Junior center Josh Sciba picked up his first career hat trick in Notre Dame's 9-4 win over Bowling Green.

Irish Open Home Schedule With A Visit By The Princeton Tigers

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Oct. 26, 2005

Notre Dame, Ind. –

• The Series:  Notre Dame (0-2-0/0-0-0) vs. Princeton (8-20-3 in 2004-05)
• Date/Site/Times: Fri.-Sat, Oct. 28-29, 2005 - 7:35/7:05 p.m. - Joyce Center (2,713).
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on ESPN Radio1580, South Bend's SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, "the voiceof Irish hockey" will bring you all the action both nights.
• Internet Broadcast: At the Notre Dame website - www.und.com.

HOME OPENER: The Notre Dame hockey team returns home after its opening weekend in Colorado to open the home schedule with a weekend series against the ECACHL’s Princeton Tigers. The games will be played at the Joyce Center on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28-29. The series opener on Friday will start at 7:35 p.m. with the puck dropped on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. The Irish come into the weekend looking for their first win of the season after losing at No. 4 Colorado College, 3-1, on Oct. 21 and 6-3 to No. 9 Denver on Oct. 22. For Princeton, the weekend series is the season-opening weekend for the Tigers who were 8-20-3 overall last season and finished 10th in the ECAC Hockey League with a 6-14-2 record. This will be the first visit for Princeton to the Joyce Center since a weekend series, Dec. 19-20, 1999 when the Tigers took 4-3 and 4-2 wins. Princeton won its exhibition opener last weekend versus the University of Waterloo by a 4-2 score. Following the Princeton series, the Irish open the CCHA schedule on Nov. 4-5, when they play a home-and-home series with No. 1 ranked Michigan. The Nov. 4 game begins at 7:35 p.m. at the Joyce Center and will be televised by College Sports Television (CSTV). Saturday’s game is in Ann Arbor, Mich., at Yost Arena and will also begin at 7:35 p.m. That game will be televised by Comcast Local.

IRISH VERSUS TIGERS: For the second weekend in a row, Notre Dame faces a team with the Tigers nickname after opening the season versus the Colorado College Tigers. This weekend’s opponent, the Princeton Tigers, make their first visit to the Joyce Center since Dec. 19-20, 1999. The two teams have met 11 times in the series that started during the 1984-85 campaign with Princeton holding a 9-2 edge in the series. At Notre Dame, the Tigers are 5-0 all-times while at Princeton, N.J., they are 3-1-0. The two teams have split a pair of neutral site games. The last time the two teams met was Dec. 28-29, 2001 in New Jersey. The Irish won both games – a 2-1 decision at Hobey Baker Rink and then a 4-2 win at the Sovereign Center in Trenton, N.J. Princeton head coach Guy Gadowsky is no stranger to Notre Dame hockey fans. From 1999-2004 he was the head coach at Alaska Fairbanks where his teams were 4-5-3 versus the Irish.

OPENING WEEK WRAP UP: The Irish visited Colorado last weekend to open the season with a pair of games versus nationally ranked teams. On Friday night, Notre Dame faced off against No. 4 ranked Colorado College, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Tigers. After a scoreless first period, Colorado College got a pair of goals in the second period by Trevor Frischmon and 2005 Hobey Baker winner Marty Sertich to build a 2-0 lead. The lead would go to 3-0 just 32 seconds into the third period when Joey Crabb scored on the power play for the Tigers. Notre Dame broke goaltender Matt Zaba’s shutout bid at 13:38 of the third period when Victor Oreskovich (So., Oakville, Ont.) tucked the rebound of a Tim Wallace (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) shot behind Zaba for the final of 3-1. Colorado College out shot the Irish 40-13 in the game. David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) made 37 saves for Notre Dame. On Saturday, the Irish moved north to Denver to take on the defending national champion Denver Pioneers at Magness Arena. In front of a sellout crowd of 6,063, the University of Denver took a 6-3 verdict. All-American defenseman Matt Carle led the scoring for the Pioneers as he had a goal and three assists in the game. Fellow All-American Gabe Gauthier had a goal and two assists and Brock Trotter scored a pair of goals in the win. Of Denver’s six goals, two came on the power play and two came short-handed. After DU took a 2-0 lead, Wes O’Neill (Jr., Essex, Ont.) cut the lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 10:46. A Paul Stastny power-play goal gave Denver a 3-1 lead before Josh Sciba (Jr., Westland, Mich.) stuffed a shot behind goaltender Peter Mannino to make it 3-2. A Trotter power-play goal closed the second period with Denver on top, 4-2. The lead would go to 6-2 before the Irish closed the scoring with a Noah Babin (Jr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) power-play goal at 15:09. Freshman right wing Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) recorded three assists in the game. Freshman goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) made 17 saves in his first career start as the Irish were outshot 23-19 in the game.

