Dec. 30, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
The 2011 Shillelagh Tournament
– Date/Site/Time: Sat., Jan. 1, 2011 – 3:05/6:05 p.m. (CT) – Sears Centre Arena (9,700) – Hoffman Estates, Ill. Sun., Jan. 2, 2011 – 2:05/5:05 p.m. (CT) – Sears Centre (9,700) – Hoffman Estates, Ill.
– The Teams: Notre Dame (12-6-2); Boston University (8-4-5); Brown (3-4-4); Minnesota State (6-8-4).
– The Games: Saturday – 3:05 p.m. (CT) – Boston University (home) vs. Brown 6:05 p.m. (CT) – Notre Dame (home) vs. Minnesota State Sunday – 2:05 p.m. (CT) – Minnesota State vs. Boston University or Brown 5:05 p.m. (CT) – Notre Dame vs. Boston University or Brown
,b> – Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish will call the action.
– Internet Broadcast: Audio: At the Notre Dame website – www.und.com.Video Streaming: Via America One Broadband Broadcasting. Check this link: http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=368. The cost is $10 per day. Statistics: Follow on Notre Dame website at und.com. All games of the Shillelagh Tournament will be available via Gametracker.
TOURNEY TIME: Notre Dame opens the 2011 portion of the schedule this weekend when the Irish play host to the third annual Shillelagh Tournament on Jan. 1-2, 2011 at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The Irish welcome Boston University (Hockey East), Brown University (ECAC) and Minnesota State (WCHA) to this year’s holiday action. The tournament begins on Jan. 1 at 3:05 p.m. (CT) with the Boston University Terriers facing the Brown University Bears. Boston University is 8-4-5 on the season and the Terriers are currently third in Hockey East with a 6-3-4 record and are just two points behind first-place New Hampshire and Boston College. Brown is 3-4-4 overall and ninth in the ECAC with a 2-3-1 record after just six league games. BU and Brown played on Nov. 27 in Boston with the game ending in a 4-4 overtime tie. Game two on Saturday has a 6:05 p.m. (CT) start time and will feature Notre Dame and Minnesota State. The Irish are 12-6-2 overall and sit in first in the CCHA with a 9-4-1-1 league record. The Irish are one point ahead of second-place Michigan and two points ahead of third-place Miami in the league race. The Mavericks are 6-8-4 overall and are tied for eighth in the WCHA with a 4-8-2 mark in conference play.
IRISH TOURNEY INFORMATION: The Shillelagh Tournament is in its third season as the Irish have won the title in each of the first two years. Notre Dame won last year’s tourney by defeating Colgate (5-2) and then tying North Dakota (3-3) in the title game. The Irish got the win by taking the shootout, 2-1, in five rounds. In 2009, Notre Dame defeated Union College (3-1) and then Minnesota-Duluth (3-1) for the championship. This is the 34th time that the Irish have played in an in-season tournament in the program’s 43-year history. In the previous 33 tournaments, the Irish own a 27-35-4 all-time record. They have finished first (eight times), second (seven times), third (seven times) and fourth (11 times) in those tournaments. Notre Dame has faced both Boston University and Brown in tournament play in the past. The Irish and the Terriers have met three times in tournament action. The first time came on Dec. 29, 1970 in the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament with BU taking a 7-3 win in the championship game. The second meeting came in the championship game of the Bank One Badger Showdown on Dec. 29, 1995. The Terriers took that game, 8-3. This season, the two teams met in the championship game of the Warrior Ice Breaker Tournament in St. Louis with the Terriers taking a 5-4 victory. Notre Dame and Brown met in the 1997 Mariucci Classic’s third-place game on Dec. 28, 1997 with the Irish winning that contest, 5-1, in the only meeting ever between the two schools.
