Florida native Noah Babin returns to his home state this weekend when Notre Dame plays in the Lightning College Hockey Classic in Tampa, Fla.

Irish Return Home To Face #14/#14 Michigan State To Start A Home-And-Home Series Versus The Spartans.

Jan. 31, 2006

Notre Dame , Ind. –

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• The Series: Notre Dame (9-14-3/7-10-3) at #14/#14 Michigan State (14-10-7/8-7-6)

• Date/Site/Times: Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 – 7:35 p.m. – Joyce Center (2,713) Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006 – 7:35 p.m. – Munn Arena (6,470)

• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1580, South Bend’s SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, “the voice of Irish hockey” will bring you all the play-by-play action.

• Television: Saturday’s game will be televised live by Fox Sports Detroit at 7:35 p.m. Ken Daniels, Fred Pletsch and Shireen Saski will handle the play-by-play and color commentary.

• Internet Broadcast: At the Notre Dame website – www.und.com.

IRISH RETURN HOME TO FACE THE SPARTANS: Notre Dame returns home after two consecutive weeks on the road to face #14/#14 Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:35 p.m., starting a home-and-home series with the Spartans. The two teams will play on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Munn Arena in East Lansing, Mich., in another 7:35 p.m. game that will be televised by Fox Sports Detroit. Check your local cable listings for the channel that carries Fox Sports Detroit. The Irish closed out their two weeks on the road with a 2-2-0 mark, gaining splits at both Northern Michigan and Ohio State. Last weekend at Ohio State, the Irish and Buckeyes played a pair of 1-0 shutout games with Ohio State winning on Friday and the Irish taking Saturday’s game by the same score. Notre Dame comes into the Michigan State series with a 9-14-3 overall record and a 7-10-3 mark in the CCHA, good for 17 points and a ninth-place tie with Bowling Green. The Irish have two games in hand on the Falcons and are two points out of seventh place and three behind sixth-place Ohio State. Michigan State brings a 14-10-7 overall record into the series and the Spartans are 8-7-6 in league action, good for a third-place tie with Northern Michigan. The Spartans are coming off a pair of ties (1-1 and 5-5) with Michigan last weekend. Following the Michigan State series, the Irish will play a home-and-home set with Ferris State next weekend with Friday’s game at home and Saturday’s played at Big Rapids, Mich.

IRISH VERSUS SPARTANS: The two teams have met 92 times in the all-time series with Michigan State holding a 54-30-8 edge. Since Notre Dame returned to the CCHA in 1992-93, the Spartans are 27-4-7 versus the Irish. At the Joyce Center, the Spartans have a 20-17-6 advantage. At East Lansing, Michigan State is 32-13-2, with a 17-2-1 record versus Notre Dame since the Irish rejoined the CCHA. Last season, the two teams met four times with the Irish winning once, a 3-2 overtime win on Dec. 10 at the Joyce Center. The last Irish victory at Munn Arena came on Feb. 9, 2002, a 3-2 win. The Irish are 0-3-1 at Michigan State since that 2002 win.

BACK-TO-BACK SHUTOUTS: Notre Dame has been involved in back-to-back 1-0 shutouts three times in their history. Last weekend marked the first time the two teams involved split the games. On Feb. 12-13, 1999, the Irish lost back-to-back 1-0 games at Michigan State and then at home with Ferris State. On Dec. 28-Jan. 3, 2003-04, the Irish won 1-0 games versus Maine and Findlay.

A GOALTENDING CLINIC: Notre Dame goaltender David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) and Ohio State’s Dave Caruso were the standouts in the Jan. 27-28 series in Columbus, Ohio. Both goaltenders gave up just one goal in the series as Ohio State prevailed 1-0 on Friday night and the Irish took the 1-0 win on Saturday. Brown made 24 saves in Saturday’s game to pick up his second shutout of the season and the sixth of his career. Senior left wing Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) scored the lone goal of the game at 3:45 of the second period on the power play. Josh Sciba (Jr., Westland, Mich.) and Erik Condra (Fr., Livonia, Mich.) picked up the assists on the goal. The Buckeyes out shot the Irish, 24-23, in the game with Caruso making 22 saves. Notre Dame was 1-for-2 on the power play while the Buckeyes were 0-for-4. In Friday night’s contest, Caruso stopped all 28 Notre Dame shots and Mathieu Beaudoin scored the lone goal of the game to give Ohio State the 1-0 win. The Irish out shot the Buckeyes, 28-22 in the game. Brown had 21 saves on the night. Notre Dame was 0-for-4 on the power play while Ohio State was 0-for-3.

