Dec. 4, 2001
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* The Game:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-6-4/4-3-3) vs. Bowling Green Falcons (4-8-4/3-7-2)
* Date/Site/Times:
Fri.-Sat., Dec. 7-8, 2001 – BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) – 7:05 p.m.
* Broadcast Information:
The games can be heard live on WDND South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620 with Dave Mager calling the action. The broadcast can also be heard via the internet at www.und.com.
TAKE THE HIGHWAY:
Notre Dame will go back on the road this week as the Irish travel to Bowling Green, Ohio for a pair of games with the Bowling Green Falcons. The Irish will take with them a modest two-game winning streak after a home sweep of the Lake Superior State Lakers. The Irish won on Dec. 1 with their first shutout in two years as Morgan Cey blanked the Lakers 7-0. The following night, Notre Dame jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the way to the 5-2 victory. The weekend sweep improved the Irish to 3-2-1 at home this season, 3-0-1 in their last four home games. Since starting the season at 0-4-2, the Irish are 4-2-2 in their last eight games and 3-1-2 in their last six. Notre Dame will go into the Bowling Green series tied for sixth place in the CCHA with 11 points on the year. The Irish are just 1-4-3 away from the friendly con-fines of the Joyce Center. Bowling Green comes into the series with a 4-8-4 overall record and a 3- 7-2 mark in league play. The Falcons tied Nebraska-Omaha last Friday at home 2-2 and then lost on Saturday by a 2-1 margin. The Falcons are 0-2-1 in their last three games and were 3-4-1 in the month of November. At home, Bowling Green is 2-3-2 on the season. Following the Bowling Green series, the Irish break for finals and will not play again until Friday, Dec. 21 when they host the USA De-velopmental Under-18 team in an exhibition game at the Joyce Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The Irish return to regular-season action with a week-end series at Princeton on Dec. 28-29.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Defenseman Evan Nielsen (Jr., Evanston, Ill.) has been selected the CCHA’s Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Dec. 2. Nielsen anchored a Notre Dame de-fense that turned in a 7-0 shutout and a 5-2 win over Lake Superior State, allowing just 39 shots in the two games. He was also part of a penalty-killing unit that killed off 14 consecutive Laker power play chances. The Irish captain also joined the offensive attack scoring a goal and adding an assist in the 7-0 win. For the weekend, Nielsen was a +5. He is the first Notre Dame player to take defensive player of the week honors since Feb. 20, 2000 when Tony Zasowski was selected for the honor.
IRISH VERSUS FALCONS:
Bowling Green leads the all-time series with a 28-23-4 mark in the first 55 games. Since Notre Dame rejoined the CCHA in 1992-93, the Falcons are 14-11-2 versus the Irish. At the Bowling Green Ice Arena, the Falcons are 18-9-1 versus Notre Dame. In the last seven games played at Bowling Green, the Irish are 5-1-1. Since the 1996-97 season, the Irish are 9-2-2 over the last 13 games versus the Falcons. Notre Dame’s last loss at the BGSU Ice Arena was on Feb. 20, 1999. The two teams met twice last season at Notre Dame with the Irish sweeping the series with 3-2 and 5-3 wins. Notre Dame and Bowling Green will close the 2001-02 regular season with two games at the Joyce Center on March 1-2.
HEAD COACH DAVE POULIN:
Irish head coach Dave Poulin is now in his seventh season behind the Notre Dame bench. He owns an 85-127-33 (.414) overall record and is 61-93-29 (.413) in CCHA contests. Versus Bowling Green, Poulin-coached teams are 9-5-2.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS:
The Falcons enter the weekend series in 10th place in the CCHA standings with eight points, just three behind the Irish although Notre Dame has two games in hand. The Falcons are coming off a tie and a loss to Nebraska-Omaha last weekend, getting the 2-2 tie on Friday before falling 2-1 on Saturday night to the Mavericks. Offensively, Bowling Green is led by Greg Day (8-6-14) and Grady Moore (4-8-12). Day is tied with ND’s David Inman for second in the CCHA with four power play goals on the season. Goaltender Tyler Masters has played in 13 of the Falcons’ 16 games and is 3-6-4 on the season with a 3.37 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. BG has scored 13 power play goals in 90 chances for a 14.4% success rate. The Falcons have surrendered 21 power play goal on 94 chances for a 77.7% penalty killing rate. For more information on Bowling Green, check their website at www.bgsufalcons.com.
