Oct. 24, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. –
– The Teams: #9/#9 Notre Dame (3-1-0/0-0-0) at #15/#16 Northern Michigan (3-1-0/0-0-0)
– The Games: Fri.-Sat., Oct. 26-27, 2012 – Berry Events Center (4,260) – 7:35 p.m./7:35 p.m.
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Real Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish, will call the action.
– Internet: Audio: Audio for the Northern Michigan series will be streamed live on the Notre Dame website at UND.com. This service is free of charge. Statistics: Livestats can be found at ccha.com or collegehockeyinc. com. Twitter: Follow Irish hockey on Twitter at ND_hockey.
NORTH TO THE UPPER PENINSULA: Notre Dame opens up the final season of play in the CCHA this weekend with a pair of games in Marquette, Mich., against the Northern Michigan Wildcats. Both games have 7:35 p.m., start times on Oct. 26-27 at the Berry Events Center. The two teams have each gotten their current campaigns off to strong starts as the Irish and Wildcats bring 3-1-0 records into the series. Notre Dame opened the year by winning the Ice Breaker Touranment in Kansas City, Mo., taking wins versus Maine and Nebraska-Omaha before splitting a pair at home last weekend with Minnesota Duluth, falling 3-1 in the series opener, before rebounding with a 4-1 win on Oct. 19. Northern Michigan has won three of four games versus WCHA opponents away from home, opening the season with a sweep of Wisconsin at Green Bay, Wis., before gaining a road split at Nebraska-Omaha last weekend, dropping the opener in Omaha, 5-2, before taking the second game, 2-1.
EVEN STEVEN: When Notre Dame and Northern Michigan get together on the ice, look for things to be, well, pretty much even. The two teams have met 52 times in the all-time series, with each team owning 22 wins, 22 losses and eight ties. Even when you break the series down by sites, things are all square. At Marquette, the series is tied at 9-9-4 and at Notre Dame, things are even at 11-11-4. When the teams take their show to neutral sites, well, you guessed it, the series is tied at 2-2-0. During the 2011-12 season, the teams played twice at the Berry Event Center with each game ending in a tie. On Nov. 4, the squads battled to a 2-2 tie and the following night, it was a 1-1 decision. The Wildcats did have a slight edge though in the eyes of the CCHA as they won both shootouts, 1-0, to pick up two extra points in the league standings. Prior to last seasons two ties, the Irish had won five straight in Marquette, Mich., and are 5-0-2 in their last seven games at the Berry Event Center dating back to Jan. 5, 2008. The last time that Notre Dame lost in Marquette was Jan 4, 2008, a 2-1 win for the Wildcats.
BOUNCE BACK: Notre Dame junior goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has started all four games for the Irish this season and is now 3-1-0 on the year with a 1.51 goals-against average, a .943 save percentage and one shutout. His 4-1 win last Friday (Oct. 19) over Minnesota Duluth was just the second time in his career that he made back-to-back starts after a loss and marked the first time that he bounced back with a win. His previous back-to-back start came in the second round of the 2012 CCHA playoffs when he lost in double overtime at Michigan (2-1) and then lost game two, 3-1.
ON DECK FOR THE IRISH: Following the weekend road series at Northern Michigan, Notre Dame returns home for a rare Friday-Sunday home series with Western Michigan on Nov. 2 and Nov. 4. The teams will meet on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7:35 p.m. at the Compton Family Ice Arena, then take Saturday off while over 80,000 fans invade the Notre Dame campus when the Irish play host to the University of Pittsburgh in football at 3:30 p.m. The two teams then resume the series on Sunday, Nov. 4 with a game at 5:05 p.m.
TIME CHANGE: Notre Dame’s game on Friday, Dec. 7 versus Michigan State has had the start time changed from 7:35 p.m. to 7:05 p.m. The game will be televised live by the NBC Sports Network.
