Oct. 20, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. –
– The Games: #5/#6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-2-0) vs. Rensselaer (RPI) Engineers (1-3-0)
– Date/Site/Time: Friday, October 21, 2011 – Compton Family Ice Arena (5,000) – 7:35 p.m.
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Real Country 99.9 FM, starting with the pre-game show 20 minutes before the opening faceoff. Darin Pritchett will call the action for the Irish.
– Internet: Audio: Notre Dame’s will stream the audio for Friday night’s game against Rensselaer. The games can be heard live and free of charge at und.com.Video: Notre Dame will provide live video streaming of the Rensselaer game on und.com free of charge. Statistics: Follow Irish hockey at home via Gametracker at und.com.
NEW ERA BEGINS: Notre Dame returns to action this weekend with just one game as the Irish play host to the Rensselaer Engineers on Friday, October 21 at 7:35 p.m. The game will be the first-ever played at the new Compton Family Ice Arena. The game kicks off a busy weekend on the Notre Dame campus as the football team faces USC on Saturday evening at Notre Dame Stadium in the first night game in 21 years (Sept. 15, 1990 vs. Michigan). The Irish hockey team enters the game versus the Engineers with a 2-2-0 record while Rensselaer is 1-3-0 on the year. Notre Dame is coming off back-to-back splits as the Irish opened the year with a split at Minnesota-Duluth (Oct. 7-8) and last weekend with Ohio State (W, 5-2, L, 3-4). RPI opened the season with a home split against Minnesota State, losing 1-0 and then winning the second game, 4-1. Last weekend, the Engineers traveled to Big Rapids, Mich., to face Ferris State. They were shutout twice, losing 4-0 and 2-0 to the Bulldogs. Following this week’s game, the Irish are on the road for two consecutive weekends, traveling to Bowling Green to close out October and then opening November at Northern Michigan in a pair of CCHA weekend series.
IRISH VERSUS ENGINEERS: Notre Dame and Rensselaer have met six times in the past with the series history tied at 3-3-0. The two teams have met once at Notre Dame, playing in the Joyce Center, Jan. 1-2, 2005 with the Engineers winning, 3-1 and the Irish taking a 2-1 victory. The last time the two teams met was on Dec. 29, 2007 in the third-place game of the Lightning College Hockey Classic in Tampa, Fla. Notre Dame won that game, 3-1.
NEW HOME FOR THE IRISH: The long awaited opening of the new Compton Family Ice Arena happens when Notre Dame faces Rensselaer on Friday, October 21 in a 7:35 p.m. contest at the new “home of the Irish.” Construction on Notre Dame’s new, on-campus ice facility began in March of 2010 and the Irish officially moved in on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 5:30 p.m. The original announcement for the new building was made on Feb. 12, 2009 by Notre Dame executive vice-president John Affleck-Graves and Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick after the University’s Board of Trustees approved the plan. Work began in the spring of 2010 with the first steel erected in July of that year. On Sept. 11, 2010, a project blessing ceremony for the $50-million facility was held with many of the key benefactors in attendance. At the ceremony, Swarbrick, announced that the building would be named the Compton Family Ice Arena in honor of the generous donation from Kevin and Gayla Compton and their family. The Comptons are part of the ownership group of the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks. The Compton Family Ice Arena will house both the Charles “Lefty” Smith rink, within the new 5,000-person capacity main arena with a second sheet of ice (Olympic-sized) with limited seating availability. The majority of the general public arena seating will be of the chair-back variety. The facility will include offices for the Notre Dame coaching staff, a state-of-the art locker rooom suite that includes both wet and dry locker rooms, meeting rooms, a sports medicine area that includes hot and cold hydrotherapy, cardio and weight rooms, a players’ lounge, equipment areas, video operations and a multi-purpose room that will be the location for weekly team Mass and serve as a study lounge and dining area. The arena also will feature a balcony level with a 200-seat, Irish pub-themed club called O’Briens, multiple concession areas on both levels, spacious restrooms and a merchandise shop. The Compton Family Ice Arena also will serve the Notre Dame and South Bend community as a place for the Irish Youth Hockey League (IYHL) and local figure skating groups to flourish. On campus it will become the home of club and interhall hockey, the figure skating club and intramural broomball, curling and physical education classes. Multiple locker rooms also will be available for campus and community use of the facility. Design and construction of the Compton Family Ice Arena are under the auspices of the Southfield, Mich., office of Barton Malow, a national design and construction services firm and their project partner Rossetti Architects, also of Southfield, Mich.
RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the weekend ranked fifth in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine pole and sixth in the USCHO.com poll. Rensselaer is not ranked in either poll.