LAKE SUPERIOR STATE RECAP:
Notre Dame got its first series sweep of the season with 7-0 and 5- 2 wins over Lake Superior State. In Friday’s shut-out, the Irish got goals from seven different play-ers and freshman goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) made 20 saves to record the first shutout of his career in the 7-0 win. Senior David Inman (Toronto, Ont.) led the Irish offense with a goal and two assists, while Connor Dunlop (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.), Evan Nielsen (Jr., Evanston, Ill.), Alex Lalonde (Fr., Newmarket, Ont.) and Rob Globke (Jr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) each had a goal and an assist. Freshman Yan Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.) scored his first collegiate goal and jun-ior defenseman Paul Harris (Ridgefield, Conn.) scored his first goal of the season in the win. Michael Chin (Jr., Urbana, Ill.) also collected two assists in the game. The Irish outshot the Lakers, 38-20, on the night. Notre Dame was 10-for-10 kill-ing penalties and the Irish power play scored once on five chances. On Saturday, Globke was the of-fensive star as he picked up a pair of goals while Chin, Lalonde and John Wroblewski (Jr., Neenah, Wis.) each has single tallies in the 5-2 win. Tony Zasowski (Jr., Darien, Ill.) made 17 saves in goal to get his first victory of the season. The Irish fired a season-high 41 shots on goal in the game. They also killed four Laker power plays in the game, giving the team’s penalty killers a 14-for-14 week-end.
SHARE THE WEALTH:
Versus Lake Superior State, the Irish spread the offense around in both weekend wins. In Saturday’s 7-0 shutout win, 12 different players picked up points led by David Inman’s three-point (1g, 2a) night. In Sunday’s 5-2 win, 11 different players made the scoresheet with Rob Globke (2 goals) and Connor Dunlop (2 assists) leading the way.
INMAN-GLOBKE-CHIN:
Irish coach Dave Poulin as-sembled the line of David Inman, Rob Globke and Michael Chin just prior to the Lake Superior series and the trio paid instant dividends. In the 7-0 shutout, they combined for two goals and five assists. The following night the threesome had three goals and one assist. For the two games, the new Irish line had five goals, six assists and 11 points. They fired 19 shots on goal and were +13 for the weekend.
PENALTY KILLING PROWESS:
The Irish penalty killers had a perfect weekend versus Lake Superior State killing all 14 Laker power play attempts includ-ing a pair of five-on-three situations in the 7-0 shutout on Dec. 1. One five-on-three lasted the full two minutes and the second lasted 1:23. Since the third period of the Western Michigan game (11/17), the Irish have killed 16 straight penalties. For the season, Notre Dame has killed 74 of 85 penalties for an 87.1% success rate. That ranks the Irish fourth in the CCHA and 12th in the country.
GLOBKE GOALS:
Sophomore forward Rob Globke snapped a 10-game personal goal-scoring drought in the weekend series with Lake Superior. After scoring two goals on Oct. 12 versus Union College, the Irish sniper did not score a goal until the Dec. 1 game with the Lakers when he picked up a goal and an assist. In the Dec. 2 game, Globke found the back of the net twice for his second multiple-goal game of the season. On the year, Globke now has five goals and four assists for nine points.
CEY CAN YOU SEE:
Freshman goaltender Morgan Cey recorded his first Notre Dame shutout by making 20 saves in Notre Dame’s 7-0 win over Lake Superior (12/ 1). The shutout was the first by an Irish goaltender since Dec. 4, 1999 when Tony Zasowski blanked Michigan State, 1-0. The shutout was the 27th in Notre Dame history and the 10th by an Irish goaltender in CCHA play. The 7-0 margin of victory was the largest shutout by an Irish goaltender against a CCHA team.
MARGIN OF VICTORY:
The seven goals scored by Notre Dame in the 7-0 shutout of Lake Superior State is the largest margin of victory the Irish have ever had in a CCHA contest. The seven-goal win was the biggest by Notre Dame since a 10-2 win over St. Francis Xavier on Oct. 14, 1994.
WROBO ON THE OFFENSIVE:
Notre Dame center John Wroblewski has always been known for his defensive skills, but this season, he has gone on the offensive. The Neenah, Wis., native scored his career-best fourth goal of the season in the 5-2 win over Lake Superior (12/2). He now has career highs for goals (4) and points (8) this season, while he has equalled his career-best with four assists. Wroblewski currently has a four-game scoring streak (2-2-4) and has scored points in eight of Notre Dame’s last nine games (4-4-8).
MICHAEL THE MAGNIFICENT:
Junior right wing Michael Chin has regained his scoring touch for the Irish this season. The 6-2, 210-pound winger has a a career-high seven-game scoring streak (4-4-8) and has scored a goal in three of his last four games. Chin collected his first multiple-point game (0-2-2) vs. Lake Superior State on Dec. 1. Twice this season (at Ohio State and at Western Michigan), Chin has scored the game-tying goal in 4-4 ties. Chin’s best season was his freshman year (’99-’00) when he scored six goals with seven assists for 13 points. He currently has five goals and four assists for nine points in 14 games.
