Feb. 14, 2013
Notre Dame, Ind. –
– The Teams: #12/#12 Notre Dame (18-11-1/14-7-1-1) vs. #3/#3 Miami (18-7-5/13-5-4-4)
– The Games: Friday, February 15, 2013 – Steve Cady Arena (3,642) – 7:38 p.m.
OfficeMax Hockey City Classic Sunday, February 17, 2013 – Soldier Field (61,500) – 12:05 p.m. (CT)
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame’s series versus the RedHawks will be broadcast live on Real Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish, will call the action. Television: Friday’s contest at Miami (OH) will be televised live by the CBS Sports Network with Ben Holden, Dave Starman and Shireen Saski providing the play-by-play and color commentary. Sunday’s game in Chicago will be televised live by Fox Sports Detroit and Comcast Chicago with Dan Kelly, Rob Andringa and Ray Crawford calling the shots.
– Internet: Audio/Video: Live audio streaming for the Miami series is available on the Notre Dame website at UND.com free of charge. Statistics: Livestats can be found at GameTracker, ccha.com or collegehockeyinc.com. Twitter: Follow Irish hockey on Twitter at ND_hockey.
– Weather Forecast for Sunday: Mostly sunny with 10% chance of precipitation. High of 35 and low of 30. Wind from the south at 12 mph.
SHOWDOWN IN THE CCHA: With three weekends of action left in the CCHA, third-place Notre Dame travels to first-place Miami for a two-game weekend series. The RedHawks lead the conference with 47 points with the Irish (44) trailing the top spot by just three points. This weekend series is unique as the two games will be played at different venues under different conditions. On Friday, Feb. 15, the two teams will meet at 7:38 p.m. at Miami’s Steve Cady Arena with the game being televised by CBS Sports Network. After a day off, the teams will travel to Chicago, Ill. for a 12:05 p.m. (CT) game on Sunday, Feb. 17 on the outdoor rink at Soldier Field in the OfficeMax Hockey City Classic. Notre Dame enters the weekend with a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) and is 18-11-1 overall and 14-7-1-1 in the CCHA. The Irish are coming off a home sweep of Michigan, winning 7-4 and 6-4 on Feb. 8-9 at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Miami enters the series having won six of its last seven games and is 18-7-5 overall and 13-5-4-4 in conference play. The RedHawks lead second-place Western Michigan (46) by one point and third-place Notre Dame by three in the race for the top spot in the conference. Miami is ranked third in both the USAToday/U.S. Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls while Notre Dame is 12th in both.
IRISH VERSUS REDHAWKS: Notre Dame and Miami have met 64 times in the all-time series with the RedHawks owning a 38-16-10 advantage. At Oxford, Ohio, Miami is 21-9-2 all-time while the RedHawks are 4-0-0 against the Irish on neutral ice. Miami has won three straight in the series and is 4-0-2 versus Notre Dame in the last six meetings between the two schools. The last time that the Irish defeated the RedHawks was on Dec. 3, 2010, a 5-4 win at Steve Cady Arena. The two teams met twice, a year ago in Oxford, Ohio with Miami prevailing 3-0 and 4-1. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, the RedHawks have had their way with the Irish, going 10-1-2 in 13 games.
NEXT FOR THE IRISH: The Irish will be on the road again next week when they travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., on Feb. 22-23 for a pair of 7:35 p.m. games with the Western Michigan Broncos. Friday’s game at Lawson Arena will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.
THE STRETCH DRIVE: The race for the top six spots and the CCHA regular-season title gets interesting with six games left to play. Here are the points and games played totals for the top six teams heading into games that will be played this weekend.
PTS GP1. Miami 47 222. Western Michigan 46 223. Notre Dame 44 224. Ferris State 39 245. Ohio State 38 226. Alaska 37 24
This Weekend: Notre Dame at Miami; Western Michigan at Ohio State; Bowling Green at Ferris State and Alaska at Lake Superior.
