Feb. 10, 2004
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- The Games: Notre Dame (13-11-4/9-10-3) vs. Ferris State Bulldogs (14-13-3/9-12-1)
- Date/Site/Times: Fri.-Sat, Feb. 13-14, 2004 – Joyce Center (2,713) – 7:35 p.m. both nights.
- Broadcast Information: Television: Saturday night’s game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net Detroit at 7:35 p.m. with Matt Shepard and Fred Pletsch calling the action.
Radio: All Notre Dame games can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1620, South Bend’s SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, “the voice of Irish hockey” calls all the action with Tom Nevala handling the color commentary. Irish hockey can also be heard live via the internet at www.und.com.
BATTLING THE BULLDOGS: Notre Dame will look to get back on the winning track this weekend when the Irish play host to the Ferris State Bulldogs on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14 at the Joyce Center. Game time both nights is set for 7:35 p.m. with Saturday’s game being televised live on Fox Sports Net Detroit. Notre Dame comes into the series having dropped two games last weekend at Miami (5-2 and 2-0). Ferris State split its series with Ohio State, winning 5-2 on Friday night before dropping a 6-0 shutout on Saturday. The Irish are 13-11-4 overall and 9-10-3 in the CCHA for 21 points and eighth place in the standings. Ferris State is 14-13-3 on the year and 9-12-1 in the league for ninth place and 19 points, making this a key weekend for both teams if they hope to have home-ice in the upcoming playoffs. The Irish go into the weekend, one point out of seventh, three points out of fifth and four points out of fourth place and have two games in hand on Alaska Fairbanks as the Nanooks hold fourth. The top six teams in the standings will host the best-of-three first round of the playoffs. Following this weekend, the Irish are off on Feb. 20-21 before hosting Michigan on Feb. 27-28.
IRISH VS. BULLDOGS: The Bulldogs are 31-12-5 all-time versus the Irish, including 3-0-1 last season. At the Joyce Center, Ferris State is 16-6-3 against Notre Dame. Through a quirk in scheduling, since the 1999-2000 season, Ferris State comes into the weekend having played nine of the last 11 games in the series at Notre Dame. In those nine games, the Irish are 3-5-1 against the Bulldogs at the Joyce Center. Ferris State is 3-0-2 in the last five versus the Irish and 6-2-2 in the last 10. The last time Notre Dame defeated Ferris State was Nov. 9, 2001 (5-2) at the Joyce Center. Last season, Ferris State was 3-0-1 versus the Irish, winning twice at the Joyce Center (5-2, 4-1) and then losing 6-3 at Big Rapids, Mich., before getting a 4-4 tie in the final game of the series.
CENTURY MARK: With his second-period goal last Friday at Miami, senior center Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) became the 41st player in school history to reach the 100-point level in career scoring. Gill now has 43 goals and 57 assists for his career. The goal also helped Gill reach a career-high in points with 27 (11g, 16a) on the season. His 16 assists are also a career high.
GOAL SHORTAGE: In their last eight games, Notre Dame has been held to 15 goals (1.88 goals per game). In that eight-game span, the Irish are 2-4-2.
299 AND COUNTING: Notre Dame’s 3-2 win and 2-2 tie versus Alaska Fairbanks (Jan. 30-31) improved the Irish to 8-1-2 (8-0-2 in last 10) at the Joyce Center. That gives the Irish 299 all-time wins at the Joyce Center as they are now 299-245-42 (.546) on home ice. The eight wins this season are the most for the Irish at home since the 1999-2000 campaign when Notre Dame was 11-7-3 at the Joyce Center. The Irish have four more regular-season home games this year.
