Jan. 27, 2004
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- The Games: Notre Dame (12-9-3/8-8-2) vs. Alaska Fairbanks (12-12-0/11-9-0)
- Date/Site/Times: Fri.-Sat., Jan. 30-31, 2004 – Joyce Center (2,713) – 7:35 p.m./7:05 p.m.
- Broadcast Information: 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.
GETTING BACK ON TRACK: Notre Dame returns home this week after four consecutive games away from the Joyce Center. The Irish will look to put last weekend’s two losses (4-3 in ot, 1-0) at Northern Michigan behind them as they prepare for a visit from the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks. The Irish fell to 12-9-3 on the year after last weekend’s sweep and 8-8-2 in the CCHA, good for 18 points and eighth place in the league standings. Alaska Fairbanks comes into the weekend series with a 12-12-0 overall record and an 11-9-0 mark in the CCHA good for 22 points and fourth place in the league. The Nanooks are coming off a home-series split with Bowling Green where they lost 6-2 on Friday and won, 3-1, on Saturday. In the all-time series with the Irish, UAF leads with a 16-13-2 overall record. At the Joyce Center, the Nanooks are 5-7-0. Over the last two years, Alaska Fairbanks has owned the Irish, winning four straight games. Last year at Fairbanks, the Nanooks took 4-3 and 5-4 verdicts. In their last trip to South Bend (2001-02), UAF recorded 7-5 and 6-5 wins over the Irish. Prior to Alaska Fairbanks’ four-game winning streak, Notre Dame had a 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2) that started during the 1997-98 season. In the last 10 meetings overall, the series is tied at 4-4-2. Following this weekend, the Irish return to the road when they visit Miami on Feb. 6-7. Friday’s game is in Oxford, Ohio and Saturday’s is at the Cincinnati Gardens in Cincinnati.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame comes into the weekend series with Alaska Fairbanks owning a 7-1-1 home record. The Irish are just two wins away from their 300th all-time victory at the Joyce Center as the record stands at 298-245-41 (.547). The seven home wins this season equals last year’s total when the Irish were 7-6-3 and are the most since the team was 11-7-3 in the 1999-2000 season.
SCORING DROUGHT: The Irish have been held to just eight goals over the last four games. Seven of those eight goals have been scored by either Rob Globke (Sr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) or Aaron Gill (Sr., Rochester, Minn.). Globke has scored four of them with Gill getting three in the four-game span. Sophomore Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) has the other goal. On the season, that trio has scored 33 of Notre Dame’s 66 goals. Globke has 15 with Gill and Walsh collecting nine each.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN RECAP: The Irish dropped a pair of games in Marquette, Mich., last weekend, 4-3 in overtime on Jan. 23 and 1-0 on Jan. 24. In Friday’s game, the Irish got two goals from Rob Globke and a goal and an assist from Aaron Gill. Goaltender Morgan Cey (Jr., Wilkie, Sask.) made 30 saves in the overtime loss. Northern took a 1-0 first-period lead on a power-play goal by Jamie Milam. In the second period, Gill and Globke scored three-and-a-half minutes apart (9:17 and 12:46) to give the Irish a 2-1 advantage. Nathan Oystrick tied the game 19 seconds after Globke’s goal and Pat Bateman gave the Wildcats a 3-2 lead late in the second period. Globke made it 3-3 with a goal off a scramble in front of Craig Kowalski at 6:29 of third period. That set up Darin Olver’s game winner with 14 seconds left in overtime. Northern outshot the Irish 34-24 in the game. On Saturday, Oystrick got the lone goal of the game at 16:21 of the first period and Kowalski made 27 saves in the shutout win. The shutout was the second against the Irish this season (Cornell, 4-0, Dec. 28). David Brown (Fr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) made 22 saves for the Irish. Notre Dame was 0-for-11 on the power play for the weekend. The last time Notre Dame dropped a weekend series in Marquette was Dec. 10-11, 1981.
OVERTIME HEARTBREAK: The 4-3 overtime loss to Northern Michigan on Jan. 23 marked the second time this season that the Irish have lost in the extra stanza. For the year, the Irish are 0-2-3 in 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 1-3-9 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 38 overtime games and are 5-4-29 in those contests.
GOLDEN GLOBKE: Senior right wing Rob Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich.) ranks second in the CCHA with 15 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. 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.
HOT GOALTENDER: Freshman goaltender David Brown is back in his early-season groove over his last three starts. Brown has given up just two goals in those three games (beginning on Jan. 10 vs. Bowling Green). In those three games, Brown is 2-1-0, has played 179:07 minutes with a 0.67 goals-against average and a .977 save percentage, stopping 84 of 86 shots. For the year, Brown is 8-5-2 with a 2.18 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
HOT GOALTENDER, PART II: Since returning to action after missing seven games due to arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, Morgan Cey picked up where he left off after his first two seasons. Cey returned to the Notre Dame lineup on Dec. 28 and since then is 2-2-1 with 2.10 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. His two wins were 1-0 shutouts. The two losses came in overtime. For the year, Cey is 3-3-1 with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage.
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.
CENTURY MARK FOR GLOBKE: Senior right wing Rob 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). He is now 34th on the all-time scoring list with 64 goals and 46 assists for 110 career points. He is just one of 18 players in school history to have 60 or more goals in a season and now ranks 17th with 64 career goals. On the year, Globke has 15 goals and 11 assists for a team-leading 26 points. He turned in back-to-back two-goal games versus Wisconsin and Northern Michigan to give him five games this season and 15 for his career with two or more goals. He opened the season with a hat trick in Notre Dame’s 5-2 win at Ohio State. The hat trick was the second of his career. He has added two-goal games versus Lake Superior (Nov. 21), Northern Michigan (Nov. 29), Wisconsin (Jan. 18) and Northern Michigan again (Jan. 23).