STREAK IS SNAPPED: Notre Dame’s 1-0 shutout of Ohio State on Jan. 28 snapped a seven-game Buckeye win streak versus the Irish. It was the first Irish win since Oct. 10, 2003. The win also put a dent in Ohio State’s recent domination of the Irish as the Buckeyes are now 13-2-3 versus Notre Dame in the last 18 meetings.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Irish goaltender David Brown recorded his second shutout of the season with a 1-0 win at Ohio State on Jan. 28. The shutout gives him six on his career to tie him with Morgan Cey `05 for the Notre Dame school record with six shutouts in their careers. Brown has done the bulk of the work for the Irish this season, having now played in 19 consecutive games, starting 18 of them. Since Dec. 3, Brown is 5-5-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. For the season, Brown is 6-11-3 with a 2.78 goals against and a .903 save percentage.

JANUARY TRAVELS: Notre Dame played six of its eight games in January on the road and finished the month with a 3-3-2 record. In the six road games, the Irish were 3-2-1 and since Dec. 6 at Minnesota State, Notre Dame is 4-2-1 away from home. Since Dec. 3, the Irish are 6-5-2 overall.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Freshman right wing Erik Condra leads Notre Dame in scoring with four goals and 20 assists for 24 points in 26 games during his rookie year. He currently is tied with Michigan’s Andrew Cogliano for the CCHA rookie-point lead with 24 points and is 15th among rookie scorers in the nation. His three-point game at Northern Michigan on Jan. 21 was his fourth of the season and he now has six games with two or more points on the year. He also ranks 15th in the CCHA scoring race and his 20 assists rank him sixth in the league in that category.

CLUTCH SCORER: Senior Mike Walsh has had a knack in his career for scoring big goals. His power-play rebound at Ohio State on Jan. 28 was the game-winning goal in the 1-0 win over the Buckeyes. It marked the third time in his career that he scored the lone goal in a 1-0 Notre Dame victory. For his career, he now has eight game winners and needs just one more to move into the all-time top 10 in that category. Eight of his 23 career goals have been game winners.

    Name                         GWG1.  Rob Globke (2000-04)         13    Brian Urick (1995-99)        13    Dave Poulin (1978-82)        134.  David Bankoske (1988-93)     125.  Paul Regan (1969-73)         116.  Tim Kuehl (1986-90)          10    Tom Mooney (1984-88)         10    Greg Meredith (1976-80)      109.  Dan Carlson (1997-01)         9    Kirt Bjork (1979-83)          9 -- Mike Walsh (2002-Present)     8

POWER-PLAY POWER: After struggling early in the season on the power play, Notre Dame has now scored at least one power-play goal in eight of its last nine games, including four with two or more. In those nine games, the Irish are 13-for-53 on the power play for a 24.5% success rate. For the year, Notre Dame now has 31 power-play goals in 170 chances (18.2%) in 26 games. Last season, the Irish had 23 power-play goals in 238 chances (9.8%) in 38 games. The Irish power play currently ranks fourth in the CCHA.

FAN FAVORITES: During their six road games in January, the Irish helped the opposition draw some of its biggest crowds of the year. On Jan. 6-7 at Nebraska-Omaha, the Mavericks drew back-to-back season-high crowds of 6,366 and 7,642. On Jan. 21 at Northern Michigan, the game drew the Wildcats’ third biggest crowd of the year, 3,992. Last weekend at Ohio State, the two games drew the biggest crowds of the year with 10,857 on Friday and 11,141 on Saturday at Value City Arena.

TOP CITIZEN: Notre Dame senior defenseman Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) is one of seven finalists for college hockey’s Humanitarian Award that is awarded each year to college hockey’s top citizen. An assistant captain with the Irish, Trick oversees the team’s community service projects. He has been a two-year member of Notre Dame’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and has been the team’s organizer for various community service projects the last two seasons. Away from Notre Dame, Trick has worked with the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s (MAHA) Great Lakes Sled Dogs, a sled hockey program in Fraser, Mich, playing for the team, coaching and helping in fund-raising efforts. The Hockey Humanitarian Award is awarded every year at the NCAA Frozen Four in April.

