Oct. 15, 2003
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- The Games: Notre Dame (1-1-0/1-1-0) vs. Bowling Green Falcons (0-2-0/0-2-0)
- Date/Site/Times: Fri., October 17, 2003 – Joyce Center (2,713) – 7:35 p.m. Sat., October 18, 2003 – BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) – 7:05 p.m. (EDT)
- Broadcast Information: Radio – Both games of the weekend series can be heard on WDND South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620. Mike Lockert will call all the action. Irish hockey can also be heard live via the internet at www.und.com.
IRISH VERSUS FALCONS: After starting the season with a split at Ohio State, Notre Dame opens the 2003-04 home schedule on Friday, Oct. 17 at the Joyce Center. The Irish will play host to Bowling Green in a 7:35 p.m. game as part of a home-and-home series with the Falcons. Saturday’s game at Bowling Green has a 7:05 p.m. (EDT) starting time. The Irish and Falcons are rivalry partners and will meet four times this season. The second home-and-home series comes on Jan. 9-10 with Bowling Green hosting the Friday contest and Notre Dame the Saturday tilt. Last season, the Irish won all four meetings between the two schools, winning twice in December at the Joyce Center, 6-3 and 5-2, before taking a pair of 3-2 decisions from the Falcons in February at Bowling Green. Notre Dame has won six in a row and nine of the last 10 meetings between the two schools. Since the start of the 1996-97 season, Notre Dame is 16-3-2 versus Bowling Green. At the Joyce Center, the Irish are unbeaten in nine consecutive games (8-0-1) with the last loss coming on Jan. 11, 1997. At the Bowling Green Ice Arena, the Irish are 4-1-1 in their last six visits.
FOR OPENERS: The Irish opened the 2003-04 season with a 5-2 win at Ohio State. That gives Notre Dame an all-time record of 19-16-1 in season-opening games in the 36-year history of the program. In home openers, the Irish come into Friday’s meeting with Bowling Green with a 20-15-0 record in first games at the Joyce Center. Last season, the Irish opened the home schedule with a 4-2 win versus Western Michigan. Head coach Dave Poulin is 5-3-0 in home openers and 4-4-1 in season openers.
A LOOK AT THE FALCONS: Bowling Green opened its season last weekend at Northern Michigan, dropping 2-1 and 6-3 decisions to the Wildcats. Four different players scored for the Falcons and Jordan Sigalet played both games in goals. He comes into the weekend series with an 0-2-0 mark, a 3.56 goals-against average and a .865 save percentage. This season, Sigalet is joined on the team by his brother, defenseman Jonathan Sigalet. The duo give the Falcons their first brother combination since Brad and Brian Holzinger played there in the 1994-95 season. Head coach Scott Paluch, a 1991 Bowling Green grad, begins his second season behind the Falcons’ bench. His squad was 8-25-3 last season. Bowling Green returns 18 of 24 letterwinners from last season led by forwards D’Arcy McConvey (6-23-29) and Mark Wires (13-15-28). The defense is led by seniors Kevin Bieksa (8-17-25 last season) and Brian Escobedo (2-11-13). Sigalet was 6-11-2 last year with a 4.46 goals-against average and a .881 save percentage.
OHIO STATE RECAP: The Irish were able to snap a nine-game winless streak (0-6-3) versus Ohio State last weekend with a 5-2 win on Friday night at Value City Arena. Senior Rob Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich.) paced the Irish attack with his second career hat trick in the win. Aaron Gill (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) and Cory McLean (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) picked up Notre Dame’s other two goals. Goaltender Rory Walsh (So., Newton, Mass.) made his first career start and stopped 31 of 33 shots to pick up the win. The Irish were 2-for-7 on the power play in the win and held OSU’s power play scoreless in four attempts. On Saturday, the Irish fell to the Buckeyes, 3-1, as Ohio State broke a 1-1 tie with two third-period goals. Tim Wallace (So., Anchorage, Alaska) scored Notre Dame’s lone goal of the game. Freshman goaltender David Brown (Stoney Creek, Ont.) made his first collegiate start, making 36 saves in the loss. The Irish were outshot 39-30 in the game. Ohio State was 0-for-5 on the power play as Notre Dame’s penalty killers stopped the Bucks on all nine attempts on the weekend. The Irish were 0-for-4 with the man-advantage in Saturday’s game.