FAST START: Freshman Erik Condra’s three-point game (0g, 3a) versus Denver was the first three-point game by an Irish rookie since Brett Lebda `04 had five points (1g, 4a) versus Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 20, 2000. His three-point game was the first for the Irish since Nov. 5, 2004 when both Mike Walsh (Sr., Northville, Mich.) and Cory McLean `05 had three points versus Bowling Green in a 4-4 tie. Walsh had three assists while McLean had a goal and two assists in the game.

GOING FOR THE GOLD: For the first time since the 1975-76 season, the Notre Dame hockey team will wear gold helmets, starting with this weekend’s games with Colorado College and Denver. When head coach Jeff Jackson took over the program he wanted the hockey program to have an identity. Most people identify Notre Dame with the Golden Dome and the gold football helmets worn by the football team. Irish equipment manager Dave Gilbert contacted the various hockey equipment companies during the summer and Bauer was able to recreate the Irish helmets with the same gold metallic paint that is used on the helmets of the Notre Dame football team. These helmets feature white cages (except for players who wear visors) and like the football helmets have no other markings except for an American flag on the back.

FOR OPENERS: After losing their season opener at Colorado College, Notre Dame is now 19-17-2 in season openers and 14-20-3 in road openers. Going into this weekend’s home opener versus Princeton, the Irish are 20-16-1 in home openers.

THE STREAK CONTINUES: For Notre Dame fans, its been a long time since the Irish last won a game – period. Notre Dame enters this weekend’s games in the midst of a 21-game winless streak (0-19-2), the longest in the program’s history. Notre Dame’s last win came on Jan. 2, 2005, a 2-1 win at home over the Rensselaer Engineers at the Joyce Center. OPENING NIGHT STAND OUT: Senior right wing Tim Wallace continued his “Iron Man” streak by playing in the first two games of the season last weekend. He has now played in 119 consecutive games for the Irish in his career. He also continued a personal “Opening Night” streak with an assist in the opener at Colorado College. During his four seasons at Notre Dame, Wallace has now picked up a point in the first game of every year. In 2002, as a freshman, he scored a goal on his first shot at Minnesota-Duluth. As a sophomore in 2003, he had a pair of assists in a 5-2 win at Ohio State. Last season, he set up Notre Dame’s first goal of the season (by Josh Sciba) and this year he assisted on Victor Oreskovich’s goal versus Colorado College. In four season openers, Wallace has a goal and four assists for five points.

BACK BEHIND THE BENCH: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson returns to collegiate coaching this season for the first time since leaving Lake Superior State following the 1995-96 season. In six years with the Lakers, Jackson compiled a 182-52-25 career record with two national championships, two CCHA regular-season titles and four CCHA tournament championships. The veteran coach is the NCAA’s winningest active coach with at least five years experience with a .751 winning percentage. His 182 career wins (in just six seasons) ranks him 26th among active coaches. Included in his 182 wins are 36 postseason victories and a .837 winning percentage (36-7 in postseason). In CCHA postseason action, Jackson’s teams were 24-2 (.923) with the two losses coming to Michigan in CCHA Championship games (`94 and `96).

LATE START: Notre Dame’s Oct. 21 opener at Colorado College was the latest the Irish have started a season since the 1991-92 campaign. That year, the Irish opened with a pair of games on Oct. 25-26 at Air Force where they split, losing 8-3 and winning, 5-3.

ROSTER MOVES: Head coach Jeff Jackson reduced his roster to a more workable 27 players following the weekend in Colorado as junior forward Matt Williams-Kovacs (Calgary, Alb.) and freshman defenseman Jamie Silverson (Thunder Bay, Ont.) are no longer with the team. The Irish now have three goaltenders, nine defensemen and 15 forwards on the roster.

SHORT-CIRCUIT: The Denver Pioneers scored a pair of short-handed goals (Gabe Gauthier, Ryan Dingle) in the 6-3 win over the Irish on Oct. 22. That marked the first time since Dec. 8, 2000 against Miami that the Irish gave up two short-handed tallies in a game. The Irish lost that game, 5-2, with Jason Deskins and Gregor Krajnc each scoring a man down.