MIAMI RECAP: The Irish dropped two games last weekend at Miami by 5-2 and 2-0 scores. In Friday’s game, the Irish spotted the RedHawks four goals before getting on the scoreboard. The Miami line of Todd Grant, Geoff Smith and Taylor Hustead combined for three goals and five assists on the night. Trailing 4-0 late in the second period, the Irish finally got on the board when Josh Sciba (Fr., Northville, Mich.) scored his fifth of the season with a power-play goal at 16:00. Aaron Gill made it 4-2 at 19:09 with his 11th goal of the season. That would be the last goal the Irish would get on the weekend. Mike Kompon closed the scoring at 6:02 of the third period for the 5-2 final. Miami outshot the Irish 37-23 in the game. Morgan Cey (Jr., Wilkie, Sask.) made 32 saves in the game. Cory McLean (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) had a pair of assists for the Irish. In Saturday’s game, Notre Dame fired 33 shots at freshman goaltender Brandon Crawford-West, but could not dent the rookie who picked up his first career shutout in a 2-0 RedHawk victory. Andy Nelson and Greg Hogeboom each had a goal and an assist in the win. Cey made 26 saves in the loss. For the weekend, the Irish killed off all six Miami power-play chances to run their streak of consecutive penalties killed to 24 since Jan. 23.
HOT GOALTENDER: Freshman goaltender David Brown (Stoney Creek, Ont.) is back in his early-season groove over his last five starts. The talented puckstopper has given up just six goals in those five games (beginning on Jan. 10 vs. Bowling Green). In the five games (all in January), Brown is 3-1-1, has played 303:06 minutes with a 1.19 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage, stopping 153 of 159 shots. For his strong month of January, Brown received honorable mention for Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) rookie-of-the-month honors. For the year, Brown is 9-5-3 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.
SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS: Since giving up a power-play goal at 10:26 of the first period at Northern Michigan on Jan. 23, Notre Dame has killed off 24 consecutive opponent power plays over a six-game span. For the season, the Irish have killed 112 of 127 opponent chances. Of the 15 power-play goals surrendered, 10 have come in five games (two in each game). Over the remaining 23 games, the Irish have given up just five other power-play goals. Notre Dame has killed 88.2% of opponent power plays this season to lead the CCHA. Notre Dame’s all-time best penalty killing rate at the Division I level is 86.1% and was set during the 1969-70 season.
THE BIG THREE: Of the 15 goals scored by the Irish since Jan. 17, the trio of Rob Globke (Sr., West Bloomfield, Mich.), Aaron Gill and Mike Walsh (So., Northville, Mich.) have accounted for 12 of them. Globke and Gill each have five while Walsh has two. Jason Paige (Fr., Saginaw, Mich.), Brett Lebda (Sr., Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Josh Sciba have the other three. On the year, Globke (16), Gill (11) and Walsh (10) have scored 37 of Notre Dame’s 73 goals (50.7%).
GOLDEN GLOBKE: Senior right wing Rob Globke is tied for second in the CCHA with 16 goals this season. Over a two-game period (Jan. 18 at Wisconsin and Jan. 23 at Northern Michigan) he scored four goals. His goal streak and season-high six-game scoring streak (5-4-9) were snapped at Northern Michigan on Jan. 24. He now has five goals in his last seven games and points in eight of his last 11 (6-6-12). Globke was named the CCHA offensive player of the week for the week ending Jan. 18. At Wisconsin, Globke accounted for two goals and two assists and was +2 for the weekend as the Irish tied (2-2) and downed the fourth-ranked Badgers (3-1). Globke was the first Notre Dame player to receive offensive player of the week honors since Dan Carlson (’01) was named on Feb. 7, 2000.
GAME-WINNING GLOBKE: Rob Globke picked up his CCHA-leading fifth game-winning goal of the season in the 3-1 win over Wisconsin on Jan. 18. He ranks second in the country with the five game-winners. For his career at Notre Dame, Globke now has 13 game-winning goals. That ties him for first on the all-time game-winning goal list with Brian Urick (’99) and current head coach Dave Poulin who recorded 13 game winners from 1978-82.
