Jan. 17, 2006
Notre Dame , Ind. –
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• The Series: Notre Dame (7-12-3/5-8-3) at Northern Michigan(13-10-1/9-8-1)
• Date/Site/Times: Fri.-Sat., Jan. 20-21, 2006 – 7:35 p.m. – Berry Events Center (3,902)
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1580, South Bend’s SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, “the voice of Irish hockey” will bring you all the play-by-play action.
• Internet Broadcast: At the Notre Dame website – www.und.com.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take to the highway this weekend for the first of four in a row away from the Joyce Center as they travel to Marquette, Mich., to face the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Jan. 20-21. Face off both nights is set for 7:35 p.m. at the Berry Events Center. The Irish will continue the four-game road swing next weekend (Jan. 27-28) at Ohio State. Notre Dame currently has a three-game road-winning streak (2-0-1). The Irish come into the weekend series with the Wildcats with a 7-12-3 overall record and a 5-8-3 mark in the CCHA for 13 points, good for tenth place in the league standings. Four points separate tenth and fourth place in the CCHA standings as the Irish are just one point behind eighth-place Nebraska-Omaha (14) and Ferris State (14), two behind seventh-place Bowling Green (15), three behind fifth-place Michigan State (16) and Ohio State (16) and four behind fourth-place Michigan (17). Notre Dame is coming off an 0-1-1 weekend versus No.3 ranked Miami as the two teams tied 2-2 on Jan. 13 before the RedHawks took a 3-2 verdict on Jan. 14. The Irish are 1-1-2 in the month of January and 4-4-2 since the first of December. Northern Michigan comes into its series with Notre Dame with a 13-10-1 record for the season and is second in the CCHA with a 9-8-1 record, good for 19 points, seven points behind first-place Miami and one ahead of third-place Lake Superior. The Wildcats have played the most league games so far this season with 18. Last weekend, Northern Michigan swept Ferris State at home with 5-0 and 2-1 wins.
IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: Notre Dame and Northern Michigan have met 32 times in the all-time series with the Wildcats holding a 17-10-5 edge in those games. At Marquette, Mich., the Wildcats are 7-3-2 versus the Irish. The last time the two teams met at the Berry Events Center was during the 2003-04 season with Northern taking 4-3 and 1-0 victories. Notre Dame’s last win at Northern Michigan came on March 7, 2003, with a 3-2 decision. The two teams met for a pair of games last year at Notre Dame with the contests resulting in a 1-1 tie on Oct. 29 and a 4-1 Northern Michigan win on Oct. 30.
PENALTY-KILLING STREAK: For the first time this season, Notre Dame put together back-to-back games without giving up a power-play goal in the series versus Miami. For the weekend, the Irish killed off 17 RedHawk power-play chances (8-for-8 on Jan. 13 and 9-for-9 on Jan. 14). Notre Dame has now killed off 18 consecutive opponent power-play chances dating back to the Jan. 7 game at Nebraska-Omaha. Over the last five games, the Irish have killed 29-of-32 opponent chances for a 90.6% success rate. On the year, Notre Dame has killed 124-of-154 for an 80.5% penalty-killing percentage.
MIAMI RECAP: Freshman defenseman Raymond Eichenlaub scored his second goal of the game at 13:29 of the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and give third-ranked Miami a 3-2 win over Notre Dame on Saturday, Jan. 14. The Irish loss snapped a four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) for Notre Dame. After a scoreless first period, Miami took a 1-0 lead at 8:50 of the second period on a goal by Matt Christie. The Irish answered back with a power-play goal at 11:49 when Wes O’Neill (Jr., Essex, Ont.) scored off assists to Erik Condra (Fr., Livonia, Mich.) and Josh Sciba (Jr., Westland, Mich.). Eichenlaub got his first of the game and second of the season at 13:11 of the second for a 2-1 RedHawks’ lead. The Irish tied the game with their second power-play goal of the night when Noah Babin (Jr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) lifted the rebound of a T.J. Jindra (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) shot over Miami goaltender Jeff Zatkoff at 11:07 for his third goal of the season. Eichenlaub then beat Irish goaltender David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) with a low shot from the right-wing circle with 6:31 left for the game winner. Brown made 29 saves in the game while Zatkoff had 26. The Irish were 2-for-11 on the power play while Miami was 0-for-9. On Friday night, junior Jason Paige (Saginaw, Mich.) scored with just 1:36 left in the game to give Notre Dame a 2-2 tie with No. 3 Miami at the Joyce Center. Paige scored off an assist from freshman Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) for his third goal of the season. Goaltender David Brown stopped 24-of-26 shots in the tie. After a scoreless first period, the Irish scored the game’s first goal at 9:33 of the