Dec. 4, 2002
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- The Series: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-6-2/4-6-0) vs. Bowling Green (3-8-1/1-7-1)
- Date/Site/Times: Sat.-Sun., Dec. 7-8 – Joyce Center (2,713) – 7:05 p.m (Saturday)/5:05 (Sunday)
- Broadcast Information: Notre Dame hockey will be simulcast live on WDND South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620 and WDNV 1490 with Mike Lockert and Tom Nevala calling all the action. Irish hockey can also be heard live via the internet at www.und.com.
FINAL HOME SERIES OF 2002: The Notre Dame hockey team closes out the 2002 portion of the 2002-03 hockey schedule this weekend with a visit from the Bowling Green Falcons. This series will be played on Sat.-Sun., Dec. 7-8 at the Joyce Center. Game time on Saturday is 7:05 p.m. with Sunday’s start set for 5:05 p.m. The Irish will look to get back on the winning track after losing a pair of games at Alaska Fairbanks over the Thanksgiving weekend. Notre Dame comes into December with a 5-6-2 overall record and a 4-6-0 mark in CCHA play. After starting the season with a 3-0-1 record, the Irish are just 2-6-1 in their last nine games. At Fairbanks, the Irish lost a pair of one-goal decisions, 4-3 on Nov. 29 and 5-4 on Nov. 30. Bowling Green comes into the weekend series following a bye weekend Nov. 29-30. The Falcons are 3-8-1 overall and 1-7-1 in the CCHA. They are 1-0-1 in their last two games which includes an overtime win over Michigan State and a tie with sixth-ranked Michigan. Following this weekend’s series, the Irish will play their next seven games on the road. Their next home game will come on Fri., Jan. 17 when they play host to the Yale Bulldogs. The Irish have three games left in the 2002 portion of the schedule following this weekend. On Sat., Dec. 14, they travel to Detroit to face the Wayne State Warriors in a 1:35 p.m. contest at Joe Louis Arena. The Irish then play in the Ledyard National Bank Tournament in Hanover, N.H. on Dec. 28-29. Notre Dame opens with Dartmouth and then will play either Vermont or UMass-Lowell in the second game of the tournament.
LAST MEETINGS: Bowling Green and Notre Dame are in the same rivalry pairing in the CCHA’s current scheduling format. The two schools will face each other four times this season. A year ago, the two teams met four times with the Irish winning three of the four contests. At Bowling Green in December, Notre Dame won 6-3 before falling 4-2 the following night. In March, the two teams met at Notre Dame with the Irish taking 4-3 and 4-1 verdicts. In the last 10 meetings between the two schools, the Irish are 7-2-1. The Irish have won five straight games at the Joyce Center and are 6-0-1 in the last seven games played there since the 1997-98 season.
A LOOK AT THE FALCONS: Under first year head coach and 1991 Bowling Green alum, Scott Paluch, the Falcons come into this weekend playing their best hockey of the season with a 1-0-1 mark over the last two games. The Falcons knocked off Michigan State on Nov. 22 with a 3-2 overtime win at home. Prior to that, Bowling Green battled sixth-ranked Michigan to a 1-1 tie at home on Nov. 9. The Falcons are led offensively by defenseman Kevin Bieksa (3-7-10). He is followed by forwards Steve Brudzewski (4-4-8), Mark Wires (5-2-7) and Tyler Knight (2-5-7). In goal, sophomore Jordan Sigalet (1-3-1, 2.74, .926 sv%) and senior Tyler Masters (2-5-0, 4.86, .877 sv%) have split the duties. Sigalet played in both the Michigan tie and the win over Michigan State. Bowling Green has struggled in the goal scoring department with 29 goals (2.42 per game) in 12 games. The Falcon power play is 10-for-59 (16.9%) while the penalty killing has given up 16 ppg in 66 chances (75.8%). For more information on the Falcons, check the Bowling Green website at bgsufalcons.com.