ON THE SIDELINES: Notre Dame will continue without the services of junior goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) and defenseman Derek Smith (Jr., Marysville, Mich.) for the Bowling Green series. Cey is recovering from off-season knee surgery and returned to the ice on Oct. 1. Smith has been sidelined with post-concussion syndrome. He suffered a concussion on Jan. 4 at Nebraska-Omaha and has been sidelined since.
FIRST TIME OUT: With goaltender Morgan Cey on the sidelines to start the 2003-04 campaign, the Irish got outstanding play from sophomore Rory Walsh and freshman David Brown in the opening series at Ohio State. Walsh, a walk-on, who did not see any action during his freshman season, stopped 31 of 33 shots on the way to a 5-2 opening-night win. Walsh is the first Notre Dame hockey player whose father played hockey for the Irish. His father, Brian (’77), was an All-American hockey player for the Irish. A center iceman, the elder Walsh is Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer after recording 234 career points on 89 goals and 145 assists. Brown played in Saturday’s contest at Ohio State and made 36 saves in a 3-1 loss. Half of his 36 saves came in the second period when the freshman stopped 18 of 19 Buckeye shots in the stanza.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Two Irish sophomore hockey players – Rory Walsh and Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) have fathers who attended Notre Dame. Rory Walsh’s father, Brian (’77), was an all-American hockey player for the Irish. A center iceman, the elder Walsh is Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer after recording 234 career points on 89 goals and 145 assists. Mike Walsh’s father, Max, (’74) was an offensive lineman on the Notre Dame football team and a member of the 1973 national championship team.
FAST STARTING GLOBKE: Senior right wing Rob Globke got his final season at Notre Dame off to a fast start in the 5-2 win at Ohio State (10/10). Globke scored the first three goals of the game for the Irish with the third proving to be the game-winning goal. The hat trick was the second of Globke’s Irish career and gives him 52 career goals. He became the 29th player in Irish hockey history to go over the 50-goal mark in his career. Globke’s hat trick in the CCHA opener for both times marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that a Notre Dame player recorded a hat trick in the first league game of the year. On Oct. 19, 1995, Brian Urick scored four goals in Notre Dame’s 7-4 win at Alaska Fairbanks. That game was also the first victory for Irish head coach Dave Poulin.
MORE GLOBKE GOODIES: Senior right wing Rob Globke had the best season of his Notre Dame career in 2002-03, leading the Irish with 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points. He now has 52 goals and 35 assists for 87 career points. He needs just 13 more points to become the 40th player in school history to reach the 100-point plateau in his career at Notre Dame. Globke’s 21 goals as a junior made him the first Irish player to score more than 20 goals in a season since Aniket Dhadphale had 25 during the 1997-98 season. The talented right winger opened the season with his first career hat trick in a 5-3 win at Minnesota-Duluth and then added two goals the following game in a 4-2 win versus Western Michigan. The five goals in two games was a first for a Notre Dame player since Tim Harberts had five in two games to open the 1994-95 season. PERFECT PENALTY KILLERS: Notre Dame penalty killers opened the new season with a strong weekend series versus Ohio State. Short-handed, the Irish killed all nine Buckeye power-play chances on the weekend. Notre Dame killed four on Friday night and then five on Saturday. In 2002-03, Notre Dame killed 82.4% of opposing team’s power-play opportunitues.
FAST STARTERS: Senior Aaron Gill, junior Cory McLean and sophomore Tim Wallace joined Rob Globke with three points in the opening weekend versus Ohio State. All three collected a goal and two assists. Gill collected all three points in the 5-2 win on Friday. His goal came via the power play. McLean had a goal and an assist in Friday’s win and then assisted on Notre Dame’s lone goal on Saturday. Wallace had two assists in the 5-2 win and then scored Notre Dame’s only goal in the 3-1 loss to the Buckeyes.
THE CAPTAINS: Senior center Aaron Gill will serve as the team captain for the Irish in 2003-04. Gill was an alternate captain last season. As a junior, he finished fourth on the Irish in scoring with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points. Four of his 13 goals came on the power play and he recorded his first career hat trick on Oct. 19 in an 8-5 win over Western Michigan. Coach Dave Poulin announced his two alternate captains prior to the Western Ontario game (10/3). Serving as alternate captains this season are senior right wing Rob Globke and senior defenseman Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.). Globke led the Irish in scoring last season with 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points. Komadoski was Notre Dame’s top scorer from the blue line last year as he scored a goal and added 23 helpers. His 23 assists and 24 points were career-highs for the veteran defenseman.