second period on the power play. Josh Sciba snuck in from the right point and took a perfect pass from the left-wing boards from Erik Condra and fired it past goaltender Charlie Effinger for his team-best 12th goal and seventh power-play tally of the year. The score stayed that way until 11:16 of the third period when Andy Greene rifled a shot from the top of the left-wing circle past Brown for his seventh of the season. Stephen Dennis then gave Miami a 2-1 lead at 15:05 of the third when his shot appeared to change directions to beat Brown to his stick side for his first goal of the year. That set up Paige’s key goal with 96 ticks left on the clock. Effinger made 20 saves for Miami. The RedHawks were blanked (0-for-8) on the power play while the Irish were 1-for-7.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Irish goaltender David Brown saw his personal four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) snapped by Miami on Jan. 14 in the 3-2 loss. The junior has now played in 15 consecutive games for the Irish, starting 14 of them. Since Dec. 2, Bown is 4-3-2 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage. For the season, he is 5-9-3 with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
GETTING INVOLVED: The Notre Dame defense scored both goals in the 3-2 loss to Miami on Jan. 14. Defensemen Wes O’Neill (4th) and Noah Babin (3rd) each scored power-play goals in the game. For the year, O’Neill leads the team’s defensemen in scoring with four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. Babin is second with three goals and eight assists for 11 points. The other Irish defensemen have also contributed. Sophomore Brock Sheahan (Lethbridge, Alb.) has a career-high seven assists. Senior Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) has three assists. Junior Tom Sawatske (Duluth, Minn.) has two assists and sophomore Dan VeNard (Vernon Hills, Ill.) has one assist on the year. For the season, Notre Dame’s defense has contributed seven goals and 32 assists for 39 points on the year.
POWER PLAY POWER: Notre Dame has scored at least one power-play goal in five straight games, dating back to Dec. 18 versus Lake Superior State. In those five games, the Irish are 9-for-35 (25.7%) on the power play. For the year, Notre Dame now has 27 power-play goals in 152 chances (17.8%) in 22 games. Last season, the Irish had 23 power-play goals in 238 chances (9.8%) in 38 games. The Irish power play currently ranks fifth in the CCHA.
MAKING THE CLIMB: With the 4-1 win and 2-2 tie over Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 6-7, Notre Dame moved out of last place in the CCHA for the first time since Jan 15 of last season. The Irish already have two more CCHA wins (5 to 3) than last season and two more points (13 to 11) with 12 more league games left to play. The Irish start this week in 10th place in the league standings.
ROAD UNBEATEN STREAK: The Irish travel to Northern Michigan with a three-game road unbeaten streak (2-0-1). The last loss away from home came on Dec. 2 at Western Michigan. The Dec. 10 win at Minnesota State snapped a 17-game road winless skid (0-15-2) for the Irish. Since that win at Minnesota State, the Irish are 2-0-1 on the road. For the season, the Irish are 2-5-2 away from the Joyce Center and 5-7-1 at home.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Freshman right wing Erik Condra is tied for the team lead in scoring (3g, 17a, 20 pts.) after recording two points in the series versus Miami. He is currently tied for second with Ferris State’s Dan Riedel with 20 points among CCHA rookie scorers, trailing Michigan’s Jack Johnson by one point. Condra’s 17 assists lead the freshman and tie him for fifth in that category in league play. So far this season, Condra has recorded three, three-point games and five games with two or more points. His last three-point night came on Dec. 6 in a 3-2 Irish win at Minnesota State. His other three-point games came at Denver (10/22) and versus Bowling Green (11/11). He had three assists in both of those games. His two-goal game against Minnesota State was the first multiple-goal game of his career.
STREAKING SCIBA: Junior center Josh Sciba ran his current scoring streak to four games with an assist in the Jan. 14 game versus Miami. In his four-game streak, Sciba has two goals and four assists for six points. In the Jan. 13 game, he recorded his seventh power-play goal of the season, giving him career highs in that category and goals (12). His seven power-play goals are the most by a Notre Dame player since Aaron Gill `04 had nine in the 2003-04 season. Sciba now has career highs in goals, assists (8), points, power-play goals and short-handed goals this season.
TURN THE PAIGE: Jason Paige’s game-tying goal on Jan. 13 snapped a six-game goal and point drought for the junior center. His last goal came on Dec. 3 in the 3-0 Irish win over Western Michigan. He had scored in consecutive games against the Broncos for his lone goals on the year until the Miami game. His goal was the lone even-strength goal for the Irish on the weekend versus Miami.