LOST WEEKEND: The Irish dropped a pair of one-goal games at Alaska Fairbanks last weekend. On Friday night, the Nanooks jumped out to a 3-0 lead midway through the second period before the Irish offense got in gear. Matt Amado (Fr., Surrey, B.C.) got his first collegiate goal to cut the lead to 3-1 late in the second period. Cory McLean (So., Fargo, N.D.) scored on the power play at 1:16 of the third and Rob Globke (Jr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) got the game-tying goal at 2:58 for a 3-3 score. UAF’s Aaron Voros got the eventual game winner at 8:48 of the third period. Notre Dame was outshot 39-20 in the game. Morgan Cey (So., Wilkie, Sask.) made 35 saves in the loss. The following night, the Irish built leads of 2-1 and 4-2 but Alaska Fairbanks scored four times on the power play for a 5-4 win. Trailing 1-0 with just one minute left in the first period, the Irish struck for two goals in a 22-second span. Yan Stastny (So., St. Louis, Mo.) and Aaron Gill (Jr., Rochester, Minn.) gave the Irish a 2-1 lead with goals at 19:32 and 19:54. After UAF tied the game at 2-2, Globke put the Irish ahead 4-2 with his 11th and 12th goals of the year midway through the second period. Jason Grinevitch scored a pair of power-play goals for the Nanooks 55 seconds apart at 18:46 and 19:41 to tie the game at 4-4. Ryan Campbell notched the game winner at 8:09 of the third to hand the Irish the 5-4 loss. Notre Dame outshot UAF 35-30 in the game. Tony Zasowski (Sr., Darien, Ill.) made his third start of the season and turned in 21 saves over two periods. Cey played the third period and made four saves in taking the loss. The Irish were 0-for-4 on the power play while the Nanooks were 4-for-6.
ON THE SIDELINES: Freshman forward Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) will be out of the Irish lineup indefinitely as he was diagnosed with mononucleosis on Nov. 24. Walsh missed the first 10 games of the season with a broken jaw suffered in the Oct. 4 preseason game with the University of Toronto. He returned to action and played in Notre Dame’s 4-3 win at Michigan on Nov. 23.
GOALS FOR GLOBKE: With 12 goals on the season, Rob Globke leads the CCHA in goals and ranks fourth in the nation among goal scorers. A year ago, the 2002 second-round pick of the NHL’s Florida Panthers had just 11 goals in 33 games for the Irish. On the year, Globke has 12 goals and seven assists for 19 points which ranks him sixth in the CCHA overall scoring race. In league scoring he is tied for third with nine goals and five assists for 14 points.
MORE GLOBKE: Junior right wing Rob Globke recorded his fourth game of the season with three or more points and picked up his fifth multiple-point game versus Alaska Fairbanks. Globke recorded three goals and two assists on the weekend. In the 4-3 loss on Nov. 29, Globke scored a goal and added an assist. He turned in a two-goal, one-assist effort on Nov. 30 as the Irish fell 5-4. Earlier this season, Globke had a four-point game (3g, 1a) at Minnesota-Duluth (Oct. 12) and a three-point game (2g, 1a) at Western Michigan (Oct. 18). The last time a Notre Dame player scored five goals over a two-game period was during the 1994-95 season when Tim Harberts scored four goals in a game versus Waterloo (Oct. 21) and then scored a single-goal versus Lake Superior (Oct. 28). The last time a Notre Dame player had seven points in a two-game span was last season when Connor Dunlop (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) had two goals and five assists in a weekend series versus Alaska Fairbanks (Feb. 1-2, 2002). For his career, Globke now has 13 multiple-point games and eight multiple-goal games.
GETTING IT DUN(LOP): Senior center Connor Dunlop has recorded three consecutive two-assist games for the Irish. That gives him four multiple-point games this season. Dunlop ranks second on the Irish in scoring with 12 points, all on assists. For his career, the CCHA’s premier playmaker now has 19 goals and 73 assists for 92 career points. He needs just eight more points to become the 39th player in Notre Dame history to reach the 100-point plateau. He now has 22 multiple-point games for his career. That includes two with four points, five with three points and 15 with two points.