A LOOK BACK AT MINNESOTA DULUTH: Friday, October 19 – Junior goaltender Steven Summerhays stopped 33-of-34 shots and the Irish got goals from four different players on the way to a 4-1 win. Notre Dame peppered Minnesota Duluth goaltender Aaron Crandall with 40 shots, including a season-high 21 in the first period on the way to the win. The Irish scored twice in a 2:24 span in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. T.J. Tynan (Jr., Orland Park, Ill.) opened the scoring at 15:04 when he stripped a Bulldog defenseman at the blue line and beat Crandall on a breakaway for his second goal of the year. Defenseman Robbie Russo (So., Westmont, Ill.) made it 2-0 at 17:28 when he scored his first of the season on the power play to send the Irish into the first intermission with a two-goal lead. The lead would go to 3-0 at 3:03 of the second when Mike Voran (Jr., Livonia, Mich.) forced a turnover behind the UMD net and fed Jeff Costello (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.) in front where he beat Crandall for his first goal of the season. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 3-1 at 12:13 with a Tony Cameranesi power-play goal before the Irish closed the game in the third period with a goal by David Gerths (Jr., Ankeny, Iowa) for his first of the year and the 4-1 final. On the night, Notre Dame out shot Minnesota Duluth, 40-34. Both teams were 1-for-6 on the power play.
Thursday, October 18 – Freshman goaltender Matt McNeely stopped 29-of-30 Notre Dame shots and Minnesota Duluth got goals from Cal Decowski, Dan DeLisle and Justin Crandall as the Bulldogs stopped a two-game Irish winning streak with a 3-1 win. Bryan Rust (Jr., Novi, Mich.) scored the lone Notre Dame goal via the power play in the second period. Steven Summerhays (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska) had 17 saves in the loss.
TOUGH STRETCH: Last weekend’s series against Minnesota Duluth started a tough six-week stretch on the schedule for Notre Dame. Based on the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com poll, the Bulldogs were ranked 13th in the nation last week in both rankings. Based on this week’s two polls, Northern Michigan is ranked #15/#16; Western Michigan (Nov. 2-4) is #10/#10; Boston College (Nov. 9) is #1/#1; Michigan (Nov. 15-16) is #6/#6 with North Dakota closing out the streak on Nov. 23-24 currently ranked sixth in both polls.
FAST START: Notre Dame’s 3-1-0 start this season is the best start for the Irish since the 2010-11 season when they opened the year with a 5-1-0 record.
FOR OPENERS: With the loss on Thursday night to Minnesota Duluth, the Irish are now 25-19-1 in home openers in the 45-year history of the program. Thursday’s game was the first-ever season opener at the Compton Family Ice Arena. With Notre Dame’s win versus Maine last Friday (Oct. 12), the Irish are now 22-21-2 all-time in season openers.
IRISH CENTURY CLUB: Junior center T.J. Tynan has gotten off to a fast start this season with at least one point in each of his first four games (2g, 2a). The four points move him one step closer to joining Notre Dame’s “Century Club” as the 47th player in the program’s history to reach 100 points for his career. Tynan enters the Northern Michigan series with 38 goals and 61 assists for 99 points in his first 87 games. Following him is center Anders Lee (Jr., Edina, Minn.) who has played in 88 career games and has 42 goals and 39 assists for 81 points.
"Century Club"Name (Seasons) G A Pts1. Brian Walsh (1973-77) 89 145 2342. John Noble (1969-73) 81 145 2263. Eddie Bumbacco (1970-74) 103 117 2204. Ian Williams (1970-74) 92 119 211
37. Aaron Gill (2000-04) 49 62 111 Connor Dunlop (1999-03) 25 86 11139. Jack Brownschidle (1973-77) 31 78 10940. Tim Reilly (1981-86) 43 65 10841. Billy Maday (2008-12) 45 60 105 Aniket Dhadphale (1995-99) 61 44 10543. Bob Thebeau (1982-86) 40 63 10344. Kevin Hoene (1968-71) 50 51 10145. Matt Hanzel (1985-89) 50 51 10146. Paul Clarke (1973-77) 38 62 100-- T.J. Tynan (2009 - ) 38 61 99-- Anders Lee (2009 -) 42 39 81
SIGH OF RELIEF: When junior center David Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) scored at 4:39 of the third period on Oct. 19 versus Minnesota Duluth, it snapped a 49-game goal-less drought for the hard-working forward. Gerths did not score a goal during the 2011-12 campaign and his previous last goal came on Feb. 19, 2011 against Ferris State. The goal was the ninth of his Notre Dame career.