IRISH CAPTAINS: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson named his captain and alternates for the 2005-06 season on Oct. 5. Junior T.J. Jindra (Faribault, Minn.) was selected as the team’s captain, making him the first junior captain since Evan Neilsen `03. Jindra is the 13th junior in the program’s history to be selected captain. He will be assisted by seniors Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) and Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) along with junior Jason Paige. Walsh and Paige are in their second seasons as alternate captains for the Irish.

IRON MAN: Junior right wing Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) has played in all 119 games during his first three 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. Nielsen missed just two games in his career, playing in 156 of a possible 158 games. Two other current Irish players have played every game in their careers to date:

Wes O’Neill – 79 games T.J. Jindra – 79 games Mark Van Guilder – 40 games

Current active streaks of 35 consecutive games or more for the Irish include O’Neill, Jindra and Van Guilder along with – Noah Babin (49 games), Chris Trick (42 games) and Mike Walsh (35 games).

FIRST TIMERS: Several players made their first career appearances for the Irish during the weekend trip to Colorodo. Goaltender Jordan Pearce saw his first action in goal, making 17 saves in the 6-3 loss to Denver. Forward Erik Condra (3 assists) and defenseman Tom Sawatske (Jr., Duluth, Minn.) played in both games while forwards Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) and Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) each played in one game.

BROWN FILE: Junior goaltender David Brown turned in a strong effort in his first start of the season at Colorado College on Oct. 21. Brown stopped 37 of 40 shots in the game, a 3-1 loss to the Tigers. He now has a career record of 16-18-4 in 42 games (38 starts) with a 3.01 goals-against average with a .906 save percentage. In 2004-05, Brown was 2-10-1 overall with a 4.30 goals against and a .870 save percentage. Brown came on the scene as a freshman when he got a chance to start early due to an injury to then junior Morgan Cey `05. The Stoney Creek, Ont., native turned in shutouts in three of his first four starts and finished the year with a 14-7-3 record with a 2.32 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and four shutouts. He owns single-season Notre Dame records for goals-against average (2.32), save percentage (.925), shutouts (4) and shutout streaks (193:27). Career-wise, Brown is third in goals-against average (3.01), second in save percentage (.906) and second in shutouts (4).

GOAL-SCORING WOES: Notre Dame will look to find an answer to its goal-scoring struggles from 2004-05 this season. Through the first two games this season, the Irish have four goals in two games for a 2.00 average. In 38 games, the Irish scored just 60 goals (1.58 per game). Notre Dame was shutout five times on the year and scored two or less goals in 29 of 38 games on the year. The Irish scored a season-high four goals, just once, on Nov. 5, 2004 in a come-from-behind 4-4 tie with Bowling Green. The fewest goals the Irish had ever scored in a season prior to `04-’05 was 92 during the 1996-97 season. The Irish scored just 23 power-play goals, scoring at a 9.8% success rate.

MOVING ON: Over the last two seasons, Notre Dame has seen six of its players sign contracts with National Hockey League teams. Only Michigan with seven and Minnesota with six have as many or more NHL signees. This past summer, goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) and former Irish forward Yan Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.) signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Edmonton Oilers respectively. They joined 2003-04 signees – Neil Komadoski (Ottawa Senators), Brett Lebda (Detroit Red Wings), Aaron Gill (San Jose Sharks) and Rob Globke (Florida Panthers). Komadoski, Globke and Stastny were selected in the NHL Draft (Stastny was a Boston Bruin pick) while Cey, Gill and Lebda were free-agent signees. Stastny played at Notre Dame from 2001-03 before going to Germany to play professional hockey. He would have been a senior in 2004-05.

DROP THE PUCK: Notre Dame officially open the 2004-05 season on Tues., Sept. 6 when the Irish hosted their first-ever “Drop The Puck Dinner” at the Joyce Center featuring guest speaker Scotty Bowman. Over 400 fans attended and had the chance skate on the Joyce Center ice, meet and greet the `05-’06 team and then hear the legendary hockey coach talk hockey with the players, coaches and fans in attendance. Bowman, who won nine Stanley Cups in his illustrious coaching career, was also invited by Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis to address his team at practice on Sept. 6, just four days prior to football’s upset win at Michigan.