BACK IN THE POINTS COLUMN: After recording four points (2g, 2a) in his first six games, freshman Garrett Regan went nine games without a point before snapping that streak by setting up Jason Paige’s game-tying goal on Friday night. In 16 games this season, Regan now has two goals and three assists for five points.
TOPPING THE LIST: The University of Notre Dame is in first place in the 2005-06 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Cup all-sports competition after the fall sports seasons. The Irish recorded 412 points based on a third-place finish at the NCAA men’s cross country championship, a seventh-place finish at the NCAA women’s cross country championship, a quarterfinal appearance in women’s soccer, a third-round appearance in men’s soccer, a third-round appearance by the volleyball team and while football finished ranked 11th in the final USA Today Poll. The top five teams in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings:
1. Notre Dame 4122. Penn State 308.53. Stanford 2824. Duke 2805. Wisconsin 277
TOP CITIZEN: Notre Dame senior defenseman Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) is one of 18 nominees for college hockey’s Humanitarian Award that is awarded each year to college hockey’s top citizen. An assistant captain with the Irish, Trick oversees the team’s community service projects. He has been a two-year member of Notre Dame’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and has been the team’s organizer for various community service projects the last two seasons. Away from Notre Dame, Trick has worked with the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s (MAHA) Great Lakes Sled Dogs, a sled hockey program in Fraser, Mich. He has played with the team, helped coach and worked with outside organizations to get equipment donations for the program. The Hockey Humanitarian Award is awarded every year at the NCAA Frozen Four in April.
ALUMNI NOTES: Former Notre Dame goaltender Forrest Karr `99 was named the director of athletics and campus recreation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Tues., Jan. 11. Karr joined the Nanook athletics’ staff in 2004 as the school’s compliance coordinator. On July 22, 2005, he became the interim athletics director at UAF, taking over for Dr. Cory Schwartz. He is a 1999 CCHA all-academic pick and a second team Academic All-American in the same season. A four-year letter winner for the Irish, Karr was 27-2525-6 in goal for the Irish with a 2.92 career goals-against average and a .899 save percentage. Two other former Notre Dame hockey players were busy during the Christmas holidays. Morgan Cey `05, who is currently a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and playing in Johnstown of the ECHL was selected to play for Team Canada in the 2005 Spengler Cup Tournament in Davos, Switzerland from Dec. 26-31. Cey, who saw limited playing time, collected a silver medal as Canada finished second in the tournament. Former Irish scoring standout Rob Globke `04 saw his hockey dream come true as he made his NHL debut with the Florida Panthers on Dec. 28 in a 6-4 win over Boston. Globke was recalled from the Rochester Americans of the AHL on Dec. 27. He is scoreless in six games with the Panthers.
THREE FOR THE ROAD: Notre Dame’s three-point weekend versus Nebraska-Omaha was the first road series for the Irish with three or more points since Jan. 17-18, 2004 when Notre Dame won and tied at Wisconsin. It’s the most points the Irish have recorded in a CCHA road series since a sweep at Bowling Green on Feb. 14-15, 2003.
ROAD WARRIORS: Junior center Josh Sciba and sophomore right wing Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) each had three-point games at Nebraska-Omaha in the Jan. 7, 4-1 win. Sciba had a power-play goal and two assists while Van Guilder scored a short-handed marker with two assists on the night. For both, it was the second three-point games of the season and their careers. Both players added an assist in Saturday’s 2-2 tie for four points on the weekend.
FOUR IN THE NHL: When former Irish standout Ben Simon `00 was recalled by the Columbus BlueJackets on Jan. 6, it gave Notre Dame four alums playing in the National Hockey League. Simon joined Rob Globke `04 (Florida), Brett Lebda `04 (Detroit) and Mark Eaton (Nashville) as former Notre Dame players in the NHL this season. Only one other time, have the Irish had more players in the NHL in one season. That came during the 1982-83 season when the Irish had five players see time in the NHL. That group included: Jim Brown `82 (three games with Los Angeles), Jack Brownschidle `77 (72 games with St. Louis), Jeff Brownschidle `81 (four games with Hartford), Don Jackson `78 (71 games with Edmonton) and Dave Poulin `82 (two games with Philadelphia).
CLUTCH SCORER: With his game-winning goal versus Lake Superior State (Dec. 18), Irish left wing Mike Walsh has now scored seven game-winning goals in his career among his 20 career goals. He needs just two more game winners to break into the all-time top 10 at Notre Dame.