ON THE SIDELINES: Notre Dame defenseman Derek Smith (Jr., Marysville, Mich.) is sidelined indefinitely with post-concussion syndrome. He suffered a concussion on Jan. 4, 2003 at Nebraska-Omaha and has not played since.
TWO FOR THE CENTURY MARK: Seniors Rob Globke and Aaron Gill each went over the 100-point mark in their careers during the 2003-04 season. This marks the first time since the 1998-99 season that two Notre Dame players crashed the Irish “Century Club.” That season, Brian Urick and Aniket Dhadphale each recorded the 100th point of their careers. This season, Globke became the 40th player in Notre Dame hockey history to go over 100 points in his career with two assists versus Western Michigan (Dec. 6). His three-point weekend versus Alaska Fairbanks (1g, 2a), moved him past former teammate Connor Dunlop (’03) into 33rd on the all-time scoring list with 65 goals and 48 assists for 113 career points. He is just one of 18 players in school history to have 60 or more goals in a season and now is tied for 16th all-time with 65 career goals. On the year, Globke has 16 goals and 13 assists for a team-leading 29 points. Gill made it 41 players on the list with his goal on Feb. 6 at Miami. For his career, Gill now has 43 goals and 57 assists for his 100 career points. He is tied for second in scoring this season with 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points.
OVERTIME HEARTBREAK: With the 2-2 tie on Jan. 31 versus Alaska Fairbanks, Notre Dame is now 0-2-4 this season in six games that have gone to overtime. Prior to the Jan. 9, 5-4 overtime loss at Bowling Green, the Irish had gone eight straight overtimes with the game ending in a tie (0-0-8) between last season and the early part of the current campaign. Notre Dame’s last regular-season overtime win was Jan. 25, 2002 at Miami, a 4-3 win. Since that win, the Irish are 1-3-10 in overtime with the one win and one of the losses coming in the CCHA playoffs. Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, the Irish have been involved in 39 overtime games and are 5-4-30 in those contests.
ONE-GOAL GAMES: Five of Notre Dame’s games in January were decided by one goal with the Irish going 2-3-0 in those games. After winning their first three one-goal games (all three being 1-0 wins), the Irish dropped three in a row (two in overtime and one by a 1-0 score).The Irish are 4-3 this season in one-goal decisions. Notre Dame has been involved in four 1-0 games this season and is 3-1 in those contests.
BARN BURNERS: Three of Notre Dame’s games in January came down to final-second decisions. On Jan. 31, Brett Lebda scored with 28.5 seconds left for a 2-2 tie with Alaska Fairbanks. On Jan. 23, Northern Michigan’s Darin Olver scored with 34 seconds left in overtime to give the Wildcats a 4-3 win. On Jan. 9, Bowling Green’s James Unger scored with 28 seconds left in overtime to give the Falcons a 5-4 win.
2003-04 IRISH AWARD WINNERS:
David Brown – CCHA rookie of the week
(Oct. 19, Nov. 1, Dec. 2)
CCHA defensive player of the week
(Jan. 12)
HCA rookie of the month (October)
Honorable mention HCA rookie of the month (January)
Morgan Cey – All-tournament team at Everblades
Collegiate Hockey Classic (Dec. 28)
Rob Globke – CCHA offensive player of the week
(Jan. 19)
Neil Komadoski – Nominee for college hockey’s
Humanitarian Award
GILL GOALS: Senior center Aaron Gill has scored five goals in his last seven games. He scored twice in Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie at Wisconsin (Jan. 17) and then added a single goal in the 4-3 overtime loss at Northern Michigan (Jan. 23). He gave the Irish a 1-0 lead versus UAF (Jan. 30) after being stopped on Jan. 24 in the 1-0 shutout loss at Northern Michigan. Goal number five came in the 5-2 loss at Miami on Feb. 6. He leads the Irish with seven power-play goals on the season. Gill is second in scoring for the Irish with 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points.