FRESHMAN FIRSTS: Freshman forward Matt Amado picked up the first goal and assist of his Notre Dame career in the weekend series at Alaska Fairbanks. In the Nov. 29 game, his goal in the second period started the Irish on a three-goal rally that tied the game 3-3. The following night, he assisted on Yan Stastny’s goal that tied the game at 1-1.
CORY’S STORY: Sophomore right wing Cory McLean continued his strong play since Oct. 26th as he picked up his fourth goal of the year (second on the power play) in the 4-3 loss to Alaska Fairbanks. McLean equalled his freshman point total of five with the goal as he now has four goals and one assist for five points on the season. As a freshman, he had just one goal and four assists for five points for the entire year.
BACK ON THE BOARD: Sophomore left wing Yan Stastny snapped a five-game scoring slump with a goal and an assist on Nov. 30 versus Alaska Fairbanks. He had recorded four goals and an assist in the first seven games before going scoreless from Nov. 8 – Nov. 29. For the year he has five goals and two assists for seven points.
PENALTY SHOTS: Irish goaltender Morgan Cey faced the second penalty shot of his career in the 4-2 loss to Michigan on Nov. 9, stopping Milan Gajic at 12:36 of the third period. As a freshman, Cey stopped Bowling Green’s Greg Day on Dec. 8, 2001 in a 4-2 loss to the Falcons.
SEVERE POWER OUTAGE: Notre Dame’s power play continued to struggle in the weekend series at Alaska Fairbanks going just 1-for-6 on the weekend. Cory McLean snapped a 1-for-36 drought with his power-play marker in the third period of the Nov. 29 game as the Irish were 1-for-2 on the night. On Nov. 30, the Irish were 0-for-4 and are now 2-for-41 (4.9%) over the last eight games. McLean has scored both of the power-play goals. For the year, the Irish are 10-for-70 (14.3%) with the man-advantage after starting the year going 8-for-28 (27.6%) in the first five games of the season.
OUCH: Notre Dame surrendered four power-play goals on six chances to Alaska Fairbanks in the 5-4 loss to the Nanooks on Nov. 30. The last time the Irish gave up four power-play goals in a game came on Feb. 15, 1997 at Michigan in a 6-1 loss. Prior to the UAF game on Nov. 30, the Irish penalty-killing unit had killed 29 of 32 opponent power-play chances. For the season, the Irish are eight overall in the CCHA after giving up 13 ppg’s on 64 chances for a 79.7% success rate.
SHORT-CIRCUITED: Notre Dame gave up its fourth short-handed goal of the season in the 4-3 win versus Michigan (Nov. 23) when Dwight Helminen scored a man down at 6:45 of the first period. The Irish have given up two short-handed goals over the last six games. Last season, the Irish gave up just four shorthanded goals in 38 games.
“A” FOR EFFORT: Notre Dame left wing John Wroblewski (Sr., Neenah, Wis.) was named an alternate captain for the remainder of the 2002-03 season on Nov. 20. In making the announcement, head coach Dave Poulin said, “John has emerged as an integral part of this team with his leadership and strong communication skills. He adds to an already strong captain’s group on this year’s team.” Wroblewski has scored four goals with three assists for seven points in the first 13 games this season.
ROAD WARRIORS: The two road losses at Alaska Fairbanks dropped the Irish to 3-3-1 on the road this season. Since Feb. 9, 2002, the Irish are 8-4-1 over their last 13 road games. Last season, Notre Dame was 10-8-3 on the road.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Notre Dame defenseman Neil Komadoski (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) is having a career-year offensively on the Irish blue line. Through the first 13 games of the season, Komadoski is third in team scoring with a goal and 10 assists for 11 points. The 10 assists are a career-high for the rugged defenseman and the 11 points equal his career-best set last season in 37 games. Among CCHA defensemen, Komadoski is tied for fourth with five other defenders with 11 points each. They are tied for 29th in the CCHA scoring race.