FINAL TOTALS: With last weekend’s split versus Ohio State, the Joyce Center era for the Irish hockey program ends with Notre Dame being 361-286-57 (.553) at the Joyce Center. Under Jeff Jackson, the Irish had a 66-32-13 (.653) record under the north dome.
OHIO STATE RECAP: Friday, October 14 – For the second game in a row, Notre Dame battled back from a 2-0 deficit, this time scoring five unanswered goals on the way to a 5-2 win over Ohio State at the Joyce Center. Sophomore T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) led the way with a goal and three assists for four points while Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) scored twice with an assist for three points. Patrick Gaul (Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), and Austin Wuthrich (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) added single goals in the win. Danny Dries scored a pair of first-period goals for the Buckeyes. The Irish out shot Ohio State, 35-22, in the game. Mike Johnson (Jr., Verona, Wis.) made 20 saves in picking up his first win of the season. Brady Hjelle had 30 stops in the Ohio State goal. Notre Dame was 1-for-6 on the power play and the Buckeyes were 0-for-2.
Saturday, October 15 – Ohio State scored twice in the first period and twice in the second to build a 4-0 lead and then held off a furious Notre Dame three-goal, third period to take a 4-3 win in the final game for the Irish at the Joyce Center. Matt Johnson and Devon Keough (ppg) made it 2-0 after one period. In the second, Matt McCormick scored on the power play and Ryan Dzingel made it 4-0 for the Buckeyes. The third period was all Notre Dame as Anders Lee cut the lead to 4-1 at 4:38 with a power-play goal. Defenseman Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa.) made it 4-2 at 17:16 and then with the goaltender pulled for a sixth attacker, Austin Wuthrich got his second goal in as many nights to make it 4-3 at 18:35. With the goaltender out, the Irish had a couple of chances in the final 1:25 but could not score. Notre Dame had a 28-22 edge in shots. Cal Heeter made 25 saves for the Buckeyes. Steven Summerhays (So., Anchorage, Alaska) played 31:08 and made 11 saves in the loss. Mike Johnson played the final 27:15, making seven saves. The Irish were 1-for-9 on the power play while OSU was 2-for-8.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Freshman right wing Austin Wuthrich becomes the answer to a Trivial Pursuit Notre Dame edition question for the future – Who scored the last goal in the history of the Joyce Center? The Anchorage, Alaska native gets the credit for his goal at 18:35 of the third period. Who will get the first at the Compton Family Ice Arena?
HOT HANDS: Sophomore forwards Anders Lee and T.J. Tynan have picked up where they left off last season. Against Ohio State, Lee scored three goals and added two assists for five points. Tynan had a goal and four assists for his five-point weekend. On the year, Tynan has two goals and seven assists for nine points. Lee has five goals and three assists for eight points on the young season.
WELCOME BACK RILEY: Junior center Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s Ont.) returned to the Notre Dame lineup versus Ohio State after missing the first three games of the season with a lower body injury. Sheahan had a pair of two-assist games for four points on his first weekend back in action.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN: Sophomore blueliner Stephen Johns led the Notre Dame defense with a goal and an assist in the Ohio State series. Johns scored his first goal of the season in the 4-3 loss to the Buckeyes on Oct. 15. He has a goal and two assists for three points on the year.
FOR OPENERS: The season-opening loss to Minnesota-Duluth, Notre Dame is now 21-21-2 in all-time season openers. In road season openers Notre Dame falls to 17-23-4 for the 44-year history of the program. After knocking off Ohio State at the Joyce Center on Oct. 14, the Irish are now 25-18-1 all-time in the home opener.
FULLâ⒬ˆHOUSE: With one sellout in the weekend series against Ohio State, the Irish closed out the Joyce Center with sellouts in 17 of the last 21 games played there. During the 2010-11 season, Notre Dame sold out 16 of its 19 home games at the Joyce Center. A year ago, Notre Dame averaged 2,801 fans per game. Since Dec. 13, 2008, the Irish have recorded sellouts in 40 of their last 47 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.
CONFERENCE CALL: The Hockey East Association and the University of Notre Dame announced on Wednesday, Oct. 5 that the Fighting Irish have been accepted into the league as the 11th member school and will begin play in the 2013-14 campaign. The announcement came at a press conference on the ice at Notre Dame’s new Compton Family Ice Arena.
In making the announcement, Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna said, “It is not an overstatement to say that this is one of the most significant days in the history of our conference. The addition of new institutions is always exciting but Notre Dame brings a unique set of qualities and circumstances to the continued growth of our league. We are proud to welcome Notre Dame into the fold and we look forward to getting to the many details that come with this announcement.”
Notre Dame Vice President and Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick said, “We are excited to be joining Hockey East beginning in the 2013-14 season. Many factors played a role in our decision, but three were of special importance to us. The first two were the critical issues of the student-athlete experience and Notre Dame’s fit with the other schools in the conference. But of special importance in this instance, was our goal of giving our hockey program an unprecedented level of national exposure through our expanded partnership with the NBC Sports Group. Athletics at Notre Dame has always served as a platform for promoting the University.”
Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson added, “We are honored and pleased to join Hockey East for the 2013-14 season. The conference is an established league with a great tradition and outstanding programs that share Notre Dame’s values. The exposure for our players and team in a major media and NHL market will be second to none. Hockey East’s commitment to playing a smaller league schedule will allow us to enhance our home and non-conference schedule with traditional western and Big Ten rivals. This will allow us to bring great games to the Compton Family Ice Arena and create a more diverse, nationally-televised schedule. We are grateful to Joe Bertagna and the Hockey East Association members for this tremendous opportunity.”
Notre Dame is currently a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and has had two stints with the CCHA during its 44 years of Division I hockey. The Irish first joined the conference from 1981-83 and then again in 1992 through the 2012-13 season. During that time, Notre Dame has won two CCHA regular-season and postseason tournament titles (2007 and 2009).
The current shift in conferences began with the Big Ten’s decision to form their own hockey league beginning in 2013-14. That started the realignment process in both the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and the CCHA that has occurred this past summer and fall.
SPECIAL NUMBERS TO WATCH: Two important areas for the Irish this season will be the power play and the penalty kill as they had some issues with both areas in 2010-11. The Irish were 33-for-209 on the power play a year ago for a 15.8% success rate. That ranked them 9th in the CCHA and 42nd in the nation. The penalty-killing unit gave up 37 power-play goals and was 155-of-192 for an 80.7% success rate. That was eighth-best in the conference and 39th nationally. This year, the Irish are 4-for-24 on the power play (16.7%) an have killed 19-of-24 opponent chances for a 79.2% mark after four games.
SHORT-HAND SUCCESS: T.J. Tynan’s first goal of the season came short-handed in the win over Minnesota-Duluth and was the third of his career. In 2010-11, Tynan had two of Notre Dame’s 13 short-handed goals. The 13 shorties tied Boston College for the national lead. The 13 short-handed tallies were the most for the Irish since setting a school record with 19 during the 1981-82 season.
CLASS OF THE CLASS: Notre Dame senior defenseman Sean Lorenz has been named one of 20 candidates 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. Lorenz is a three-time monogram winner for the Irish and serves as one of Notre Dame’s alternate captains in 2011-12. He is coming off a career year for the Irish where he played in 44 games with career highs in goal (4), assists (11) and points (15) while being +33 on the year. He also was the CCHA defensive, defenseman of the year and the winner of Notre Dame’s William Donald Nyrop Award as the team’s top defenseman. Last year’s candidate, Calle Ridderwall `11, was a finalist for the award. Former Notre Dame goaltender David Brown `07 won the award in 2007.
BIG CROWDS: With the opening of the Compton Family Ice Arena, the Irish could set new attendance records this season. A complete, standing-room only sellout at the new building is 5,022. Here are the top Joyce Center attendance marks. The Joyce Center had various seating configurations in its 44-year history.
Top Home Crowds For Notre Dame HockeyDate Opp. Att. Result3/10/73 vs. Wisconsin 4,816 L, 3-4 (WCHA Playoffs)1/21/73 vs. Michigan St. 4,787 W, 13-52/24/73 vs. Wisconsin 4,787 W, 4-32/23/73 vs. Wisconsin 4,779 W, 8-51/26/73 vs. Michigan St. 4,722 W, 8-51/29/72 vs. Wisconsin 4,666 L, 3-53/9/73 vs. Wisconsin 4,586 T, 4-4 (WCHA Playoffs)2/3/73 vs. No. Dakota 4,566 L, 2-33/4/72 vs. Michigan St. 4,544 W, 6-21/28/72 vs. Wisconsin 4,494 L, 3-52/2/73 vs. No. Dakota 4,385 W, 9-3
Following the 1972-73 season, the seating configuration was changed to 4,287 being a sellout.
CLUTCHâ⒬ˆSCORER: Sophomore left wing Anders Lee has continued his clutch scoring skills this season. His first goal in the win over Ohio State was the game winner, the first this season and the eighth of his career. Lee, who led the Irish with 24 goals, last season scored seven game winners to lead the team and the CCHA. Those seven game winners tied a Notre Dame single-season record that was set in 1989-90 by David Bankoske `93, who also had seven game-winning goals.
FIRST TIMERS: Four members of Notre Dame’s freshman class made their first collegiate appearances against Minnesota-Duluth. Defenseman Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) and forwards Garrett Peterson (Manhattan, Ill.) and Peter Schneider (Vienna, Austria) played in both games. Austin Wuthrich (Anchorage, Alaska) made his first collegiate appearance in the Oct. 15, 5-3 victory.
