.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Prior to dropping both games at the CCHA Tournament, Notre Dame was 8-2-2 in the previous 12 games, dating back to Jan. 22. During that span, sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson (So., Verona, Wis.) played in nine of the 12 games going 6-1-1. The Irish are now 8-4-2 since Jan. 22 and Johnson is 6-2-1 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. For the season, Johnson is 18-9-4 with a 2.62 goals-against and a .903 save percentage. His 18 wins are a career high. Behind Johnson is freshman Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) who saw action in both games of the CCHA Tournament. Since Jan. 22, Summerhays is 2-2-1 with a 2.14 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. For the season, he is 5-4-1 overall with a 3.04 goals-against average and a .863 save percentage.
LATE ADDITIONS: Center T.J. Tynan’s outstanding rookie season (22g, 30a) has been a key to the 23-13-5 record 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 30 games and has seven points (one goal, 10 assists for 11 points) with a +8 for the year.
MR. CLUTCH: Freshman left wing Anders Lee has had a banner freshman year for the Irish in 2010-11. He leads the team with 22 goals and is tied for the team lead with six power-play goals. His six game winners are tops on the team and tie him for eighth in the CCHA.
CCHA HONORS: Three members of the Notre Dame hockey team were honored at the CCHA Awards Show on March 17 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Mich. Freshman T.J. Tynan was named the CCHA rookie of the year after leading the league’s rookies in scoring. Junior defenseman Sean Lorenz (Littleton, Colo.) was named the league’s top defensive defenseman as he led all players with a +27 for the year. Head coach Jeff Jackson was named the conference’s coach of the year as the Irish rebounded from nine league wins in 2009-10 to 18 in `10-’11 and they did it with as many as 10 freshmen per night in the lineup. Previously, the CCHA began handing out its postseason awards. Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee were unanimous selections to the CCHA all-rookie team. Defenseman Stephen Johns was honorable mention. Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall was Notre Dame’s choice for the CCHA all-academic team. Tynan and Lee also were chosen second team all-CCHA. Defenseman Sam Calabrese (So., Park Ridge, Ill.) was an honorable mention all-CCHA selection and senior right wing Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.) was the only other Notre Dame player to receive votes. Lee was Notre Dame’s winner of the Perani Cup for most points in three-star balloting following CCHA games.
20-WIN SEASON: Notre Dame moves into the NCAA Tournament with a 23-13-5 overall record, giving them 10 more wins than last year when they were 13-17-8. The 20-win season is the 11th in the 43-year history of the program and the Irish have now won 20 or more games in four of the last five seasons. The 23 wins are the fifth-best win total in the program’s history.
COMEBACK KID: Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese leads Notre Dame defensemen in scoring with six goals and 12 assists for 18 points this season. As a freshman in 2009-10, Calabrese saw action in just three games all season, suffering a broken leg on Dec. 4, 2009 at Miami. Of Calabrese’s six goals this season, two have come short-handed. He is second on the team with a +21 and capped his great comeback year by being named honorable mention all-CCHA for the `10-’11 campaign.
ROAD WARRIORS: Notre Dame’s sweep at Ferris State (Feb. 18-19) was the second road sweep for the Irish this season (Jan. 7-8 at Northern Michigan) and the 3-2 win at Western Michigan (2/25) improved them to 9-5-2 on the road. A year ago, Notre Dame was 3-10-4 away from the Joyce Center. The Irish are 6-1-0 in their last five road games, dating back to Jan. 7th versus Northern Michigan. At home this season, Notre Dame is 13-4-2.