GOT HIS NUMBER: The Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks seem to have Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey’s number through the first two seasons of his career. The sophomore goaltender is 0-2-0 versus UAF with a 6.44 goals-against average and a .833 save percentage. Cey started and took the loss in the Nov. 29 game with the Nanooks and then came in on Nov. 30 to play the third period and gave up the winning goal in that game. Last season, Cey started both games (Feb. 1 and 2) and failed to finish either, but did not get a loss. The two losses this weekend are the first time he’s lost both games of a weekend series since Jan. 18-19 of last season when he took the loss in two games to Nebraska-Omaha – a span of 25 games. Since giving up five goals versus Western Michigan (Oct. 19) and four the following game versus Ferris State (Oct. 25), Cey has given up 18 goals in his last six starts (2.85 goals against) while stopping 176 of 194 shots for a .907 save percentage.
PULLING THE GOALTENDER: The Irish have pulled the goaltender in games six times this season and have been successful in getting the tying goal twice. The Irish converted their first two attempts getting game-tying goals versus Minnesota-Duluth and Boston College. On Oct. 11, Yan Stastny performed the heroics versus Minnesota-Duluth. With Morgan Cey on the bench, Stastny scored with 57 seconds left to tie that game at 2-2. Aaron Gill got the game-tying goal with 42 seconds left and Cey on the bench Nov. 1 to send the Boston College game into overtime at 3-3. The last four times the Irish have pulled the goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker they have failed to score.
HOT IRISH:
Point Streaks
Rob Globke has a three-game point and goal scoring streak (5-2-7).
Connor Dunlop has a three-game point and assist streak (0-6-6).
Neil Komadoski has scored points in four of his last five games (0-4-4). His four-game streak from 11/9-29 was the longest point- scoring streak of his Notre Dame career.
Corey McLean has points in four of his last six games (3-1-4) and in five of his last eight (4-1-5).
Evan Nielsen has points in three of his last five games (0-4-4).
Aaron Gill has points in three of his last five games (2-1-3).
CALLING THE SHOTS: After being outshot in six of its first nine games this season, the Notre Dame offense came alive versus Michigan outshooting the Wolverines 37-24 on Nov. 22 and 31-28 on Nov. 23.
At Alaska Fairbanks the Irish were outshot 39-20 on Nov. 29, but bounced back to outshoot the Nanooks, 35-20 on Nov. 30. The Irish are 3-2-2 in games they’ve been outshot, but just 2-4-0 when they outshoot the opposition.
FIT TO BE TIED: The 3-3 tie versus Boston College (Nov. 1) was Notre Dame’s second tie of the season and they are 0-0-2 in those games. Since the 1999-2000 season, the Irish are 5-2-22 in overtime games.
THE BROTHERS GILL: Notre Dame’s brother combination of Aaron Gill and Tony Gill saw their first action of the season together on the same line versus Miami (Nov. 8). Aaron scored Notre Dame’s only goal while getting five shots on goal with a +1 rating. Tony collected one shot and was also +1 for the evening.
CENTRAL SCOUTING REPORT: The National Hockey League released its Central Scouting Services preliminary rankings for the 2003 Entry Draft Nov 25. On its list of 42 collegiate players (37 skaters and five goaltenders), 11 CCHA players were ranked. Ranked 12th among collegiate players is Irish right wing Tim Wallace (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska). Wallace has played in all 13 games for the Irish with two goals and two assists for four points.