SHILLELAGH TOURNAMENT HISTORY:
2009 Tournament: Minnesota-Duluth 2, UMass-Lowell 1 Notre Dame 3, Union College 1
Third- Place Union 2, UMass-Lowell 1
Championship Notre Dame 3, Minnesota-Duluth 1
All-Tournament Team
G – Jordan Pearce, ND (MVP) D – Evan Oberg, UMD D – Kyle Lawson, ND F – Ben Ryan, ND F – Garrett Regan, ND F – Justin Fontaine, UMD
2010 Tournament: North Dakota 3, Niagara 1 Notre Dame 5, Colgate 2
Third- Place Niagara 5, Colgate 1
Championship Notre Dame 3, North Dakota 3 (ot) Notre Dame wins shootout, 2-1 (five rounds)
All-Tournament Team
G – Mike Johnson, ND D – Jake Marto, North Dakota D – Brett Blatchford, ND F – Billy Maday, ND (MVP) F – Kevin Deeth, ND F – Brett Hextall, North Dakota
LOCAL IRISH CONNECTIONS: Notre Dame has seven players on the current roster with connections to the Chicago area. The group includes seniors Joe Lavin (Shrewsbury, Mass.), juniors Billy Maday (Burr Ridge, Ill.) and Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden), sophomore Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) and freshmen Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa,), Kevin Lind (Homer Glen, Ill.) and T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.). Lavin was selected in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago BlackHawks in the fifth round. Maday, a right wing, is a product of the Chicago Chill midget program where he teamed with Ridderwall, a left wing, in 2005-06 to lead the Chill to the USA Midget AAA championship game. Calabrese, a defenseman, played for Team Illinois during his midget career. Johns was selected in the second round, 60th overall by the BlackHawks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Lind graduated from Lockport High School and played junior hockey in the USHL for the Chicago Steel. Tynan played for the Chicago Mission AAA program before moving to the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers.
THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the first week of 2011 ranked 12th in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and 12th in the USCHO.com poll. Boston University is ranked 11th by USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and is 10th in the USCHO.com poll.
BACK IN ACTION: Sophomore center Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s, Ont.) will return to the Notre Dame lineup at the Shillelagh Tournament after missing the last three games. He missed both games of the Northern Michigan series (Dec. 11-12) as he was one of four Division I collegiate players and one of 39 players under 20 to be invited to Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp held in Toronto, Dec. 12-15, but was one of the last players to not make the team. He then returned to Notre Dame only to miss the game with Canisius on Dec. 29 due to the death of his grandmother. A 2010 first round draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings, Sheahan has played in all 17 games and has six assists.
CANISIUS RECAP: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.) collected his first collegiate hat trick and four-point game to lead Notre Dame to a 10-2 win over Canisius on Dec. 29 at the Joyce Center. Guentzel was one of four players in the Irish lineup to have four-point games versus the Golden Griffins. Freshman center T.J. Tynan had two goals and two assists; senior left wing Calle Ridderwall chipped in a goal and three assists and freshman defenseman Stephen Johns had a career-high four-assist night. Freshman left wing Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) had a goal and an assist as did junior right wing Billy Maday and freshman right wing Bryan Rust (Novi, Mich.). Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) had two assists to give the Irish eight players with two or more points in the win. Notre Dame led 4-0 after one period and 6-0 before Canisius got on the scoreboard. The Irish finished the second period with a 9-1 lead before the two teams traded goals in the third for the final of 10-2. Notre Dame had a 48-24 edge in shots. Freshman Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) had 14 saves while giving up one goal in the first 40 minutes. Fellow freshman Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.) saw his first career action and stopped eight of nine shots in the third period. Notre Dame was 1-for-4 on the power play while the Griffs were 0-for-6.
BACK ON TOP: Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Northern Michigan on Sunday, Dec. 12, moved the Irish back into first place in the CCHA with a 9-4-1-1 mark. Last season as the Irish went into the break for finals and the Christmas holidays, they were 8-8-4 overall and 5-5-4 in the CCHA, good for 21 points and sixth place in the league standings.
BOMBS AWAY: For the third straight game, Notre Dame fired 40 or more shots on the opponent’s goal as the Irish peppered two Canisius goaltenders with 48 shots in the 10-2 win on Dec. 29. Over the last three games, Notre Dame has average 48 shots per game after getting 53 versus Northern Michigan (Dec. 11) and then 43, the following night for 96 in the weekend series. Through the first 20 games this season, the Irish have outshot the opposition in 17 of those games, going 12-5. In the three games the Irish have been outshot, they are 0-1-2. Going into the Shillelagh Tournament, the Irish are averaging 33.3 shots per game to 25.4 for the opposition.