THE LAST TIME: Prior to Jeff Costello’s (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis.) overtime game winner in game one of the series with Lake Superior on March 11, the last time a Notre Dame player scored in overtime in the postseason was April 10, 2008 when Calle Ridderwall (Sr., Stockholm, Sweden) scored in overtime to beat Michigan, 5-4, in the Frozen Four semifinal game in Denver, Colo. Ridderwall was a freshman that season. STREAK ENDER: Notre Dame’s 2-0 loss to Western Michigan (2/26) in the regular-season finale was the first shutout against the Irish in a year and a day. The previous shutout came on Feb. 25, 2010 when Michigan blanked Notre Dame, 4-0, in Ann Arbor. The loss also snapped a five-game Irish winning streak that started on Feb. 11 and an eight-game (6-0-2) unbeaten streak that began on Jan. 22. Both of those streaks were the longest of the season for Notre Dame. The eight-game unbeaten streak was the longest for the Irish since they ran off 10 straight wins from Feb. 13 through March 21, 2009.
IN GOOD COMPANY: For the past eight weeks, the Notre Dame hockey team has been in good company with the Notre Dame men’s and women’s basketball teams. All three programs are ranked in the top 10 in the nation in their respective polls, making Notre Dame the only school in the country with a top 10 program in all three sports. The Irish hockey team is ranked ninth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls. With a 27-7 overall record, the Irish men’s basketball team entered the week ranked fifth in the Associated Press poll and the ESPN/USA Today rankings. The Notre Dame women’s team is 28-7 and ranked ninth in the Associated Press poll and seventh in the ESPN/USA Today rankings. The week of Jan. 31, 2010 marked the first time since Dec. 9, 2002 that both basketball programs were ranked in the top 10 at the same time. Notre Dame is the only Division I school in the country to have its men’s and women’s basketball programs and its hockey program in the NCAA Tournament.
PUT THE BISCUIT IN THE BASKET: Notre Dame is sixth in the nation in goals scored with 142 through 41 games this season. The Irish trail North Dakota (166), Boston College (149), Yale (146), Miami (145) and Union College. Per game, Notre Dame is 10th overall with a 3.46 average. Yale is tops in the nation with 4.29 per game. The 3.46 goals-per-game is the most for the Irish since 1990-91 when they averaged 4.06 per game.
FABULOUS FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the NCAA Tournament ranked first and second in the nation and the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has 22 goals and 30 assists for 52 points while Lee has 22 goals and 19 assists for 41 points. The 22 goals are tops among freshmen goal scorers in the conference. Fellow freshman Mike Voran (4g, 15a, 19 pts) is seventh and is followed by Bryan Rust (6g, 12a) at eighth with 18 points and Jeff Costello (11g, 6a, 17 pts) who is ninth. Defenseman Stephen Johns is tied for 19th with 12 points (1g, 11a) and center David Gerths (8g, 3a, 11pts) and defenseman Kevin Lind (1g, 10a) each have 11 points. Costello’s 11 goals rank him fifth among league freshmen.
HOBEY BAKER NOMINEE: Freshman center T.J. Tynan was one of 68 Division I college hockey players that were nominated for the 2011 Hobey Baker Award. He did not advance to the final 10 candidates that were selected on March 17th. The winner of the award will be announced at the Frozen Four on April 8. Award criteria include candidates emulating the exceptional character traits exhibited by the award’s namesake, Hobey Baker, a World War I flying star better known as America’s greatest amateur athlete in his day. Award candidates must demonstrate strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of his team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game. Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.
SHORT-HAND SUCCESS: For most of the season, Notre Dame led the nation in short-handed goals with 12, but were passed by Boston College last weekend as the Eagles notched their 13th of the year. Freshman left wing Anders Lee scored Notre Dame’s 12th short-handed goal on Jan. 14 to become one of nine Irish players with short-handed markers this season. Defensemen Joe Lavin and Sam Calabrese join T.J. Tynan with two each while Lee, Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.), Riley Sheahan, Ryan Guentzel, Billy Maday and Sean Lorenz all have one each. The 12 short-handed goals are the most for the Irish since setting a school record with 19 during the 1981-82 season.
CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.) had the best game of his career with three goals and an assist in the win over Canisius (Dec. 29). He is currently third on the team in scoring with six goals and 31 assists for 37 points, all career highs. Earlier this season, Guentzel had a career-best, and a season high for the Irish, seven-game point streak (1g, 9a). His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently tied for seventh in the CCHA in scoring with 37 points and his 31 assists are third in the conference.
FATHER’S DAY GIFTS … When Notre Dame and Miami settled for 5-5 and 2-2 ties at the Joyce Center on Jan. 28-29, it marked the first time that the Irish had back-to-back ties in a weekend series since Nov. 6-7, 1987 when they battled Kent State to 5-5 and 6-6 ties.
CLASS OF THE CLASS: Notre Dame senior left wing Calle Ridderwall was named one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award that honors student athletes who excel both on and off the ice and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Ridderwall is sixth on the team in scoring with 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points. Former Notre Dame goaltender David Brown `07 won the award in 2007.
HOMETOWN HERO: Freshman defenseman Jared Beers (Mishawaka, Ind.) scored his first career goal in the 5-1 win over Bowling Green on Feb. 12. The Michiana native has worked his way into the Notre Dame lineup and doesn’t seem to want to come out. In 24 games this season, Beers has a goal and six assists for seven points and is +4 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.
ALL-JOYCE CENTER VOTING: In conjunction with the final full season of hockey at the Joyce Center, an 18-man All-Joyce Center team was selected to honor the top players to play at Notre Dame in the 43-year history of the home of the Irish. The team was selected with the help of former coaches, administrators and players along with a fan vote that included over 7,000 ballots. The teams were announced during the final week of the regular season and at the final home game on Feb. 26 versus Western Michigan. The All-Joyce Center Teams:
First Team:Forward - Brian Walsh (1973-77)Forward - Dave Poulin (1978-82)Forward - Erik Condra (2005-09)Defense - Jack Brownschidle (1973-77)Defense - Bill Nyrop (1970-74)Goaltender - David Brown (2003-07)
Second TeamForward - Greg Meredith (1976-80)Forward - Eddie Bumbacco (1970-74)Forward - Mike McNeill (1984-88)Defense - Ian Cole (2007-10)Defense - Benoit Cotnoir (1995-99)Goaltender - Jordan Pearce (2005-09)
Third TeamForward - Kirt Bjork (1979-83)Forward - Jamie Ling (1992-96)Forward - Dan Carlson (1997-01)Defense - Jeff Brownschidle (1977-81)Defense - Brett Lebda (2000-04)Goaltender - Lance Madson (1986-90)
HOME SWEET HOME: The life of the Joyce Center came one last step closer to the end with final playoff round versus Lake Superior. The 2-1 mark versus the Lakers left the Irish with a 13-4-2 record at home this season. Notre Dame is expected to play one or two weekends at home next season before opening the new Compton Family Center.
BUSY WEEK: For four former Notre Dame players, the week of Feb. 8 – Feb. 15 was a busy week, as all four were promoted to the National Hockey League. On Feb. 7, Victor Oreskovich `10 was recalled to the Vancouver Canucks. He was followed by Tim Wallace `06 on Feb. 12 when he was brought up by the Pittsburgh Penguins. On Feb. 15, both Erik Condra `09, by Ottawa, and Christian Hanson `09 by Toronto, were recalled to their respective clubs. For Condra it was his first game in the NHL while the other three have played previously in the NHL. Condra recorded an assist in his first NHL game against the New York Islanders.
NOSE FOR THE NET: Freshman left wing Jeff Costello ranks fourth on the Irish roster with 11 goals this season and is tied for the team lead with six power-play goals. In 41 games, Costello has 11 goals and six assists for 17 points. He is fifth among CCHA freshmen in goals.
WHATEVER IT TAKES: Freshman centerDavid Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) 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 goal. He scored his eighth goal of the season on a backhander from the low slot in the 5-2 win versus Ferris State on Feb. 19. In 40 games this season, he has scored eight goals with three assists for 11 points. In 55 games last season in the USHL with Lincoln and Green Bay, Gerths scored just five goals. His eight goals rank him sixth for Notre Dame this season.