NHL DRAFTEES: Notre Dame had three players selected in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft last June. Junior Rob Globke led the way as he was selected in the second round, 40th overall, by the Florida Panthers. That is the highest any Notre Dame hockey player has ever been selected in the NHL Draft. In the fifth round, freshman Mike Walsh was selected 143rd overall by the New York Rangers. The third member of the Notre Dame roster picked was sophomore Yan Stastny who was selected in the eighth round, 259th overall, by the Boston Bruins. They join senior Evan Nielsen (Atlanta Thrashers, 8th round, 2000 Draft) and junior defenseman Neil Komadoski (Ottawa Senators, 3rd round, 2001 Draft) as Notre Dame players selected by the NHL.
GILL THE THRILL: Junior center Aaron Gill has provided his heroics twice for the Irish this season. The Rochester, Minn., native scored with 42 seconds left to give Notre Dame a 3-3 tie with third-ranked Boston College on Nov. 1. Earlier in the season (Oct. 19), Gill recorded the first hat trick of his career in Notre Dame’s 8-5 win over Western Michigan. Gill scored two power-play goals and had the game-winning tally among his three lamplighters.
HAT TRICKS: Junior center Aaron Gill scored three goals for the Irish in the 8-5 win at Western Michigan on Oct. 19. The hat trick was the first of his collegiate career and marked the second time in the first four games that Notre Dame recorded a hat trick. Rob Globke scored three times in the 5-3 win at Minnesota-Duluth. This marks the first time since the 1994-95 season that two Notre Dame players have recorded hat tricks in the same season. Tim Harberts (four goals) and Ben Nelsen each had hat tricks in October of 1994.
EIGHT IS GREAT: The eight goals scored by the Irish in the 8-5 win at Western Michigan are the most goals scored by Notre Dame in a game since Nov. 20, 1998 in a 9-5 win over Western Michigan. That covers a span of 150 games.
NOT SO GREAT EIGHT: Ferris State’s Chris Kunitz scored eight points in the weekend (Oct. 25-26) series versus the Irish. The senior left wing recorded two goals and two assists in each game. The last time Notre Dame gave up eight points in a CCHA series was during the 1981-82 season when Western Michigan’s Ross Fitzpatrick recorded six goals and two assists on Feb. 26-27, 1982. Fitzpatrick had three goals and one assist in each game.
NO BULL: Notre Dame will face teams with the nickname Bulldogs eight times this season. The Irish opened the season with two games versus the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. They will face the Ferris State Bulldogs four times this season as members of the CCHA. In January, the Irish will play host to the Yale Bulldogs with one game (Jan. 17) at the Joyce Center and one game (Jan. 18) at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
SWEEPS: Notre Dame’s series sweep of Western Michigan gives the Irish three consecutive CCHA series sweeps going back to the 2001-02 season. The Irish ended the season by sweeping Lake Superior at Sault Ste. Marie and then Bowling Green at the Joyce Center. That marks the first time in Notre Dame’s 11 years in the CCHA that the Irish have won three consecutive league series. The last time Notre Dame won three consecutive weekend series was during the 1990-91 season with sweeps versus Mercyhurst, Alabama-Huntsville and UMass-Boston. Notre Dame’s streak of three consecutive regular-season series sweeps came to an end versus Ferris State when the Bulldogs took 5-2 and 4-1 verdicts from the Irish on Oct. 25-26.
CLOSING THE DEAL: After seeing their 50-game unbeaten streak (42-0-8) when leading after two periods stopped in the second game of last season, the Irish went 16-0-1 over the final 17 games when they led after two periods. This season, the Irish are 2-0-1 when they lead after two periods of play. Since Jan. 9, 1998, the Irish are 60-2-10 when leading after two periods of play. During that period, Boston College has handed the Irish a loss and a two ties.
WROBO-MATIC: Senior left wing John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.) got off to a fast start with four goals and three assists for seven points in his first 11 games. He recorded a pair of three-point games in Notre Dame’s first four games. On Oct. 12, he recorded two goals and an assist in a 5-3 win at Minnesota-Duluth. He followed that with a goal and two assists in the 8-5 win at Western Michigan.