PUTTING THE “P” IN POWER: Sophomore left wing Mike Walsh is quickly becoming one of the top power forwards in the CCHA. He scored his 10th goal of the season in the 3-2 win over Alaska Fairbanks. The goal was his fourth game-winning goal of the year and the fifth of his career. The four game winners ties him for second in the CCHA and seventh in the nation. Walsh believes that the quickest way to get from point A to point B is a straight line as he barges and charges to the net. After battling through an injury and illness filled freshman year, Walsh has become a key contributor to the Irish attack. With10 goals and eight assists, he is third on the team with 18 points. Four of his 10 goals this season are game winners. For his career, Walsh has scored 11 goals with five of them being game-winning goals.
TERRIFIC TRIO: Notre Dame’s corp of senior defensemen continues to have a strong final season for the Irish. Brett Lebda (5-10-15) and Neil Komadoski (2-13-15) lead the trio in scoring with 15 points each while Tom Galvin (Miller Place, N.Y.) is just one point behind with 14 points on 14 assists. Not surprisingly, during their Notre Dame careers, all three defenders have led the Irish defensemen in scoring in one season. Lebda (7-19-26) led as a freshman, Galvin (4-19-23) led as a sophomore and Komadoski (1-23-24) led last year.
POWER-PLAY POINTS: The Irish snapped a two-game power-play drought with goals in each game versus Alaska Fairbanks. At Miami, the Irish scored one power-play goal in four chances in the two games. The Irish have scored at least one power-play goal in 20 of their 28 games this season.
LEBDA’S LINE: Senior defenseman Brett Lebda continues to make his move on the top 10 scoring spot among Irish defensemen. Lebda’s goal and assist in the 2-2 tie with Alaska Fairbanks (Jan. 31) give him five goals and 10 assist for 15 points on the season. For his career, Lebda now has 25 goals and 51 assists for 76 career points. Notre Dame has had 10 defensemen in its history record 80 or more points in their careers. Lebda needs just four more points to catch Steve Curry (1970-74) who had 80 points (19g, 61a). Benoit Coitnoir (1995-99) is ninth with 88 points (28g, 60a).
LEAGUE LEADERS: Through the first 13 games of the season, Notre Dame’s team defense was tops in the CCHA. In the first 16 games, the Irish gave up 26 goals for a 1.97 goals-against average. Games 14-16 saw the Irish give up 18 goals over three contests, moving the goals-against average to 2.59. Since those three games, the Irish have given up just 24 goals in their last 12 games to give Notre Dame the second best goals-against average in the CCHA with a 2.39 mark. Only Michigan, with a 2.32 overall goals-against average, is better than the Irish.
IRISH SHUTOUTS: Prior to last season’s CCHA playoffs when Morgan Cey recorded back-to-back shutouts versus Miami, Notre Dame had never recorded back-to-back shutouts. Since Cey did it last March, both freshman David Brown (three in a row) and Cey have turned the trick this year. Notre Dame’s six shutouts are a single-season school record. The previous best was 1999-2000 when the Irish had three shutouts (Tony Zasowski had two and Jeremiah Kimento had one).
SCORELESS STREAKS: Morgan Cey (Jr., Wilkie, Sask.) saw his consecutive minutes of scoreless hockey come to an end at 158:53 when D’Arcy McConvey scored at 10:27 of the second period on Jan. 9. The streak was the longest of Cey’s career, passing his previous best of 149:17 (set between Mar. 14-20, 2003 in the CCHA playoffs). Cey’s 158:53 is the second longest in Irish history behind David Brown’s mark of 193:27 set this past October between Oct. 17-Nov. 8.
