Dec. 13, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – – The Teams: #3/#3 Notre Dame (13-4-0/9-1-0-0) at Bowling Green (3-9-4/2-6-3-1)
– The Teams: #3/#3 Notre Dame (13-4-0/9-1-0-0) at Bowling Green (3-9-4/2-6-3-1)
– The Games: Saturday, December 15, 2012 – BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) – 7:05 p.m.
– Broadcast Information: Radio: The Notre Dame-Bowling Green game will be broadcast live on Real Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish, will call the action.
– Internet: Audio/Video: Live video streaming is available at the Bowling Green website (bgsufalcons.com) and there is a charge for the service. Live audio streaming for the Bowling Green game is available on the Notre Dame website at UND.com free of charge. Statistics: Gametracker is available on the Notre Dame website at UND.com. Livestats can be found at ccha.com or collegehockeyinc.com.
FIRST HALF FINALE: Notre Dame closes out the first half of the 2012-13 campaign at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15 when the Irish travel to Bowling Green for a single game versus the Falcons.The Notre Dame hockey team will concentrate on final exams the entire week on campus before facing Bowling Green at the BGSU Ice Arena. The third-ranked Irish will bring a five-game winning streak and a seven-game CCHA winning streak into Saturday’s game. Notre Dame is 13-4-0 overall and 9-1-0-0 in the CCHA to start the week, good for 27 points and first place in the conference race. The Irish are two points ahead of second-place Miami with two games in hand. Notre Dame travels to Bowling Green after a six-game homestand that saw the Irish go 5-1-0 with back-to-back sweeps of Lake Superior State and Michigan State. Notre Dame is ranked third in both the USAToday/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com rankings, the high water mark for this season. Bowling Green is 3-9-4 for the season and is tied for ninth in the CCHA with a 2-6-3-1 record, good for 10 points in league play. The Falcons are coming off a win and a tie at Alaska last weekend as they won the series opener, 3-2, on Dec. 7 and then tied the Nanooks, 3-3, on Saturday with Alaska winning the shootout.
IRISH VERSUS FALCONS: Saturday night’s meeting between Notre Dame and Bowling Green will be the 100th meeting in the series between the two schools. The Irish have a 54-37-8 advantage in the first 99 games. At Bowling Green, the series is even at 24-24-3. Notre Dame has won three in a row at the BGSU Ice Arena dating back to Nov. 6, 2010. The two teams met four times last season with the Irish going 3-1-0 in those game. The last Falcon win versus Notre Dame came on Feb. 4, 2012, a 3-2 win at the Compton Family Ice Arena. That win snapped a six-game Irish winning streak in the series. The teams will meet three more times in 2012-13. The second meeting will be on Tues., Jan. 15 at Bowling Green with the final two games set for March 1-2 at Notre Dame, the regular-season finales for both teams.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Following Saturday night’s game at Bowling Green, Notre Dame will break for the Christmas holidays with the Irish out of action for 24 days until Tues., Jan. 8 when they start the second half with a single-game at MInnesota. They won’t play at home again until Friday, Jan. 18 versus Alaska. That’s a span of 41 days between games at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
USA-USA-USA: One Notre Dame player who won’t be breaking for the Christmas holidays is freshman left wing Mario Lucia (Plymouth, Minn.) who has been selected to the preliminary roster for the United States World Junior Team that will play in the World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2013. He is one of 27 players on the roster who will attend a training camp from Dec. 16-18 at the New York Rangers’ Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, N.Y. An additional camp will follow in Helsinki, Finland, Dec. 19-23 with the final 23-man roster announced on Dec. 23. The training camp in Finland will be highlighted by pre-tournament games versus Sweden (Dec. 20) and Finland (Dec. 22). Lucia will have the chance to become the 16th Notre Dame player selected to play in the World Junior Championships. Last season, defenseman Stephen Johns (Jr., Wampum, Pa.) and center T.J. Tynan (Jr., Orland Park, Ill.) were members of the 2012 team that finished seventh in Calgary, Alta.