SEN-CEY-SATIONAL: Junior goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) starts his third season as Notre Dame’s go-to-guy in goal. He appeared in 71 of the team’s 79 games from 2001-2003 but has yet to play in 2003-04 due to a knee injury suffered last summer. As a sophomore, Cey was 15-15-6 with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. He is already tied for sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time win list with 30 career wins. His .911 career save percentage and last season’s mark of .912 are school records. Cey is currently tied for first with four career shutouts. In the eight career postseason games, the Wilkie, Sask., native is 4-4 with a 1.66 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage. During the first round of the 2002-03 CCHA playoffs, Cey recorded back-to-back shutouts versus Miami (a first at Notre Dame) and set a school record with 147:19 of shutout hockey.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN: Notre Dame’s roster features three senior defensemen who excel at both ends of the ice. Neil Komadoski, Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Tom Galvin (Miller Place, N.Y.) combined for 11 goals and 46 assists during the 2002-03 campaign. Komadoski led all Irish defensemen in scoring with a career-best 24 points (one, goal, 23 assists). Lebda tied for seventh in team scoring with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points. He also led the team with 139 shots on goal (also led the team in 2001-02 with 150). Galvin added three goals and nine assists for 12 points after leading Irish defensemen the previous season with four goals and 19 assists.
NHL DRAFTEES: Notre Dame has three players on the 2003-04 roster that have been selected in the National Hockey League Entry Draft. Senior Rob Globke was a second-round choice of the Florida Panthers in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Selected 40th overall, Globke’s selection was the earliest any Notre Dame player has ever been chosen. Senior defenseman Neil Komadoski was selected in the third round of the 2001 draft by the Ottawa Senators. Sophomore left wing Mike Walsh was selected in the fifth round of the 2002 draft by the New York Rangers.
OH CANADA: Freshman defenseman Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.) was a member of Canada’s Under-18 Select team that played in this summer’s Under-18 Select World Cup tournament. O’Neill had a goal and four assists in helping Canada to a fourth-place finish. The former Green Bay Gambler also played for Team Ontario at the Under-17 World Championships in Feb. of 2003. There he had three goals and nine assists in six games. O’Neill was the second pick in the 2002 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Draft by the Kingston Frontenacs. He is the highest-drafted OHL player to decide to play college hockey.
CORY’S STORY: Junior right wing Cory McLean had a breakout season with the Irish in 2002-03 as he recorded 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. Four of his goals came on the power play. As a freshman, McLean had just one goal and four assists for five points.
BRAIN POWER: Senior defenseman T.J. Mathieson (Clarksville, Md.) is a candidate for Rhodes, Mitchell and Marshall Scholarships for postgraduate studies. Mathieson owns a 3.812 grade-point average in aerospace engineering in Notre Dame’s School of Engineering. He is a two-time winner of Notre Dame’s Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award. He spent the past summer working at General Electric Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati. There, he worked doing stress analysis of high-pressure turbines for commercial aircraft engines. FAMILY MATTERS: After having as many as four players whose fathers played in the National Hockey League, only one remains for the 2003-04 season. That would be Neil Komadoski, Jr. (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.), whose father, Neil Komadoski, Sr., played eight NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings (’72-’78) and the St. Louis Blues (’77-’80), totaling 16G-76A and 632 penalty minutes in 501 career games.
CLUSTEROLOGY: The Irish finished the 2002-03 season with a 7-4-1 record versus the three other teams in their schedule cluster. Notre Dame was 4-0 versus Bowling Green, 3-1-0 versus Western Michigan and 0-3-1 versus Ferris State. This season, the Irish will face Bowling Green, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan four times.
FIT TO BE TIED: Notre Dame’s 3-3 tie with Ohio State on Jan. 31, 2003 marked the sixth overtime game of the year for the Irish, with all six ending in ties (0-0-6). Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, the Irish have been involved in 33 overtime games and are 5-2-26 in those contests. The last time Notre Dame won an overtime game during the regular season was on Jan. 25, 2002, a 4-3 overtime win for the Irish at Miami. The Irish had two postseason games decided in overtime during the 2001-02 season (a 3-2 double overtime loss to Nebraska-Omaha and a 2-1 win versus the Mavericks).