TEN SPOT: Notre Dame’s 10-goal out burst against Canisius on Dec. 29 marked the first time the Irish had 10 or more goals in a game since Oct. 14, 1995 when the Irish defeated St. Francis Xavier by a 10-2 score.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) has now appeared in 10 of Notre Dame’s last 11 games, making nine starts in that span that began on Nov. 12 versus Michigan. In his last 10 appearances, he is 5-3-1 with 2.89 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage. Johnson, who started the year with a 4-0-1 unbeaten streak in his first five starts is 9-4-2 on the year with a 2.60 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. As a freshman, Johnson took CCHA all-rookie team honors, playing in 29 games in `09-’10, going 10-13-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Behind Johnson are a pair of freshmen – Steven Summerhays and Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.). Summerhays is now 3-2-0 with a 3.71 goals-against average and a .818 save percentage. He played the first 40 minutes on Dec. 29 in the 10-2 win over Canisius, stopping 14-of-15 shots. He owns wins over Canisius, Bowling Green and Western Michigan while his losses have been to Boston University (10/10) and Miami (12/4). Summerhays joined the Irish after playing the last two seasons with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. In `09-’10, Summerhays was a first team all-USHL selection and the USHL goaltender of the year after going 31-2-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Joe Rogers made his first career appearance in the Canisius game, playing the final 20 minutes while stopping eight-of-nine shots. He is 0-0-0 with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage. Rogers joins the Notre Dame roster after playing last season in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) with the Albert Lea Thunder. Rogers was 13-19-2 with a 3.97 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshman class has played a key role in the 12-6-2 start for the Irish. In the win over Canisius, the freshmen class had 13 (4g, 9a) of the team’s 28 points. In the first 20 games of this season, the freshman class has accounted for 45 of the team’s 78 goals (57.7%), 66 of the 138 assists (47.9%) and 109 of team’s 216 points this season (50.5%). Freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has three of the team’s 12 wins in goal.
TYNAN HONORED: Notre Dame freshman center T.J. Tynan was named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association rookie of the month for November to add to his honors this month after being named CCHA rookie of the month for the month of November. In eight games during November, Tynan led all CCHA rookies with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Two goals came on the power play, two were short-handed and one was a game winner. He was +5 for the month and took just 19 shots for a .316 shooting percentage. During November, Tynan scored in seven of the team’s eight games with five of the contests being multiple-point games. He was named the CCHA rookie of the month on two occasions – for games the week of Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. Tynan is the second Irish player to take CCHA rookie of the month honors this season as teammate Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was October’s winner. Tynan leads the Irish in scoring this season with 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points in 20 games. He is third overall in the CCHA scoring race and leads the league’s freshman scorers. His 13 goals tie him for the CCHA lead. Nationally, Tynan is third in points behind Miami’s Carter Camper (36) and Andy Miele (33). His 13 goals tie him for sixth on the national level while his 27 points is tops among freshmen in the nation and his 13 goals are second among rookies.
LATE ADDITIONS: Center T.J. Tynan’s fast start (13g, 14a) in the first 20 games has been a key to the 12-6-2 start for the Irish. The 5-8, 156-pound center has moved in to become one of the team’s quarterbacks on the power play. The Orland Park, Ill., native wasn’t even supposed to be on this year’s team. Even though he signed a national letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009, Tynan was going to defer and play another year with the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL where he was the Bucs’ leading scorer in `09-’10 and a member of the USHL’s all-rookie team. When Kyle Palmieri decided to sign with the Anaheim Ducks in early August, the call went out to Tynan and he joined the Irish roster. Freshman defenseman Kevin Lind (Homer Glen, Ill.) also signed a letter-of-intent in Nov. of `09 and was going to be playing this season with Tri-Cities in the USHL. He was asked to join the team in mid-August after Jarred Tinordi opted to play in the OHL. The 6-3, 221-pound Lind has played in 14 games and has six points (one goal, five assists) with a +7 for the year.
CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel had the best game of his career with three goals and an assist in the win over Canisius. He is currently second on the team in scoring with six goals and 17 assists for 23 points. His goal, assist and point totals are career highs for Guentzel. He had a career-best seven-game point streak (1g, 9a) snapped at Michigan on Nov. 13. His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently fifth in the CCHA in scoring with 23 points and his 17 assists are third in the conference.
STREAK SNAPPED: Northern Michigan’s 3-2 win on Dec. 11, snapped an eight-game home winning streak for the Irish that went back to Jan. 30 of last season. The Irish came into the series with the Wildcats with six straight wins at home during the 2010-11 season. Since the Dec. 11 loss, the Irish have won two straight at home and are now 8-1-0 at home this year.