RISING TO THE OCCASION: With Morgan Cey sidelined twice this season due to knee injuries, freshman goaltender David Brown has played in19 games with outstanding results. In 17 starts, Brown is 9-5-3 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage. Four of his eight wins have been shutouts. He had an eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) snapped on Dec. 6 in a 6-4 loss at Western Michigan. During his streak which covered nine games, Brown had a 1.96 goals against (17 goals in 521:30 minutes and a .932 save percentage (232 saves). Included in those nine games were three consecutive shutouts between 10/18 and 10/31. For good measure, Brown also threw in a fourth shutout on Nov. 14 versus the U.S. Under-18 team that does not count in the statistics. He also was named CCHA rookie of the week three times, CCHA defensive player of the week once, the Hockey Commissioner’s Association (HCA) national rookie of the month for October and an honorable mention pick for HCA rookie of the month in January.
BEATING THE BEST: Notre Dame’s 1-0 shutout win at Boston College on Oct. 24 came versus the Eagles while they were ranked first in the nation in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll. The last time the Irish beat a top-ranked team came on Jan. 3, 1999 when they won 4-3 at North Dakota.
IRISH WINS VERSUS #1 TEAMS:
10/24/03 – at Boston College, 1-0
1/3/99 – at North Dakota, 4-3
11/10/78 – at Minnesota, 3-2
1/13/78 – vs. Denver, 5-3
1/18/74 – vs. Michigan Tech, 7-1
2/24/73 – vs. Wisconsin, 8-5
2/23/73 – vs. Wisconsin, 4-3
The last time the Irish faced a top-ranked team prior to Oct. 24 was on Nov. 10, 2000 when they played Boston College. Notre Dame lost that game by a 5-3 score.
FUTURE IRISH: Dave Poulin and his hockey staff announced that four players have signed national letters-of-intent in the early signing period to attend Notre Dame next season. The group includes three defensement and one forward.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN: In 28 games this season, Notre Dame defensemen Brett Lebda, Tom Galvin, Neil Komadoski and Wes O’Neill (Fr., Essex, Ont.) have combined for nine goals and 44 assists for 53 points. Lebda (5g, 10a) and Komadoski (2g, 13a) lead the group, followed by Galvin (0g, 14a). O’Neill has two goals and seven assists for nine points on the year.
MR. STEADY – CORY’S STORY: With two assists versus Miami (Feb. 6), Cory McLean (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) picked up his fourth multiple point game of the year. He now has a career-high 18 points on the season with seven goals and 11 assists. His 11 assists are also a career high. His previous best season came last year (10g, 7a). McLean has had a pair of four-game point streaks this season. As a freshman, McLean had just one goal and four assists for five points.
HUMANITARIAN NOMINEE: Irish defenseman Neil Komadoski was one of 14 nominees for the prestigious College Hockey Humanitarian Award that goes to college hockey’s “top citizen.” The award for community service and leadership is presented along with the Hobey Baker Award at the NCAA Frozen Four each year. On Jan. 15, the five finalists – Patrick Foley (UNH), Dan Boeser (Wisconsin), Chanda Gunn (Northeastern), Derek Nisula (Babson) and Mark Persick (Canisius) – were selected. Komadoski has been involved in Notre Dame’s community service programs since his freshman year. He is a member of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for three years and is chairman of the SAAC community service sub-committee since the fall of 2002. He represented Notre Dame at the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Leadership Conference last May. His community service work has included participation in SAAC’s Pediatric Christmas Party in all four years since joining the Irish hockey program. He has also participated in Christmas in April (2001, 2002), Habitat for Humanity (2003) and the Downs Syndrome Buddy Walk in the fall of 2002 and 2003. He has also worked with the Robinson Community Learning Center’ Children’s Ice Skate Day in the fall of 2002 and 2003.
IRISH ON TV: Saturday night’s game versus Ferris State will mark the seventh time this season that the Irish will have one of their games televised. Notre Dame is 4-1-1 in televised games this year. The Irish are 2-1-0 on CSTV, 1-0-1 on Wisconsin television and 1-0 on Fox Sports Net Fairbanks. The Irish have wins over Ohio State (10/10), Boston College (10/24), Wisconsin (1/18) and Alaska Fairbanks (1/30). The loss came on CSTV versus Cornell (12/27) and the tie was at Wisconsin (1/17).