TURNING ON THE POWER:
The Irish are nine for 68 on the power play this season for a 13.3% success rate. Over the last six games, Notre Dame is six-for-33 (18.2%) with the man-advantage. For the first time in almost two seasons (54 games), the Irish turned in back-to-back games with two or more power play goals. Notre Dame was two-for-10 versus Ferris State (Nov. 9) and followed with a two-for-seven per-formance on (Nov. 10). The last time the Irish scored two or more power play goals in back-to-back games was Feb. 12 and Feb. 18, 2000. Notre Dame was four-for- 10 versus Nebraska-Omaha (Feb. 12) and two-for-three versus Bowling Green (Feb. 18). David Inman leads the team with four power play goals while Aaron Gill has two and Brett Lebda, Connor Dunlop and Alex Lalonde each have one.
STREAKING IRISH:
Michael Chin has a career-high seven-game scoring streak (4-4-8) and has goals in three of his last four games … John Wroblewski has a four-game scoring streak (2-2-4) and also has points in eight of his last nine games (4-4-8) … David Inman has a two-game streak (1-3-4) … Alex Lalonde has a two-game point streak (2-1-3) and has goals in each of his last two games … Rob Globke has a two-game streak (3-1-4) and has goals in two straight (3 goals) … Connor Dunlop has a two-game streak (1-3-4) … defenseman Tom Galvin (So., Miller Place, N.Y.) has points in three straight (0-3-3) and in five of his last six games (0-7-7) … Aaron Gill (So., Rochester, Minn.)has points in five of his last six games (1-5-6).
WCHA TOP 50:
Irish hockey great Bill Nyrop has been selected to the WCHA’s Top 50 all-time players list that will be announced throughout the 2001-02 season, the 50th anniversary of the league. Nyrop was included in the first list of 10 players announced on Nov. 29. The Irish were members of the WCHA from 1971 through 1981. Nyrop played at Notre Dame from 1970-74 and was Notre Dame’s first All-Ameri-can – selected first team All-America and second team all-WCHA following the 1972-73 season. During his Notre Dame career, he played in 132 games with 17 goals and 72 assists for 89 points. Selected in the fourth round of the 1972 NHL Entry Draft, he played on three Stanley Cup championship teams (1976, 1977 and 1978) with the Montreal Canadiens. He died at the age of 43 in December of 1995.
CENTRAL SCOUTING RATINGS:
The National Hockey League’s Central Scouting Service has released it’s preliminary rankings of college players who are eli-gible for the 2002 Draft which will be held in Toronto, June 22-23. Five Notre Dame players are among the 15 CCHA players listed in the top 50 collegiate play-ers. Forward Rob Globke was ranked second behind Boston University’s Ryan Whitney. Defenseman Brett Lebda is ranked 36th, forward Alex Lalonde is ranked 40th, center Yan Stastny is ranked 42nd and defenseman Joe Zurenko is ranked 46th. The entire list can be found at centralscouting.nhl.com. (Nov. 16), Komadoski picked up the second multiple-point game of his career (two assists) with both com-ing versus Western Michigan. Last season, Komadoski had a pair of assists in the Jan. 12 game. In his career, the rugged defenseman has a goal and four assists for five points in six games versus the Bron-cos.
FOUR-POINT WEEKEND:
Sophomore defenseman Tom Galvin (So., Miller Place, N.Y.) scored as many points in two games versus Ferris State (Nov. 9-10) as he did in 26 games last year. Galvin turned in the first two multiple-point games of his career with a pair of assists in each contest. Last season, the 5-9, 187-pound blueliner had four assists for the year. Galvin leads Notre Dame defensemen in scoring with a goal and eight assists for nine points. That ranks him eighth in scoring among all CCHA defensemen. CAREER FIRSTS: T.J. Mathieson (So., Clarksville, Md.) and Kyle Dolder (So., Hutchinson, Minn.) each scored their first collegiate goals in the 5-2 win over Ferris State on Friday night. For Dolder, his goal was also the first game-winning goal of his ca-reer. Defenseman Tom Galvin also had the first multiple point games of his career collecting two assists in each of the Ferris State games. Goaltender Tony Zasowski (Jr., Darien, Ill.) recorded the first assist of his Notre Dame career when he helped set up Brett Lebda’s second period goal in the 3-3 tie with Ferris State.
FOUR BY FOUR:
Connor Dunlop’s four-point and four-assist game on Nov. 2 versus Northern Michigan
FIVE IN A ROW:
Goaltender Morgan Cey started the first five games of his Notre Dame career to become the first Irish freshman to start the first five games of his career since Greg Louder (1990-94) played the first five con-tests of the 1990-91 season. Cey and Louder are the last two rookies to start a season opener in goal at Notre Dame. Cey made 28 saves in a 2-1 loss to Union College on Oct. 11. Louder made 36 saves in a 7-2 loss at Minnesota on Oct. 23, 1990. Cey’s streak was stopped after five games when junior Tony Zasowski made his first start of the season versus Northeastern. Louder went on to start all 33 games that sea-son, missing just 30 minutes of play, while turning in a 16-15-2 record. For the year, Cey has started 11 of Notre Dame’s 14 games on the season.