PENALTY SHOTS: Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey has faced four penalty shots in his Irish hockey career, including three last season. On Feb. 28, in a 4-2 loss to Western Michigan, Cey stopped Bronco Vince Bellissimo at 14:06 of the third period. A month earlier, Jan. 25, in a 3-3 tie with Michigan State, Cey stopped Jim Slater at 16:23 of the second period. His first stop in 2002-03 came on Nov. 22 at Michigan. In that game, a 4-2 loss to the Wolverines, he stopped Milan Gajic at 12:36 of the second period. The first penalty shot Cey faced came during his freshman season when he stopped Bowling Green’s Greg Day on Dec. 8, 2001. That stop came in a 4-2 loss to the Falcons.
FOURTH TIME: Morgan Cey’s back-to-back shutouts (1-0 and 5-0) versus Miami in the first round of last season’s CCHA playoffs made him the fourth goaltender to turn the trick. The others are:
1988-1989 –
Bruce Hoffort, LSSU beat Ferris State, 5-0, 3-0.
1993-94 –
Blaine Lacher, LSSU beat Ohio State, 5-0, 8-0
1999-00 –
Ryan Miller beat Notre Dame, 4-0 in semis and Nebraska-Omaha, 6-0 in finals.
THREE OUT OF FOUR: Notre Dame has advanced to Joe Louis Arena and the CCHA tournament in three of the last four seasons. Only two other CCHA teams – Michigan and Michigan State – have been there all four years since the 1999-2000 campaign.
U.S. JUNIOR NATIONALS: Sophomore right wing Tim Wallace was one of 43 players invited to USA Hockey’s Junior Evaluation Camp held in Lake Placid, N.Y., in August. From those 43 players, USA Hockey will select its 2004 U.S. Junior National Team that will play in the World Junior Championships in Finland. Notre Dame has sent eight players to the World Juniors since 1996-97.
NOTRE DAME PLAYERS ON JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM: (since ’96-’97):
Ben Simon – 1996-97, 1997-98
Joe Dusbabek – 1997-98
Dan Carlson – 1998-99
Brett Henning – 1999-2000
Connor Dunlop – 1999-00, 2000-01
David Inman – 1999-2000
Rob Globke – 2000-01, 2001-02
Brett Lebda – 2001-02
YOST BUSTERS: Notre Dame’s 4-3 win at Michigan on Nov. 23 was the first regular-season win for the Irish at Yost Arena since they returned to the CCHA in 1992-93. Prior to that, the last time Notre Dame won in Ann Arbor was Oct. 22, 1982, a span of 14 regular-season games. The Irish did win a CCHA playoff game at Yost in the 1998 playoffs. In the regular season, Notre Dame is now 1-14-1 in the last 16 meetings and since 1992-93, the Irish are 2-18-1 versus the Wolverines at Yost Arena. Over the last three meetings, the Irish are 1-1-1 when playing in Ann Arbor.
FROZEN TUNDRA: The Irish have developed a pipeline with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United State’s Hockey League. Three members of the current Notre Dame team have played in the Land of Lombardi. Junior defenseman Joe Zurenko (Arlington Heights, Ill.) played there during the ’00-’01 season and freshmen blueliners Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.) were teammates there last year. New assistant coach Layne LeBel also spent the past two seasons with the Gamblers.
GOLD MEDAL ASSISTANT: Irish assistant hockey coach, Andy Slaggert, served as an assistant coach with USA Hockey’s gold-medal winning Under-18 Select Team in August at the World Under-18 Select tournament in the Czech Republic. The 11-year assistant at Notre Dame has been involved in coaching with USA Hockey since the 1996-97 season. This was his first time for coaching on the international level.
EARLY DEPARTURES: The Irish lost eight letterwinners from the 2002-03 roster. Besides the six players who graduated – Michael Chin, Connor Dunlop, Evan Nielsen, Jake Wiegand, John Wroblewski and Tony Zasowski – junior Kyle Dolder and sophomore Yan Stastny have also left the team. Dolder, who would have been a senior this season, decided not to play after picking up two monograms the last two seasons. The brother of former team captain, Ryan Dolder ’01, Kyle walked on to the team as a freshman. He remains at Notre Dame finishing work towards his degree. Yan Stastny, who would have been a junior this year, decided to play professional hockey and was in the Boston Bruins’ training camp. He was selected in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft in the eighth round by the Bruins. Stastny had 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points last season.