COMING TO LIFE: Notre Dame scored its first two power-play goals of the season and surrendered its first two of the year in the series against Minnesota Duluth. The Irish were 2-for-12 on the weekend, scoring one power-play tally in each game. They also gave up one in each game to the Bulldogs, killing 11-of-13 chances. For the season, the Irish are 2-for-19 with the power play for a 10.5% success rate. While killing penalties, Notre Dame is 19-for-21 for a 90.5% penalty-killing ratio.
WORK HORSE: Dating back to last Feb. 24, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays has started nine of the last 10 games for the Irish. During his nine starts, Summerhays is 6-3-0 with a 1.39 goals-against average, a .951 save percentage and three shutouts. Four of those games came in the 2012 CCHA first-and- second-round playoffs against Ohio State and Michigan. Two of the losses came to Michigan in the second round, a 2-1 loss in double overtime and a 3-1 loss in game two. For his career, Summerhays is 18-13-1 with a 2.49 goals-against and a .902 save percentage with three shutouts. For this season, he is 3-1-0 with a 1.51 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage and one shutout.
NEVER BEFORE: Steven Summerhays’ 1-0 shutout win over the University of Maine on Oct. 12 marks the first time that the Irish have ever recorded a shutout in the opening game of a season. Notre Dame has never been shutout in the first game of the year.
BALANCE: Through the first four games of the season, Notre Dame has scored nine goals. Those nine goals have been scored by eight different players.
CALL HIM THE CAPTAIN: Junior center Anders Lee has been selected as the lone captain of the 2012-13 Notre Dame hockey team. The talented forward served as an alternate captain during the 2011-12 season. As a sophomore, he led the Irish with 17 goals and added 17 assists to finish second in scoring with 34 points. In his first two seasons at Notre Dame, Lee has played in 88 career games with 42 goals and 39 assists for 81 points.
BY THE CLASSES: The Notre Dame roster has four seniors, 12 juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen on the roster this season. The Irish return 18 monogram winners from last season and have seven of their top 10 scorers back in 2012-13.
CHAMPIONS: Notre Dame won its first-ever Ice Breaker Tournament (Oct. 12-13) at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Irish opened the tournament with a 1-0 win over the University of Maine with T.J. Tynan getting the only goal and Steven Summerhays stopping all 22 shots he faced. In the championship game on Saturday, Summerhays stopped 28-of-30 shots while Peter Schneider (So., Vienna, Austria), Anders Lee and Thomas DiPauli (Fr., Woodridge, Ill.) scored for the Irish in the 3-2 win over the Mavericks. Four Notre Dame players were selected to the all-tournament team led by Summerhays in goal and Tynan at forward. They were joined by defenseman Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa.) and forward Bryan Rust (Novi, Mich.). Tynan was named the tournament’s most valuable player. The Irish have appeared in three Ice Breakers, finishing third in 1999 and second in 2010.
IN-SEASON TOURNAMENTS: Notre Dame has now played in 35 in-season tournaments in the 45-year history of the program. The Irish have now finished first a total of nine times. They have seven second-place finishes; finished third eight times and fourth on 11 different occasions.
GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK: Junior goaltender Steven Summerhays was selected as the CCHA goaltender of the week for his play during the week ending Oct. 14. Summerhays stopped 50-of-52 shots in games against Maine and Nebraska-Omaha in helping the Irish to the Ice Breaker Tournament title. An all-tournament selection in goal, Summerhays made 22 saves in a 1-0 win over the Black Bears on Oct. 12. In the title game, the junior stopped 28-of-30 shots as Notre Dame downed Nebraska-Omaha, 3-2. He also was named College Hockey Insider.com’s national player of the week.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Compton Family Ice Arena celebrated its first birthday on Thursday, Oct. 18 when the Irish faced Minnesota Duluth. On that date in 2011, the Notre Dame hockey team packed its equipment bags from the Joyce Center for the final time. The team walked across the parking lot to the CFIA that afternoon. The Irish played the first game there on October 21, 2011, defeating Rensselaer, 5-2, in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,022. Anders Lee scored the first goal at 9:21 of the first period and finished with a hat trick in the game.The Irish won their first five games at the Compton and finished the year with a 12-7-0 record, including a 2-0 mark in the first round of the CCHA playoffs.
WINNERS: Four members of Notre Dame’s freshman class arrived on campus fresh off championship seasons in 2011-12. Thomas DiPauli joins the Irish after helping the `11-’12 USA Under-18 Team to a gold medal at the Under-18 World Championships last April. Sam Herr (Hinsdale, Ill.) was a member of the Green Bay Gamblers team that won the USHL’s Clark Cup championship with Herr being named the most valuable player of the tournament. Steven Fogarty (Edina, Minn.) and Mario Lucia (Plymouth, Minn.) played with the Penticton Vees of the BCHL and helped their team to a record-setting season. The Vees won the BCHL Interior Division regular-season title while establishing a junior hockey record with 42 consecutive wins. They then won the Fred Doyle Cup as the BCHL playoff champions and added an RBC Cup title to their resumes, winning the Canadian junior title.
MEREDITH HONORED: Former Notre Dame hockey All-American Greg Meredith `80 was honored by the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association on Oct. 1, when he received the 2012 Harvey G. Foster Award. The Foster Award, established in 1982, recognizes distinguished involvement in civic and University initiatives, particularly work to support children, young adults and the disabled. Meredith was a senior captain and All-American who established a career goal scoring record for Notre Dame’s hockey team, and he went on to play four seasons with the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Flames and its affiliates when the team moved to Calgary. After retiring in 1984, he earned a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School and began his business career with Salomon Brothers Inc. Since leaving Salomon Brothers in 1993, Meredith has started partnerships with firms such as NationsBank, HSBC and Proctor NBF Capital Partners, a venture formed with National Bank of Canada. In 1997, Meredith and his wife, Audrey, formed the Meredith Family Foundation. In honor of his late grandfather, John Proctor, the foundation’s core mission is to support the education and development of children and young adults as well as institutions providing services to people with disabilities. The foundation has provided funding for the Paul E. Meredith Scholarships at Notre Dame and supported South Bend-based programs at the LOGAN Center, the St. Joseph County Special Olympics and Camp Millhouse, a summer camp for people with serious disabilities. Meredith, a 2005 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award winner, is currently a member of the Mendoza College of Business Graduate Advisory Board. He has been married to Audrey for 20 years and they have two children. “I am deeply honored to be receiving this award from the Alumni Association. It is truly extraordinary to be recognized by such an accomplished group of Notre Dame men and women,” he said. “Recognition carries special meaning when it comes from an institution which has played such an important role in my life, and from people who share the core beliefs and spirit of that institution. This award is even more special to me when I think about the honor of joining a list of previous winners of this award, some of whom I know and all of whom I respect immensely for their accomplishments and their character.”
NOTRE DAME AND THE NTDP: Notre Dame and the USA National Under-18 Team met on Oct. 7, marking the fifth time that the Irish have faced them since the program began. Notre Dame and the U.S. National Developmental Program have had a strong relationship over the years. There are currently seven former USA Under-18 members on the Irish roster – senior Sam Calabrese, juniors Stephen Johns and Bryan Rust, sophomores Robbie Russo and Austin Wuthrich and freshmen Thomas DiPauli and Andy Ryan. Since the NTDP began in 1997, 31 players have gone on to play at Notre Dame. Another connection is head coach Jeff Jackson who served as the national coach and the senior director of the program from its beginning in 1996 through 2000.
