Dec. 27, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– Date/Site/Time: Wed., December 29, 2010 – 7:05 p.m. – Joyce Center (2,713) – Notre Dame, Ind.
– The Teams: #12/#12 Notre Dame (11-6-2) vs. Canisius College (6-7-4)
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish will call the action with the pregame show beginning 20 minutes before the opening face off.
– Internet Broadcast: Audio: The Notre Dame – Canisius game will have live audio streaming at the Notre Dame website – und.com. Video: The Notre Dame – Canisius contest will have live video streaming on the Notre Dame website at und.com and is free. Statistics: Gametracker will be available at the Notre Dame site – und.com.
HOLIDAY HOCKEY: Notre Dame returns to hockey action on Wednesday, Dec. 29 when the Irish close out the 2010 portion of the schedule as they play host to the Canisius Golden Griffins in a 7:05 p.m. game at the Joyce Center. Notre Dame will be in action for the first time in 17 days after breaking for final exams and the Christmas holidays. The last time the Irish were in action was on Sunday, Dec. 12 when they defeated Northern Michigan, 5-2, to move back into first place in the CCHA. Notre Dame enters the Canisius contest with an 11-6-2 overall record and a 9-4-1-1 mark in the CCHA, good for 29 points in league action, one point ahead of second-place Michigan and two ahead of third-place Miami. The Griffins will travel from Buffalo, N.Y., after their Christmas break. Canisius last played on Friday, Dec. 17, when the Griffs dropped a 4-1 decision in Rochester, N.Y., to Atlantic Hockey opponent, RIT. Canisius enters the second half of its season with a 6-7-4 overall record and are tied for third in Atlantic Hockey with Niagara as both teams have 14 points with the Griffins being 5-6-4 in conference play. Following the single game series with Canisius, Notre Dame will travel to Hoffman Estates, Ill., where they will play host to Boston University, Brown and Minnesota State in the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament on Jan. 1-2 at the Sears Centre Arena.
IRISH VERSUS GRIFFINS: Notre Dame and Canisius have met six times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 6-0 advantage in those games. The last time the two teams played was just under 20 years ago – Jan. 11-12, 1991 – at the Joyce Center with Notre Dame taking both games in the series. The Irish are 4-0 at the Joyce Center and 2-0 in Buffalo, N.Y. versus Canisius. Six members of the current Notre Dame roster – Riley Sheahan, Sam Calabrese, T.J. Tynan, Bryan Rust, Kevin Lind and Stephen Johns were not even born the last time these two teams got together.
SHILLELAGH TOURMAMENT: The 2011 Shillelagh Tournament will be played on Jan. 1-2 at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., west of Chicago. The Irish, winners of the first two tournaments in 2009 and 2010, will play host to Boston University, Brown and Minnesota State. The tournament will begin on Sat., Jan. 1 with #11/#10 Boston University hosting Brown University at 3:05 p.m. (CT). Notre Dame will then face Minnesota State at 6:05 p.m. (CT). Sunday’s games will be played at 2:05 p.m. (CT) with Minnesota State playing either Boston University or Brown, while Notre Dame will play at 5:05 p.m. versus either the Terriers or the Bears. On Saturday night, former Chicago Blackhawk great Dennis Savard will be on hand to sign autographs and drop the first puck. Comcast is sponsoring a Family Four Pack that includes four tickets, four hot dogs, four drinks and four fries for just $80.00. Tickets are available at the Sears Centre via www.SearsCentre.com, by phone at 1-888-SEARS-TIX or at the Sears Centre Box Office. Group tickets can be purchased by calling 1-847-649-2225.
BACK ON TOP: Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Northern Michigan on Sunday, Dec. 12, moved the Irish back into first place in the CCHA with a 9-4-1-1 mark. Last season as the Irish went into the break for finals and the Christmas holidays, they were 8-8-4 overall and 5-5-4 in the CCHA, good for 21 points and sixth place in the league standings.
A LOOK AT CANISIUS: Canisius College is located in Buffalo, N.Y., and has an enrollment of 3,196 students. The Golden Griffins play in Atlantic Hockey and were 17-15-5 last season and finished fifth in the conference with a 13-11-4 record. This season, the Griffs are 6-7-4 overall and are 5-6-4 in conference play. They are coached by Dave Smith, a 1992 graduate of Ohio State, who is in his sixth season behind the Griffins bench. Canisius is led offensively by three senior forwards – Cory Conacher (9-9-18), Vincent Scarsella (6-9-15) and Eric Rex (5-6-11). Conacher has 123 career points while Scarsella has 113 during their four seasons at Canisius. Junior Dan Morrisson is the top goaltender as he has played in 14 games with a 2.79 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage while being 4-7-3 on the season.