ALL TIED UP: The Fighting Irish have been involved in 49 overtime games since the start of the 1999-2000 season. In those games, they are 7-6-36. 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. Notre Dame’s season ended in an overtime loss as the Irish fell 1-0 in overtime to Michigan in game two of the first round of the CCHA playoffs.

BEATING THE BEST: In each of the last two seasons, the Irish have faced a No. 1 ranked team and each year they’ve come away with a victory. In 2004-05, Notre Dame knocked off the No. 1 ranked Boston College Eagles in South Bend by a 3-2 score. The previous year, the Irish traveled to Chestnut Hill, Mass., and knocked off the top-ranked Eagles, 1-0, with current junior goaltender David Brown turning in the shutout. Here’s the list of Irish wins versus top-ranked teams in the 38-year history of the program.

10/22/04 – vs. Boston College, 3-2 10/23/03 – at Boston College, 1-0 1/3/99 – at North Dakota, 4-3 11/20/78 – at Minnesota, 3-2 1/13/78 – vs. Denver, 5-3 1/18/74 – vs. Michigan Tech, 7-1 2/24/73 – vs. Wisconsin, 4-3 2/23/73 – vs. Wisconsin, 8-5

PRESEASON CCHA POLLS: The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) announced the results of it’s coaches and media preseason polls at Media Day in Detroit on Sept. 27. In the annual polls, Notre Dame was picked to finish ninth by both the coaches and the media.

CCHA Coaches Poll (1st-place votes)  Points1.  Ohio State (11)                   1212.  Michigan (1)                      1083.  Northern Michigan                  964.  Michigan State                     935.  Nebraska-Omaha                     786.  Miami                              697.  Alaska Fairbanks                   658.  Bowling Green                      509.  Notre Dame                         3610. Ferris State                       2811. Lake Superior State                2312. Western Michigan                   22
CCHA Media Poll (1st-place votes) Points1. Ohio State (45) 6222. Michigan (7) 5813. Northern Michigan (1) 4944. Michigan State (1) 4325. Nebraska-Omaha 3806. Alaska Fairbanks 3727. Miami 3688. Bowling Green 3009. Notre Dame 19610. Western Michigan 17911. Lake Superior State 15912. Ferris State 112

FAMILY MATTERS: Two freshmen – forwards Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) and Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) – join seniors Rory Walsh (Milton, Mass.) and Mike Walsh as Irish hockey players with family ties to Notre Dame athletics. Condra’s uncle is All-American forward Kirt Bjork (`83) who played at Notre Dame from 1979-83. He scored 76 goals with 85 assists for 161 career points in 141 career games. He took All-American honors in 1983 when he had 29 goals and 34 assists for 63 points. Regan’s uncle – Sean Regan – was a defenseman for the Irish from1981-83 before finishing his career at the University of Minnesota. In two seasons, Regan had eight goals and 34 assists for 42 points in 60 games. 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. Rory Walsh is one of Notre Dame’s goaltenders and Walsh plays left wing for the Irish.

FROZEN TUNDRA: Notre Dame has had a steady flow of players in recent years that played their junior hockey with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United State’s Hockey League. Four members of the current Notre Dame team have played in the Land of Lombardi. The trio is led by junior defensmen Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.). The defensive duo were teammates there during the `02-’03 season. Two former Gamblers are members of the Irish sophomore class – center Victor Oreskovich (Oakville, Ont.) and defenseman Dan VeNard (Vernon Hills, Ill). Oreskovich played one season in Green Bay (`03-’04) while VeNard was a Gambler from 2001-04.

HOMETOWNS: The 2005-06 Notre Dame hockey team features players from eight states and three Canadian provinces – Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. Over the past 10 years, Notre Dame hockey letter winners have hailed from 20 different states and provinces – those listed below, plus: Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

2005-06 NOTRE DAME HOCKEY – BY STATE OR PROVINCE:

Michigan (8): Chris Trick, Mike Walsh, Jason Paige, Josh Sciba, Andrew Eggert, Evan Rankin, Erik Condra, Justin White Minnesota (5): Tony Gill, T.J. Jindra, Tom Sawatske, Mark Van Guilder, Garrett Regan Illinois (3): Michael Bartlett, Brian D’Arcy, Dan VeNard Ontario (3): David Brown, Wes O’Neill, Victor Oreskovich Alaska (2): Tim Wallace, Jordan Pearce Alberta (1): Brock Sheahan British Columbia (1): Matt Amado Florida (1): Noah Babin Massachusetts (1): Rory Walsh Pennsylvania (1): Christian Hanson Wisconsin (1): Luke Lucyk