HOMETOWNS: The 2003-04 Notre Dame hockey team features players from 10 states and four Canadian provinces – Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. In the eight-year tenure of head coach Dave Poulin, the Notre Dame hockey letterwinners have hailed from 20 different states and provinces – those listed below, plus: Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
2003-04 Notre Dame Hockey
– By State or Province:
Michigan (6): Rob Globke, Derek Smith, Chris Trick, Mike Walsh, Jason Paige, Josh Sciba
Illinois (3): Brett Lebda, Joe Zurenko, Michael Bartlett
Minnesota (3): Aaron Gill, Tony Gill, T.J. Jindra
Alberta (2): Brad Wanchulak, Matt Williams-Kovacs
Ontario (2): David Brown, Wes O’Neill
Alaska (1): Tim Wallace
British Columbia (1): Matt Amado
Florida (1): Noah Babin
Maryland (1): T.J. Mathieson
Massachusetts (1): Rory Walsh
Missouri (1): Neil Komadoski
New York (1): Tom Galvin
North Dakota (1): Cory McLean
Saskatchewan (1): Morgan Cey
PATRIOTIC GROUP: Notre Dame’s current roster includes eight players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP) and/or the National Junior Team. Since the program began, the Irish have had a total of 13 NTDP alums grace their roster. The current contingent includes seniors Rob Globke, Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda, junior Derek Smith (Marysville, Mich.), sophomore Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) and freshmen Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), Michael Bartlett (Morton Grove, Ill.) and Josh Sciba (Westland, Mich.) Former Irish players Brett Henning, Paul Harris, Michael Chin, Connor Dunlop and John Wroblewski are all alums of the U.S. Developmental Program.
CCHA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Notre Dame saw it’s streak of seven consecutive seasons with at least one player named to the CCHA all-Academic Team last season. The Irish have produced eight previous first-team CCHA All-Academic selections since rejoining the CCHA in ’92-’93: Curtis Janicke and Carl Picconatto (’92-’93), Garry Gruber (’95-’96), Steve Noble (’96-’97, ’97-’98), Forrest Karr and Aniket Dhadphale (’98-’99), Andy Jurkowski (99′-’00), Dan Carlson (2000-01) and David Inman (2001-02). During that 11-year span, only Western Michigan (12) has produced more CCHA All-Academic selections than Notre Dame’s 10.
RIVALRY CLUSTERS: The CCHA begins its second season with 12 teams grouped in “rivalry pairings.” In the new pairings, Notre Dame is paired with Bowling Green. The league’s other pairings include Michigan-Michigan State, Miami-Ohio State, Lake Superior State-Northern Michigan, Ferris State-Western Michigan and Alaska Fairbanks-Nebraska-Omaha.
The conference will continue to use the 28-game three-cluster format that was implemented four years ago to determine the regular-season champion. The teams will be divided into three clusters made up of two of the above pairings with each team playing the other three members of its cluster four times (twice at home and twice on the road). Each team hosts two teams and visits the other two from each of the other clusters. While the schedule is designed for two-game weekend series, some teams have taken advantage of the option to play home-and-home series when geographically possible.
In 2003-04, Notre Dame will play Bowling Green, Lake Superior and Northern Michigan four times with two games at home and two away. The Irish will also host two-game series with Alaska Fairbanks, Ferris State, Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha while traveling for two games to Miami, Michigan State, Ohio State and Western Michigan.
2003-2004 CCHA TELEVISION SCHEDULE:
The Central Collegiate Hockey Association has announced its 13-game CCHA television schedule with Fox Sports Detroit and an eight-game package with College Sports Television (CSTV) for the first half of the season.
CSTV, which will broadcast a national “Game of the Week” package on Friday nights, opens its collegiate hockey coverage on Saturday, Oct. 3 with St. Lawrence facing Miami at the Lefty McFadden Invitational. Notre Dame is scheduled to appear twice on CSTV’s package. The Irish will appear on Oct. 10 at Ohio State and on Dec. 27 versus Cornell in a first-round game of the Everblades Classic in Estero, Fla. CSTV is also scheduled to televise the championship game of that tournament, giving the Irish a third opportunity to appear nationally.
