Dec. 1, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. –
– The Games: #2/#2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-3-3/7-2-3-0) vs. Northeastern Huskies (4-7-2/3-7-2)
– Date/Site/Time: Friday-Saturday, December 2-3, 2011 – Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022) – 7:05 p.m.
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Real Country 99.9 FM, starting with the pre-game show 20 minutes before the opening face off. Darin Pritchett will call the action for the Irish.
– Internet: Audio/Video: Notre Dame will stream the audio and video live for both games of the Northeastern series free of charge at und.com. Twitter: Follow the Irish icers on Twitter at ND_hockey.
FUTURE FOES: Notre Dame welcomes the Northeastern Huskies to the Compton Family Ice Arena this weekend, Dec. 2-3, for a pair of games versus a future regular opponent for the Irish when they join Hockey East in 2013. The Boston-based team visits Notre Dame for just the second time in the 44-year history of the Irish hockey program with the previous meetings coming during the 2000-01 season. Notre Dame will be looking to get back on the winning track after seeing their 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3) snapped on November 26 with a 5-2 loss at Lake Superior State. Notre Dame comes into the weekend series with the Huskies with a 10-3-3 overall record and a 7-2-3-0 mark in the CCHA, good for 24 points and is in first place in the conference. Northeastern is on a three-game winning streak, including a 4-1 win at Michigan on Nov. 25. The Huskies are 4-7-2 overall and tied for fifth place in Hockey East with a 3-7-2 mark. Northeastern is one of three Hockey East teams on Notre Dame’s schedule this season. The Irish defeated Boston College, 3-2 in overtime, on Nov. 18 and will play host to Boston University on Dec. 31. Following this weekend’s series, the Irish play a home-and-home set, Dec. 9-10 with Ferris State.
IRISH VERSUS HUSKIES: Notre Dame and Northeastern have met six times in the all-time series with the Irish leading, 3-2-1. The two schools first met in the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament on Dec. 28, 1970 with the Irish taking a 4-1 win. The next meeting came on Dec. 27, 1997 at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis, Minn., with Northeastern taking a 4-2 win. At Notre Dame, the series is even at 1-1-0. At Northeastern, the Irish are 2-0-1. The last time the two schools met was Oct. 27, 2002 at Matthews Arena with the game ending in a 3-3 overtime tie. Northeastern’s only previous trip to Notre Dame was Oct. 20-21, 2000 with the teams splitting the series as the Irish won the opener, 6-4, while the Huskies took game two, 5-3.
STREAK INFO: Notre Dame’s 11-game unbeaten streak started on Oct. 21 and ended on Nov. 26. The Irish were 5-0-0 at home in the streak and 3-0-3 on the road. During the streak, Notre Dame played six games against ranked teams, going 3-0-3 in those games. The seventh game against a ranked team was the 5-2 loss at Lake Superior State on Nov. 26. The streak was the fifth longest unbeaten streak in the program’s history.
RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the first weekend in December ranked second in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and tied for second with Boston College in the USCHO.com poll. The Irish have been ranked in both polls all nine weeks this year.
HOT HAND: Sophomore right wing Bryan Rust (Novi, Mich.) has had the hot hand for Notre Dame in the goal-scoring department as he has now scored a goal in each of his last four games, a personal-best streak. Rust started his streak on Nov. 18 when he scored with 1.1 seconds left in overtime to give the Irish a 3-2 win over Boston College. On Nov. 22, his goal with 6:11 left on the clock at Western Michigan was the game-tying goal in a 2-2 overtime finish. He then added single goals in each game of the series at Lake Superior State last weekend. For the season, Rust now has five goals and two assists for seven points in 16 games. As a freshman in 2010-11, Rust had six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 40 games.
IRISH VERSUS LAKERS RECAP: November 25 – Junior goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) stopped 29-of-30 Lake Superior shots and Notre Dame got goals from Nick Larson (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.), Robbie Russo (Fr., Westmont, Ill.), Bryan Rust and T.J. Tynan (So., Orland Park, Ill.) to hand the Lakers a 4-1 loss on Friday night. Larson started the scoring at 3:18 of the first when he beat Kevin Kapalka from the right circle for his second of the year. The Lakers answered back just 20 seconds later when Nick McParland scored his ninth at 3:38 to even the score at 1-1. Notre Dame would score twice in the second with Russo scoring on the power play at 1:33 and Rust getting his third goal in as many games at 12:03 as he tucked the rebound of a Sean Lorenz (Sr., Littleton, Colo.) shot past Kapalka. Tynan closed the scoring at 8:07 of the third when he teamed with Anders Lee (So., Edina, Minn.) on a two-on-one after Shayne Taker (So., Surrey, B.C.) sprung them with a great outlet pass from his own zone. The goal was Tynan’s fifth of the season and gave the Irish a 4-1 lead. The two teams each fired 30 shots in the game. Kapalka finished with 26 saves. Notre Dame was 1-for-3 on the power play while the Lakers were 0-for-1.