OFFICEMAX HOCKEY CITY CLASSIC: The Notre Dame hockey team will play its first-ever outdoor game during the program’s Division I era on Sunday, Feb. 17 when the Irish take part in the OfficeMax Hockey City Classic at Chicago’s historic Soldier Field. Notre Dame will face Miami in the second game of the weekend series with the RedHawks. In the second game of the doubleheader, Minnesota will battle Wisconsin in the second game of a WCHA weekend series. The OfficeMax Hockey City Classic is being organized by the Chicago-based sports and entertainment marketing agency Intersport, in partnership with Soldier Field and the Chicago Park District. Notre Dame hockey is no stranger to the city of Chicago as the Irish have played hockey in the Windy City on and off since the 1966-67 campaign when the Notre Dame club team played in the first-ever college hockey tournament at Chicago Stadium. Since then, the Irish have played more than 40 games in and around Chicago, playing at Lake Forest (1969-70 and from 1985-91), at Chicago Stadium (1971 and 1972), at the University of Illinois-Chicago (1979-82 and 1988-96 as CCHA rivals), at Allstate Arena (2003 and 2005) and most-recently, at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., where Notre Dame hosted the Shillelagh Tournament from 2009-11. The 2012-13 Notre Dame hockey roster features seven players with ties to the Chicago area: The group includes senior Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge), juniors Kevin Lind (Homer Glen) and T.J. Tynan (Orland Park), sophomores Robbie Russo (Westmont) and Garrett Peterson (Manhattan) freshmen Thomas DiPauli (Woodridge) and Sam Herr (Hinsdale). The Irish have had 25 hockey monogram winners from the Chicago area in the program’s history. Current Notre Dame defenseman Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa.) was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round, 60th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and the Hawks have drafted five Notre Dame players since 1971.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS: Notre Dame has never played an outdoor game in the program’s 45-year varsity history. Prior to becoming a varsity program, the Irish had a club program from 1963-68 that saw all of its home games played outdoors at South Bend’s Howard Park Rink. Notre Dame originally had hockey as far back as 1912-13 and then again from 1919 through 1927. Back then, ice was always an issue as the team played a majority of its games outdoors. Irish home games were played on an outdoor rink that was built near the current site of Badin Hall or on St. Mary’s Lake on the Notre Dame campus.
JERSEY WATCH: Notre Dame will unveil special throwback jerseys when they take the ice at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sunday, Feb. 17. The Irish will wear jerseys from an era when they played all their home games outdoors – the club era from 1963 to 1968. During that time, prior to Irish hockey getting Division I status for the 1968-69 season, the Notre Dame club program played all its games outdoors at South Bend’s Howard Park Rink. The Reebok jerseys were designed using photos of games played during the club era. They are blue with white shoulders and a gold neck and contain a white-blue-gold striping pattern on the elbows and around the bottom. The name IRISH is displayed diagonally down the front of the sweater and is trimmed in white. The throwback jerseys have a string tie at the neck just like hockey sweaters from that era. The jersey will have just one number and that’s on the back in gold and trimmed in white with the player’s name also on back. Inside the tail of the jersey is a commemorative patch with the name of the teams and the date of the game. The Irish players also will wear blue Reebok socks with the white-blue-gold striping pattern in the middle.
MICHIGAN RECAP: Saturday, Feb. 9 – Junior linemates Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) and Jeff Costello (Milwaukee, Wis.) each had a goal and two assists to lead Notre Dame to a 6-4 win over Michigan in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,022 at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Lee and Costello were joined in the goal-scoring column by Bryan Rust (Jr., Novi, Mich.), Peter Schneider (So., Vienna, Austria), Austin Wuthrich (So., Anchorage, Alaska) and David Gerths (Jr., Ankeny, Iowa) as the Irish swept a two-game series from the Wolverines for the second time this season and won all four games in one season against Michigan for just the second time ever, and the first time since the 1972-73 season. Alex Guptill, Phil Di Giuseppe, Kevin Lynch and Mac Bennett scored for the Wolverines as they scored three times on six power-play chances in the contest. Notre Dame out shot Michigan, 33-28 in the game. Irish netminder Steven Summerhays (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska) made 24 saves while Jared Rutledge (40:47 had 17 stops and Adam Janecyk played the final 17:48, making 10 saves.
Friday, February 8 – Notre Dame’s line of Jeff Costello, Anders Lee and Bryan Rust combined for four goals and five assists, while David Gerths added two goals and defenseman Eric Johnson (So., Verona, Wis.) scored the first goal of his collegiate career as the Irish handed Michigan a 7-4 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 5,022 at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Jon Merrill, Cristoval “Boo” Nieves, Andrew Copp and Derek DeBlois each scored once for Michigan as the Wolverines notched a power-play marker and a pair of short-handed goals in the game. Notre Dame took a 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Lee and Gerths only to see Michigan get a late power-play goal by Merrill to cut the lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes. The teams traded four goals in the second period. The Wolverines tied the game at 2-2 just 37 seconds into the second period on Nieves’ eighth goal of the year. Rust scored on a power-play goal off a great set up by Costello at 6:29 to put the Irish back in the lead before Michigan got the first of two short-handed goals at 16:19 as Copp scored on the rebound of his own shot to make it 3-3. On the same power play, Lee put Notre Dame ahead to stay as he redirected a Costello centering pass at 16:59 for his second of the night and 16th of the year. That was the first of three straight Irish goals as Eric Johnson hammered a slap shot past Jared Rutledge at 7:05. Gerths made it 6-3 at 8:26 with an unassisted goal before DeBlois scored the second Michigan short-handed goal of the night at 11:04. Rust then closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal for his career-best four-point night (2g, 2a) in the 7-4 win. Notre Dame out shot Michigan, 35-22, with Mike Johnson (Sr., Verona, Wis.) making 18 saves on the night. Rutledge had 28 saves in the game. The Irish were 2-for-4 on the power play while the Wolverines were 1-for-4.
