Nov. 11, 2003
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- The Game: Notre Dame (5-3-1/4-3-1) vs. U.S. Under-18 Team (9-8-0)
- Date/Site/Times: Fri., November 14, 2003 – Joyce Center (2,713) – 7:35 p.m.
- Broadcast Information: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on WDND South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620. Mike Lockert, “the voice of Irish hockey” will call all the action. Irish hockey can also be heard live via the internet at www.und.com.
IRISH VERSUS U.S. UNDER-18 TEAM: Notre Dame and the U.S. National Team Developmental Program’s Under-18 team will meet for the second time in the series. The two teams faced each other in an exhibition game on Dec. 21, 2001 with the Irish winning 3-2 at the Joyce Center. Current Irish players Tim Wallace and Noah Babin played for the Under-18 team in that game. The Under-18 team comes into this weekend’s game with a 9-8-0 overall record that includes a 2-7-0 record versus collegiate competition. Last weekend, the Under-18 team finished second at the Four Nations Tournament in Huttwill, Switzerland. The U.S. lost to Finland, 4-3, and defeated Sweden (4-2) and Switzerland (5-3) to capture the silver medal. The Under-18 team annouced on Monday that John Hynes, an assistant coach at Wisconsin, will take over as it’s new head coach. Moe Mantha stepped down at the end of October and Lou Vairo served as interim coach since then. This will be Hynes’ third stint with the USNTDP as he had previously served as a graduate assistant (1998-2000) and as an assistant to Mike Eaves with the Developmental Program in 2001-02 before following Eaves to the University of Wisconsin for the 2002-03 season.
IRISH AND THE NATIONAL TEAM DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM: Notre Dame hockey is no stranger to the U.S. National Program as the Irish have had a total of 13 Under-18 alums play hockey at Notre Dame. Only Michigan and Wisconsin (14) have had more. Notre Dame’s current total of eight active players is the most of any current Division I school. Here’s a list of the 13 NTDP players to play at the Joyce Center. (Current players are in bold): Michael Chin (1997-98), Brett Henning (1997-98), Connor Dunlop (1998-99), Paul Harris (1998-99), John Wroblewski (1998-99), Rob Globke (1999-00), Neil Komadoski (1999-00), Brett Lebda (1999-00), Derek Smith (2000-01), Noah Babin (2001-02), Tim Wallace (2001-02), Mike Bartlett (2002-03) and Josh Sciba (2002-03).
A LOOK AT THE U.S. UNDER-18 TEAM: Friday’s game with Notre Dame will be the first for the U.S. Under-18 team’s new head coach John Hynes who was named to the post on Monday. The U.S. team is coming off a silver-medal finish at the Four Nations tournament last weekend. The U.S. is 2-7 this season versus collegiate competition with the wins coming versus Sacred Heart and Geneseo. Before the season is over, they will have played 23 games versus collegiate competition. From the CCHA, the U.S. has already played Northern Michigan and will play Michigan State, Michigan and Lake Superior along with Notre Dame. The U.S. is led by forwards Bryan Lerg (9-14-23) and Brandon Scero (12-3-15) with Kevin Swallow (4-10-14) and Kevin Porter (2-12-14) following them. Jordan Pearce (3-4-0) and Chris Carlson (6-4-0) have split the goaltending.
HCA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman goaltender David Brown (Stoney Creek, Ont.) has been 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 goes into this weekend’s games with Michigan State with a school-record shutout string of 186:15 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. Nationally, Brown ranks fifth in the nation with the 1.15 goals against average and his .946 save percentage is third overall. The three shutouts are the most by anyone so far this season in college hockey and have come 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 twice this season (10/19 and 11/2).
NEXT FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame returns to regular-CCHA action next weekend when they play host to the Lake Superior State Lakers on Fri.-Sat., Nov. 21-22. Friday’s game at the Joyce Center begins at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday’s game is 7:05 p.m.
NOTRE DAME-MICHIGAN STATE RECAP: The Irish are coming off an 0-1-1 weekend series at Michigan State. In Friday’s 3-1 loss, the Spartans broke a second-period scoreless tie when defenseman A.J. Thelen beat Morgan Cey (Jr., Wilkie, Sask.) at 19:19 from the slot for a 1-0 lead. The lead would go to 2-0 midway through the third period when MSU’s Adam Nightingale scored short-handed at 10:22. The Irish answered 31 seconds later when Mike Walsh (So., Northville, Mich.) redirected a Matt Amado (So., Surrey, B.C.) centering pass behind Dominic Vicari to cut the lead to 2-1. The Spartans closed out the scoring at 19:42 when Mike Lalonde scored into an empty net for the 3-1 win. On the night, Michigan State outshot Notre Dame by a 37-24 margin.