CONSECUTIVE GAME STREAK: Graduated defenseman Evan Nielsen (’03) set Notre Dame’s record for consecutive games played last season with 114 in a row from 2000-03. Coming into this weekend at Northern Michigan, seniors Rob Globke and Brett Lebda have each played in 86 consecutive games and are the leaders among active players. The only games Lebda has missed in his career came in 2001-02 when he missed four games while playing at the World Junior Championships. He has played 141 of 145 career games.
IRISH VERSUS HOCKEY EAST: For the first time since Hockey East started in 1984-85, Notre Dame has recorded a pair of wins over Hockey East conference teams. On Oct. 24, the Irish defeated Boston College at Chestnut Hill, Mass. On Dec. 28, Notre Dame took a 1-0 decision versus Maine at the Everblades College Classic. In both 1-0 shutouts, sophomore left wing Mike Walsh got the game-winning goal.
RIVALRY CLUSTERS: Notre Dame has split the first eight games played between cluster rivals Bowling Green and Northern Michigan as the Irish are 4-4-0 in those games. Overall, the Irish are 5-4-1 versus teams in their cluster. They are 1-0-1 versus Lake Superior State and play the Lakers the final weekend of the season. The Irish are 2-2 versus Northern Michigan and 2-2 versus Bowling Green. A year ago, the Irish were 7-4-1 in their cluster that included Bowling Green, Western Michigan and Ferris State.
HCA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman goaltender David Brown was selected as the Hockey Commissioner’s Association (HCA) national collegiate rookie of the month for the month of October. Brown had an October to remember as he recorded a Notre Dame school record three consecutive shutouts in his first four career starts and a school-record shutout string of 193:27 consecutive minutes. His three shutouts also set a Notre Dame record for shutouts in a season. For the month, the 5-11, 188-pound puck stopper was 3-2-0 with a CCHA-leading 1.15 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage to go with the three shutouts. Among his three shutouts was a 1-0, 27-save performance on Oct. 24 versus the top-ranked Boston College Eagles at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The three shutouts came versus Bowling Green (10/18), Boston College (10/24) and Nebraska-Omaha (10/31). He has been selected as the CCHA rookie of the month three times this season (10/19, 11/2, 12/1) and defensive player of the week once (1/12). Brown was also received honorable mention for HCA rookie of the month honors in January.
DOWN BY TWO: Prior to the Nov. 29 comeback versus Northern Michigan (the Irish trailed 2-0 in a 4-2 win), last time the Irish rebounded from a two-goal deficit to win a game was on Oct. 12, 2002 when the Irish fell behind Minnesota-Duluth, 2-0, and rallied for a 5-3 win at Duluth.
CENTRAL SCOUTING RANKINGS: The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Central Scouting has released it’s mid-term report that ranks the top 270 draft eligible skaters and the top 30 goaltenders for the 2004 NHL Entry Draft next June. Irish defenseman Wes O’Neill is ranked 19th overall, third among U.S. College players behind North Dakota’s Drew Stafford (9th) and Michigan State’s A.J. Thelen (16). Freshman forward Michael Bartlett (Morton Grove, Ill.) was ranked 211th overall and 36th among collegiate players. Goaltender David Brown is ranked 29th overall and second among collegiate goaltenders behind top-ranked Al Montoya of Michigan.
SOME TRICK: Sophomore defenseman Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) recorded his first collegiate goal in the Nov. 28, 5-1 win over Northern Michigan. He made the most of it too, as the goal came short-handed in the second period and proved to be the game winner. Trick came out of the penalty box after a Northern Michigan centering pass eluded the point men. Trick beat Craig Kowalski with a backhander for his first goal in 36 career games.