IRISH VERSUS ATLANTIC HOCKEY: Canisius is the second team from the Atlantic Hockey Conference to face the Irish this season. Notre Dame opened the season with a 6-3 win over Holy Cross in the opening game of the Warrior Ice Breaker Tournament in St. Louis in October. Overall, the Irish are 47-25-3 against the teams that currently make up the conference. Notre Dame has played Air Force the most, 36 games (21-13-2), followed by Army (16, 8-8-0). Prior to facing Holy Cross this season, the last Atlantic Hockey team the Irish faced was Sacred Heart – on Oct. 17-18, 2009 – at the Joyce Center, winning both games (3-0 and 7-0).
THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the final week of 2010 ranked 12th in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and 12th in the USCHO.com poll.
THEIR LOSS, OUR GAIN: Sophomore center Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s, Ont.) will return to the Notre Dame lineup versus Canisius after missing the last two contests versus Northern Michigan. Sheahan was one of four Division I collegiate players and one of 39 players under 20 to be invited to Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp held in Toronto, Dec. 12-15, but was one of the last players to not make the team. A 2010 first round draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings, Sheahan has played in all 17 games and has six assists.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN RECAP: Saturday, Dec. 11 – Notre Dame poured 53 shots on goal in Saturday night’s series opener, only to see Northern Michigan freshman goaltender Jared Coreau stop 51 of them on the way to a 3-2 win for the Wildcats. Northern Michigan scored a pair of first-period power-play goals by Tyler Gron and Scott Macaulay to build a 2-0 lead. That advantage would go to 3-0 at 15:18 of the second period when Brian Nugent deflected a shot by Macaulay past Irish goaltender Mike Johnson (So., Verona, Wis.). After two periods, Notre Dame trailed by three yet had a 37-10 shot advantage. In the third period, the Irish finally broke through on Coreau as David Gerths (Fr., Ankeny, Ia.) scored his sixth of the year, jamming a Nick Larson (So., Apple Valley, Minn.) rebound past the 6-5, 200-pound goaltender at 10:17 of the final stanza. The lead would be cut to one when T.J. Tynan (Fr., Orland Park, Ill.) tucked an Anders Lee (Fr., Edina, Minn.) rebound past Coreau for his team-best 10th goal of the season. The Irish had one last chance as they got a power play with 2:23 left but failed to score for the 3-2 final. Notre Dame was 0-for-6 on the power play while Northern Michigan was 2-for-3. Johnson finished with 12 saves for the Irish.
Sunday, Dec. 12 – Three third-period goals by Notre Dame snapped a 2-2 tie, giving the Irish a 5-2 win over Northern Michigan at the Joyce Center. Nick Larson, T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee each had a goal and an assist to pace the Notre Dame victory. Senior Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden) and freshman defenseman Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa.) had the other two goals for the Irish. Goaltender Mike Johnson stopped 15-of-17 shots he faced in the game. For the second game in a row, Notre Dame peppered the Northern Michigan goal with shots as Sunday’s game saw the Irish fire 43 at Wildcat goaltender Reid Ellingson. Larson staked the Irish to a 1-0 first-period lead when he scored a power-play goal at 8:12 for his sixth of the year. The lead would go to 2-0 at 12:34 of the second when Tynan collected his second goal of the weekend and his team high 11th. Northern cut that lead in half at 18:37 of the middle period when Mike Maltese scored on the power play to make it 2-1. Nicholas Kosinski tied the game at 6:23 of the third when he batted the rebound of Andrew Fernandez’ shot off the post behind Johnson to make it 2-2. Lee then got the game winner at 10:46 for his 10th of the year as Larson and Tynan helped set it up. Ridderwall scored his eighth of the year at 12:50, putting his own rebound behind Ellingson and Johns closed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:29 from deep in the Irish defensive zone for his first collegiate tally. Ellingson finished with 38 saves in the game. Notre Dame was 1-for-3 on the power play while the Wildcats were 1-for-4.
BOMBS AWAY: Notre Dame’s offense fired 96 shots at Northern Michigan in the two-game series on Dec. 11-12. The Irish had a season-high 53-shot game on the 11th and lost the game, 3-2, as freshman goaltender Jared Coreau kicked out 51 of them in the win. Notre Dame followed that with 43 shots in the Dec. 12, 5-2, win with Reid Ellingson making 38 saves. Through the first 19 games of the season, the Irish have out shot their opponents in 15 of the 19 games with one game having the shots tied. For the season, Notre Dame is averaging 32.5 shots per game while limiting the opposition to 25.5 per game. The Irish are 11-5-0 when they out shoot are are tied with an opponent and 0-1-2 when the opposition has more shots.