WALLY’S WORLD: Senior right wing Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) is having a career-year for the Irish in 2005-06. He already has career highs in goals (10), points (19) and power-play goals (4) in the first 26 games of the season. He has tied his career best with nine assists this season. Wallace recorded his fifth multiple-point game of the year on Jan. 20 with a goal and an assist at Northern Michigan. The senior right wing has four two-point games on the year and one game with three points (2g, 1a) – a career high. He has a pair of two-goal games to his credit – Oct. 28 vs. Princeton and Dec. 18 vs. Lake Superior – giving him three for his career. Wallace continues to add to his “Iron Man” streak as he has now played in 143 consecutive games for the Irish.

STREAKING SCIBA: Junior center Josh Sciba has now scored points in six of his last eight games (2-7-9) after having a four-game streak snapped on Jan. 20 at Northern Michigan. He bounced back the following night with a pair of assists in the 4-3 win versus the Wildcats. Sciba has had a career year in 2005-06 with highs in goals (12), assists (11), points (23), power-play goals (7) and short-handed tallies (1). His seven power-play goals are the most by a Notre Dame player since Aaron Gill `04 had nine in the 2003-04 season.

BATTLING BACK: Notre Dame’s come-from-behind win at Northern Michigan on Jan. 21 was the first for the Irish this season. Notre Dame went into that game with an 0-13-0 record when trailing after two. It was the team’s first come-from-behind win (when trailing, entering the third period) since Dec. 10, 2004, when they came from a 2-1 deficit to beat Michigan State, 3-2 in overtime.

UNLIKELY HEROES: Notre Dame’s 4-3 win at Northern Michigan produced a couple of unlikely heroes for the Irish in freshman goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) and junior defenseman Tom Sawatske (Duluth, Minn.). Pearce saw his first action since Dec. 2 at Western Michigan when he entered the game with 13:28 left in the second period and the Irish trailing 3-1. Pearce stopped all 14 shots he faced in the game, including three on a five-minute power-play due to a major penalty with 3:49 left in the game, to pick up his first win since Nov. 10. Sawatske scored his first goal with the Irish on his ninth shot in a Notre Dame uniform for the game winner at 8:50 of the third period. The goal was Sawatske’s first collegiate goal since Nov. 29, 2003 versus Michigan State when he was a member of the Wisconsin Badgers.

FOUR IN THE NHL: With his recall on Monday (Jan. 30) by the Columbus Blue Jackets, former Irish standout Ben Simon `00 gives Notre Dame four alums now playing in the National Hockey League. Simon joins Rob Globke `04 (Florida), Brett Lebda `04 (Detroit) and Mark Eaton (Nashville) now playing in the NHL. Only one other time, have the Irish had more players in the NHL in one season. That came during the 1982-83 season when the Irish had five players see time in the NHL. That group included: Jim Brown `82 (three games with Los Angeles), Jack Brownschidle `77 (72 games with St. Louis), Jeff Brownschidle `81 (four games with Hartford), Don Jackson `78 (71 games with Edmonton) and Dave Poulin `82 (two games with Philadelphia).

AHEAD OF PACE: With 65 goals in the first 26 games of the season, the Irish have already surpassed last season’s mark of 60 goals that was recorded in 38 games. The 60 goals (1.58 per game) were the fewest ever scored by the Irish in a single season.

POWER-PLAY PRODUCER: Wes O’Neill (Jr. Essex, Ont.) leads Notre Dame’s defense in scoring with four goals and 12 assists for 16 points. All four of his goals this season have come on the power play. The big defenseman recorded the first three-point game of his career at Minnesota State (Dec. 6) with three assists on the night. On the year, O’Neill has four multiple-point games and for his career, now has nine games with two or more points. The 2004 New York Islander draft choice has seen 14 of his points (4g, 10a) come on the power play. In his two-plus seasons with the Irish, O’Neill now has 12 goals and 36 assists for 48 points with 30 of those coming via the power play (10g, 20a).

NOAH KNOWS: Defenseman Noah Babin (Jr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) saw his three-game scoring streak (1-2-3) snapped at Ohio State. He is second among Irish defensemen in scoring with three goals and 10 assists for 13 points. He now has career-highs in assists and points, surpassing last year’s totals of five goals and six assists for 11 points. His three-point game (1g, 2a) against Lake Superior State (Dec. 18) was a career-high for the junior defenseman.