The Irish are scheduled to appear once on Fox Sports Detroit during the regular season as their Feb. 14 game with Ferris State at the Joyce Center is on the schedule.
Fox Sports coverage of the CCHA also includes “CCHA Weekly,” a 30-minute weekly magazine show that begins in January and provides in-depth coverage of the league.
DOUBLE THE FUN:
Notre Dame’s sweep of Bowling Green (Feb. 14-15) was the first CCHA sweep for the Irish since winning Oct. 18-19 in a home-and-home series with Western Michigan. The last time the Irish swept a CCHA team on the road was Feb. 22-23, 2002 when they took two at Lake Superior State.
ON THE HOME FRONT:
The Feb. 21 win over Lake Superior snapped a six-game winless streak (0-4-2)for the Irish at home. Prior to that win, the last Irish win at home was on Dec. 8 versus Bowling Green. The Irish are now 3-3-2 in the last eight games at the Joyce Center and are 7-6-3 at the Joyce this season.
FIT TO BE TIED:
The 3-3 tie with Ohio State on Jan. 31 was Notre Dame’s sixth overtime game this season with all six ending in ties (0-0-6). Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, the Irish have been involved in 33 overtime games and are 5-2-26 in those contests. The last time Notre Dame won an overtime game during the regular season was on Jan. 25, 2002, a 4-3 overtime win for the Irish at Miami. The Irish had two postseason games last year decided in overtime (a 3-2 double overtime loss to Nebraska-Omaha and a 2-1 win versus the Mavericks).
POWER-PLAY SPECTACULAR:
Notre Dame faced a season-high 11 power-play chances by Ohio State in the Jan. 31 game with the Buckeyes. The previous high was eight by Ferris State on Jan. 11. The Irish held Ohio State off the scoreboard on 10 of the 11 chances in the game. For the weekend, the Irish killed 15 of 17 Buckeye power-play chances (88.2%). Notre Dame had its share of power plays on the weekend as the Irish were two-for-14 with the man-advantage, including 2-for-6 in the 3-3 tie and 0-for-8 in the 2-0 loss.
JUST CALL HIM THE CAPTAIN:
Defenseman Evan Nielsen turned in the best weekend of his career versus Bowling Green (Dec. 7-8), collecting a pair of three-point games with a goal and two assists in each. The three-point games equal Nielsen’s career best as he has now recorded four three-point nights in his career, highlighted by a career-best five-game point scoring streak (2-7-9) from Nov. 30 to Dec. 28.
CENTRAL SCOUTING REPORT:
The National Hockey League’s Central Scouting lists 10 CCHA players in their mid-season rankings. That list includes Notre Dame’s Tim Wallace who is ranked 122nd overall. Wallace has played in all 30 games for the Irish and has four goals and five assists for nine points.
“A” FOR EFFORT:
Notre Dame left wing John Wroblewski turned in his best series of the season in the Ferris State weekend (Jan. 10-11) as he scored three goals and three assists for six points. For the year, he now has five, three-point games to lead the team in that department. Wroblewski was named an alternate captain for the remainder of the 2002-03 season on Nov. 20. In making the announcement, head coach Dave Poulin said, “John has emerged as an integral part of this team with his leadership and strong communication skills. He adds to an already strong captain’s group on this year’s team.” Wroblewski now has 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points in 33 games this season.
ALLSTATE ARENA NOTES:
The Jan. 18 game with Yale was played at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., and drew a crowd of 5,091. It was the first collegiate hockey game played in the Chicago area since Illinois-Chicago dropped its program following the 1995-96 season. For Notre Dame, the crowd of 5,091 was the largest “home” crowd for the Irish in their hockey history. The previous top attendance for the Irish in a home game was 4,787 at the Joyce Center and occurred twice – 1/27/73 versus Michigan State and 2/24/73 versus Wisconsin.
NO MORE BULLDOGS:
The Irish have finished eight regular season games versus team’s nicknamed “Bulldogs” with a 1-5-2 record. For the season, the Irish were 1-0-1 versus the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, 0-3-1 versus the Ferris State Bulldogs and 0-2-0 versus the Yale Bulldogs.