SHOOTING THE PUCK: Notre Dame’s 17 shots on goal against Minnesota-Duluth on Friday, Oct. 7 marked the fewest shots for the Irish in a game since Nov. 20, 2009 when they had 16 shots on goal in a 4-1 win over Michigan State. Last season, the fewest shots Notre Dame had in a game was 21, versus Western Michigan on Oct. 30, 2010.
OH BROTHER: Notre Dame freshman defenseman Eric Johnson (Verona, Wis.) is the younger brother of junior goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.). The Johnson brothers become the 10th set of brothers to play hockey at Notre Dame. They are the first pair of brothers to play on the same team since Aaron `04 and Tony Gill `06 who played together from 2002-04. The Irish brothers:
Robert `89 and David Bankoske `93
Joe `72 and Mike Bonk `79
Jack `77 and Jeff Brownschidle `81
Tim `76 and Dan Byers `78
Ryan `01 and Kyle Dolder `03
Don `78 and Terry Fairholm `78
Aaron `04 and Tony Gill `06
Mark `85 and Bruce Guay `90
Bob `71, Dave `76 ad Dick Howe `78
Mike and Eric Johnson
LIGHTING THE LAMP: With his third-period goal on Oct. 14, Mike Voran snapped a 16-game goal drought that carried over from last season. Voran’s last goal came on Jan. 15 of 2011 when he scored against Alaska. Defenseman Kevin Lind snapped a 25-game goal-scoring drought with his goal on Saturday night versus the Bulldogs. His last goal came on November 10, 2010 at Michigan.
CAPTAINS: Two members of the Irish senior class and one sophomore will serve as captains for the 2011-12 season. Defenseman Sean Lorenz and forward Billy Maday will serve as the team’s co-captains this season. Sophomore forward Anders Lee will be the team’s lone alternate captain this season. This marks the first year for all three players to serve as captains at Notre Dame.
HCA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:Sophomore center T.J. Tynan was the 2010-11 Hockey Commissioner’s Association (HCA) national rookie of the year after leading all freshmen in scoring with 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points. Tynan was the CCHA rookie of the year and a member of the conference all-rookie team. He was selected second team all-CCHA. The 5-8, 167-pound forward was the Notre Dame Monogram Club’s most valuable player, the team’s offensive player of the year and the co-rookie of year for the Irish.
JOHNNY ON THE SPOT: Notre Dame goaltender Mike Johnson (Jr., Verona, Wis.) became just the sixth goaltender in Irish hockey history to record 20 wins in a season when he did it as a sophomore in 2010-11. Johnson was 20-10-4 on the year, helping Notre Dame to its second Frozen Four. He trails Jordan Pearce `09, who had 30 in 2008-09; David Brown `07 (29 in 2006-07); Lance Madson `90 (24 in 1987-88), Pearce (23, in 2007-08) and Mark Kronholm `74 (20 in 1972-73). Johnson’s 20 win ties him fifth on the single-season win list with Kronholm.
PUT THE BISCUIT IN THE BASKET: Notre Dame finished the 2010-11 season tied for third in in the nation in goals with 151 in 44 games. The Irish trailed North Dakota (178), Boston College (153) and tied Yale (151). Per game, Notre Dame is 10th overall with a 3.43 average. Yale is tops in the nation with 4.19 per game. The 3.43 goals-per-game is the most for the Irish since 1990-91 when they averaged 4.06 per game. The 151 goals was the most since 1989-90 when that team scored 151 goals.
COMEBACK KID: Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) led 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 +24 and capped his great comeback year by being named honorable mention all-CCHA and Notre Dame’s most improved player for the `10-’11 campaign.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Freshman forward Peter Schneider (Vienna, Austria) will become the third European to play at Notre Dame when he takes the ice for the Irish this season. A native of Vienna, Austria, Schneider played last season in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the Indiana Ice. With the Ice, he had 30 goals and 24 assists for 54 points in 55 games. He joins Swedish natives Calle Ridderwall `11 and Robin Bergman as the three Europeans to play at Notre Dame. Ridderwall spent four years with the Irish (2007-11) while Bergman played part of the 2007-08 campaign.
EXTRA HOCKEY: Notre Dame played in seven overtime games last season and was 2-0-5 in those games. The two overtime game winners for the Irish came off the sticks of Jeff Costello (So., Milwaukee, Wis.) in the second round of the CCHA playoffs against Lake Superior and off the stick of Anders Lee in the NCAA Regionals against Merrimack. The Irish have now gone 21 straight overtime games (5-0-16) without a loss. That streak goes back to March 21, 2008, a 2-1 overtime loss to Miami at the CCHA semifinals. During the `09-’10 season, the Irish were involved in nine overtime contests, finishing 1-0-8 in those games.