TOPPING THE LIST: The University of Notre Dame is in first place in the 2005-06 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Cup all-sports competition after the fall sports seasons. The Irish recorded 412 points based on a third-place finish at the NCAA men’s cross country championship, a seventh-place finish at the NCAA women’s cross country championship, a quarterfinal appearance in women’s soccer, a third-round appearance in men’s soccer, a third-round appearance by the volleyball team and while football finished ranked 11th in the final USA Today Poll. The top five teams in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings:


1. Notre Dame 4122. Penn State 308.53. Stanford 2824. Duke 2805. Wisconsin 277

ALUMNI NOTES: Former Notre Dame goaltender Forrest Karr `99 was named the director of athletics and campus recreation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Tues., Jan. 11. Karr joined the Nanook athletics’ staff in 2004 as the school’s compliance coordinator. On July 22, 2005, he became the interim athletics director at UAF, taking over for Dr. Cory Schwartz. He is a 1999 CCHA all-academic pick and a second team Academic All-American in the same season. A four-year letter winner for the Irish, Karr was 27-2525-6 in goal for the Irish with a 2.92 career goals-against average and a .899 save percentage. Two other former Notre Dame hockey players were busy during the Christmas holidays. Morgan Cey `05, who is currently a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and playing in Johnstown of the ECHL was selected to play for Team Canada in the 2005 Spengler Cup Tournament in Davos, Switzerland from Dec. 26-31. Cey, who saw limited playing time, collected a silver medal as Canada finished second in the tournament. Former Irish scoring standout Rob Globke `04 saw his hockey dream come true as he made his NHL debut with the Florida Panthers on Dec. 28 in a 6-4 win over Boston. Globke was recalled from the Rochester Americans of the AHL on Dec. 27. He is scoreless in six games with the Panthers.

THREE FOR THE ROAD: Notre Dame’s three-point weekend versus Nebraska-Omaha was the first road series for the Irish with three or more points since Jan. 17-18, 2004 when Notre Dame won and tied at Wisconsin. It’s the most points the Irish have recorded in a CCHA road series since a sweep at Bowling Green on Feb. 14-15, 2003.

ROAD WARRIORS: Junior center Josh Sciba and sophomore right wing Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) each had three-point games at Nebraska-Omaha in the Jan. 7, 4-1 win. Sciba had a power-play goal and two assists while Van Guilder scored a short-handed marker with two assists on the night. For both, it was the second three-point games of the season and their careers. Both players added an assist in Saturday’s 2-2 tie for four points on the weekend.

THE QUICKEST, THE LATEST AND THE FASTEST TWO: Tim Wallace’s goal at 00:09 of the first period versus Western Michigan on Dec. 2 was the quickest goal at the start of a game in Notre Dame history. It broke the mark of 12 seconds set by Sterling Black on Jan. 6, 1990 versus Arizona. Erik Condra’s goal with nine seconds left on the clock versus Minnesota State (Dec. 6) was the latest regulation-time, game-winning goal ever for the Irish, edging T.J. Jindra’s (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) short-handed game winner against Boston College last season by six seconds (19:45). On Jan. 21 at Northern Michigan, Erik Condra and Tom Sawatske scored a pair of goals just eight seconds apart in the third period of a 4-3 win. Condra scored a power-play goal at 8:42 of the third period and Sawatske scored off the following faceoff just eight seconds later at 8:50 for the game-winning goal.

SIX AND COUNTING: David Brown’s 1-0 shutout at Ohio State (Jan. 28) was the sixth of his career and second of the season for the junior goaltender. He had four in his freshman year to set the single-season record. He is now tied for first on the career shutout list with Morgan Cey `05, as both now have six in their Notre Dame careers.

ALL TIED UP: Notre Dame has now recorded three 2-2 ties on the season, giving the Irish 52 overtime games since the start of the 1999-2000 season. In those games, the Irish are 7-6-39. During the 2004-05 season, Notre Dame played in nine overtime contests, going 1-2-6 in those games. The lone overtime win came on Dec. 10 versus Michigan State and was the first regular-season overtime win since Jan. 25, 2002, snapping a 16-game winless (0-2-14) skid in regular-season overtime games. This season, the Irish are 0-0-3 in overtime.

IRON MEN: Senior right wing Tim Wallace has played in all 143 games during his three-plus seasons at Notre Dame. He became Notre Dame’s all-time “Iron Man,” passing former defenseman Evan Nielsen (`03) who held the record with 114 games between 2000-03. Other Irish consecutive game streaks of 35 games or more include:

Mark Van Guilder – 64 games

Mike Walsh – 59 games

Van Guilder joins Wallace as the only two players with two or more years experience on the Irish roster who have not missed a game during their careers. Chris Trick saw his streak of 61 consecutive games snapped on Jan. 20 when he did not play at Northern Michigan.