Saturday night saw the Irish rally from a pair of two-goal deficits to gain a 3-3 tie and almost a 4-3 win. The Spartans scored twice in the first period on red-hot goaltender David Brown. Jim Slater’s first goal of the game at 7:12 of the opening stanza gave Michigan State a 1-0 lead and snapped Brown’s consecutive shutout streak at 193:27. Brock Radunske made it 2-0 at 19:00 when he whipped a shot past Brown from the slot for a 2-0 edge. The Irish cut into the two-goal lead at 9:04 of the second period when Mike Walsh got his second goal of the weekend to make it 2-1. Slater built the lead back to 3-1 when he scored on the power play at 18:22 of the second period. The power-play goal was the first given up by the Irish since Oct. 17, snapping a streak of 20 consecutive penalties killed. Neil Komadoski (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.) got Notre Dame on the board with a power-play goal at 1:43 to make it a 3-2 game. Michigan State was whistled for a penalty at 17:10 and the Irish went to work. With Brown pulled in favor of a sixth attacker, Aaron Gill (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) converted a pass from Rob Globke (Sr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) to make it 3-3 at 18:54. Freshman defenseman Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.) was called for holding at 19:31 and, with the Spartans on the power play, it appeared that Globke scored short-handed with seven seconds left to give the Irish the win. The officials ruled that when Globke took a long lead pass from defenseman Tom Galvin (Sr., Miller Place, N.Y.) at center ice, he closed his hand on the puck and the play was whistled down to negate the goal. On the evening, the Irish outshot the Spartans, 33-28. Brown finished the game with 25 saves while Michigan State’s Matt Migliaccio made 3-0 for the Spartans.
IRISH ON CSTV: College Sports Television (CSTV) has announced its second-half schedule for 2004 and the Irish are included. The Friday, Feb. 27 home game with Michigan has been added to the list that includes three other CCHA games. Face-off is set for 8:05 p.m. The Irish have been on CSTV twice this season and own a 2-0 record after beating Ohio State 5-2 on Oct. 10 and Boston College, 1-0, on Oct. 24. Notre Dame is scheduled to appear on CSTV again on Dec. 27 when they play Cornell in the Everblades Collegiate Classic in Estero, Fla. If they win the first game, the championship game of that tournament will also be televised.
GILL THE THRILL: Irish team captain Aaron Gill turned in his third three-point game of the season in Notre Dame’s 3-3 tie at Michigan State. Gill set up goals by Mike Walsh and Neil Komadoski and then picked up the game-tying goal with 1:06 left on the clock. He currently leads the Irish in scoring with three goals and eight assists for 11 points. His two power-play goals are tied for tops on the team.
FIT TO BE TIED: Notre Dame’s 3-3 tie with Michigan State on Nov. 8 marked the seventh consecutive overtime for the Irish to end in a tie. The Irish were 0-0-6 in 2002-03. Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, the Irish have been involved in 34 overtime games and are 5-2-27 in those contests. The last time Notre Dame won an overtime game during the regular season was on Jan. 25, 2002, a 4-3 overtime win for the Irish at Miami. The Irish had two postseason games decided in overtime during the 2001-02 season (a 3-2 double overtime loss to Nebraska-Omaha and a 2-1 win versus the Mavericks).
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).
SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS: Notre Dame’s power play came to life at Michigan State, scoring three times on seven chances in the two games. Mike Walsh (in Friday’s game) and Neil Komadoski and Aaron Gill in Saturday’s 3-3 tie all had the man-advantage goals for the Irish. On the year, the Irish power play ranks sixth in the CCHA, converting on seven of 41 chances for a 17.1% success rate. On the penalty-killing side, the Irish had killed 20 consecutive opponent power plays until Jim Slater’s third-period power-play goal. On the year, the Irish have only been scored on three times in 34 chances for a 91.2% success rate.
STINGY DEFENSE: Notre Dame’s defense continues to be the best in the CCHA. Through nine games this season, the Irish have given up just 18 goals and have a CCHA-leading 1.98 goals-against average. The 18 goals the Irish have surrendered through nine games is the fewest any Notre Dame team has given up in that period during the program’s history.
SHUTOUT STRING: It didn’t take freshman goaltender David Brown long to get his name in the Notre Dame record book. After just seven appearances and five starts, Brown set the school record with 193:27 minutes of shutout hockey. He passed the previous record holder, current junior Morgan Cey (147:19), in his 2-0 shutout of Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 31. That shutout also sets a Notre Dame record for consecutive shutouts and shutouts in one season with three. The career record for shutouts at Notre Dame is four and is held by Cey and Mark Kronholm.
CCHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK, PART 2: For the second time in the first four weeks of the season, Notre Dame freshman goaltender David Brown was selected as the CCHA rookie of the week. Brown turned in his third consecutive shutout on Fri., Oct. 31, making 22 saves in a 2-0 win over Nebraska-Omaha. He also played the final 1:53 of the Thursday night game when Morgan Cey was injured in a goal-mouth collision. The shutout extended his consecutive minutes of scoreless hockey to 186:15, a Notre Dame record.
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.
PUTTING THE “P” IN POWER: Sophomore left wing Mike Walsh is quickly becoming one of the top power forwards in the CCHA. On top of that, he also has a knack for scoring in the clutch. 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. He scored a goal in each of the games of the Michigan State series and now has points in five of his last six games (4g, 2a). Two of his four goals this season are game winners and, his lone goal as a freshman won the game, making 60% of his career goals, game-winning goals.
HE’S BACK: Irish goaltender Morgan Cey returned to the lineup on Oct. 30 after missing the first five games of the season while recovering from summer knee surgery. In his first start, he recorded a 4-2 win over the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks making 29 saves. The 6-3, 175-pound junior dressed for the Boston College game (Oct. 24) but did not play. 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 31-29-9 with a 2.79 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage with four shutouts. He is sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time wins list with 31. His 2.79 goals-against average and .911 save percentage are tops in the program’s history and his four shutouts tie him for first at Notre Dame.
ON THE SIDELINES: Defenseman Derek Smith (Jr., Marysville, Mich.) will miss the game with the U.S. Under-18 team as he is sidelined with post-concussion syndrome. He suffered a concussion on Jan. 4, 2003 at Nebraska-Omaha and has been sidelined since.
FAST STARTING GLOBKE: Senior right wing Rob Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich.) is off to a fast start this season with five goals and four assists for nine points in his first nine games. 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. After not getting a point in the second game of that series, Globke had a goal and two assists versus Bowling Green (Oct. 17-18). He now has 54 career goals (29th player in Notre Dame history to record 50 or more goals in his career). Globke’s hat trick in the CCHA opener marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that a Notre Dame player recorded a hat trick in the first league game of the year. On Oct. 19, 1995, Brian Urick scored four goals in Notre Dame’s 7-4 win at Alaska Fairbanks. That game was also the first victory (and second game for Dave Poulin as coach of the Fighting Irish).
MORE GLOBKE GOODIES: Rob Globke had the best season of his Notre Dame career in 2002-03, leading the Irish with 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points. He now has 54 goals and 39 assists for 93 career points. He needs just seven more points to become the 40th player in school history to reach the 100-point plateau in his career at Notre Dame. Globke’s 21 goals as a junior made him the first Irish player to score more than 20 goals in a season since Aniket Dhadphale had 25 during the 1997-98 season. The talented right winger opened the season with his first career hat trick in a 5-3 win at Minnesota-Duluth and then added two goals the following game in a 4-2 win versus Western Michigan. The five goals in two games was a first for a Notre Dame player since Tim Harberts had five in two games to open the 1994-95 season.
CORY’S THE STORY: Junior right wing Cory McLean (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) had the second two-goal game of his career in the Oct. 30 win over Nebraska-Omaha. On the season, he has scored in six of Notre Dame’s nine games and is third in scoring with four goals and four assists for eight points. His season-opening four-game point scoring streak (2-3-5) was snapped at Boston College. He had a breakout year with the Irish in 2002-03 as he recorded 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. Four of his goals came on the power play. As a freshman, McLean had just one goal and four assists for five points.
LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE: Senior defenseman Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) leads all Notre Dame defensemen in scoring with five assists. The speedy blueliner had three assists in the weekend series versus Nebraska-Omaha with eight shots on goal and was +3 for the weekend. In his career, Lebda now has 20 goals and 46 assists for 66 career points in 122 career games.
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 with Michigan State, seniors Rob Globke and Brett Lebda have each played in 67 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 122 of 126 career games.
POWER PRODUCER: Senior defenseman Neil Komadoski snapped an 0-for-13 Notre Dame power-play scoring drought in the Oct. 31 win over Nebraska-Omaha. He followed with his second power-play goal of the year in the 3-3 tie at Michigan State. His last three goals for the Irish (including the 2002-03 season) have come via the power play. In 2002-03, he led Notre Dame defensemen in scoring with one goal and 23 assists for 24 points. He now has seven goals in his career with three coming on the power play.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s eight- man freshman class has acquitted itself quite well through nine games this season. Goaltender David Brown has appeared in seven of nine games this year with three shutouts and a CCHA-leading 1.48 goals- against average and a .952 save percentage. The remaining seven members have combined for four goals and eight assists for 12 points. Left wing Mike Bartlett (Morton Grove, Ill.) leads the way with two goals and an assist for three points, including the game winner versus Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 31. Linemate T.J. Jindra (Faribault, Minn.) got his first career-point versus Nebraska-Omaha. Defenseman Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.) has a goal and two assists for three points and leads the Irish with a +3. Matt Williams-Kovacs (Calgary, Alb.) and Jason Paige (Saginaw, Mich.) have two assists each and Paige ranks second among Irish players, winning 54.9% of his faceoffs. Josh Sciba (Westland, Mich.) has a goal in the eight games he’s played and has won 65.7% of his faceoffs to lead the team. Defenseman Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) has played a steady defense, appearing in eight of the team’s nine games.