FOUR STRAIGHT: Notre Dame recorded sweeps in each of its series versus Michigan during the 2012-13 season, giving the Irish four consecutive wins in one season against the Wolverines. Notre Dame also posted back-to-back wins versus Michigan on Nov. 15-16 at Yost Arena, just the fourth time in the program’s history that the Irish have swept in Ann Arbor. The four wins in one season has happened versus Michigan just one other time when Notre Dame recorded four in a row during the 1972-73 campaign.
EN FUEGO: The trio of Jeff Costello, Anders Lee and Bryan Rust combined for 16 points in the two-game series with Michigan on Feb. 8-9. Costello led the way with a goal and five assists for six points while Lee and Rust each had three goals and two assists for five points. Rust turned in a four-point game (2g, 2a) in Friday’s win. That was a personal season best and the top game offensive game by an Irish player this season.
WOLVERINE KILLER: Junior right wing Bryan Rust has been a thorn in the side of the Michgan Wolverines this season. In the two games in November, Rust had the winning goal in the 3-1 win on Nov. 15 and then set up the game winner in the 4-1 win on Nov. 16. On Feb. 8, he had a career-best four-point game with two goals and two assists in the 7-4 win. On Saturday, Rust added a single goal in the win. In 10 career games against Michigan, Rust has four goals and four assists for eight points against the Wolverines. On the season, Rust is having a career year with 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points, all career highs. He leads the Irish with a +17 and is tied for the team lead with four power-play goals and three game winners.
THE PLAYMAKER: Junior left wing Jeff Costello had a career-high three-assist game in Friday’s 7-4 win over Michigan. Costello now has career highs in assists (15) and points (22) for the Irish this season.
BACK ON TOP: With three goals in the weekend series versus Michigan, junior center Anders Lee is back on top of the CCHA with a league-leading 17 goals on the year. That ties him for fourth on the national level. Lee now leads the Irish with 17 goals and 12 assists for 29 points which ranks him third in the league-scoring race. His multiple-goal game versus the Wolverines was his third this season and the 11th of his Notre Dame career.
FIRST TIMER: Sophomore defenseman Eric Johnson scored the first goal of his collegiate career and his first game winner in the 7-4 win on Feb. 8. Johnson, who did not play in any games as a freshman, has become a mainstay on the Irish blue line as the season has gone on. He has played in 17 games, including the last 14 straight with one goal and no assists for one point. He is +4 on the season.
GOAL-SCORING MACHINE: Junior center David Gerths had the best weekend of his career as he scored three goals in the series sweep of Michigan. Gerths had the second, two-goal game of his career in the 7-4 win over the Wolverines on Feb. 8. He then added his third goal of the weekend in the 6-4 win on Feb. 9. In 30 games this season, Gerths has seven goals and no assists for seven points. His career high in goals came as a freshman in 2010-11 when he had eight.
LUCKY 13: Notre Dame combined to score 13 goals in the two-game series versus Michigan (Feb. 8-9). The last time the Irish scored 13 or more goals in a weekend series came on Feb. 13-14, 2009 when they scored 14 in a series versus Northern Michigan. Notre Dame won games by 9-5 and 5-2 margins.
SCORING FIRST: Notre Dame has scored the first goal of the game in 21 of its first 30 contests this season and is now 16-5-0 in those games. The Irish scored the first goal in six consecutive games between Jan. 15 and Feb. 1 but were just 1-5-0 in those games. When they don’t light the lamp first, the Irish are just 2-6-1 in those games. Notre Dame scored the first goal in each game of the Michigan series and is 2-0-0 in those games.
CCHA HONORS: Two members of the Notre Dame hockey team were honored by the CCHA for their play in the series versus Michigan on Feb. 8-9. Junior left wing Jeff Costello was named the CCHA Postgame offensive player of the week after getting a goal and five assists for six points in the series sweep. Freshman Thomas DiPauli was named the CCHA Gongshow rookie of the week as he had three assists in the two games, with assists on the game-winning goals each night. The weekly awards were the firs for both players this season.
