Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese has a three-game goal-scoring streak heading into the series with Alaska.  Included in that streak are a pair of short-handed goals.

Irish Return To CCHA Play With A Visit To Northern Michigan

Jan. 5, 2011

Notre Dame, Ind. –

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– Date/Site/Time: Fri., January 7, 2011 – 7:35 p.m. – Berry Events Center (3,902) – Marquette, Mich. Sat., January 8, 2011 – 7:35 p.m. – Berry Events Center (3,902) – Marquette, Mich.

– The Teams: #12/#11 Notre Dame (12-7-2/9-4-1-1) at Northern Michigan (9-9-4/7-5-2-0)

– 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 – Northern Michigan series will have live audio streaming at the Notre Dame website – und.com. Video: The Notre Dame – Northern Michigan series will be streamed live on the America One Network at a charge of $7.00 per game. Live Stats: Available on the Northern Michigan website at http://webb.nmu.edu/SportsAthletics/.

BACK TO LEAGUE PLAY: Notre Dame returns to CCHA action this weekend and for the remainder of the 2010-11 season as the Irish travel to Marquette, Mich., to face the Northern Michigan Wildcats at the Berry Events Center on Jan. 7-8. Game time both nights is 7:35 p.m. Notre Dame is coming off a third-place finish at the Shillelagh Tournament last weekend where the Irish fell to Minnesota State, 4-3, in the opening round and then tied Boston University, 3-3, in the third-place contest on Jan. 2. Notre Dame took third in the tournament on the strength of a 1-0 win in the shootout. The Irish are 12-7-3 on the year and 9-4-1-1 in CCHA action, good for first place after the first half of the season. Notre Dame has 29 points in conference play and is one point ahead of second-place Michigan (28), two ahead of third-place Miami (27) and six ahead of fourth-place Northern Michigan (23) as the Wildcats are part of a three-way tie for the fourth spot in the CCHA. Northern Michigan is 9-9-4 overall and 7-5-2-0 in the CCHA. The Wildcats are coming off a two-game series last weekend at Denver that saw them lose (5-2) and tie (2-2) the Pioneers. Following this weekend’s series, the Irish will return home on Jan. 14-15 to face the Alaska Nanooks at the Joyce Center.

IRISH VERSUS WILDCATS: This weekend’s series between Notre Dame and Northern Michigan is the second meeting this season between the two teams. The Irish and Wildcats closed the first half of the CCHA schedule on Dec. 11-12, splitting that series at the Joyce Center. Northern Michigan won the opener, 3-2 with Notre Dame taking game two, 5-2. The teams have met 48 times in the all-time series with the Wildcats holding a 22-20-6 edge. At Marquette, Northern Michigan is 9-7-2 against the Irish. Notre Dame’s last win at the Berry Events Center came on Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2008 when the Irish took two from the Wildcats, 3-2 and 4-2. Notre Dame is 4-2-0 in its last six games in Marquette, dating back to the 2005-06 season. Overall, the Irish are 6-3-1 in the last 10 games between the two schools.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Irish freshman center T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) was named the CCHA rookie of the week for games played the week of Dec. 27. Tynan had three goals and three assists in Notre Dame’s three games last week, helping the Irish to a 1-1-1 record.

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 15 assists for 29 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.

CCHA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Freshman left wing Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) has been selected as the CCHA rookie of the month for December. In five games during December, Lee had two goals and six assists for eight points 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 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points to rank third on the Irish in scoring and second to Tynan in the conference freshman scoring race.

THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the series with Northern Michigan ranked 12th in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and 11th in the USCHO.com poll. Northern Michigan is not ranked in either poll this week.