Name GWG1. Rob Globke (2000-04) 13 Brian Urick (1995-99) 13 Dave Poulin (1978-82) 134. David Bankoske (1988-93) 125. Paul Regan (1969-73) 116. Tim Kuehl (1986-90) 10 Tom Mooney (1984-88) 10 Greg Meredith (1976-80) 109. Dan Carlson (1997-01) 9 Kirt Bjork (1979-83) 9 -- Mike Walsh (2002-Present) 7
NOAH KNOWS: Defenseman Noah Babin’s three-point game (1g, 2a) against Lake Superior State (Dec. 18) was a career-high for the junior defenseman. For the season, Babin now has three goals and eight assists for 11 points, tying his career best for points set last season. His eight assists are also a career high for Babin.
WALLY’S WORLD: Senior right wing Tim Wallace is having a career-year for the Irish in 2005-06. He already has career highs in goals (9), points (17) and power-play goals (3) in the first 22 games of the season. He is just one assist off his career high in that category (9, set last season). His personal-best five-game point streak (3-4-7) was snapped in the 3-0 shutout at Miami on Nov. 19. The senior right wing has three two-point games on the year and one game with three points (2g, 1a) – a career high. He has a pair of two-goal games to his credit – Oct. 28 vs. Princeton and Dec. 18 vs. Lake Superior – giving him three for his career. The third came on March 14, 2004 in the first round of the CCHA playoffs when he had a pair of goals in game three versus Western Michigan in Notre Dame’s 5-4 overtime win. Wallace continues to add to his “Iron Man” streak as he has now played in 139 consecutive games for the Irish.
THE QUICKEST AND THE LATEST: Tim Wallace’s goal at 00:09 of the first period versus Western Michigan on Dec. 2 was the quickest goal at the start of a game in Notre Dame history. It broke the mark of 12 seconds set by Sterling Black on Jan. 6, 1990 versus Arizona. Erik Condra’s goal with nine seconds left on the clock versus Minnesota State (Dec. 6) was the latest regulation-time, game-winning goal ever for the Irish, edging T.J. Jindra’s (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) short-handed game winner against Boston College last season by six seconds (19:45).
POWER-PLAY PRODUCER: Wes O’Neill recorded his fourth goal of the season in the 3-2 loss versus Miami. All four of his goals this season have come with the man advantage. The big defenseman recorded the first three-point game of his career at Minnesota State (Dec. 6) with three assists on the night. On the year, O’Neill has four multiple-point games and for his career, now has nine games with two or more points. On the season, the 2004 New York Islander draft choice has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. Of his 15 points, 13 have come on the power play (4g, 9a). In his two-plus seasons with the Irish, O’Neill now has 12 goals and 35 assists for 47 points with 29 of those coming via the power play (10g, 19a).
DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORER: Junior forward Josh Sciba now has a career-high 12 goals after scoring Friday night versus Miami (Jan. 13). With 12 goals and seven assists for 19 points, Sciba has career highs in goals, points and power-play goals (7). His seven assists tie his career high set as a freshman. Of Sciba’s 25 career goals, 12 have come via the power play.
FIVE AND COUNTING: David Brown’s 3-0 shutout versus Western Michigan (Dec. 3) was the fifth of his career and first this season. The junior puck stopper had four in his freshman year of 2003-04. The shutout moves him into sole possession of second place in the Irish record book for shutouts with five. Only Morgan Cey `05, with six, has more shutouts than Brown in Notre Dame history.
TWO AT A TIME: Senior left wing Mike Walsh recorded his second multiple-point game of the season on Dec. 3 in the 3-0 win over Western Michigan. In 20 games this season, Walsh has five goals and three assists for eight points. His other two-point game (1g, 1a) came in Notre Dame’s 9-4 win over Bowling Green on Nov. 10.
CAREER YEAR: Mark Van Guilder’s three goals and 12 assists on the season for 15 points gives him a career highs in all three categories. He recorded the fourth multiple-point game of his career with a goal and two assists versus Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 6.
LOOKING FOR GOALS: After scoring 13 goals in the weekend series versus Bowling Green (Nov. 10-11), the Irish have been held to just 29 goals in the last 14 games (2.07), including 14 goals in the last five games. For the season, the Irish have 58 goals in 22 games (2.64).
ALL TIED UP: Notre Dame has now recorded 2-2 ties in three of it’s last four games, giving the Irish 52 overtime games since the start of the 1999-2000 season. In those games, the Irish are 7-6-39. During the 2004-05 season, Notre Dame played in nine overtime contests, going 1-2-6 in those games. The lone overtime win came on Dec. 10 versus Michigan State and was the first regular-season overtime win since Jan. 25, 2002, snapping a 16-game winless (0-2-14) skid in regular-season overtime games. This season, the Irish are 0-0-3 in overtime.