NICE GUYS: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30 game with Nebraska-Omaha featured just one penalty. The Irish were not penalized at all while UNO picked up one minor for two minutes. Notre Dame was 0-for-1 on its only power-play chance. That has been the story of Notre Dame’s season as the Irish have just 46 penalties for 92 minutes in nine games this season. Notre Dame is second in the CCHA with the fewest penalty minutes (10.22) and ranks third in the nation for the fewest penalty minutes.
FIRING THE BISCUIT: Notre Dame peppered Bowling Green goaltender Jordan Sigalet with 59 shots in the Oct. 17, 5-3 loss to the Falcons. The 59 shots were the most by an Irish team since Feb. 22, 2003 when they fired 56 shots at Lake Superior’s Terry Denike. Sigalet’s 56 saves are the most since Denike made 50 in a 6-3 Notre Dame win. The Irish have been outshot in four of their five games this season.
THE CAPTAINS: Senior center Aaron Gill will serve as the team captain for the Irish in 2003-04. Gill was an alternate captain last season. As a junior, he finished fourth on the Irish 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. Coach Dave Poulin announced his two alternate captains prior to the Western Ontario game (10/3). 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.
SEN-CEY-SATIONAL: Junior goaltender Morgan Cey is in his third season as Notre Dame’s go-to-guy in goal. Coming into the 2003-04 season, Cey appeared in 71 of the team’s 79 games from 2001-2003. As a sophomore, Cey was 15-15-6 with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. He is already tied for sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time win list with 30 career wins. His .911 career save percentage and last season’s mark of .912 are school records. Cey is currently tied for first with four career shutouts. In the eight career postseason games, the Wilkie, Sask., native is 4-4 with a 1.66 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage. During the first round of the 2002-03 CCHA playoffs, Cey recorded back-to-back shutouts versus Miami (a first at Notre Dame) and set a then school record with 147:19 of shutout hockey.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN: Notre Dame’s roster features three senior defensemen who excel at both ends of the ice. Neil Komadoski, Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Tom Galvin (Miller Place, N.Y.) combined for 11 goals and 46 assists during the 2002-03 campaign. Komadoski led all Irish defensemen in scoring with a career-best 24 points (one, goal, 23 assists). Lebda tied for seventh in team scoring with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points. He also led the team with 139 shots on goal (also led the team in 2001-02 with 150). Galvin added three goals and nine assists for 12 points after leading Irish defensemen the previous season with four goals and 19 assists.
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.
FOR OPENERS: The Irish opened the 2003-04 season with a 5-2 win at Ohio State. That gives Notre Dame an all-time record of 19-16-1 in season-opening games in the 36-year history of the program. In home openers, Friday’s 5-3 loss to the Falcons gives Notre Dame a 20-16-0 mark in first games at the Joyce Center. Last season, the Irish opened the home schedule with a 4-2 win versus Western Michigan. Head coach Dave Poulin is 5-4-0 in home openers and 4-4-1 in season openers.
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 of the 2002 draft by the New York Rangers.
OH CANADA: Freshman defenseman Wes O’Neill was a member of Canada’s Under-18 Select team that played in this 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.
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. (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.), 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.
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 Vince Bellissimo 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 period. His first stop in 2002-03 came on Nov. 22 at Michigan. In that game, a 4-2 loss to the Wolverines, 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.
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. New assistant coach Layne LeBel also spent the past two seasons with the Gamblers.
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.
U.S. JUNIOR NATIONALS: Sophomore right wing Tim Wallace was one of 43 players invited to USA Hockey’s Junior Evaluation Camp held in Lake Placid, N.Y., in August. From those 43 players, USA Hockey will select its 2004 U.S. Junior National Team that will play in the World Junior Championships in Finland. Notre Dame has sent eight players to the World Juniors since 1996-97.
NOTRE DAME PLAYERS ON JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM: (since ’96-’97): Ben Simon – 1996-97, 1997-98 Joe Dusbabek – 1997-98 Dan Carlson – 1998-99 Brett Henning – 1999-2000 Connor Dunlop – 1999-00, 2000-01 David Inman – 1999-2000 Rob Globke – 2000-01, 2001-02 Brett Lebda – 2001-02
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.