DOING IT SHORT-HANDED: Notre Dame’s penalty-killing unit was at it again in the 10-2 win over Canisius as they picked up their eighth short-handed goal of the season when Ryan Guentzel scored at 3:31 of the first period. Versus Michigan State (Nov. 19-20), Notre Dame scored short-handed three times in that series. The eight short-handed goals lead the CCHA and the nation going into the Shillelagh Tournament and is already four more than the team had in 2009-10. The eight shorties are the most for the Irish since the 1997-98 season when they had nine. Notre Dame has a way to go for the school record which is 19 and was set during the 1981-82 season. T.J. Tynan and defenseman Joe Lavin (Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.) lead the team with two each while Sean Lorenz (Sr., Littleton, Colo.), Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.), Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) and Guentzel have one each.
FUTURE IRISH: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson announced in early December that five players had signed national letters-of-intent to play hockey at the University beginning for the 2011-12 season. The group includes three defensemen and two forwards. the defensemen are Eric Johnson (Verona, Wis.), Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) and Andrew Ryan (Brighton, Mich.). The forwards are Peter Schnedier (Vienna, Austria) and Garrett Peterson (Manhattan, Ill.). Peterson signed his letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009 but returned to the USHL this season with the Lincoln Stars. In making the announcement, Jackson said, “We’re very excited about this group of players. We think they have the potential to step in and play. What I like most about them is that they are all strong skaters that play with a little grit to their game.” Two of the players – Russo and Ryan – play for USA Hockey’s National Team Developmental Program. The other three are all currently playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). Russo and Ryan are currently listed by the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting in their preliminary ratings. For more information on the five players check the Notre Dame website at und.com
USHL GP G A PTS PIMEric Johnson - Dubuque 5 0 0 0 8 Wenatchee (NAHL) 19 0 2 2 18Garrett Peterson - Lincoln 12 7 2 9 19Peter Schneider - Indiana 18 12 5 17 8
USA UNDER-18 GP G A PTS PIMRobbie Russo 29 2 11 13 16Andy Ryan 19 0 1 1 8
FABULOUS FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the Shillelagh Tournament ranked first and second in the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points while Lee has 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points. With 13 and 11 goals respectively, Lee and Tynan are tops among freshman goal scorers. Fellow freshman Mike Voran (2g, 9a, 11 pts) is tied for seventh among freshmen and is followed by Bryan Rust (4g, 5a) who is tied for 10th and Jeff Costello (5g, 3a, 8 pts) who is tied for 15th. Defensemen Stephen Johns (1g, 7a) is also 15th while Shayne Taker (1g, 6a) is tied for 20th along with Irish center David Gerths (6g, 1a). Johns and Taker rank third and fourth among rookie defensemen in scoring. Tynan is third overall in scoring in the league while Lee is ninth.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: From Oct. 31 through Dec. 4, Notre Dame played nine of 11 games on the road, including a streak of eight straight games versus nationally ranked teams. The Irish came through that streak with a 4-3-1 record. Starting on Nov. 12-13 the Irish faced #9/#8 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich where they split with the Wolverines. On Nov. 19-20, the Irish played host to rv/#17 Michigan State at the Joyce Center, taking two wins versus the Spartans. The weekend of Nov. 26-27 saw the Irish face #10/#9 North Dakota in Grand Forks where they had a loss and a tie. Against #6/#6 Miami Dec. 3-4, the Irish again had a split to give them a 4-3-1 record in the eight games against ranked teams.
THEâ⒬ˆSPECIALIST: Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall is third on the team in goals with nine through the first 20 games this season and tied for the team lead in power-play goals with three. His goal versus Canisius on Dec. 29th was the 50th of his Notre Dame career. He has led Notre Dame in goals in each of the last two seasons, getting 17 in 2008-09 and 19 last season in 2009-10. Over the last two-plus seasons, Ridderwall has scored 45 goals with 25 of them coming via the power play. Last season, his 11 power-play goals led the CCHA. Ridderwall had 11 power-play goals in `08-’09 to match last season’s total and has two this year. His 25 power-play goals move him into a tie for sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time power-play goal list with Aniket Dhadphale `99, Tim Kuehl `90 and Kirt Bjork `83, all of whom had 25 man-advantage goals in their careers. For his career, Ridderwall has 50 goals and 32 assists for 82 career points in 137 games.