WOW ZOW: Notre Dame goaltender Tony Zasowski (Sr., Darien, Ill.) made his first start since Dec. 1, 2001 in the second game of the weekend series at Minnesota-Duluth (Oct. 12). After giving up two first-period goals, Zasowski stopped 30 of 31 shots over the final two periods for the 5-3 win. On the night, Zasowski made 39 saves, the second highest total of his career. Zasowski made 29 saves in his second appearance of the year, a 4-1 loss to Ferris State on Oct. 26.
IRON MEN: Senior center Jake Wiegand saw his consecutive games streak of 79 straight games snapped on Oct. 25 versus Ferris State. The 6-3, 218-pound forward went down with a sprained left knee in Notre Dame’s 8-5 win at Western Michigan (Oct. 19). Defenseman Evan Nielsen (Sr., Evanston, Ill.) now has the team lead having played in 88 consecutive games. Junior defenseman Brett Lebda has played in 85 of 89 career games at Notre Dame. The lone games he has missed came between 12/28 – 1/5 of last season while he was playing for the U.S. Junior National Team in the World Junior Championships. The Notre Dame record for consecutive games played is 103 and was set by Ryan Dolder over three seasons.
Current Notre Dame consecutive game streaks:
Evan Nielsen – 88 games
John Wroblewski – 86 games
Aaron Gill – 61 games
WASTING LITTLE TIME: Freshman right wing Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) wasted little time scoring his first collegiate goal in the 2-2 tie at Minnesota-Duluth. Wallace scored the first goal of his career for the Irish on the first shot of his collegiate career. The goal came at 9:12 of the first period and tied the score at 1-1. He added his second career goal in the first period of ND’s 8-5 win over Western Michigan. That goal snapped a 1-1 tie and put the Irish ahead to stay in the game. Through 13 games this season, Wallace has two goals and two assists for four points in his rookie season.
CENTER OF ATTENTION: Irish center Connor Dunlop is coming off the best season of his career and the best year for a Notre Dame hockey player since 1991-92. Dunlop capped his junior year by leading the Irish in scoring with nine goals and 36 assists for 45 points. The 36 assists were the most since Curtis Janicke recorded 38 in 1991-92 and the 45 points were the most since Janicke’s 50-point campaign in ’91-’92.
An all-CCHA and all-American candidate this season, Dunlop was fourth overall among CCHA scorers and third in assists. In the 28-game regular season league rankings, Dunlop was second in points (36) and assists (27).
An honorable mention all-CCHA selection in 2001-02, Dunlop turned in a seven-point (two goals, five assists) weekend series versus Alaska Fairbanks (Feb. 1-2) including his second four-point game of the season. For the year, Dunlop recorded two four-point games, three with three-points and 13 multiple-point games in all.
SEN-CEY-SATIONAL: Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey was among the top freshmen netminders in the country during the 2001-02 season. Cey turned in a 15-14-3 record with a 2.72 goals against average and a school-record .910 save percentage. He also equalled a Notre Dame mark with two shutouts. Over the final nine games of the year, Cey was 7-2 with a 1.77 goals against average. Cey backstopped the Irish to their playoff series win at Nebraska-Omaha. In three games covering 208:49 minutes, Cey gave up five goals, while stopping 99 of 104 shots for a 1.49 goals against and a .951 save percentage.