ONE GOAL LOSSES: Notre Dame’s two one-goal losses to Northern Michigan dropped the Irish to 3-3 in one-goal games this season. After winning the first three one-goal games (they were in all 1-0 wins), Notre Dame has now lost three straight. Notre Dame has been involved in four 1-0 games this season and is 3-1 in those contests.
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.
GILL GOALS: Senior center Aaron Gill has three goals in his last three 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 leads the Irish with six power-play goals on the season. Gill is second in scoring for the Irish with nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points. He needs just four more points this season to become the 41st player in school history to reach the 100-point mark for his career. The Rochester, Minn., native comes into the Alaska Fairbanks weekend with 41 goals and 55 assists for 96 career points.
POWER-PLAY POINTS: For just the second time this season, the Irish have gone two consecutive games without a power-play goal as Northern Michigan held Notre Dame scoreless in 11 chances last weekend. The first time was a three-game drought between Oct. 18-30 when the Irish were 0-for-11 over three games. Prior to the Northern Michigan series, Notre Dame had power-play goals in six consecutive games and in 15 of 16 games.
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 13 goals in the last eight games to give Notre Dame the best goals-against average in the CCHA with a 2.38 overall mark.
LEBDA’S LINE: Senior defenseman Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) continues to make his move on the top 10 scoring spot among Irish defensemen. Lebda added an assist to his totals in the 3-1 win versus Wisconsin. He is one of three Irish defensemen with 13 points this season. Lebda has four goals and nine assists for his 13 points. For his career, Lebda now has 24 goals and 50 assists for 74 career points. Notre Dame has had 10 defensemen in its history record 80 or more points in their careers. Lebda needs just seven 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).
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 ninth goal of the season in the 3-1 win at Wisconsin on a wicked wrist shot from the top of the left wing circle that beat the Badgers Brian Elliott over his glove hand. 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. With nine goals and seven assists, he is tied for third on the team with 16 points. Three of his nine goals this season are game winners.
LUCKY 13: Three Notre Dame defensemen are tied for the team-lead in scoring among defensemen. Brett Lebda, Neil Komadoski (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.) and Tom Galvin (Sr., Miller Place, N.Y.) all have 13 points on the season. Lebda has four goals and nine assists for 13 points, Komadoski has two goals and 11 assists for his 13 points and Galvin has all of his points on 13 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.
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.
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).
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)
Morgan Cey – All-tournament team at Everblades
Collegiate Hockey Classic (Dec. 28)
Rob Globke – CCHA offensive player of the week
(Jan. 19)
RISING TO THE OCCASION: With Morgan Cey sidelined twice this season due to knee injuries, freshman goaltender David Brown has played in17 games for the Irish and had a strong first half. In 15 starts, Brown is 8-5-2 with a 2.18 goals-against average and a .926 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 was also named CCHA rookie of the week three times, CCHA defensive player of the week once and the Hockey Commissioner’s Association (HCA) national rookie of the month for October.
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.
SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS: Notre Dame has killed 95 of 110 opponent power-play chances this season. Of the 15 power-play goals surrendered, 10 have come in five games (two in each game). Over the remaining 19 games, the Irish have given up just five other power-play goals. Notre Dame has killed 86.4% of opponent power plays this season.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN: In 24 games this season, Notre Dame defensemen Brett Lebda, Tom Galvin, Neil Komadoski and Wes O’Neill (Fr., Essex, Ont.) have combined for eight goals and 39 assists for 47 points. Lebda (4g, 9a), Komadoski (2g, 11a) and Galvin (0g, 13a) lead the team with 13 points each. O’Neill has two goals and six assists for eight points on the year.
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.
IN THE CLUTCH: Sophomore Mike Walsh recorded his third game-winning goal of the season in the 1-0 win over Maine. That ties him for third in the CCHA behind Rob Globke and seventh in the nation in game-winning goals. His nine goals are a career-high for Walsh. For his career, Walsh has scored 10 goals with four of them being game-winning goals.
MR. STEADY – CORY’S STORY: Cory McLean (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) is tied for third in scoring with seven goals and nine assists (career high) for 16 points. His career-high 17 points came last season (10g, 7a). On the year, he has scored in 13 of Notre Dame’s 22 games. He 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.
WILD ONE: Notre Dame and Western Michigan combined for 14 goals (8-6 Bronco win) on December 5. The last time the Irish played in a game that both teams combined for 14 goals was on November 20, 1998 when the Irish downed Western Michigan, 9-5. Coming into the Dec. 5 game with Western, the Irish had surrendered just eight goals in their last five games. The last time the Irish gave up eight goals in a game was Jan. 27, 2001 in an 8-2 loss at Yale.
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).
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.
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.
IRISH ON CSTV: Notre Dame has made three appearances on CSTV and now has a 2-1-0 record after the 4-0 loss to Cornell on Dec. 27. The Irish have wins over Ohio State (10/10) and Boston College (10/24). The Irish are also schedlued to appear again on CSTV on Friday, Feb. 27 versus Michigan. Face off is set for 8:05 p.m.
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 35 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 33-32-10 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage with six shutouts. He is sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time wins list with 33. His 2.72 goals-against average, .914 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.
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 82 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 137 of 141 career games.
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.