SHILLELAGH TOURNAMENT RECAP: Saturday, Jan. 1 – Minnesota State junior forward Michael Dorr beat Notre Dame goaltender Mike Johnson (Jr., Verona, Wis.) with a slap shot from inside the Irish blue line with 22.9 seconds left in the game to give the Mavericks a 4-3 win over the Irish in the semifinals of the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament. Minnesota State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Cameron Cooper and Evan Mosey. The Irish roared back in the second stanza with three straight goals by Ben Ryan (Sr., Brighton, Mich.), freshman Jeff Costello (Milwaukee, Wis.), on the power play and senior Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden) in a 6:09 span to take a 3-2 lead. The Mavericks would get the equalizer at 19:07 of the second on a goal by Rylan Galiardi to make it 3-3 after two periods. Dorr then got the only goal of the third for the 4-3 Minnesota State win. Notre Dame out shot the Mavericks, 37-27, in the game. Phil Cook made 34 saves in the Minnesota State goal while Johnson had 23 for the Irish. Both teams were 1-for-5 on the power play.

Sunday, Jan. 2 – Notre Dame rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie Boston University, 3-3, in the third-place game of the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament. Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese’s (Park Ridge, Ill.) short-handed goal with 2:53 left in the game was the equalizer. Senior Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden) scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Irish third place in the tournament. The game goes into the record books as a tie. T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee had Notre Dame’s other goals as each player had a goal and an assist in the contest. Boston University got goals from Joe Pereira, Adam Clendening and Chris Connolly in the game. The Terriers led 2-1 after one period as Pereira and Clendening sandwiched goals around Tynan’s 14th of the year. The BU lead went to 3-1 in the second as Connolly got his sixth of the year at 13:08. The score stayed that way until the 6:09 mark when Tynan set up Lee on a beautiful pass off a 2-on-1 one to make it 3-2. With the Terriers on their first power play of the night late in the third, Ryan Guentzel (Sr., Woodbury, Minn.) broke up a BU rush in the neutral zone and carried the puck deep into the Terriers’ zone where he found Calabrese coming late down the left side. The sophomore defender snapped a shot from below the left circle past goaltender Kieran Millan for the tying goal at 17:07. Millan finished with 39 saves in the game while Mike Johnson (So., Verona, Wis.) made 16 in the Irish goal. BU was 0-for-2 on the power play while Notre Dame was 0-for-3.

BACK ON TOP: Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Northern Michigan on Sunday, Dec. 12, moved the Irish back into first place in the CCHA with a 9-4-1-1 mark. Last season as the Irish went into the break for finals and the Christmas holidays, they were 8-8-4 overall and 5-5-4 in the CCHA, good for 21 points and sixth place in the league standings.

DOING IT SHORT-HANDED: Sam Calabrese’s short-handed goal with 2:53 left in the third period against Boston University not only tied the game against the Terriers at 3-3, but was the ninth short-handed goal of the season for the Irish. They lead the nation in that category with four teams behind them with six short-handed tallies. Through 22 games this season, Notre Dame has seen seven different players get a goal while the team was a man down. Versus Michigan State (Nov. 19-20), Notre Dame scored short-handed three times in that series. The nine short-handed goals lead the CCHA and the nation going into the weekend series with Northern Michigan. The nine shorties are the most for the Irish since the 1997-98 season when they also had nine. Notre Dame has a way to go for the school record which is 19 and was set during the 1981-82 season. T.J. Tynan and defenseman Joe Lavin (Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.) lead the team with two each while Sean Lorenz (Sr., Littleton, Colo.), Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.), Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.), Ryan Guentzel and now Calabrese have one each.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshman class has played a key role in the 12-7-3 start for the Irish. In the first 22 games of this season, the freshman class has accounted for 47 of the team’s 84 goals (55.9%), 67 of the 147 assists (45.6%) and 114 of team’s 231 points this season (49.4%). Freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has three of the team’s 12 wins in goal.