GOING TO THE GOAL: Freshman centerDavid Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) has become a specialist when it comes to scoring those “dirty” goals. The 6-0, 208-pounder does his best work right in front of the goal. He picked up his sixth goal of the season in the Dec. 11 game with Northern Michigan as he jammed a rebound past Jared Coreau in the third period. In 19 games this season, he has scored six goals with one assist for seven points. In 55 games last season in the USHL with Lincoln and Green Bay, Gerths scored just five goals. His six goals are fourth most for Notre Dame this season.
COMING FROM BEHIND: Notre Dame rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits (2-0 after one period and 3-1 in the second period) on Dec. 3 at Miami and won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods of play. The Irish are now 1-4-0 when trailing after two periods.
CAREER NIGHTS: Two members of Notre Dame’s freshman class set career highs in the win over Miami on Dec. 3. Right wing Bryan Rust set career highs for goals (2) and points in a game (3) with his three-point night. Left wing Anders Lee had a career high with three assists in the contest and equaled a career high with three points in the game.
PENALTY SHOTS: Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) was awarded a penalty shot just 22 seconds into the Nov. 20 game with Michigan State and was stopped by goaltender Will Yanakeff. It was the first penalty shot by a Notre Dame player since Jan. 31, 2009 when Ryan Thang `10, scored in a 3-2 win at Michigan. It was the fourth for the Irish since the 2001-02 season. They are 2-for-4 in that span. The last time the opposition had a penalty shot against teh Irish came on Dec. 4, 2009 when Miami’s Carter Camper was stopped by Mike Johnson.
ANOTHER MILESTONE: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30, 3-2 win over Western Michigan was the 200th CCHA win for Irish coach Jeff Jackson. Now in his 12th season at the Division I level, Jackson is 206-84-45 in his career in CCHA play in six seasons at Lake Superior State (1990-96) and six seasons at Notre Dame. Earlier in October (Oct. 14 vs. Lake Superior State), Jackson won his 300th career game as a Division I coach. His all-time record stands at 310-123-49 for a .693 winning percentage. His winning percentage is the tops among active coaches with 10 or more seasons.
FULLâ⒬ˆHOUSE: The Irish saw another streak end with the series versus Northern Michigan (Dec. 11-12). Notre Dame went into that series with a mark of 13 consecutive sellout crownds since since Nov. 28, 2009. With finals and the end of the semester, the Irish came up short with crowds of 2,623 and 2,592 to snap that mark. They were able to start a new streak on Dec. 29 when a sellout crowd of 2,857 saw the Irish beat Canisius, 10-2. Notre Dame has now had sell outs in 21 of the team’s last 27 home games and last year averaged 2,765 fans per game. Since Dec. 13, 2008, the Irish have recorded sellouts in 30 of their last 36 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.
ONE IN THE BOOKS: Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) notched his first career goal in Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie at North Dakota on Nov. 27. He added his second goal of the season on Dec. 29 in the win versus Canisius. That gives him two goals and four assists for six points in 18 games this season and a +11. This comes after a freshman year he would love to forget. The product of the USA Under-18 Team, Calabrese played in just three games, registering no points. Last Dec. 4, on the first shift of his third game, he suffered a broken leg at Miami that sidelined him for most of the season. EXTRA HOCKEY: Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie with North Dakota extended the Irish unbeaten streak in overtime games to 16 as they are now 3-0-13 in games that have gone to overtime since their last loss on March 21, 2008, a 2-1 overtime loss to Miami at the CCHA semifinals. Through the first 15 games of the 2010-11 season, the Irish have played two overtime game – the Nov. 27 game at North Dakota and on Oct. 30 at Western Michigan. That game ended in a 2-2 tie and the Irish won the overtime shootout, 1-0. During the `09-’10 season, the Irish were involved in nine overtime contests, finishing 1-0-8 in those games. The eight ties equaled a Notre Dame record set during the 1999-2000 season. All eight ties in `09-’10 went to a shootout where the Irish were 3-5 in those games. The lone overtime win came on Nov. 27, 2009 versus Bowling Green (2-1) and was the first for the Irish since Feb. 20, 2009 at Nebraska-Omaha, a 4-3 win. Notre Dame is now 3-0-12 in overtime since its last overtime loss, a 2-1 decision to Miami on March 21, 2008, in the CCHA semifinal game.