Sophomore left wing Nick Larson has career highs in goals (7), assists (6) and points (13) this season for the Irish.

Irish Return To Action On The Road At Ohio State

Jan. 19, 2011

Notre Dame, Ind. –

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– Date/Site/Time: Fri., January 21, 2011 – 7:05 p.m. – Value City Arena (17,500) – Columbus, Ohio Sat., January 22, 2011 – 7:05 p.m. – Value City Arena (17,500) – Columbus, Ohio

– The Teams: #8/#8 Notre Dame (15-8-3/12-5-1-1) at Ohio State (12-9-2/7-7-2-2)

– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish will call the action with the pregame show beginning 20 minutes before the opening face off.

– Internet Broadcast: Audio: The Notre Dame – Ohio State series will have live audio streaming at the Notre Dame website – und.com. Video: The Notre Dame – Ohio State series will have live video streaming on the Big 10 Network at bigtennetwork.com. The charge is $7.95 (monthly fee). Livestats: Available at ccha.com (game summaries).

A WEEKEND IN COLUMBUS: Notre Dame and Ohio State meet in Columbus, Ohio for a two-game series on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 21-22. Game time both nights at Value City Arena is 7:05 p.m. This is the first trip for the Irish to face the Buckeyes since last year’s season-ending playoff series loss at the OSU Ice Rink where Ohio State knocked off Notre Dame, 3-1 and 8-2. The Irish bring a 15-8-3 overall record and a 12-5-1-1 mark into the series and are currently in first place in the CCHA with 38 points, one point ahead of second-place Michigan (37) with the Wolverines having one game in hand. Notre Dame is coming off a home split with Alaska last weekend where the Irish took the series opener, 2-1, before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Nanooks on Saturday night. Ohio State returns home after a weekend series at Western Michigan where the Buckeyes lost the opener, 4-2, then tied the Saturday contest, 2-2, winning the shootout, 2-1 to pick up the extra point in the standings. Ohio State is 12-9-2 overall and 7-7-2-2 in the CCHA, good for 25 points. The Buckeyes are in seventh place but just four points behind fourth-place Ferris State. Alaska (27) and Western Michigan (26) are in fifth and sixth place in the standings. Following the series with Ohio State, Notre Dame returns home to face Miami on Jan. 28-29 at the Joyce Center.

IRISH VERSUS BUCKEYES: Notre Dame and Ohio State have met 63 times in the all-time series with the Buckeyes holding a 29-25-9 lead. At Columbus, Ohio State has a 15-13-5 edge in the games played there. Notre Dame’s last win at OSU came on Feb. 6, 2009, a 4-3 overtime victory. Since then, the Irish are 0-3-0, losing once at Value City Arena (2009) and twice at the OSU Ice Rink (2010) in last year’s CCHA playoffs. Last season, the teams met four times – twice at the Joyce Center and twice at Ohio State with the Buckeyes winning two, the Irish one with one tie. OSU won that shootout at the Joyce Center, 2-1. The lone Irish win was on Oct. 30, a 3-1 victory. In the last 10 games between the two schools, Ohio State has a 4-3-3 advantage.

OFFENSIVE JUGGERNAUT: Through the first 26 games of the season, Notre Dame leads both the CCHA and the nation in goals scored with 98 for an average of 3.77 goals per game. Last season in 38 games, Notre Dame scored 90 goals for a 2.36 goals per game average. The Irish are first in the CCHA in goals and have nine more than second-place Michigan. Nationally, the Irish are second in goals-per game to Yale as the Bulldogs are averaging 4.82 per contest (82 goals in 17 games). Wisconsin and North Dakota are second to the Irish in goals with 90. The last time the Irish averaged more that 3.77 goals per game was the 1990-91 season when they had 4.06 per game.

SHORT-HAND SUCCESS: Freshman left wing Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) scored Notre Dame’s 12th short-handed goal of the season in the Jan. 14, 2-1 win over Alaska. The 12 short-handed goals are tops in the nation and five ahead of second-place Boston College as the Eagles have seven this season. With his goal, Lee became the ninth Notre Dame player to get a short-handed goal this season. Defensemen Joe Lavin (Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Sam Calabrese (So., Park Ridge, Ill.) join T.J. Tynan (Fr., Orland Park, Ill.) with two each while Lee, Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.), Riley Sheahan (So., St. Catharine’s Ont.), Ryan Guentzel (Sr., Woodbury, Minn.), Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) and Sean Lorenz (Jr., Littleton, Colo.) all have one each. The 12 short-handed goals are the most for the Irish since setting a school record with 19 during the 1981-82 season.

THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the series with Ohio State ranked eightth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com poll. Ohio State is receiving votes in the USCHO.com rankings.

ALASKA RECAP: Friday, Jan. 14 – Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson stopped 34-of-35 Alaska shots and Notre Dame got a short-handed goal from Anders Lee and the game winner from Nick Larson (So., Apple Valley, Minn.) with 1:15 left in the game as the Irish edged the Nanooks, 2-1, in front of a sell-out crowd at the Joyce Center. Alaska’s Aaron Gens spoiled Johnson’s shutout bid by scoring with 23 seconds left in the game as the Nanooks pulled their goaltender for a sixth attacker. For the second game in a row, the Irish were out shot as Alaska had a 35-22 edge on the shot clock. Nanook goaltender Scott Greenham finished with 20 saves in the game. Lee gave the Irish a 1-0 lead with his short-handed goal at 15:16 of the second period as he combined with Ryan Guentzel on a two-on-one to beat Greenham for his 14th goal of the year. Larson made it 2-0 at 18:45 of the third as Ben Ryan (Sr., Brighton, Mich.) forced a turnover in the Alaska zone and Guentzel fed Larson to the right of Greenham where he scored his seventh of the season and second game winner. Gens snapped the shutout at 19:37 when his shot from the low slot deflected over Johnson and into the goal. Notre Dame was 0-for-2 on the power play while Alaska was 0-for-3.

Saturday, January 15 – The Alaska Nanooks scored twice in the first 4:23 of the game and never looked back on the way to a 4-1 win over Notre Dame at the Joyce Center. Goals by Scott Enders and Jarret Granberg staked the Nanooks to a 2-1 lead in the opening period. Mike Voran (Fr., Livonia, Mich.) scored for the Irish at 8:56 of the second period to cut the lead to 2-1. That was as close as the Irish would get though as Alaska added a pair in the third period as Carlo Finucci made it 3-1 on a tip-in goal at 1:25 and Nik Yaremchuk closed the scoring with a short-handed goal at 15:41 for the 4-1 final. The Nanooks out shot Notre Dame, 39-28, in the game. Mike Johnson made 35 saves in the game for the Irish while Scott Greenham had 27 for the Nanooks. Alaska was 1-for-6 on the power play while Notre Dame was 0-for-1.

HOBEY BAKER NOMINEE: Freshman center T.J. Tynan is one of 68 Division I college hockey players that have been nominated for the 2011 Hobey Baker Award. The first phase of the voting is now underway at hobeybakeraward.com. The fan voting phase will run through March 6. On March 17, the list of 10 finalists will be announced followed by the Hobey Hat Trick (3 finalists) on March 31. The winner of the award will be announced at the Frozen Four on April 8. Award criteria include candidates emulating the exceptional character traits exhibited by the award’s namesake, Hobey Baker, a World War I flying star better known as America’s greatest amateur athlete in his day. Award candidates must demonstrate strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of his team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game. Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.

NATIONAL LEADERS: Freshman center T.J. Tynan has burst on to the national scene as he finds himself tied for third in the nation in points (33) and is seventh with 15 goals on the year. Senior Ryan Guentzel is tied for 17th in the nation with 28 points.

National Scoring Race (by points):                            GP    G    A   PTSCarter Camper (MU)          24   13   26    39Andy Miele (MU)             24   11   28    39Paul Thompson (UNH)         20   16   17    33T.J. Tynan (ND)             26   15   18    33Craig Smith (UW)            26   14   19    33Justin Schultz (UW)         26   14   18    32Nathan Longpre (RMU)        22   12   20    32Jack Connolly (UMD)         23    9   23    32Paul Zanette (NIA)          22   18   13    31Bryan Haczyk (NIA)          22   18   13    31Reilly Smith (MU)           23   16   15    31Andrew Favot (RIT)          24   11   20    31Justin Fontaine (UMD)       23   13   17    30Carl Hagelin (UM)           25   13   17    30Chase Polacek (RPI)         22   11   19    30Matt Frattin (UND)          25   20    9    29Cam Atkinson (BC)           21   17   11    28Drew Shore (DU)             22   14   14    28Mike Connolly (UMD)         23   13   15    28Jeremy Welsh (Union)        24   12   16    28Mike Sislo (UNH)            20    9   20    28Ryan Guentzel (ND)          26    6   22    28Mark Zengerle (UW)          26    3   25    28