November 26 – Notre Dame saw its 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3) come to an end in a 5-2 loss to Lake Superior in game two of the weekend series. The Lakers used three power-play goals in four chances in the win. Kyle Jean scored twice with the man advantage and Kellen Lain added the third while Domenic Monardo and Zach Trotman had equal-strength goals for the Lakers. Bryan Rust and Billy Maday (Sr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) had Notre Dame’s two goals in the game. Lake Superior scored twice in the first and second periods, building a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes. Mike Johnson got the start for Notre Dame and saw his 10-game personal unbeaten streak come to an end as the Lakers scored four times on 14 shots in the first 29:59 of the game. Sophomore Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) played the final 30:01, stopping five of the six shots he faced in the contest. The Irish out shot Lake Superior, 29-20, on the night. Kevin Kapalka picked up the win, making 27 saves in the game.
SPREADING THE WEALTH: Notre Dame’s 4-1 win over Lake Superior State on Nov. 25 was the 10th victory of the season for the Irish. In those 10 wins, 10 different players have scored the game-winning goal. During the 2010-11 season when Notre Dame had 25 wins, a total of 12 players had game-winning goals for the Irish.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END: Junior goaltender Mike Johnson saw his personal career-high unbeaten streak come to an end in the 5-2 loss to Lake Superior State on Nov. 26. After dropping the season opener at Minnesota-Duluth on Oct. 7, Johnson was 7-0-3 in his next 10 decisions. In 12 appearances during the streak, with 11 starts, Johnson played 665:40, giving up 21 goals with 234 saves for a 1.89 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. For the year, he is 7-2-3 with a 2.30 goals-against and a .903 save percentage. NATIONAL LETTERS-OF-INTENT: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson announced earlier this week that Notre Dame has signed five student-athletes to national letters-of-intent. The five are: Thomas DiPauli (Woodridge, Ill.), Sam Herr (Hinsdale, Ill.), Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill.), Mario Lucia (Plymouth, Minn.) and Justin Wade (Aurora, Ill.). DiPauli is a 5-10, 183-pound center who currently plays for the USA Under-18 team in Ann Arbor, Mich. Herr (pronounced Hair) is a 6-1, 192-pound left wing who is in his second season with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. Hinostroza is a 5-10, 170-pound center who is in his second season with the USHL’s Waterloo Blackhawks. Lucia is a 6-3, 195-pound left wing who currently plays for the Penticton Vees in the British Columbia Hockey League. He is the son of University of Minnesota hockey coach and former Notre Dame defenseman, Don Lucia, a 1981 graduate. Wade rounds out the group and is a 6-2, 210-pound defenseman who is playing for the Fargo Force in the USHL. Those five join Steven Fogarty (Edina, Minn.) and Andy Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) who signed letters-of-intent last year but deferred attending Notre Dame until the fall of 2012. (For more information on the Irish recruiting class, check the Notre Dame website at und.com).
BCHL GP G A PTS PIMMario Lucia - Penticton 22 17 28 45 14Steven Fogarty - Penticton 26 15 19 34 16
USHL GP G A PTS PIMSam Herr - Green Bay 14 1 10 11 20Vince Hinostroza - Waterloo 15 5 4 9 19Andy Ryan - Sioux City 19 2 7 9 16Justin Wade - Fargo 19 0 1 1 18
USA UNDER-18 GP G A PTS PIMThomas DiPauli 22 4 4 8 10
TURNING ON THE POWER: Through the first 16 games of the 2011-12 season, Notre Dame has scored at least one power-play goal in 13 of those 16 games with a season-high of three power-play goals in the Nov. 11 game with Alaska. The last time the Irish had three power-play goals in a game came on Jan. 7, 2011 when they were 3-for-7 in an 8-1 win at Northern Michigan. Notre Dame is now 16-for-73, a 21.9% success rate. That ranks the Irish second in the CCHA and 15th on the national level.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Going into the Nov. 26 game at Lake Superior State, Notre Dame had surrendered just six power-play goals in 15 regular season games. In that game, the Lakers went 3-fo-4 on the power play on the way to a 5-2 win. That was the first time that Notre Dame had given up three power-play goals in a game since April 7 versus Minnesota-Duluth in the Frozen Four semifinals. Prior to that game, the Irish had killed nine straight power plays and over a 13-game span were 35-of-38 (92.1%). For the year, Notre Dame has now killed 44-of-53 for an 81.3 % success rate. That ranks them ninth in the CCHA and 25th in the nation in penalty killing.