THE CAPTAINS: Senior defenseman Evan Nielsen will serve as team captain for the second consecutive season in 2002-03. He is the first two-time captain since Steve Noble handled the job in 1996-97 and 1997-98. He becomes the 12th two-time captain in the program’s 35th season. One of the CCHA’s top returning defensemen, Nielsen had a career season during 2001-02 with seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points while being +5 on the year. Serving as alternate captains this season will be senior center Connor Dunlop and junior center Aaron Gill. Dunlop served as an alternate captain in 2001-02 and had the best season of his career. Dunlop had nine goals and 36 assists for 45 points with the assist and point totals being the most for a Notre Dame player since 1991-92. An honorable mention all-CCHA performer, Dunlop was fourth among CCHA scorers overall and finished second in 28 league games with nine goals and 27 assists for 36 points. Gill has been a steady performer in his first two seasons with the Irish. He is coming off an eight-goal, 14-assist season. Known for his non-stop hustle, Gill is one of the teams top faceoff men and penalty killers. John Wroblewski was appointed the team’s third alternate captain on Nov. 20. One of the top defensive forwards in the CCHA, Wroblewski had his best season offensively in 2001-02 when he scored 10 goals with 11 assists for 21 points. All three totals were career highs.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Three current members of the Notre Dame hockey program – senior center Connor Dunlop, junior defenseman Neil Komadoski and sophomore forward Yan Stastny – hold a unique connection, as each of their fathers enjoyed lengthy careers in the National Hockey League.
Blake Dunlop played 11 seasons in pro hockey (’73-’84), including NHL stints with the Minnesota North Stars (’73-’77), Philadelphia Flyers (’77-’79), St. Louis Blues (’79-’83) and Detroit Red Wings (’83-’84), while totaling 130G-274A in 550 career NHL games.
Neil Komadoski, Sr., played eight NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings (’72-’78) and the St. Louis Blues (’77-’80), totaling 16G-76A and 632 penalty minutes in 501 career games.
Peter Stastny played 15 seasons in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques (’80-’90), the New Jersey Devils (’90-’93) and the St. Louis Blues (’93-’95). He is currently the 23rd all-time scorer in league history with 450 goals, 789 assists and 1,239 points in 997 games. A six-time NHL all-star, Stastny is the highest scoring European-born player in NHL history and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1998. The 1981 NHL rookie-of-the-year, Stastny is currently a special assignment scout for the St. Louis Blues.
Notre Dame’s NHL connection doesn’t stop there.
Sophomore forward Alexander “Newsy” Lalonde (Newmarket, Ont.) also has NHL lineage as he is a distant relative of NHL pioneer and Hall of Famer, Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde. Lalonde played for the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Americans between 1917 and 1927 for a total of six seasons in which he scored 124 goals and 41 assists for 165 points in 99 games.
ALL IN THE FAMILY, PART II: Two freshmen hockey players – Rory Walsh (Milton, Mass.) and Mike Walsh have fathers who attended Notre Dame. Rory Walsh’s father, Brian (’77), was an all-American hockey player for the Irish. A center, 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. Adding to the Irish family theme, sophomore left wing Yan Stastny’s (St. Louis, Mo.) younger sister, Kristina, is a freshman with the Notre Dame women’s tennis team while junior Aaron Gill’s younger brother Tony gives the Irish their ninth brother combo in the program’s history.
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS: Notre Dame saw its streak of five consecutive Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans snapped in 2001-02. Senior right wing David Inman (Toronto, Ont.) was selected as a District V selection for the At-Large team but did not make it to the national team. Prior to 2001-02, four Irish hockey players made the team over a five-year period.
2000-01: Dan Carlson (3rd team)
1999-00: Andy Jurkowski (3rd team)
1998-99: Forrest Karr (2nd team)
1997-98: Steve Noble (1st team)
1996-97: Steve Noble (2nd team)
CCHA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: David Inman was named to the CCHA’s nine-man 2001-02 all-Academic Team, making Notre Dame the CCHA’s only school to produce an all-Academic honoree in each of the last seven seasons. Inman finished second for the Irish in scoring with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points and was also an honorable mention all-CCHA selection. Inman turned in a 3.54 grade point average in finance during his Notre Dame career. The Irish have produced eight previous first team CCHA All-Academic selections since rejoining the CCHA in ’92-’93: Curtis Janicke and Carl Picconatto (’92-’93), Garry Gruber (’95-’96), Steve Noble (’96-’97, ’97-’98), Forrest Karr and Aniket Dhadphale (’98-’99), Andy Jurkowski (99′-’00) and Dan Carlson (2000-01). During that 10-year span, only Western Michigan (11) has produced more CCHA All-Academic selections than Notre Dame’s 10.