DIRECTOR’S CUP STANDINGS: The University of Notre Dame stands 12th in the 2003-04 United States Sports Academy Division I Director’s Cup all-sports competition sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (formerly known as Sears Directors’Cup). Fall NCAA competition earned the Irish 199 points. Michigan is first (413 points), followed by UCLA, Stanford, Maryland, BYU, North Carolina, Penn State, Washington, USC, and Wake Forest round out the top 10.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END: Irish goaltender David Brown saw his streak of three consecutive shutouts end in the Nov. 8 game versus Michigan State. Jim Slater’s goal at 7:12 of the first period ended his consecutive-minute streak at 193:27. That is a new Notre Dame record. The last time Brown had given up a goal was on Oct. 17 versus Bowling Green with 4:22 left in the third period. He followed with shutouts versus Bowling Green (Oct. 18), Boston College (10/24) and Nebraska-Omaha (10/31).
OH CANADA: Freshman defenseman Wes O’Neill was a member of Canada’s Under-18 Select team that played in last summer’s Under-18 Select World Cup tournament. O’Neill had a goal and four assists in helping Canada to a fourth-place finish. The former Green Bay Gambler also played for Team Ontario at the Under-17 World Championships in Feb. of 2003. There he had three goals and nine assists in six games. O’Neill was the second pick in the 2002 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Draft by the Kingston Frontenacs. He is the highest-drafted OHL player to decide to play college hockey.
CEY IT AIN’T SO: Goaltender Morgan Cey missed the first five games of the season after having knee surgery in July. He then missed seven games after re-injuring his knee on Nov. 7, requiring arthroscopic surgery. Prior to this season, Cey had started 71 of Notre Dame’s 79 games as a freshman and sophomore. He was 15-15-6 last season with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage with two shutouts. Career-wise, Cey is 33-34-10 with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage with six shutouts. He is sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time wins list with 33. His 2.73 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and six shutouts make him the leader in all three categories at Notre Dame.
NHL DRAFTEES: Notre Dame has three players on the 2003-04 roster that have been selected in the National Hockey League Entry Draft. Senior Rob Globke was a second-round choice of the Florida Panthers in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Selected 40th overall, Globke’s selection was the earliest any Notre Dame player has ever been chosen. Senior defenseman Neil Komadoski was selected in the third round of the 2001 draft by the Ottawa Senators. Sophomore left wing Mike Walsh was selected in the fifth round in 2002 draft by the New York Rangers.
BRAIN POWER: Senior defenseman T.J. Mathieson (Clarksville, Md.) is a candidate for Rhodes, Mitchell and Marshall Scholarships for postgraduate studies. Mathieson owns a 3.812 grade-point average in aerospace engineering in Notre Dame’s School of Engineering. He is a two-time winner of Notre Dame’s Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award. He spent the past summer working at General Electric Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati. There, he worked doing stress analysis of high-pressure turbines for commercial aircraft engines.
THE CAPTAINS: Senior center Aaron Gill will serve as the team captain for the Irish in 2003-04. As a junior, he finished fourth in scoring with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points. Four of his 13 goals came on the power play and he recorded his first career hat trick on Oct. 19 in an 8-5 win over Western Michigan. Serving as alternate captains this season are senior right wing Rob Globke and senior defenseman Neil Komadoski. Globke led the Irish in scoring last season with 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points. Komadoski was Notre Dame’s top scorer from the blue line last year as he scored a goal and added 23 helpers. His 23 assists and 24 points were career-highs for the veteran defenseman.
FOURTH TIME: Morgan Cey’s back-to-back shutouts (1-0 and 5-0) versus Miami in the first round of last season’s CCHA playoffs made him the fourth goaltender to turn the trick. The others are:
1988-1989 –
Bruce Hoffort, LSSU beat Ferris State, 5-0, 3-0.
1993-94 –
Blaine Lacher, LSSU beat Ohio State, 5-0, 8-0
1999-00 –
Ryan Miller beat Notre Dame, 4-0 in semis and Nebraska-Omaha, 6-0 in finals.