OVERTIME MAGIC: Five of Notre Dame’s nine games during the month of November ended in overtime. In those games, the Irish were 2-0-3. Prior to the 2-2 tie with Western Michigan on Nov. 22, the Irish defeated Boston College, 3-2, in overtime. They also have an overtime win against Alaska (Nov. 12) and ties at Northern Michigan (Nov. 4-5). The tie with Western Michigan extended Notre Dame’s unbeaten streak in overtime to 26 games (7-0-19) with the streak going back to March 21, 2008 when the Irish lost in overtime (2-1) to Miami in the CCHA semifinals. The Irish have not lost a CCHA regular-season game in overtime since a Jan. 8, 2005, 2-1 loss at Lake Superior. Last season, Notre Dame was 2-0-5 in overtime and this year the Irish are 2-0-3.
SHOOTOUT BLUES: While the Irish have had success in overtime this season, taking a pair of wins, things aren’t quite as good in the shootout. Notre Dame is 0-3 in the shootout this season and, in fact, the Irish haven’t scored a goal in any of the three they have been in. Notre Dame is 0-for-8 to date, while losing a pair of 1-0 decisions and a 2-0 verdict to Western Michigan on Nov. 22.
NEW HOME SWEET HOME: With the win over Boston College on Nov. 18, Notre Dame improved to 5-0-0 at the Compton Family Ice Arena and 6-1-0 at home overall. That includes a 1-1 mark at the Joyce Center where the Irish split with Ohio State on Oct. 14-15. The Boston College game closed out a four-game homestand for Notre Dame that saw the Irish go 4-0-0.
NATIONAL LEADERS: Center T.J. Tynan (So., Orland Park, Ill.) and left wing Anders Lee (So., Edina, Minn.) are among the nation’s leaders in goals, assists, points and points per game leading into the Northeastern series. Tynan currently leads the CCHA and is tied for fourth nationally with 23 points (5g, 18a). His 1.44 points per game leads the CCHA and is tied for eighth nationally. His 18 assists are tops in both the CCHA and the nation. Lee continues to lead the CCHA in goals with 12 and is tied for fifth nationally. He is tied for second in the CCHA in points with 19 and his five power-play goals are tops in the CCHA and tie him for fifth on the national level.
National Scoring Race (by points): GP G A PTSNick Bjugstad (UMinn) 16 15 10 25Justin Schultz (UW) 16 7 18 25Mark Zengerle (UW) 16 7 18 25T.J.Tynan (ND) 16 5 18 23Terry Broadhurst (UNO) 16 14 8 22Austin Smith (Colgate) 14 15 6 21Jack Connolly (UMD) 14 8 13 21Erik Huala (UMinn) 16 8 13 21Matt White (UNO) 16 6 15 21Anders Lee (ND) 16 12 7 19J.T. Brown (UMD) 14 5 14 19Chris Kreider (BC) 14 10 8 18Kyle Rau (UMinn) 16 10 8 18Ben Hanowski (SCSU) 16 10 8 18Drew Shore (UD) 13 6 12 18T.J. Syner (UMass) 14 6 12 18Lee Reimer (MSU) 14 6 12 18Nick Sorkin (UNH) 14 5 13 18
HERE COMES RILEY: While much of the attention in the scoring column has gone to T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee early in the season, a third member of the Irish attack has moved up the ranks to be third on the team and tied for fourth in the CCHA in scoring. Junior center Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s Ont.), who started the season by missing the first two games with an injury has moved into a tie for fourth in scoring in the conference with four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in his 14 games played. His 11 assists are third best in the conference. Sheahan picked up the first multiple-goal game of his career on Nov. 15 against Western Michigan. Already this season, the 6-2, 212-pound center has five multiple-point games and now has 10 for his career.
THE KID IS ALRIGHT: Freshman right wing Austin Wuthrich (Anchorage, Alaska) continues to put points on the board for the Irish as he picked up his 10th point of the season with an assist on Robbie Russo’s power-play goal in the second period of Notre Dame’s 4-1 win at Lake Superior. Wuthrich is fifth on the team in scoring with four goals and six assists for his 10 points. He currently ranks seventh among CCHA freshmen in scoring, just four points behind Bowling Green’s Ryan Carpenter. The 6-1, 196-pound forward now has four points (1g, 3a) in his last four games. He was recently named to NHL Central Scouting’s NCAA Watch List as a B Skater in the CCHA. Wuthrich is also the answer to a Notre Dame trivial pursuit question – Who scored the last goal in the Joyce Center? Austin Wuthrich at 18:35 of the third period on Oct. 15.