MICHIGAN STATE RECAP: Friday, Dec. 7 – For the third straight game, Notre Dame scored two power-play goals with Mario Lucia and T.J. Tynan doing the honors as the Irish handed Michigan State a 3-2 loss on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Lucia and Tynan finished the game with a goal and an assist each and Nick Larson (Apple Valley, Minn.) scored at even strength in the win. Brent Darnell scored both goals for the Spartans, including a power-play goal of his own. The Irish outshot Michigan State, 39-24, in the game. Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) stopped 22 shots on the way to his 10th win of the season.
Saturday, Dec. 8 – Notre Dame got goals from five different players on the way to a 5-1 win over Michigan State to give the Irish their second consecutive series sweep. Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.), Mike Voran (Livonia, Mich.), Steven Fogarty (Edina, Minn.), David Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) and Thomas DiPauli (Woodridge, Ill.) staked the Irish to a 5-0 lead before Spartans’ forward Matt Berry broke Steven Summerhays’ shutout bid with a goal at 17:22 of the third period. For just the fourth time this season, Notre Dame was outshot in a game with Michigan State having a 30-23 advantage. Summerhays finished with 29 saves for his 11th win of the year. Will Yanakeff took the loss for the Spartans, making 18 saves on the night. Lee gave the Irish a 1-0 lead at 19:52 of the first period with his CCHA-leading 11th goal of the year. Voran got the eventual game winner at 13:50 of the second when he converted a pass from defenseman Sam Calabrese (Sr., Park Ridge, Ill.) for his third goal of the season. Fogarty upped the advantage to 3-0 at 15:31 of the second as he scored on a 2-on-1 for his fourth goal of the season. Gerths made it 4-0 at 8:16 of the third period with his third goal of the season and DiPauli closed out the Notre Dame side of the ledger when he notched his third of the year at 12:30. Berry then beat Summerhays on a wrap-around goal at 17:22 for the 5-1 final. Both teams were 0-for-5 on the power play.
BROOM TIME: Notre Dame’s sweep of Michigan State on Dec. 7-8 was the second consecutive home sweep for the Irish this season and the fourth overall. The last time that Notre Dame swept back-to-back series was during the 2010-11 season when the Irish swept Bowling Green at home on Feb. 11-12, 2011 and then won two at Ferris State the following weekend (Feb. 18-19). The last time that Notre Dame had four sweeps in a season came in that 2010-11 season when the Irish had five series sweeps.
ON A ROLL: The Irish come into their game this weekend at Bowling Green having won five in a row for the first time since Feb. 11-Feb. 25, 2011. Notre Dame also has a seven-game CCHA winning streak that started on Nov. 4 at Western Michigan. The last time the Irish won seven consecutive CCHA games came from Dec. 5, 2008 to Jan. 16, 2009.
WORK HORSE: Dating back to last Feb. 24, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays has played in 21 of the last 24 games, making 20 starts. During those 21 games, Summerhays is 14-6-0 with a 1.49 goals-against average, a .942 save percentage and four shutouts. His shutout win versus Western Michigan (4-0) on Nov. 4 was the 20th win of his Notre Dame career. He is now 26-16-1 for his career with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. This season, Summerhays leads the CCHA in wins (11) and is second in goals-against average (1.56). He is fourth in save percentage (.937) and tied for second with two shutouts.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: With three assists last weekend, sophomore defenseman Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) took over the CCHA scoring lead for defensemen with four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. He is tied for the CCHA lead in power-play points (3g, 5a, 8pts.) and his 11 assists tie him for second in the conference. His 15 points tie him for fourth overall in the CCHA scoring race while nationally, his 15 points tie him with three others for the most points by a defenseman in the country.
SCORING FIRST: Scoring the first goal of the game has been important to Notre Dame’s early-season success. The Irish are 12-0-0 when they get the first goal of the game and 1-4-0 when the opposition scores first.