HOMETOWNS: The 2002-03 Notre Dame hockey team features players from 10 states and four Canadian provinces – Alberta, British Columbia,Ontario and Saskat-chewan. In the seven-year tenure of head coach Dave Poulin, the Notre Dame hockey letter winners have hailed from 20 different states and provinces – those listed below, plus: Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
2002-03 Notre Dame Hockey
– By State or Province:
Illinois (5): Michael Chin, Brett Lebda, Evan Nielsen, Tony Zasowski, Joe Zurenko
Michigan (5): Rob Globke, Jake Wiegand, Derek Smith, Chris Trick, Mike Walsh
Minnesota (3): Kyle Dolder, Aaron Gill, Tony Gill
Missouri (3): Connor Dunlop, Neil Komadoski, Yan Stastny
Alaska (1): Tim Wallace
Alberta (1): Brad Wanchulak
British Columbia (1): Matt Amado
Maryland (1): T.J. Mathieson
Massachusetts (1): Rory Walsh
New York (1): Tom Galvin
North Dakota (1): Cory McLean
Ontario (1): Alex Lalonde
Saskatchewan (1): Morgan Cey
Wisconsin (1): John Wroblewski
PATRIOTIC GROUP: Notre Dame’s current roster includes eight players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP) and/or the National Junior Team. Notre Dame ranks second with 10 NTDP alums, one behind Michigan State (11), while Minnesota has nine. Notre Dame’s contingent includes seniors Michael Chin, John Wroblewski and Connor Dunlop, juniors Rob Globke, Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda, sophomore Derek Smith and freshman forward Tim Wallace.
Former Irish players Brett Henning and Paul Harris also were members of the Developmental program prior to playing at Notre Dame.
Globke and Lebda also played for Team USA at last year’s World Junior Championships. For Globke, it was his second appearance for Team USA and he scored two goals with one assist in helping the U.S. team to a 4-1-2 record and fifth place. Lebda made his first appearance and scored a goal in seven tournament games. The Irish have had at least one player on the National Junior Team in each of the last six years.
NOTRE DAME PLAYERS ON JUNIOR
NATIONAL TEAM – (since ’96-’97):
Ben Simon – 1996-97, 1997-98
Joe Dusbabek – 1997-98
Dan Carlson – 1998-99
Brett Henning – 1999-2000
Connor Dunlop – 1999-00, 2000-01
David Inman – 1999-2000
Rob Globke – 2000-01, 2001-02
Brett Lebda – 2001-02
RIVALRY CLUSTERS: The CCHA starts its new scheduling format this season as the league’s 12 teams are grouped in “rivalry pairings.” In the new 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.
The conference will continue to use the 28-game three-cluster format that was implemented three years ago to determine the regular-season champion. The teams will be divided into three clusters made up of two of the above pairings with each team playing the other three members of its cluster four times (twice at home and twice on the road). Each team hosts two teams and visits the other two from each of the other clusters. While the schedule is designed for two-game weekend series, some teams have taken advantage of the option to play home-and-home series when geographically possible.
In 2002-03, Notre Dame will play Bowling Green, Ferris State and Western Michigan four times with two games at home and two away. The Irish will also host two-game series with Lake Superior State, Miami, Michigan State and Ohio State while traveling for two games to Alaska Fairbanks, Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Michigan.
WINNING STREAKS: Notre Dame ran off five straight wins from Feb. 9 through Mar. 2 to close the 2001-02 regular season. That five-game win streak was the longest for the Irish since a five-game streak (Jan. 3-Jan. 16) during the 1998-99 season. All five wins came versus CCHA opponents which equals Notre Dame’s longest CCHA winning streak in their 12 seasons as a member of the CCHA. The Irish have done it twice – Oct. 9-23, 1998 and Jan. 30-Feb. 13, 1982.