GOAL DROUGHT: Notre Dame was held to just three goals in the weekend series with Alaska (Jan. 14-15), the fewest that the Irish have scored in back-to-back games this season. They were held to one goal in the 4-1 loss on Jan. 15 for their lowest goal out put in one game this season.

SHOOTING THE PUCK: Through the first 23 games of the season, Notre Dame had out shot its opponents in 20 of those games. Since the Jan. 8 game at Northern Michigan, the Irish have now been out shot in three straight games. In the six games that Notre Dame has been out shot, the Irish are 2-2-2 for the year. Alaska out shot Notre Dame in both games of the series last weekend, getting 35 and 39 respectively. In the 20 games that the Irish have out shot their opponents, Notre Dame is 13-6-1 for the year. Notre Dame is averaging 32.8 shots per game while giving up an average of 25.8 to the opposition.

CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel set up both goals in Friday’s 2-1 win over Alaska (Jan. 14) and has points in four of his last five games (0-5-5) since Jan. 2. Guentzel had the best game of his career with three goals and an assist in the win over Canisius (Dec. 29). He is currently second on the team in scoring with six goals and 22 assists for 28 points, all career highs. Earlier this season, Guentzel had a career-best, and a season high for the Irish, seven-game point streak (1g, 9a). His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently sixth in the CCHA in scoring with 28 points and his 22 assists are third in the conference.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) has now appeared in 16 of Notre Dame’s last 17 games, making 15 starts in that span that began on Nov. 12 versus Michigan. In his last five starts, Johnson is 3-1-1 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Johnson is 12-6-3 on the year with a 2.51 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. His 12 wins are a career high for the sophomore puck stopper. As a freshman, Johnson took CCHA all-rookie team honors, playing in 29 games in `09-’10, going 10-13-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Behind Johnson are a pair of freshmen – Steven Summerhays and Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.). Summerhays is now 3-2-0 with a 3.71 goals-against average and a .818 save percentage. He played the first 40 minutes on Dec. 29 in the 10-2 win over Canisius, stopping 14-of-15 shots. He owns wins over Canisius, Bowling Green and Western Michigan while his losses have been to Boston University (10/10) and Miami (12/4). Summerhays joined the Irish after playing the last two seasons with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. In `09-’10, Summerhays was a first team all-USHL selection and the USHL goaltender of the year after going 31-2-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Joe Rogers made his first career appearance in the Canisius game, playing the final 20 minutes while stopping eight-of-nine shots. He is 0-0-0 with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage. Rogers joins the Notre Dame roster after playing last season in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) with the Albert Lea Thunder. Rogers was 13-19-2 with a 3.97 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.

SHOW STOPPER: For the first time all season, Notre Dame leading scorer T.J. Tynan was held off the scoresheet in back-to-back games by the Alaska Nanooks. In 26 games this season, Tynan has at least one point in 19 of them.

ROAD WINS: Notre Dame’s sweep at Northern Michigan (Jan. 7-8) improved the Irish to 5-4-2 on the road this season. A year ago, Notre Dame was 3-10-4 away from the Joyce Center.

SHOOTOUT FACTS AND FIGURES: Notre Dame’s shootout win over Western Michigan on Oct. 30 was the first for Notre Dame in CCHA play since Nov. 19, 2009 against Michigan State. The Irish had lost four consecutive CCHA shootouts. Notre Dame’s second shootout win this year came in the Shillelagh Tournament against Boston University to decide third place. The Irish are 1-0 in the CCHA this season and 2-0 overall after going 2-5 in conference and 3-5 overall last season. In the three seasons that the CCHA has had the shootout, the Irish are 6-5 all-time (3-0 in `08-’09; 2-5 in `09-’10 and 1-0 in `10-’11).