SLOW STARTS: For some reason, Notre Dame has shown a penchant for getting off to a slow start in games this season. In the first 16 games of the season, the Irish have given up the first goal of the game nine times. In those games, Notre Dame is 6-2-1.
EVEN SLOWER STARTS: Notre Dame has trailed 2-0 in games four times this season and has rallied in three of them to be 3-1-0 in those contests. On Oct. 8 at Minnesota-Duluth, the Irish trailed 2-0 in the second period and rallied for a 5-3 win. On Oct. 14, Notre Dame trailed Ohio State, 2-0 in the first at home and came-from-behind to win 5-2. The following night, the Irish gave up two first-period goals and trailed 4-0 after two before scoring three in the third for a 4-3 loss. On Nov. 11, Alaska took a 2-0 lead 6:53 into the first period only to see Notre Dame rally for the 5-4 victory.
SCORING MACHINE: Sophomore defenseman Shayne Taker (pronounced Tacker) scored his first career goal on Oct. 10, 2010 against Boston University in the Warrior Ice Breaker Classic. He then went 40 games without scoring a goal before scoring on Nov. 15 in the win over Western Michigan. He then scored his second goal in as many games when he converted a 2-on-1 with Riley Sheahan in the win over Boston College on Nov. 18. For his career, Taker now has three goals and nine assists for 12 points in 47 career games.
CCHA GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK: Junior goaltender Mike Johnson was selected as the CCHA goaltender of the week for the week ending Nov. 20. During the previous week, Johnson knocked off Western Michigan, 3-2, and then defeated Boston College, 3-2, in overtime. For the week, Johnson was 2-0-0 with a 1.93 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
PENALTY SHOT UPDATE: Prior to Nov. 11, Notre Dame was involved in two penalty shots over the last two seasons – one in the 2010-11 season and one in the 2009-10 campaign. This season, the Irish have been involved in two penalty shots in the last 10 days. On Nov. 11, Riley Sheahan scored on a penalty shot, the first taken by a Notre Dame player since last Feb. 26 when T.J. Tynan was awarded a shot against Western Michigan. He was stopped in a 2-0 Bronco win. Then, on Nov. 18, Boston College’s Chris Kreider was awarded a penalty shot and scored on it, giving the Eagles a 1-0 first-period lead. The last time an Irish opponent took a penalty shot against Notre Dame was Dec. 4, 2009 when Miami’s Carter Camper was stopped by Mike Johnson in a 1-0 loss.
MADAY…MADAY…MADAY: Senior forward Billy Maday (Burr Ridge, Ill.) had a strong weekend in the series with Alaska, scoring two key goals with an assist for three points. In Friday’s come-from-behind win, Notre Dame’s captain scored the all-important game-tying goal at 7:30 of the second period to make it 4-4 and then help set up defenseman Stephen Johns’ game winner at 19:12 of the third period. On Saturday night, Maday scored the game winner with 41 seconds left in overtime. He is currently fourth in scoring for the Irish with five goals and eight assists for 13 points.
CCHA OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Center T.J. Tynan was named the CCHA offensive player of the week for the week ending Nov. 13 as he had a goal and four assists for five points in a weekend sweep of Alaska. In the Nov. 11, 5-4, win over the Nanooks, Tynan assisted on a pair of first-period power-play goals for a two-point game. The following night, the high-scoring center had a hand in all three Irish goals, scoring one and setting up two, as Notre Dame prevailed, 3-2. Tynan is the first Irish player to win a CCHA weekly award this season.
PAT ON THE BACK: Senior center Patrick Gaul (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had the best weekend of his career at Bowling Green (Oct. 28-29), scoring a goal and an assist for two points. He now has career highs in goals (2), assists (4) and points (6) this season. In the Oct. 28, 3-1 win, Gaul assisted on Garrett Peterson’s game-winning goal. In Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Falcons, Gaul scored his second goal of the season, getting the third-period game winner. In 16 games this year, Gaul has six points after having just three points (a goal, two assists) in the first 48 games of his career.
CAREER HIGH: Junior defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) recorded a career-high three assists in the win over Rensselaer. The team’s top scoring blue liner in 2010-11 with six goals and 12 assists for 18 points, Calabrese has eight assists in 16 games this season.