STREAK SNAPPED: Northern Michigan’s 3-2 win on Dec. 11, snapped an eight-game home winning streak for the Irish that went back to Jan. 30 of last season. The Irish came into the series with the Wildcats with six straight wins at home during the 2010-11 season. The Irish are now 7-1-0 at home this year.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshmen class has played a key role in the 11-6-2 start for the Irish. In the Northern Michigan series, the freshmen class had 12 (5g, 7a) of the team’s 20 points. In the first 19 games of this season, the freshman class has accounted for 41 of the team’s 68 goals (60.3%), 57 of the 120 assists (47.5%) and 96 of team’s 188 points this season (51.1%). Freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has two of the team’s 11 wins in goal.
POWER OUTAGE: Notre Dame has struggled on the power play through the first 19 games this season. Nick Larson’s first-period, power-play goal on Dec. 12, snapped a 1-for-20 streak for the Irish over the previous four games. Notre Dame is now 2-for-23 (8.7%) over the last five games. For the season, the Irish are 13-for-98 (13.3%) and rank ninth in the CCHA and 46th in the nation.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson has now appeared in 10 consecutive games, making nine starts in that span that began on Nov. 12 versus Michigan. In his last 10 appearances, he is 5-3-1 with 2.89 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage. Johnson, who started the year with a 4-0-1 unbeaten streak in his first five starts is 9-4-2 on the year with a 2.60 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. As a freshman, Johnson took CCHA all-rookie team honors, playing in 29 games in `09-’10, going 10-13-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Behind Johnson are a pair of freshmen – Steven Summerhays and Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.). Summerhays is now 2-2-0 with a 4.12 goals-against average and a .795 save percentage. He owns wins over Bowling Green and Western Michigan while his losses have been to Boston University (10/10) and Miami (12/4). Summerhays joined the Irish after playing the last two seasons with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. In `09-’10, Summerhays was a first team all-USHL selection and the USHL goaltender of the year after going 31-2-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Joe Rogers who has yet to play this season. Rogers joins the Notre Dame roster after playing last season in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) with the Albert Lea Thunder. Rogers was 13-19-2 with a 3.97 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.
TYNAN HONORED: Notre Dame freshman center T.J. Tynan was named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association rookie of the month for November to add to his honors this month after being named CCHA rookie of the month for the month of November. In eight games during November, Tynan led all CCHA rookies with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Two goals came on the power play, two were short-handed and one was a game winner. He was +5 for the month and took just 19 shots for a .316 shooting percentage. During November, Tynan scored in seven of the team’s eight games with five of the contests being multiple-point games. He was named the CCHA rookie of the month on two occasions – for games the week of Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. Tynan is the second Irish player to take CCHA rookie of the month honors this season as teammate Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was October’s winner. Tynan leads the Irish in scoring this season with 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points in 19 games. He is fourth overall in the CCHA scoring race and leads the league’s freshman scorers. His 10 goals tie him for fourth in the CCHA.
DOING IT SHORT-HANDED: Notre Dame’s penalty-killing unit was at it again in the 2-2 tie with North Dakota as the Irish racked up their seventh short-handed goal of the season with T.J. Tynan getting his second of the year. Versus Michigan State (Nov. 19-20), Notre Dame scored short-handed three times in that series. The seven short-handed goals lead the CCHA and the nation going into this afternoon’s game and is already three more than the team had in 2009-10. The seven shorties are the most for the Irish since the 1997-98 season when they had nine. Notre Dame has a way to go for the school record which is 19 and was set during the 1981-82 season. Tynan and defenseman Joe Lavin (Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.) lead the team with two each while Sean Lorenz (Sr., Littleton, Colo.), Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.) and Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) have one each. On the season, the Irish have seven short-handed goals and have given up just 12 power-play goals.
LATE ADDITIONS: Center T.J. Tynan’s fast start (11g, 12a) in the first 19 games has been a key to the 11-6-2 start 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 14 games and has six points (one goal, five assists) with a +7 for the year.