STINGY DEFENSE: The Irish defense ranks among the stingiest in the nation as they have given up just 28 goals in 17 games to allow 1.65 goals per game. That ranks Notre Dame first in the CCHA and second in the nation. Only Quinnipiac (25 goals in 17 games) with a 1.47 mark is better.
PUCKS TO THE NET: Michigan State out shot Notre Dame, 30-23, in Saturday’s 5-1 Irish win. That marked the first time the Irish had been out shot since November 16 at Michigan. Notre Dame has out shot the opposition 13 times this season and is 10-3-0 in those games. In games that opponents get more shots, the Irish are 3-1-0. For the year, Notre Dame is averaging 32.3 shots per game while the opposition is getting 24.9 per game.
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME: Freshman left wing Mario Lucia missed the first nine games of the 2012-13 season with a broken leg that was suffered on Aug. 29 in preseason training. He returned to the lineup on Nov. 15 at Michigan and in eight games back in action, he has scored five goals with three assists for eight points. Three of his goals have come on the power play. He currently has a four-game goal and point streak (4g, 2a, 6 pts.).
TWO-TIMER: Freshman left wing Mario Lucia has been selected as the CCHA Gongshow Rookie of the week in each of the last two weeks (Dec. 2 and Dec. 9). This past weekend, Lucia had a goal and two assists for four shots on goal and was +1 in a sweep of Michigan State. In each game of the series, the big left wing set up game-winning goals for the Irish. For the week ending Dec. 2, Lucia scored three goals in the two-game series with Lake Superior State, getting two of the goals via the power play. In the 3-2 win on Nov. 30, Lucia scored a second-period power-play goal to put the Irish in front, 2-0. He had four shots on goal and was -1 for the game. In the 6-1 victory on Dec. 1, the former Penticton Vee of the BCHL, scored two goals. The first came at 14:48 of the first period and gave Notre Dame a 3-0 lead. He added a second-period, power-play goal to give the Irish a 5-1 lead.
SHORT-HANDED: Since giving up two power-play goals to Western Michigan on Nov. 2, Notre Dame is 38-for-40 (.950) killing penalties over the last 10 games. Only North Dakota (11/23) and Michigan State (12/7) have managed to beat the Irish with the man advantage. For the year, the Irish are 62-for-68 for a .912 success rate. That is tops in the CCHA and fifth nationally. Notre Dame also has scored three short-handed goals.
ODD FACT: Notre Dame has given up all six opponent power-play goals at home this season. The Irish are 38-of-44 on the penalty kill at home for an 86.4% success rate. On the road and on neutral ice, Notre Dame is 24-of-24 killing penalties.
ON A TEAR: Several Notre Dame players come into Saturday’s game versus Bowling Green on hot streaks. Leading the way is sophomore defenseman Robbie Russo who has a season-high eight-game point streak, scoring two goals with nine assists for 11 points in the streak. After getting off to a slow start, T.J. Tynan has points in five consecutive games (2g, 6a, 8 pts). Mario Lucia now has goals and points in four straight (4g, 2a, 6 pts.) and points in six of his last seven games (5g, 3a, 8 pts).
TURNING ON THE POWER: After going the first 13 games of the season with just seven power-play goals in seven different games, the Notre Dame power play has now scored two man-advantage goals in three of the last four games. Versus Lake Superior State, the Irish were 2-for-6 on Friday (Nov. 30) and 2-for-5 on Saturday (Dec. 1) for a 4-for-11 mark (36.4%). They added a 2-for-5 night versus Michigan State on Dec. 7 before going 0-for-5 in the Dec. 8 game. Over the last four games, Notre Dame is 6-for-21 (28.6%). On the season, the Irish are 13-for-80 with the man advantage and are scoring at a 16.2% clip.
