Senior alternate captain Ryan Guentzel.

Irish Travel To Bowling Green For A Pair Of CCHA Games Versus The Falcons

Nov. 3, 2010

Notre Dame, Ind. –

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– Date/Site/Time: Fri.-Sat., Nov. 5-6, 2010 – 7:05 p.m. – BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) – Bowling Green, Ohio

– The Teams:#11/#11 Notre Dame (5-1-1/3-0-1-1) vs. Bowling Green (3-5-0/0-4-0-0)

– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish will call the action with the pregame show beginning 20 minutes before the opening face off.

– Internet Broadcast: Audio: Both games of the Notre Dame-Bowling Green series will have live audio streaming at the Notre Dame website – und.com. Video: Both games of the series will have live video streaming at the Bowling Green website – bgsufalcons.com at a charge of $7.00 per game. Statistics: Livestats are available on the Bowling Green website – bgsufalcons.com.

ROAD WARRIORS: Notre Dame takes to the road this weekend for games two and three of five consecutive road games, traveling to Bowling Green, Ohio for a series with the Bowling Green Falcons on Nov. 5 and 6. Game time both nights at the BGSU Ice Arena is 7:05 p.m. The five-game road trip for the Irish is the longest this season. Notre Dame brings a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) into the series and is 5-1-1 overall to go with a 3-0-1-1 CCHA record, good for 11 points in the league standings and a first-place tie with the Miami RedHawks. Bowling Green is 3-5-0 overall and is still looking for its first CCHA win with an 0-4-0-0 record and is in 11th place in conference play. Notre Dame is coming off a home-and-home series versus Western Michigan that saw the Irish defeat the Broncos, 3-2, on Fri., Oct. 29 before battling to a 2-2 overtime tie on Oct. 30th in Kalamazoo, Mich. Notre Dame picked up the extra point in the standings, winning the shootout, 1-0. The Falcons spent their weekend in Alaska, dropping a pair of 4-1 decisions to the Nanooks. The Irish continue their road schedule next week, Nov. 12-13, with a pair of games at Yost Arena against the Michigan Wolverines.

IRISH VERSUS FALCONS: Notre Dame and Bowling Green have met 91 times in the all-time series with the Irish holding a 48-35-8 advantage to date. At the BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcons are 23-20-3 in the 46 games played there. The two teams met four times last season with each team winning once and tying once at home. The Falcons picked up the two extra CCHA points as they won both shootouts. Notre Dame’s lone win in the series was a 4-3 overtime victory as three of the four games needed extra time to decide a winner. At the Joyce Center, the Irish were 1-0-1 and at BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcons were 1-0-1. Bowling Green’s 4-3 win on Feb. 19, 2010, snapped a Notre Dame 18-game unbeaten streak (16-0-2) that started in the 2005-06 season. The two teams will meet again on Feb. 11-12, 2011 at Notre Dame.

CCHA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman left wing Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was named the CCHA rookie of the month for October. Lee scored six goals and added two assists for eight points in his first seven collegiate games. He is tied for seventh in the CCHA in points and third in goals while leading all freshmen in the conference with the eight points. Lee currently has a two-game goal streak after getting goals in each of the Irish games versus Western Michigan last weekend.THE

RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the week ranked 11th in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com poll.

IRISH UNBEATEN STREAK: Notre Dame enters the series with Bowling Green on a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) that started on Oct. 14 against Lake Superior State. The five-game unbeaten streak is the longest for the Irish since the team won five straight from Feb. 28 to March 21, 2009. That five-game winning streak was part of a 10-game Notre Dame winning streak that was the third longest in the school’s history.

WESTERN MICHIGAN RECAP: Friday, Oct. 29th – Notre Dame’s freshman class accounted for seven of the team’s eight points (3g, 4a) and rookie goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) stopped 19-of-21 Western Michigan shots in a 3-2 win at the Joyce Center. in Freshman center David Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) scored twice and freshman left wing Anders Lee got the game winner at 14:45 of the third period on the power play to give Notre Dame the win. Kevin Lind (Fr., Homer Glen, Ill.), Jeff Costello (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis.), Stephen Johns (Fr., Wampum, Pa.) and T.J. Tynan (Fr. Orland Park, Ill.) added assists for Notre Dame. Senior Ryan Guntzel (Woodbury, Minn.) had the lone non-freshman assist in the game for the Irish. Western Michigan freshmen Chase Balisy and Shane Bershbach had the goals for the Broncos. After a scoreless first period, Gerths got his first of two goals at 11:49 of the second period when he fired a wrist shot from the right circle past Bronco goaltender Nick Pisellini to make it 1-0. Western Michigan answered back just over a minute later at 12:52 when Balisy slid a backhander past Summerhays to even the score at 1-1. It stayed that way until the 6:26 mark of the third period when Gerths drove the goal and jammed a shot past Pisellini for his third of the year and a 2-1 lead. The Broncos came right back with Berschbach scoring a power-play goal at 8:48. That set up Lee for his game winner at 14:45 when he scored from in front on the power play assisted by Guentzel and Tynan. The goal was Lee’s team-best fifth of the year. In the game, Notre Dame out shot Western Michigan, 24-21. Pisellini finished with 21 saves. The win was the first of Summerhays’ career.

Saturday, Oct 30th – Freshmen Anders Lee and Jeff Costello scored solo goals and sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) stopped 29-of-31 shots as Notre Dame and Western Michigan battled to a 2-2 tie at Lawson Arena. Chase Balisy scored twice for the Broncos. The Irish took the extra point in the shootout, when Ben Ryan (Sr., Brighton, Mich.) beat Western Michigan goaltender Nick Pisellini with a backhander for the lone goal in a 1-0 Notre Dame shootout win. Johnson stopped all three shots he faced while Pisellini made a stop on Calle Ridderwall (Sr., Stockholm, Sweden). In regulation, Lee gave the Irish a 1-0 lead just 1:14 into the game only to see Balisy get his two goals. