Oct. 22, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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• The Week Ahead: #12/#12 Notre Dame (2-2-0/0-0-0) at Bowling Green (1-1-0/0-0-0) #12/#12 Notre Dame (2-2-0/0-0-0) at Ferris State (1-2-1/0-0-0)
• Date/Site/Time: Tuesday, October 22 • BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) • 7:06 p.m. Friday, October 26 • Ewigleben Ice Arena (2,493) • 7:05 p.m. Saturday, October 27 • Ewigleben Ice Arena (2,493) • 7:05 p.m.
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard liveon ESPN Radio 1490 South Bend's SportsCenter. Mike Lockert will call theaction for the Irish.Television: Tuesday's game at Bowling Green will be broadcast liveby Comcast Local and can be seen in the South Bend area on Comcast Cable
Channel 3. Ben Holden and Lyle Phair will handle the play-by-play and color commentary.
• Internet: Irish hockey can be heard on the internet at the Notre Dame website - www.und.com. All Notre Dame home games and all CCHA games are available via gametracker.
BUSY WEEK AHEAD: The Notre Dame hockey team takes to the road for three games this week as the Irish travel to Bowling Green (1-1-0) on Tuesday night, October 22 to face the Falcons in a 7:05 p.m. game. The week continues on Friday when the Irish will be in Big Rapids, Mich., for a weekend series against Ferris State (1-2-1) on October 26-27. Both those games will begin at 7:05 p.m. Tueday’s tilt is being televised by Comcast Local and can be seen in South Bend on Comcast Cable on the Channel 3 local access channel. The Irish take a 2-2-0 record into the game with Bowling Green and are 7-0-1 in the last eight meetings with the Falcons. Last season, Notre Dame won all four games between the two schools. All-time, the Irish are 39-34-6 versus Bowling Green in the first 79 meetings. At the BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcons hold a 22-16-2 edge in the series. Last February, the Irish won 3-2 and 2-1 decisions against Bowling Green.
NORTH TO BIG RAPIDS: Games two and three of the three-game road trip will take the Irish to Big Rapids, Mich., for a pair of contests with the Ferris State Bulldogs. Notre Dame and Ferris State have met 56 times in the all-time series with the Bulldogs holding a 34-17-5 edge in the games played. All-time, the Irish are 7-13-2 at Ewigleben Arena. In a scheduling fluke, the Irish have played just three of the last 20 meetings with Ferris State in Big Rapids. Notre Dame’s last win at Ferris State came on Feb. 11, 2006, a 3-2 victory. Last season, the two teams split a pair of games at the Joyce Center with the Bulldogs winning, 5-2, and the Irish taking a 2-0 decision.
THE LAST TIME: The Irish played three games in a week was the 2004-05 season, during the week of Jan. 16-22. Notre Dame traveled to Green Bay, Wis., on Tues., Jan. 18 to play Michigan Tech, then faced Wisconsin on Jan. 21-22 in South Bend and Chicago. Notre Dame dropped all three games, losing to Michigan Tech, 6-2 and then suffered a pair of 2-0 shutouts at the hands of the Badgers.
FALCON LOVERS: A pair of Irish players have had some big games versus Bowling Green over the course of their careers. Senior center Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) comes into Tuesday’s game having faced the Falcons 12 times with seven goals and five assists for 12 points. Junior right wing Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) has faced Bowling Green eight times and has two goals and 11 assists for 13 points.
TAKE THE HIGHWAY: Notre Dame goes on the road for the first time this season with their three-game trip to Bowling Green and Ferris State. A year ago, the Irish were 12-4-1 (.735) away from the Joyce Center. The 12 road wins equaled a school record (1979-80 and 1997-98) for road wins. Only the 1983-84 team’s 10-3-1 road mark (.750) is better.
DENVER RECAP: The Irish are coming off a weekend split with the fifth-ranked University of Denver on Oct. 18-19 at the Joyce Center. In Thursday’s game, Notre Dame rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits to hand the fifth-ranked Pioneers a 4-3 loss in front of 2,413 at the Joyce Center. The Irish got goals from Garrett Regan (Jr., Hastings, Minn.), Kyle Lawson (So., New Hudson, Mich.), Ryan Thang (So., Edina, Minn.) and Ben Ryan (Fr., Brighton, Mich.) in the win. Ryan got the game winner at 7:23 of the third period. Kyle Ostrow, Tyler Bozak and Brock Trotter scored for Denver. The Pioneers out shot Notre Dame by a 20-18 margin. Jordan Pearce (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska) made 17 saves for the Irish while Peter Mannino had 14 in the Denver goal. On Friday night, the Pioneers turned the tables, taking a 3-1 victory in front of a standing-room only crowd of 2,763 at the Joyce. Chris Nutini scored the opening goal of the game for Denver when he lashed a slapshot that deflected past Pearce at 15:55 of the first to give the Pioneers the 1-0 lead. Denver out shot the Irish, 11-1, in the opening stanza. The Irish would tie the game with a power-play goal at 10:55 of the second period when Thang converted an Erik Condra centering pass for his second goal of the weekend. Denver got the game winner at 12:24 of the third period on a goal by Anthony Maiani and Tom May added an empty-net goal at 19:43 to close the scoring. The Pioneers out shot the Irish by a 28-20 margin in the game. Pearce finished with 25 saves while Mannino had 19 on the night for Denver.
EARLY SCORING STRUGGLES: Through the first four games of the season, Notre Dame has scored just one goal in the first period while giving up four. A year ago, one of the keys to the success of the Irish was their first-period scoring as Notre Dame out scoring opponents by a 43-13 margin. The Irish also scored the first goal of the game in 32-of-42 games, going 26-4-2 in those contests.
FOUR FOR FOUR: Junior goaltender Jordan Pearce made his fourth consecutive start in goal on Friday, Oct. 19 for the Irish, the longest streak in his career. Pearce is now 2-2-0 with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage with one shutout this season.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Notre Dame has had strong special teams play through the early going in 2007-08. The Irish have scored at least one power-play goal in each of the first four games and have netted a pair twice. For the season, they are 6-for-24 for a 25.0% success rate. On the other side, Notre Dame has given up one power-play goal (versus Wisconsin with 35 seconds left in the game) this season and has gone three straight games (16-of-16) without giving up one. For the year, the Irish have killed 18-of-19 chances for a 94.7% penalty killing rate.
HOME OPENERS: Thursday (10/18) night’s win over Denver in the home opener gives Notre Dame a 22-17-1 record in Joyce Center openers. The Irish have won two straight home openers after beating Minnesota State, 6-1, last season.
LONG TIME COMING: Notre Dame’s 4-3 win over Denver on Oct. 18 snapped a 10-game (0-9-1) winless streak for the Irish against the Pioneers. The last time they had beaten Denver was Nov. 3, 1978, a 3-2 win at the Joyce Center. Notre Dame and Denver played in the WCHA for 10 years from 1971-81 before the Irish left for the CCHA. Prior to last weekend’s series, the two teams had met just three times with Denver going 2-0-1.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: Three of Notre Dame’s first four games have come against teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation. The Irish opened the year with a 4-1 loss to #14/#15 Wisconsin (10/12), before splitting a pair with #5/#5 Denver last weekend. The Irish won 4-3 in the series opener before falling 3-1 on Friday night to the Pioneers. The Irish are now 1-2-0 against ranked teams this season. They were 10-2-1 a year ago.
BIG WIN: Notre Dame’s win over Denver on Oct. 18 was the first this season for the Irish against a nationally-ranked team as they are now 1-2-0 on the year. A year ago, Notre Dame was 10-2-1 against ranked teams. The Pioneers were the highest-ranked team that Notre Dame has beaten at the Joyce Center since beating fourth-ranked Michigan State, 4-1, on Nov. 17, 2006.
THE REAL THANG: Sophomore left wing Ryan Thang picked up where he left off last season as he now has a three-game goal-scoring streak. Thang scored a goal versus Mercyhurst (10/13) and added goals in each game versus Denver (10/18-19). His longest career goal-scoring streak is a four-game run last season between Jan. 5 and Jan. 13. In his career, Thang now has 23 goals with 12 of them coming on the power play.