SHILLELAGH TOURNAMENT HISTORY:2009 Tournament:Minnesota-Duluth  2, UMass-Lowell  1Notre Dame  3, Union College  1
Third- PlaceUnion 2, UMass-Lowell 1ChampionshipNotre Dame 3, Minnesota-Duluth 1
All-Tournament TeamG - Jordan Pearce, ND (MVP)D - Evan Oberg, UMDD - Kyle Lawson, NDF - Ben Ryan, NDF - Garrett Regan, NDF - Justin Fontaine, UMD
2010 Tournament:North Dakota 3, Niagara 1Notre Dame 5, Colgate 2
Third- PlaceNiagara 5, Colgate 1ChampionshipNotre Dame 3, North Dakota 3 (ot)Notre Dame wins shootout, 2-1 (five rounds)
All-Tournament TeamG - Mike Johnson, NDD - Jake Marto, North DakotaD - Brett Blatchford, NDF - Billy Maday, ND (MVP)F - Kevin Deeth, NDF - Brett Hextall, North Dakota
2011 Tournament:Brown 6, Boston University 1Minnesota State 4, Notre Dame 3
Third- PlaceNotre Dame 3, Boston University 3 (ot)Notre Dame wins shootout, 1-0 (three rounds)ChampionshipMinnesota State 7, Brown 3
All-Tournament TeamG - Phil Cook, Minnesota StateD - Matt Wahl, BrownD - Cameron Cooper, Minnesota StateF - Jack Maclellan, BrownF - Ryan Galiardi, Minnesota StateF - Michael Dorr, Minnesota State (MVP)

FABULOUS FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the series at Northern Michigan ranked first and second in the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points while Lee has 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points. With 14 and 12 goals respectively, Lee and Tynan are tops among freshman goal scorers. Fellow freshman Mike Voran (2g, 10a, 12 pts) is tied for seventh among freshmen and is followed by Bryan Rust (4g, 5a) and Jeff Costello (6g, 3a, 9 pts) who are tied for 12th. Defensemen Stephen Johns (1g, 7a) is 17th while Shayne Taker (1g, 6a) is tied for 21st along with Irish center David Gerths (6g, 1a). Johns and Taker rank fourth and fifth among rookie defensemen in scoring. Tynan is third overall in scoring in the league while Lee is tied for seventh.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) has now appeared in 12 of Notre Dame’s last 13 games, making 11 starts in that span that began on Nov. 12 versus Michigan. In his last 12 appearances, he is 5-4-2 with 2.97 goals-against average and a .880 save percentage. Johnson, who started the year with a 4-0-1 unbeaten streak in his first five starts is 9-5-3 on the year with a 2.69 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. 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.

NATIONAL LEADERS: Freshman center T.J. Tynan has burst on to the national scene as he finds himself ranked fourth in the nation in points scored and tied for fifth with 14 goals on the year.

National Scoring Race (by points):                        GP       G       A      PTSCarter Camper (MU)      20      13      24       37Andy Miele (MU)         20      10      23       33Jack Connolly (UMD)     21       9      21       30T.J. Tynan (ND)         22      14      15       29Justin Fontaine (UMD)   21      12      15       27Mike Connolly (UMD)     21      12      15       27Nathan Longore (RMU)    18       9      18       27Matt Frattin (UND)      21      18       8       26Cam Atkinson (BC)       18      15      11       26Reilly Smith (MU)       19      13      13       26Stephen Schultz (CC)    20      12      14       26Jaden Schwartz (CC)     17      11      15       26Justin Schultz (UW)     22      11      15       26Andrew Favot (RIT)      20       7      19       26

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.

CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan 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 18 assists for 24 points. His goal, assist and point totals are career highs for Guentzel. He had a career-best seven-game point streak (1g, 9a) snapped at Michigan on Nov. 13. His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently fifth in the CCHA in scoring with 24 points and his 18 assists are third in the conference.

THEâ⒬ˆSPECIALIST: Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall is third on the team in goals with 10 through the first 22 games this season and tied for second on the the team in power-play goals with three. His goal versus Canisius on Dec. 29th was the 50th of his Notre Dame career. With 10 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 46 goals with 25 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 25 power-play goals move him into a tie for sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time power-play goal list with Aniket Dhadphale `99, Tim Kuehl `90 and Kirt Bjork `83, all of whom had 25 man-advantage goals in their careers. For his career, Ridderwall has 51 goals and 32 assists for 83 career points in 139 games.