WORK HORSE: Dating back to last Feb. 24, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays has played in 31 of the last 36 games, making 30 starts. During those 31 games, Summerhays is 18-12-0 with a 1.92 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage and five shutouts. His win on Feb. 9 vs. Michigan was the 30th win of his Notre Dame career. He is now 30-22-1 for his career with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. This season, Summerhays is second in the CCHA in wins (15) and is fifth in goals-against average (2.05). He is eighth in save percentage (.918) and tied for the league lead with three shutouts.
THE OTHER GUY: Senior goaltender Mike Johnson saw action in his third consecutive game on Feb. 8 in the 7-4 win over Michigan as he stopped 18 of 22 shots for his third win of the season. The Verona, Wis., native is now 3-1-1 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .985 save percentage. For his career, he has appeared in 97 games, making 90 starts and is 42-34-13 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage with two shutouts. His 42 wins make him just one of seven Notre Dame goaltenders to win 40 or more games in his career.
SPECIAL TEAM WOES: After spending the first half of the season with one of the top penalty killing units in the nation, the Irish have struggled during the season half. After the first 18 games of the season, Notre Dame had given up just seven power-play goals in 70 chances for a 90.0% success rate. Over the last 12 games, the Irish have surrendered 15 power-play goals in 58 chances for a 74.1% penalty-killing ratio in those games. In the first half of the season, Notre Dame was 15-for-82 on the power play for an 18.3% rating. In the second half, over the last 12 games, the Irish are 9-for-51 for a 17.6% total. They have also given up three short-handed goals in the last three games.
SHOOTOUTS: Notre Dame’s shootout win versus Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 2, marked the first shootout of the season for the Irish and the first since Nov. 22, 2011, one that they lost 2-0 at Western Michigan. Notre Dame had not won a shootout since Jan. 29, 2011 when the Irish defeated Miami, 1-0, behind a goal from T.J. Tynan. The Irish were 0-3 in the shootout during the 2012-13 season. Since the shootout started in 2008-09, Notre Dame is 8-9 in 17 games that have gone to a shootout.
SIX STRAIGHT: Notre Dame hockey fans have sold out (5,022) the Compton Family Ice Arena in each of the last six games since Jan. 18. Through 16 home games this season, the Irish have had nine standing-room sellouts. In the two seasons that the Compton Family Ice Arena has been open, the Irish have had 35 home games with 20 of them being sellouts of 5,022. After averaging 4,793 in 19 home games last season, Notre Dame is averaging 4,877 this year in the first 16 home games.
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME: Freshman left wing Mario Lucia (Plymouth, Minn.) continues his strong rookie season as he is fifth on the team in scoring with nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 21 games.Lucia missed the first nine games of the season with a broken leg suffered in preseason training. His nine goals are third on the team and his four power-play goals tie him for the team lead in that category. He was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week twice in December and was the Rookie of the Month for December.
SHIRT OFF THEIR BACKS: During the weekend of Jan. 25-26, the Notre Dame hockey team wore special jerseys that were then auctioned on the Notre Dame website at UND.com to raise money for Defending The Blue Line, an organization that helps kids in military families stay in the game of hockey despite the significant family stresses brought about by additional training and deployment requirements. The fundraising effort was spearheaded by senior left wing Nick Larson (Apple Valley, Minn.) and included silent auctions at each game and fan donations. The online auction ran through January 31 and the totals are in for the weekend. The event raised over $30,000 dollars and that included the silent auction and monetary donations of $15,000. The top selling jersey was one worn by Jeff Costello that went for $970. He was followed by Mario Lucia ($920) and Anders Lee ($620). Larson’s jersey also was among the top sellers as it went for $520.
M IS FOR MOVEMBER: In November, the Notre Dame hockey team participated in another fundraising effort as they all grew, or “attempted” to grow mustaches in order to raise awareness and funds for men’s health, specifically prostate and testicular cancer inititiaves. This effort was led by junior defenseman Stephen Johns. Fans, friends and family had the opportunity to make donations in the name of their favorite player and his mustache. The Irish hockey team raised $4,400 in this charity event.
THE LAST TIME: Notre Dame surrendered four power-play goals in nine chances in the opening game of the Ohio State series on Feb. 1. The last time the Irish gave up four power-play goals in one game came on March 11, 2005 when they surrendered four to Michigan in a 10-1 loss at Yost Arena in the first game of a CCHA playoff series. The last time that Notre Dame gave up six goals in a game was on Jan. 27, 2012 in a 6-3 loss at Alaska.