THE OTHER GUY: Senior goaltender Mike Johnson got the start in goal for the Irish on Dec. 1 versus Lake Superior State. That was his first start since Oct. 27 when he made 26 saves in the 3-2 win over Northern Michigan. Against the Lakers, Johnson made 13 saves, giving up one goal before being injured at the 14:23 mark of the second period with a 4-1 lead in a game the Irish would win, 6-1. This season, he is 2-0-0 with a 1.91 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage. For his career, he has appeared in 93 games, making 87 starts and is 41-33-12 with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage with two shutouts. His 41 wins make him just one of seven Notre Dame goaltenders to win 40 or more games in his career.
WARRIOR CCHA PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Junior center Anders Lee has been named the Warrior CCHA Player of the Month for his play during the month of November. In eight games, Lee scored seven goals with two assists for nine points, getting one power-play goal, one short-handed tally and one game winner while being +5 for the month. The native of Edina, Minn., scored in five of the team’s eight games, helping the Irish to a 5-3-0 record. Included were three multiple-point games. He was named the CCHA Postgame Offensive Player of the Week twice in the month (Nov. 5 and Nov. 26). His seven goals were most in the league for November while his nine points were second most. In 15 games this season, Lee has 11 goals and five assists for 16 points.
WEATHERING THE STORM: Notre Dame’s’ series with seventh-ranked North Dakota (Nov. 23-24) closed out a streak of 11 consecutive games for Notre Dame versus nationally ranked teams. The streak that started on Oct. 18 versus Minnesota Duluth saw the Irish win seven of the 11 contests. Here is a look at Notre Dame’s recent schedule against ranked teams. (Rankings are USA Today/USCHO.com. Rankings listed for games played are team’s rankings on the day of the game).
10/18 vs. #13/#13 Minnesota Duluth L, 1-310/19 vs. #13/#13 Minnesota Duluth W, 4-110/26 at #15/#16 No. Michigan W, 5-210/27 at #15/#16 No. Michigan W, 3-211/2 vs. #11/#11 Western Michigan L, 2-311/4 vs. #11/#11 Western Michigan W, 4-011/9 at #1/#1 Boston College L, 1-311/15 at #13/#13 Michigan W, 3-111/16 at #13/#13 Michigan W, 4-111/23 vs. #7/#7 North Dakota L, 1-211/24 vs. #7/#7 North Dakota W, 5-2
CAREER NIGHT: Junior defenseman Kevin Lind (Homer Glen, Ill.) turned in a career-best three-point game (1g, 2a) in the 5-2 win over North Dakota. His goal was the first short-handed goal of his career and snapped a 49-game, goal-scoring drought. Prior to Saturday’s game, Lind’s last goal came on Oct. 8, 2011 versus Minnesota Duluth.
SHARING THE WEALTH: In Notre Dame’s 5-1 win over Michigan State on Dec. 8, the Irish got goals from all four lines with the fourth line leading the way with a pair of goals. Through the first 17 games of the 2012-13 season, 15 different Notre Dame players have scored the team’s 54 goals with Anders Lee leading the way with 11. Junior left wing Jeff Costello and freshman left wing Mario Lucia are next with five goals each. Four others have four goals apiece. Nineteen of the team’s 22 skaters have scored at least one point with Lee leading the way with 16 points while Robbie Russo is second with 15. Eight different players have scored game-winning goals for the Irish with T.J. Tynan leading the way with three.