FUTURE IRISH: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson announced in early December that five players had signed national letters-of-intent to play hockey at the University beginning for the 2011-12 season. The group includes three defensemen and two forwards. the defensemen are Eric Johnson (Verona, Wis.), Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) and Andrew Ryan (Brighton, Mich.). The forwards are Peter Schnedier (Vienna, Austria) and Garrett Peterson (Manhattan, Ill.). Peterson signed his letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009 but returned to the USHL this season with the Lincoln Stars. In making the announcement, Jackson said, “We’re very excited about this group of players. We think they have the potential to step in and play. What I like most about them is that they are all strong skaters that play with a little grit to their game.” Two of the players – Russo and Ryan – play for USA Hockey’s National Team Developmental Program. The other three are all currently playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). Russo and Ryan are currently listed by the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting in their preliminary ratings. For more information on the five players check the Notre Dame website at und.com
USHL GP G A PTS PIMEric Johnson - Dubuque 5 0 0 0 8 Wenatchee (NAHL) 19 0 2 2 18Garrett Peterson - Lincoln 12 7 2 9 19Peter Schneider - Indiana 18 12 5 17 8
USA UNDER-18 GP G A PTS PIMRobbie Russo 29 2 11 13 16Andy Ryan 19 0 1 1 8
CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel is currently second on the Irish in scoring after 19 games as he has three goals and 16 assists for 19 points on the year. The assist and points totals are career highs for Guentzel who had a seven-game point streak (1g, 9a) snapped at Michigan on Nov. 13. His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently tied for fifth in the CCHA in scoring with 19 points and his 16 assists are third in the conference.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: From Oct. 31 through Dec. 4, Notre Dame played nine of 11 games on the road, including a streak of eight straight games versus nationally ranked teams. The Irish came through that streak with a 4-3-1 record. Starting on Nov. 12-13 the Irish faced #9/#8 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich where they split with the Wolverines. On Nov. 19-20, the Irish played host to rv/#17 Michigan State at the Joyce Center, taking two wins versus the Spartans. The weekend of Nov. 26-27 saw the Irish face #10/#9 North Dakota in Grand Forks where they had a loss and a tie. Against #6/#6 Miami Dec. 3-4, the Irish again had a split to give them a 4-3-1 record in the eight games against ranked teams.
GOING TO THE GOAL: 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 picked up his sixth goal of the season in the Dec. 11 game with Northern Michigan as he jammed a rebound past Jared Coreau in the third period. In 18 games this season, he has scored six goals with one assist for seven points. In 55 games last season in the USHL with Lincoln and Green Bay, Gerths scored just five goals. His six goals are fourth most for Notre Dame this season.
COMING FROM BEHIND: Notre Dame rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits (2-0 after one period and 3-1 in the second period) on Dec. 3 at Miami and won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods of play. The Irish are now 1-4-0 when trailing after two periods.
CAREER NIGHTS: Two members of Notre Dame’s freshman class set career highs in the win over Miami on Dec. 3. Right wing Bryan Rust set career highs for goals (2) and points in a game (3) with his three-point night. Left wing Anders Lee had a career high with three assists in the contest and equaled a career high with three points in the game.
PENALTY SHOTS: Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) was awarded a penalty shot just 22 seconds into the Nov. 20 game with Michigan State and was stopped by goaltender Will Yanakeff. It was the first penalty shot by a Notre Dame player since Jan. 31, 2009 when Ryan Thang `10, scored in a 3-2 win at Michigan. It was the fourth for the Irish since the 2001-02 season. They are 2-for-4 in that span. The last time the opposition had a penalty shot against teh Irish came on Dec. 4, 2009 when Miami’s Carter Camper was stopped by Mike Johnson.
ANOTHER MILESTONE: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30, 3-2 win over Western Michigan was the 200th CCHA win for Irish coach Jeff Jackson. Now in his 12th season at the Division I level, Jackson is 206-84-45 in his career in CCHA play in six seasons at Lake Superior State (1990-96) and six seasons at Notre Dame. Earlier in October (Oct. 14 vs. Lake Superior State), Jackson won his 300th career game as a Division I coach. His all-time record stands at 309-123-49 for a .693 winning percentage. His winning percentage is the tops among active coaches with 10 or more seasons.
FULLâ⒬ˆHOUSE: The Irish saw another streak end with the series versus Northern Michigan (Dec. 11-12). Notre Dame went into that series with a mark of 13 consecutive sellout crownds since since Nov. 28, 2009. With finals and the end of the semester, the Irish came up short with crowds of 2,623 and 2,592 to snap that mark. Notre Dame has now had sell outs in 20 of the team’s last 26 home games and last year averaged 2,765 fans per game. Since Dec. 13, 2008, the Irish have recorded sellouts in 29 of their last 35 home games. A sellout at the Joyce Center is 2,713 with 2,857 capacity with standing room. Twice during the `09-’10 season – Jan. 15 vs. Michigan State and Jan. 29 against Nebraska-Omaha – 3,007 fans jammed into the Joyce Center. Prior to that number, the largest crowd to see an Irish hockey game was 3,310 on March of 1995 when Notre Dame play Illinois-Chicago. The following season, new seating was installed and capacity was reconfigured.
FAST FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the game with Canisius ranked first and second in the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points while Lee has 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points. With 11 and 10 goals respectively, Lee and Tynan are tops among freshman goal scorers. Fellow freshman Mike Voran (2g, 9a, 11 pts) is tied for seventh among freshmen and is followed by Jeff Costello (5g, 3a, 8 pts) who is tied for 13th. Defensemen Kevin Lind (1g, 5a) and Shayne Taker (1g, 5a) are tied for 23rd with six points and tied for fifth among CCHA rookie defensemen. Tynan is third overall in scoring in the league while Lee is ninth. The duo ranks and third and sixth in goal scoring with 11 and 10 .