HELPING HAND: Senior defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) set a career high in assists when he picked up his 15th of the year on Jeff Costello’s first-period goal in the 6-4 win over Michigan (Feb. 9). He scored his first goal of the season (a power-play goal) in the 2-2 tie with the Ohio State on Feb. 2 . For the year, Calabrese has one goal and 15 assists for 16 points and is second among Irish defensemen in scoring. For his career, the lone senior on the Notre Dame defense now has 10 goals and 40 assists for 50 points in 115 career games.
CAREER YEAR: Sophomore defenseman Robbie Russo now has career highs in goals (5), assists (13), points (18) and power-play goals (4) this season and he has done it in just 30 games. As a freshman, Russo had four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in 40 games. He is tied for second among CCHA defensemen in scoring this season with his 18 points. His four power-play goals tie him for tops on the team.
SHOOTING THE BISCUIT: The Irish fired a season-high 47 shots at Ohio State netminder Brady Hjelle on Feb. 2 with Hjelle making 45 stops. The previous high was 41 and came on Nov. 24 versus North Dakota. Hjelle’s 45 saves were the most by an opposing goaltender since Northern Michigan’s Reid Ellingson had 44 in a 1-1 tie on November 5, 2011. Through the first 30 games this season, Notre Dame has out shot the opposition in 23 of them and recorded 30 or more shots 21 times. The Irish are averaging 31.7 shots per game to 25.1 by their opponents. They are 14-6-1 when getting 30 or more shots in a game and 15-7-1 when out shooting them in all games.
PENALTY SHOT: Junior center Anders Lee was awarded a penalty shot in the 5-2 win over Ferris State. He was pulled down by defenseman Simon Denis at 6:45 of the second period. His shot was stopped by goaltender Charles Williams. For Notre Dame, Lee’s penalty shot was the first in the Compton Family Ice Arena since Nov. 11, 2011 when Riley Sheahan was awarded one and scored on the shot in a 5-4 win over Alaska. There have now been three penalty shots at the Compton Family Ice Arena since it opened in Oct. of 2011. Boston College’s Chris Kreider scored on the second one on Nov. 18, 2011 in a 3-2 Notre Dame overtime win.
FIRST TIME: It took 64 games but senior right wing Kevin Nugent made the most of his first career goal when he scored the game winner in Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Ferris State on Jan. 26. He also added an assist in the game for the first multiple-point game of his career. His goal at 14:49 of the second period snapped a 2-2 tie on the way to the win. Nugent now has a goal and three assists for four points, all career highs. One of three Notre Dame players to follow his father to Notre Dame, Kevin’s father, Kevin Nugent `78 played from 1974-78 for the Irish and had 54 goals and 75 assists for 129 career points.
SHARING THE WEALTH: Through the first 30 games of the season, the Irish have been good at spreading the scoring around. In those games, 17 different Notre Dame players have scored the team’s 92 goals with Anders Lee leading the way with 17. Bryan Rust is next with 10 goals. Nineteen of the team’s 22 skaters have scored at least one point with Lee leading the way with 29 points while T.J. Tynan and Bryan Rust follow with 24. Eleven different players have scored game-winning goals for the Irish with Tynan and Bryan Rust leading the way with three.
HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Junior goaltender Mike Johnson has been selected as one of 11 nominees for the BNY Mellon Wealth Management College Hockey Humanitarian Award. The award honors college hockey’s top citizen and will be presented during the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, Pa., on April 12. Johnson has been active in all the community service projects that the Notre Dame hockey team has been involved in during his four seasons at Notre Dame. As a senior in 2012-13, he oversees the team’s community service efforts and is in his second season as one of the hockey team’s liaisons to Notre Dame’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). This past summer and through the first half of this season, he participated in the Irish Experience Camp. The camp works with disadvantaged kids, teaching them to set goals and how to work towards them. As a junior, he was a member of Life Work’s Dream Teams that visited area schools, serving as mentors to elementary school children. Throughout his career at Notre Dame, Mike has been active in the Irish Youth Hockey League (IYHL), working with local youth hockey groups, teaching and helping grow the game in the local area. He has participated in team activities like the Junior Diabetes Walk, the Buddy Walk for kids with Downs Syndrome and has participated in Habitat for Humanity.
HOBEY HOPEFULS: Three members of the Notre Dame roster are under consideration for the Hobey Baker Award. Centers Anders Lee and T.J. Tynan along with goaltender Steven Summerhays are among the 78 players listed on the Hobey Baker voting website. Fans can vote for their top players at hobeybakeraward.com, now through March 10. From there, a top 10 list will be announced. That list will be paired to the Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists on April 3 with the winner announced on April 12 at the NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, Pa.