BRIGHT KIDS: University of Notre Dame athletic programs again rank as the best in the country in graduation rates, based on Graduation Success Rate (GSR) figures released by the NCAA — including first-place ratings in the sports of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and ice hockey. Among the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision institutions, Notre Dame had the highest percentage of its sports with 100 percent scores (for the seventh time in eight years), with a .863 figure (19 of 22). In hockey, Notre Dame achieved a 100 GSR rating, to rank first (tied with Bowling Green) among Division I-A football-playing institutions. Here are the FBS institutions with scores of 65 or higher in that category:
Score Institution100 Notre Dame, Bowling Green96 U.S. Air Force Academy94 Michigan85 U.S. Military Academy, Boston College, Connecticut83 Miami (Ohio)73 Western Michigan65 Michigan State
The four-year GSR data is based upon the entering classes from 2002 to 2005. In addition to men’s and women’s basketball and hockey, other Notre Dame programs recording 100 GSR scores in the 2012 listings were baseball, men’s cross country/track, women’s cross country/track, men’s fencing, women’s fencing, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, women’s softball, men’s swimming, women’s swimming, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball.
MULTIPLE-GOAL GAMES: The Irish have turned in four multiple-goal games this season with Mario Lucia joining the list with his first career, two-goal game in the win over Lake Superior State (Dec. 1). Left wing Jeff Costello recorded the first multiple-goal game of his Notre Dame career in the 5-2 win over North Dakota (Nov. 24). Anders Lee recorded his second multiple-goal game this season in the same contest versus North Dakota and now has 10 games with two or more goals in his Irish hockey career.
STRONG START: Notre Dame’s 13-4-0 start this season is tied for the third-best start in the program’s history after 17 games. The previous best starts for the Irish after 17 games were:
1987-88: 13-2-22006-07: 13-3-12012-13: 13-4-02007-08: 13-4-02008-09: 12-3-22011-12: 10-4-31989-90: 11-6-02010-11: 10-5-21998-99: 9-6-2
SHOOTING THE PUCK: Through the first 17 games of the 2012-13 season, Notre Dame has outshot its opposition in 13 of them, getting 30 or more shots in a game all 13 times. The Irish are averaging 32.3 shots per game to 24.9 for their opponents. The 41 shots against North Dakota on Nov. 24 was a season high for Notre Dame. The 20 shots that the Irish registered against Boston College was a season low for a game.
NATIONAL LETTERS-OF-INTENT: Irish head coach Jeff Jackson announced on Nov. 28 that Notre Dame has signed six student-athletes to national letters-of-intent. The six are: Dawson Cook (Cadillac, Mich.), Jordan Gross (Maple Grove, Minn.), Chad Katunar (Victoria, B.C.), Andre Oglevie (Fullerton, Calif.), Cal Petersen (Waterloo, Iowa) and Ali Thomas (New York, N.Y.). Dawson is a 6-1, 198-pound center who currently plays for the USA Under-18 Team in Ann Arbor, Mich. Gross is a 5-11, 178-pound defenseman who is in his first season with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Katunar is a 6-6, 218-pound goaltender who plays in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) with the Penticton Vees. Oglevie is a 5-9, 156-pound right wing who is with the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders of the USHL. Petersen is a 6-1, 175-pound goaltender who is a member of the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks and Thomas is a 6-2, 211-pound left wing who started the year with the USHL’s Chicago Steel before being traded to the Des Moines Buccaneers. Those six will join forward Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill.) and defenseman Justin Wade (Aurora, Ill.) who signed letters-of-intent last November but deferred to this season. Hinostroza is a teammate of Petersen’s in Waterloo while Wade plays for the Fargo Force. (For more information on the Irish recruiting class, check the Notre Dame website at und.com).
Stats as of Dec. 12, 2012BCHL GP G A PTS PIMChad Katunar - Penticton 24 GP, 16-8-0, 2.26, .925 sv%
USHL GP G A PTS PIMJordan Gross - Green Bay 24 1 9 10 2Vince Hinostroza - Waterloo 18 15 11 26 6Andrew Oglevie - C. Rapids 21 2 6 8 8Ali Thomas - Chi./D. Moines 19 2 4 6 24Justin Wade - Fargo/C. Rapids 18 1 1 2 34Cal Petersen - Waterloo 13 GP, 9-4-0, 2.70, .909 sv%
USA UNDER-18 GP G A PTS PIMDawson Cook 19 2 4 6 2