NO. 1 TEAMS: Through the first 26 games of the season, the Irish will have played 10 of them versus ranked teams. The Irish opened with No. 4 Colorado College and then played No. 9 Denver. The second week of the season, the Irish played No. 3 Michigan in a pair of games. On Nov. 18-19, the Irish played a pair of games versus No. 11/12 Miami at Oxford, Ohio. On Jan. 13-14, the Irish faced No. 3 Miami, getting a 2-2 tie and a 3-2 loss versus the RedHawks. All four of those teams have been ranked No. 1 in the nation at one time or another this year. This weekend, the Irish face No. 14 Michigan State.

INCOMING IRISH: Forward Kevin Deeth (Gig Harbor, Wash.), one of four incoming recruits for Notre Dame for the fall of 2006, has been named to the United States Hockey League’s all-star team for the 2006 Prospects/All-Star game that will be held in Sioux City, Iowa on Feb. 7. Deeth, a member of the Green Bay Gamblers, leads the team in scoring with 13 goals and 29 assists for 42 points in 41 games this season. Three other incoming Irish recruits are also playing in the USHL this season. The list includes: Christian Minella (Aurora, Colo.) who is currently playing for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers. In 40 games for the Stampede, Minella has 16 goals and eight assists for 24 points. Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) is a defenseman with the Tri-City Storm. He has six goals and 12 assists for 18 points in 36 games this season. Ryan Thang (Edina, Minn.) is a forward who has played for the Sioux Falls Stampede and the Omaha Lancers this season. In 39 games, he has 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points.

NOTRE DAME'S RECORD WHEN....
When Notre Dame scores first ................ 8-2-3When opponents score first .................. 1-12-0When Notre Dame leads after one period ...... 4-0-0When Notre Dame trails after one period ..... 0-6-0When score is tied after one period ......... 5-8-3When Notre Dame leads after two periods ..... 8-0-3When Notre Dame trails after two periods .... 1-14-0When score is tied after two periods ........ 0-0-0When Notre Dame outshoots opponent .......... 3-4-0When opponent outshoots Notre Dame .......... 6-8-3When shots are even ......................... 0-2-0In Game 1 of CCHA weekend series ............ 2-6-2In Game 2 of CCHA weekend series ............ 5-4-1In one-goal games ........................... 4-4-0In two-goal games ........................... 2-4-0Notre Dame at home .......................... 5-7-1Notre Dame on the road ...................... 4-7-2Notre Dame on neutral ice ................... 0-0-0Notre Dame in overtime ...................... 0-0-3Notre Dame in October ....................... 1-3-0Notre Dame in November ...................... 2-5-1Notre Dame in December ...................... 3-3-0Notre Dame in January ....................... 3-3-2Notre Dame in February ...................... 0-0-0
WHERE ARE THEY NOW??Several former Notre Dame hockey players have continued on the professional level. Here's where they are playing now (stats as of Jan. 30).

NHL GP G A PTS PIMBrett Lebda - Detroit 37 2 7 9 14Mark Eaton - Nashville 50 0 1 1 32Rob Globke - Florida 12 0 0 0 6Ben Simon - Columbus 5 0 0 0 0
AHL GP G A PTS PIMBen Simon - Syracuse # 40 11 11 22 49Yan Stastny - Iowa 43 10 12 22 34Brett Lebda - Grand Rapids @ 11 2 5 7 10Rob Globke - Rochester & 24 3 4 7 34Neil Komadoski - Binghamton 32 0 4 4 47
ECHL GP G A PTS PIMJohn Wroblewski - Fresno 40 12 7 19 65Joe Dusbabek - Phoenix 31 7 10 17 40Aaron Gill - Trenton 39 3 5 8 35Brad Wanchulak - San Diego 0 0 0 0 0 - Phoenix * 5 0 1 1 4Morgan Cey - Johnstown 18 9-5-2-4 3.21 .908
UHL GP G A PTS PIMTom Galvin - Quad City 43 3 15 18 57
@ recalled to Detroit (NHL) - Nov. 8, 2005* waived Dec. 11, 2005# recalled to Columbus (NHL) - Jan. 30, 2006$ sent to Syracuse (AHL) - Jan. 9, 2006& recalled to Florida (NHL) - Dec. 27, 2005