ONE FOR ZASOWSKI:
Goaltender Tony Zasowski picked up his first win of the season in Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Lake Superior State. The junior goaltender made 17 saves. The start versus the Lakers was his third of the season. He recorded ties at Northeast-ern (Oct. 27) and versus Ferris State (Nov. 10). For the year, Zasowski is 1- 0-2 with a 2.53 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.
BRONCO BUSTER:
The Western Michi-gan Broncos bring out the best in Notre Dame defenseman Neil Komadoski (So., St. Louis, Mo.). In the 4-4 tie were career-bests for the junior center. The four-point game also extended his point-scoring streak to a personal-best of five consecutive games (1-9-10). Dunlop leads the Irish in scoring with 15 points (4- 11-15). The last Notre Dame player to get four as-sists in a game was defenseman Brett Lebda, who had four assists in a five-point game at Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 20, 2000. The Irish won that con-test, 7-4.
THE IN(MAN) THING:
For the second time in his Notre Dame hockey career, David Inman scored four points in a game on two goals and two assists. The most recent time came in the 5-4 Irish win at North-ern Michigan on Nov. 2. The first time came on Feb. 12, 2000 when he turned in a four-point effort (2g-2a) versus Nebraska-Omaha. In the 7-0 win over Lake Superior State, Inman continued his strong play this season with a goal and two assists. For his career, he now has five two-goal games in his career and six games with two assists.
LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE:
Sophomore defenseman Brett Lebda turned in the first two-goal game of his career in the 5-4 win over Northern Michigan. For the offensive-minded blueliner, the two goals were his first of the season. In the win over Northern, Lebda also had a career-high 10 shots on goal, pass-ing his previous best of eight set in his rookie year versus Niagara at the Maverick Stampede.
PENALTY MARK:
With 24 penalties for 78 minutes in the loss to Northern Michigan, the Irish set school records for both penalties and minutes. The previ-ous record for penalties was 22 at Michigan State (3/4/00). The previous penalty-minute record was 77 and was also set versus Northern Michigan on Dec. 12, 1981. Rob Globke (So., West Bloomfield, Mich.) led the Irish with six penalties for 31 min-utes. He received a game-disqualification penalty in the post-game penalty-parade and will have to sit out the first game versus Ferris State on Friday night.
IRON MEN:
Sophomore defenseman Brett Lebda (So., Buffalo Grove, Ill.) is Notre Dame’s current iron man has he has now played in 53 consecutive games in his Irish career. He follows graduated right wing Ryan Dolder who finished his Notre Dame ca-reer having played in 103 consecutive games over a three-season period including every game in 1999- 00 and 2000-01. Dolder’s teammate, Dan Carlson was the only other Irish player to played in every game over his last two seasons. Carlson finished his career playing in 101 consecutive games. For his career, Carlson played in 158 of a possible 160 games. The only two he missed came while playing at the World Junior Championships in 1998-99. CLOSING THE DEAL: Through the first 14 games of the season, the Irish have struggled keeping teams off the scoreboard in the third period. So far, the Irish have led seven times heading into the third period and are 4-2-1. The losses came at Ohio State and Boston College and snapped a 50-game (42-0-8) unbeaten string when the Irish led after two periods that went back to Jan. 9, 1998. Prior to this season, that was the last time the Irish lost when leading after two periods. In that game, UAF’s Sean Fraser tied the game (2-2) with a power-play goal in the third minute of the final period before Chris Kirwan converted a breakaway with 0:45 left in overtime. Since the loss at Boston College, the Irish are now 3- 0-0 in games that they lead after two periods of play. BAD ENDINGS: Notre Dame has struggled in the third period this season giving up 19 goals while scoring just 13. Eleven of the goals came in three games as the Irish surrendered five third-period goals in a 7-4 loss to Union College (Oct. 12), four third-period goals to Boston College in a 4-1 loss (Oct. 26) and two third-period goals in a 3-2 loss at Ohio State (Oct. 21).
PENALTY SHOTS:
Notre Dame sophomore Rob Globke scored on a penalty shot in the 7-4 loss to Union College. The talented forward was pulled down at 3:41 of the third period on a breakaway and was awarded the shot by referee Steve McInchak. Globke was able to pull Union’s Brandon Snee down and slide the puck from his backhand past the div-ing Snee. The penalty shot was the first for an Irish player since Feb. 5, 1998 when Brian Urick was stopped by Ohio State’s Jeff Maund. The last penalty shot the Irish had to face came on March 13, 1999 when Matt Eisler stopped Michigan’s Bill Muckalt in a CCHA playoff game.