CAREER FIRST: Freshman right wing Ben Ryan recorded the first goal of his career in the 4-3 win over Denver on Oct. 18. Ryan’s goal at 7:23 of the third period proved to be the game winner and the goal came on the power play. Through the first four games of the season, Ryan leads the Irish in scoring with one goal and three assists for four points. Fellow freshman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) also collected his first collegiate point in Friday’s game when he set up Garrett Regan’s first-period, power-play goal.
BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE: Notre Dame saw its’ streak of eight consecutive sellouts snapped in the home opener on Oct. 18 as 2,413 fans saw the Irish defeat Denver, 4-3. A new sellout streak started the following night as a standing-room only crowd of 2,763 saw Notre Dame drop a 3-1 decision to the Pioneers. A year ago, the Irish sold out their final eight games of the season and 10 of the last 11. For the year, they had 11 sellouts (2,763) in 17 home dates and averaged 2,478 per game. Through two games this season, Notre Dame is averaging 2,588 fans per game.
IRON MAN: Senior center Mark Van Guilder has his sights set on Notre Dame’s all-time record for most consecutive games played. The record of 153 straight games was set by Tim Wallace `06 who played in every game of his career – 153 straight. Van Guilder has now played in every game of his career – 120 consecutive games played through the first four games this year.
CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT: Notre Dame’s most improved player for 2006-07, Garrett Regan, had a big game versus Denver on Oct. 18, scoring a power-play goal in the first period before setting up Ben Ryan’s game winner in the third period. Last season, Regan had 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points. This season, he’s scored twice and added an assist for three points in the first four games.
FIRST TIMERS: Sophomore right wing Stewart Carlin (Jeannette, Pa.) made his first career appearance versus Denver (10/19). Carlin did not play in any games last year and lined up at right wing in his first appearance, getting one penalty for two minutes. Fellow sophomore Dan Kissel (Crestwood, Ill.) made his first appearance of the season since being sidelined in the first week of practice with an injury.
A BANNER NIGHT: Notre Dame raised its’ CCHA Championship banner at Friday’s game (Oct. 18) with Denver. On hand to represent the 40-year history of the program were associate athletics director Tom Nevala, the first head coach and assistant coach of the Irish hockey program, Lefty Smith and Tim McNeill, the 2006-07 team captain, T.J. Jindra, this year’s captain, Mark Van Guilder and head coach Jeff Jackson. Jindra pushed the button to lower the banner which now hangs near the Gate 3 entrance over the end of the ice that Notre Dame defends twice. The banner joins the regular-season banner and the NCAA Tournament banner.
SNIPER SUPREME: Sophomore Ryan Thang and his linemates Erik Condra (Jr., Livonia, Mich.) and Kevin Deeth (So., Gig Harbor, Wash.) continue to put up points. Thang has scored three goals this season while Condra has three assists and Deeth has chipped in two helpers. As a line the last three games, the trio has three goals, five assists and eight points.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Senior defenseman Brock Sheahan (Lethbridge, Alb.) was a finalist last season for the CCHA’s defensive defenseman award. This season, Sheahan is showin his offensive game as he already has a pair of assists in the first four games of the season. For his career, Sheahan now has three goals and 19 assists for 22 points.
NEW KIDS: Six of Notre Dame’s freshmen made their Irish debuts at the Lefty McFadden Invitational (Oct. 12-13). Leading the way was right wing Ben Ryan who recorded three assists in his first two games. Also playing in both games were forwards Robin Bergman (Stockholm, Sweden) and Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden) along with defensemen Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Teddy Ruth (Naperville, Ill.). Joining those five was right wing Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.) who played his first game against Mercyhurst in the second game of the weekend. Only goaltender Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) has yet to play among the freshman class.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame was 13-2-2 at home in 2006-07 for an .824 winning percentage. That was the best mark since the 2003-04 season when the Irish were 14-2-2 at the Joyce Center for an .833 winning percentage. Only two other Irish teams have had better home records – 1987-88 team was 18-2-0 (.900) and the 1969-70 team was 12-1-1 (.893).