PENALTY SHOTS: Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey has faced four penalty shots in his Irish hockey career, including three last season. On Feb. 28, in a 4-2 loss to Western Michigan, Cey stopped Bronco VinceBellissimo at 14:06 of the third period. A month earlier, Jan. 25, in a 3-3 tie with Michigan State, Cey stopped Jim Slater at 16:23 of the second stanza. His first stop in 2002-03 came on Nov. 22 at Michigan, in a 4-2 loss to the Wolverines. There, he stopped Milan Gajic at 12:36 of the second period. The first penalty shot Cey faced came during his freshman season when he stopped Bowling Green’s Greg Day on Dec. 8, 2001. That stop came in a 4-2 loss to the Falcons.
FAMILY MATTERS: After having as many as four players whose fathers played in the National Hockey League, only one remains for the 2003-04 season. That would be Neil Komadoski, Jr., whose father, 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.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Two Irish sophomore hockey players – Rory Walsh (So., 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 iceman, 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.
FROZEN TUNDRA: The Irish have developed a pipeline with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United State’s Hockey League. Three members of the current Notre Dame team have played in the Land of Lombardi. Junior defenseman Joe Zurenko (Arlington Heights, Ill.) played there during the ’00-’01 season and freshmen blueliners Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Wes O’Neill were teammates there last year. Assistant coach Layne LeBel also spent the past two seasons with the Gamblers.
GOLD MEDAL ASSISTANT: Irish assistant hockey coach, Andy Slaggert, served as an assistant coach with USA Hockey’s gold-medal winning Under-18 Select Team in August at the World Under-18 Select tournament in the Czech Republic. The 11-year assistant at Notre Dame has been involved in coaching with USA Hockey since the 1996-97 season. This was his first time for coaching on the international level.
YOST BUSTERS: Notre Dame’s 4-3 win at Michigan on Nov. 23 was the first regular-season win for the Irish at Yost Arena since they returned to the CCHA in 1992-93. Prior to that, the last time Notre Dame won in Ann Arbor was Oct. 22, 1982, a span of 14 regular-season games. The Irish did win a CCHA playoff game at Yost in the 1998 playoffs. In the regular season, Notre Dame is now 1-14-1 in the last 16 meetings and since 1992-93, the Irish are 2-18-1 versus the Wolverines at Yost Arena. Over the last three meetings, the Irish are 1-1-1 when playing in Ann Arbor.
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. Since the program began, the Irish have had a total of 13 NTDP alums grace their roster. The current contingent includes seniors Rob Globke, Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda, junior Derek Smith (Marysville, Mich.), sophomore Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) and freshmen Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), Michael Bartlett (Morton Grove, Ill.) and Josh Sciba (Westland, Mich.)
Former Irish players Brett Henning, Paul Harris, Michael Chin, Connor Dunlop and John Wroblewski are all alums of the U.S. Developmental Program.
HOMETOWNS: The 2003-04 Notre Dame hockey team features players from 10 states and four Canadian provinces – Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. In the eight-year tenure of head coach Dave Poulin, the Notre Dame hockey letterwinners have hailed from 20 different states and provinces those listed below, plus: Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
2003-04 Notre Dame Hockey
– By State or Province:
Michigan (6): Rob Globke, Derek Smith, Chris Trick, Mike Walsh, Jason
Paige, Josh Sciba
Illinois (3): Brett Lebda, Joe Zurenko, Michael Bartlett
Minnesota (3): Aaron Gill, Tony Gill, T.J. Jindra
Alberta (2): Brad Wanchulak, Matt Williams-Kovacs
Ontario (2): David Brown, Wes O’Neill
Alaska (1): Tim Wallace
British Columbia (1): Matt Amado
Florida (1): Noah Babin
Maryland (1): T.J. Mathieson
Massachusetts (1): Rory Walsh
Missouri (1): Neil Komadoski
New York (1): Tom Galvin
North Dakota (1): Cory McLean
Saskatchewan (1): Morgan Cey