THE IRISH AND THE U.S. NATIONAL TEAM DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM: Notre Dame’s current roster includes six players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP). Since the program began, the Irish have had a total of 15 NTDP alums grace their roster. The current contingent includes senior Tim Wallace and juniors Noah Babin, Michael Bartlett (Morton Grove, Ill.), Tom Sawatske (Duluth, Minn.) and Josh Sciba (Westland, Mich.). The lone freshman is goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska). A 16th alum will join the Irish in 2006-07 as defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) signed a letter-of-intent in November, 2004 and is playing this year in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm. Other former NTDP players who played at Notre Dame and their years in the national program include: Brett Henning (1997-98), Michael Chin (1997-98), Connor Dunlop (1997-99), Paul Harris (1997-99), John Wroblewski (1997-99), Neil Komadoski (1998-2000), Brett Lebda (1998-2000), Rob Globke (1998-2000) and Derek Smith (2000-01).

NHL DRAFTEES: This past August, the Irish had one player selected in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. That player – Kyle Lawson – was a seventh round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, 198th overall. Lawson signed a national letter-of-intent to attend Notre Dame during the early-signing period in Nov. of 2004. He then deferred until the start of the 2006-07 school year. Lawson will play this season in the United States Hockey League with the Tri-City Storm. The Irish have four players on this year’s roster – senior Mike Walsh (New York Rangers), juniors Wes O’Neill (New York Islanders) and David Brown (Pittsburgh Penguins) and sophomore Victor Oreskovich (Colorado Avalanche) – who have been drafted by NHL teams.

PUTTING ON THE FOIL: Notre Dame freshman Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) becomes the sixth player to play for the Irish whose father played in the National Hockey League. His father, Dave Hanson, played 10 years of professional hockey between 1974-75 and 1983-84, including stints with the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota North Stars and the World Hockey Association’s (WHA) Minnesota Fighting Saints and the New England Whalers. Fans might also be familiar with Dave Hanson, as one of the famed Hanson Brothers, made famous in the hockey movie – Slapshot. Hanson currently is the director of the Island Sports Center, home of Robert Morris University’s hockey team, in suburban Pittsburgh.

RIVALRY CLUSTERS: The CCHA begins its fourth season with the 12 teams grouped in “rivalry pairings.” In the 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. Each season the teams are divided into three, four-team clusters and play a 28-game conference schedule. Cluster teams will face each other four times during the season with two games against each of the remaining eight teams. In 2005-06, Notre Dame will play Bowling Green, Miami and Ohio State four times with two games at home and two away. The Irish will also play home-and-home series with Ferris State, Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan with two-game home series with Alaska Fairbanks and Lake Superior State. The Irish play two-game raod series at Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Michigan. In 2004-05, the Irish played in the same cluster with Bowling Green, Michigan and Michigan State and were 1-10-1 in the 12 games.

STAR GAZING: Notre Dame’s freshman class of 2005-06 features three players who played their junior hockey for the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars of the USHL in `04-’05. The trio includes goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska), defensman Tom Sawatske (Duluth, Minn.) and forward Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.). They join sophomore right wing Evan Rankin (Portage, Mich.) who spent the `03-’04 season in Lincoln. Condra had 30 goals and 30 assists for 60 points for the high-flying Stars. Sawatske, a transfer from the University of Wisconsin, collected a goal and nine assists for 10 points in 34 games and Pearce was 22-10-4 with a 3.07 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage. Both Sawatske and Pearce were selected to play in the USHL Top Prospects game.

STORM WARNINGS: After bringing in three members of USHL’s Tri-City Storm for the 2004-05 season, the Irish added a fourth player former Storm player Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) to this year’s freshman class. Hanson joins sophomores Brian D’Arcy (Western Springs, Ill.), Luke Lucyk (Fox Point, Wis.) and Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) as Storm alums. All four were members of the 2003-04 Tri-City team that was the USHL regular-season champion and lost in the championship series to Waterloo. Hanson joins the Irish this season after leading Tri-City in scoring with 19 goals and 33 assists for 52 points on the year. He was the USHL’s 2005 Curt Hammer Award winner, the fourth USHL player to win the award and them play at Notre Dame.