FAST STARTS: Sophomore Peter Schneider and freshman Thomas DiPauli (Woodridge, Ill.) got their seasons off to fast starts in the two games at the Ice Breaker Tournament. Schneider had a goal and an assist in Notre Dame’s 3-2 win over Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 13. He scored the first goal of the game and then helped set up Anders Lee’s first -period goal that put the Irish ahead to stay at 2-1. DiPauli, who played both games of the weekend at left wing, was in the right spot in the second period when he banged the rebound of a T.J. Tynan shot past goaltender Anthony Stolarz for his first career goal and first career game winner.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: With the addition of freshman Mario Lucia to the Notre Dame roster in 2012-13, the Irish now have three sons who have followed in their father’s footsteps to play hockey at Notre Dame. Mario, follows his father, Don Lucia `81, who was a defenseman for the Irish from 1977-81. He is the head hockey coach at Minnesota. Current teammate, Kevin Nugent (Sr., New Canaan, Conn.) followed his dad – Kevin Nugent, Sr., `78 who played at Notre Dame from 1974-78 and was a teammate of Lucia’s for one season. The third father-son duo is goaltender Rory Walsh `06 who played for the Irish from 2002-06. He was the first to follow his dad – Brian Walsh `77, who played for the Irish from 1973-77 and was a teammate of Nugent’s for three seasons (1974-77).
OH BROTHER: Freshman defenseman Andy Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) joins the Irish hockey roster this season to join his brother, Ben Ryan `11, as the 11th set of brothers to play hockey at Notre Dame. Ryan will be joined on the 2012-13 roster by brothers Mike (Sr.) and Eric (So.) Johnson (Verona, Wis.) who became the 10th set of brothers to play at for the Irish last year in 2011-12. They are the first set of brothers to play on the team at the same time since Aaron `04 and Tony Gill `06 who played together from 2002-04. The list of brothers:
Robert `89 and David Bankoske `93Joe `72 and Mike Bonk `79Jack `77 and Jeff Brownschidle `81Tim `76 and Dan Byers `78Ryan `01 and Kyle Dolder `03Don `78 and Terry Fairholm `78Aaron `04 and Tony Gill `06Mark `85 and Bruce Guay `90Bob `71, Dave `76 ad Dick Howe `78Mike and Eric JohnsonBen `11 and Andy Ryan
HOCKEY CITY CLASSIC: The Notre Dame hockey team will play its first-ever outdoor game during the program’s Division I era on Sunday, Feb. 17 when the Irish take part in the Hockey City Classic at Chicago’s historic Soldier Field. They will face CCHA-rival, Miami in the first game of the doubleheader while Minnesota will battle Wisconsin in the second game. The two games will be preceded by two weeks of winter festivities, including two days of free public skating, high school hockey events, youth and adult hockey events, private ice rentals and more. The Hockey City Classic is being organized by the Chicago-based sports and entertainment marketing agency Intersport, in partnership with Soldier Field and the Chicago Park District. Notre Dame hockey is no stranger to the city of Chicago as the Irish have played hockey in the Windy City on and off since the 1966-67 campaign when the Notre Dame club team played in the first-ever college hockey tournament at Chicago Stadium. Since then, the Irish have played more than 40 games in and around Chicago, playing at Lake Forest (1969-70 and from 1985-91), at Chicago Stadium (1971 and 1972), at the University of Illinois-Chicago (1979-82 and 1988-96 as CCHA rivals), at Allstate Arena (2003 and 2005) and most-recently, at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., where Notre Dame hosted the Shillelagh Tournament from 2009-11. The 2012-13 Notre Dame hockey roster features six players with ties to the Chicago area: The group includes senior Sam Calabrese, juniors Kevin Lind (Homer Glen) and T.J. Tynan, sophomore Robbie Russo (Westmont) and freshmen Thomas DiPauli and Sam Herr. The Irish have had 25 hockey monogram winners from the Chicago area in the program’s history. Current Notre Dame defenseman Stephen Johns (Wampum, Pa.) was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round, 60th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and the Hawks have drafted five Notre Dame players since 1971.