BOMBS AWAY: In four of Notre Dame’s last five games, the Irish have fired 40 or more shots on the opponent’s goal. After three straight games of 40 or more, the Irish were held to 37 by Minnesota State in the Shillelagh Tournament and followed that with 42 versus Boston University. Over the last five games, the Irish have averaged 44.6 shots per game after getting 53 versus Northern Michigan (Dec. 11) and then 43 the following night for 96 in the weekend series. Versus Canisius on Dec., 29, Notre Dame had 48 shots against the Golden Griffins. Through the first 22 games this season, the Irish have outshot the opposition in 19 of those games, going 12-6-1. In the three games the Irish have been outshot, they are 0-1-2. Going into this weekend, the Irish are averaging 33.9 shots per game to 25.2 for the opposition.

STREAK SNAPPED: Northern Michigan’s 3-2 win on Dec. 11, snapped an eight-game home winning streak for the Irish that went back to Jan. 30 of last season. The Irish came into the series with the Wildcats with six straight wins at home during the 2010-11 season. Since the Dec. 11 loss, the Irish have won two straight at home and are now 8-1-0 at home this year.

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 and Ryan are currently listed by the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting in their preliminary ratings. For more information on the five players check the Notre Dame website at und.com

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 (14g, 15a) in the first 22 games has been a key to the 12-7-3 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 16 games and has six points (one goal, five assists) with a +7 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.

GOING TO THE GOAL: Freshman centerDavid Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) has become a specialist when it comes to scoring those “dirty” goals. The 6-0, 208-pounder does his best work right in front of the goal. He picked up his sixth goal of the season in the Dec. 11 game with Northern Michigan as he jammed a rebound past Jared Coreau in the third period. In 21 games this season, he has scored six goals with one assist for seven points. In 55 games last season in the USHL with Lincoln and Green Bay, Gerths scored just five goals. His six goals are fourth most for Notre Dame this season.

COMING FROM BEHIND: Notre Dame rallied from two-goal deficits twice in the Shillelagh Tournament. The Irish trailed Minnesota State, 2-0 after one period and went ahead 3-2, before falling 4-3 in that game. Notre Dame trailed Boston University 3-1 entering the third period on Jan. 2 and scored twice to pull out the 3-3 tie. On Dec. 3, at Miami, the Irish overcame a pair of two-goal deficits (2-0 after one period and 3-1 in the second period) and won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods of play. The Irish are now 1-4-1 when trailing after two periods.

CAREER NIGHTS: Two members of Notre Dame’s freshman class set career highs in the win over Miami on Dec. 3. Right wing Bryan Rust set career highs for goals (2) and points in a game (3) with his three-point night. Left wing Anders Lee had a career high with three assists in the contest and equaled a career high with three points in the game.

PENALTY SHOTS: Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) was awarded a penalty shot just 22 seconds into the Nov. 20 game with Michigan State and was stopped by goaltender Will Yanakeff. It was the first penalty shot by a Notre Dame player since Jan. 31, 2009 when Ryan Thang `10, scored in a 3-2 win at Michigan. It was the fourth for the Irish since the 2001-02 season. They are 2-for-4 in that span. The last time the opposition had a penalty shot against teh Irish came on Dec. 4, 2009 when Miami’s Carter Camper was stopped by Mike Johnson.

ANOTHER MILESTONE: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30, 3-2 win over Western Michigan was the 200th CCHA win for Irish coach Jeff Jackson. Now in his 12th season at the Division I level, Jackson is 206-84-45 in his career in CCHA play in six seasons at Lake Superior State (1990-96) and six seasons at Notre Dame. Earlier in October (Oct. 14 vs. Lake Superior State), Jackson won his 300th career game as a Division I coach. His all-time record stands at 310-124-50 for a .692 winning percentage. His winning percentage is the tops among active coaches with 10 or more seasons.