ROAD SWEEP: Notre Dame’s back-to-back road wins at Northern Michigan (Jan. 7-8) marked the first sweep for the Irish this season since Nov. 19-20, 2010 against Michigan State. The CCHA road sweep was the first for the Irish since winning twice at Nebraska-Omaha on Feb. 20-21, 2009, taking a 4-3 overtime win and a 1-0 victory over the Mavericks. Since that sweep, the Irish went 10 road series overall and nine CCHA road series, covering a year-and-a-half, without winning consecutive games on the road.

SLOW STARTS: In nine of their last 12 games, the Irish have surrendered the first goal of the game. In those games, the Irish are 2-6-1. For the season, the Irish have given up the first goal of the game 12 times and are 3-7-2 in those contests. Notre Dame has scored the first goal of the game 14 times this season and is 12-1-1 in those games.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshman class has played a key role in the 15-8-3 start for the Irish. In the first 26 games of this season, the freshman class has accounted for 52 of the team’s 98 goals (53.`%), 85 of the 173 assists (49.1%) and 137 of team’s 271 points this season (50.5%). Freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has three of the team’s 15 wins in goal.

HCA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman left wing Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was selected as the Hockey Commissioners’ Association national Rookie of the Month for December. The CCHA Rookie of the Month, Lee had two goals and six assists for eight points in five games during December to finish second to T.J. Tynan in scoring in the CCHA for the month. Lee had points in four of the five games, including three with two or more points. On Dec. 3, at Miami, he had a career-best three assists as he helped the Irish rally from a two-goal deficit to beat Miami, 5-4. The three-point game equaled a career-high for Lee who now has 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points to rank third on the Irish in scoring and second to Tynan in the conference freshman scoring race.

CCHA PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman standout T.J. Tynan has been selected as the CCHA’s RBC Financial Group Player of the Month for December. The 5-8, 156-pound freshman center led all CCHA scorers in December in scoring as he had five goals and four assists for nine points in five games during the month. Tynan, who is the top rookie scorer in the nation, had points in four of the five games during the month and had three games with two or more points, including a career-best four-point game (2g, 2a) in a 10-2 win over Canisius on Dec. 29. Tynan currently leads Notre Dame in scoring with 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points on the year. He was the CCHA rookie of the week for last week and was the conference’s and the nation’s rookie of the month for November. Tynan was an honorable mention selection for the HCA player of the month in December.

THEâ⒬ˆSPECIALIST: Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall is third on the team in goals with 11 through the first 26 games this season and tied for the team lead with four power-play goals. His goal versus Canisius on Dec. 29th was the 50th of his Notre Dame career. With 11 goals this season, Ridderwall has now been in double figures in goals in each of the last three seasons for the Irish after getting 17 in 2008-09 and 19 last season in 2009-10. Over the last two-plus seasons, Ridderwall has scored 47 goals with 26 of them coming via the power play. Last season, his 11 power-play goals led the CCHA. Ridderwall had 11 power-play goals in `08-’09 to match last season’s total and has two this year. His 26 power-play goals rank him sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time power-play goal list. For his career, Ridderwall has 52 goals and 33 assists for 85 career points in 141 games. He missed both games of the Alaska series due to a lower body injury suffered on Jan. 8 at Northern Michigan.

CAREER NIGHT: Sophomore center Riley Sheahan had the best game of his Notre Dame career on Jan. 7 against Northern Michigan when he scored his first goal of the season (shg) and added three points for the first four-point game of his career. Sheahan has one goal and 10 assists this season for 11 points in 20 games.

FABULOUS FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the series against Alaska ranked first and second in the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points while Lee has 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points. With 15 and 14 goals respectively, Lee and Tynan are tops among freshman goal scorers. Fellow freshman Mike Voran (4g, 11a, 15 pts) is seventh and is followed by Bryan Rust (4g, 6a) who is tied for 11th with 10 points. Jeff Costello (6g, 3a, 9 pts) is tied for 14th while center David Gerths (6g, 2a) and defensemen Stephen Johns (1g, 7a) are tied for 18th with eight points. Tynan is third overall in scoring in the league while Lee is seventh.

GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE: Two of Notre Dame’s defensemen – Sam Calabrese and Sean Lorenz – have had a hot hand for the Irish in recent weeks. Both players went into the series with Alaska, sporting goal scoring streaks that were snapped. Calabrese, who saw action in just three games last season, has scored goals in three of his last five games and four of seven, including a pair of short-handed goals. Lorenz has goals in two of his last four games. For the year, Calabrese has five goals and seven assists for 12 points, all career highs. Lorenz has four goals and five assists for eight points with all three being career highs. Lorenz and Calabrese are Notre Dame’s plus-minus leaders with +20 and +19 respectively.

TEN SPOT: Notre Dame’s 10-goal out burst against Canisius on Dec. 29 marked the first time the Irish had 10 or more goals in a game since Oct. 14, 1995 when the Irish defeated St. Francis Xavier by a 10-2 score.

FUTURE IRISH: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson announced in early December that five players had signed national letters-of-intent to play hockey at the University beginning for the 2011-12 season. The group includes three defensemen and two forwards. the defensemen are Eric Johnson (Verona, Wis.), Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) and Andrew Ryan (Brighton, Mich.). The forwards are Peter Schnedier (Vienna, Austria) and Garrett Peterson (Manhattan, Ill.). Peterson signed his letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009 but returned to the USHL this season with the Lincoln Stars. In making the announcement, Jackson said, “We’re very excited about this group of players. We think they have the potential to step in and play. What I like most about them is that they are all strong skaters that play with a little grit to their game.” Two of the players – Russo and Ryan – play for USA Hockey’s National Team Developmental Program. The other three are all currently playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). Russo is ranked 72nd and Ryan 188th in the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting mid-season rankings. For more information on the five players check the Notre Dame website at und.com

USHL                            GP     G     A    PTS     PIMEric Johnson - Dubuque          12     0     0     0       10           Wenatchee (NAHL)     19     0     2     2       18Garrett Peterson - Lincoln      18    10     5    15       42Peter Schneider - Indiana       26    15     8    23       24
USA UNDER-18 GP G A PTS PIMRobbie Russo 35 2 12 14 16Andy Ryan 25 0 3 3 10

TYNAN HONORED: Notre Dame freshman center T.J. Tynan was named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association rookie of the month for November to add to his honors this month after being named CCHA rookie of the month for the month of November. In eight games during November, Tynan led all CCHA rookies with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Two goals came on the power play, two were short-handed and one was a game winner. He was +5 for the month and took just 19 shots for a .316 shooting percentage. During November, Tynan scored in seven of the team’s eight games with five of the contests being multiple-point games. He was named the CCHA rookie of the month on two occasions – for games the week of Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. Tynan is the second Irish player to take CCHA rookie of the month honors this season as teammate Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was October’s winner.

LATE ADDITIONS: Center T.J. Tynan’s fast start (15g, 18a) in the first 26 games has been a key to the 15-8-3 start for the Irish. The 5-8, 156-pound center has moved in to become one of the team’s quarterbacks on the power play. The Orland Park, Ill., native wasn’t even supposed to be on this year’s team. Even though he signed a national letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009, Tynan was going to defer and play another year with the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL where he was the Bucs’ leading scorer in `09-’10 and a member of the USHL’s all-rookie team. When Kyle Palmieri decided to sign with the Anaheim Ducks in early August, the call went out to Tynan and he joined the Irish roster. Freshman defenseman Kevin Lind (Homer Glen, Ill.) also signed a letter-of-intent in Nov. of `09 and was going to be playing this season with Tri-Cities in the USHL. He was asked to join the team in mid-August after Jarred Tinordi opted to play in the OHL. The 6-3, 221-pound Lind has played in 19 games and has six points (one goal, five assists) with a +6 for the year.

TOUGH SCHEDULE: From Oct. 31 through Dec. 4, Notre Dame played nine of 11 games on the road, including a streak of eight straight games versus nationally ranked teams. The Irish came through that streak with a 4-3-1 record. Starting on Nov. 12-13 the Irish faced #9/#8 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich where they split with the Wolverines. On Nov. 19-20, the Irish played host to rv/#17 Michigan State at the Joyce Center, taking two wins versus the Spartans. The weekend of Nov. 26-27 saw the Irish face #10/#9 North Dakota in Grand Forks where they had a loss and a tie. Against #6/#6 Miami Dec. 3-4, the Irish again had a split to give them a 4-3-1 record in the eight games against ranked teams.