SCORING BY CLASS: Here’s how Notre Dame scoring breaks down by classes this season.
Class (Skaters) Goals Assists Points Seniors (5) 21 17 38 Juniors (7) 25 36 61 Sophomores (8) 6 22 28 Freshmen (4) 6 20 26 Totals 58 95 153
IRON MEN: Junior right wing Tim Wallace has played in all 139 games during his three-plus seasons at Notre Dame. He became Notre Dame’s all-time “Iron Man,” passing former defenseman Evan Nielsen (`03) who held the record with 114 games between 2000-03. Other Irish consecutive game streaks of 35 games or more include:
Chris Trick – 61 games
Mark Van Guilder – 60 games
Mike Walsh – 55 games
Van Guilder joins Wallace as the only two players with two or more years experience on the Irish roster who have not missed a game during their careers.
NO. 1 TEAMS: Through the first 22 games of the season, the Irish will have played 10 of them versus ranked teams. The Irish opened with No. 4 Colorado College and then played No. 9 Denver. The second week of the season, the Irish played No. 3 Michigan in a pair of games. All three of those teams have been ranked No. 1 in the nation at one time or another this year. On Nov. 18-19, the Irish played a pair of games versus No. 11/12 Miami at Oxford, Ohio. This past weekend, Jan. 13-14, the Irish faced No. 3 Miami, getting a 2-2 tie and a 3-2 loss to the RedHawks.
INCOMING IRISH: Forward Kevin Deeth (Gig Harbor, Wash.), one of four incoming recruits for Notre Dame for the fall of 2006, has been named to the United States Hockey League’s all-star team for the 2006 Prospects/All-Star game that will be held in Sioux City, Iowa on Feb. 7. Deeth, a member of the Green Bay Gamblers, leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points in 35 games this season. Three other incoming Irish recruits are also playing in the USHL this season. The list includes: Christian Minella (Aurora, Colo.) who is currently playing for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers. In 35 games for the Stampede, Minella has 14 goals and six assists for 20 points. Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) is a defenseman with the Tri-City Storm. He has six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 31 games this season. Ryan Thang (Edina, Minn.) is a forward who has played for the Sioux Falls Stampede and the Omaha Lancers this season. In 34 games, he has 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points.
HATS OFF: Junior center Josh Sciba recorded the first hat trick of his career in the 9-4 win over Bowling Green on Nov. 10. Sciba scored two goals on the power play and then added a short-handed marker to cap his evening. He followed that with a third power-play goal of the weekend when he scored in Friday’s 4-2 win over the Falcons. Sciba’s hat trick was the first for a Notre Dame player since March 18, 2004 when Aaron Gill `04 scored three goals in a 6-5 Irish loss to Ohio State in the first round of the CCHA Super Six. His hat trick was also the first for a Notre Dame player at the Joyce Center since Aniket Dhadphale `99 scored three on November 13, 1998 in a 6-2 win over Bowling Green. Before Sciba’s hat trick, the last five Irish three-goal efforts came on the road.
IRISH IN CCHA/NATIONAL RANKINGS
Scoring CCHA NationalJosh Sciba (12-8-20) t16th t86th (0.95 ppg)Erik Condra (3-17-20) t16th ---Tim Wallace (9-8-17) t34th ---
GoalsJosh Sciba (12) t4th t24th (0.57 gpg)Tim Wallace (9) t12th t82nd (0.41 gpg)Matt Amado (7) t34th ---
AssistsErik Condra (17) t5th t26th (0.77 apg)Mark Van Guilder (12) t21st ---Wes O'Neill (11) t27th ---
Power-Play GoalsJosh Sciba (7) 2nd t10thWes O'Neill (4) t17th ---
Short-Handed GoalsJosh Sciba (1) t4th t24thMark Van Guilder (1) t4th t24th
Game-Winning GoalsMike Walsh (2) t9th t35th
Defensemen ScoringWes O'Neill (4-11-15) t5th 23rd (0.71 ppg)Noah Babin (3-8-11) t9th ---
Rookie Scoring (Points per game)Erik Condra (3-17-20) t2nd 12th (0.91 ppg)
Goals Against Avg. (33% of games)David Brown (2.86) 11th 47th
Save% (33% of games)David Brown (.904) 10th t48th
Team RankingsScoring Offense (2.64) 10th t42ndScoring Defense (3.14) 9th 36thScoring Margin (-0.50) 11th t41stFewest Penalty Minutes (16.6) 1st 11thPower Play (17.8%) 5th 26thPenalty Killing (80.5%) 11th 41st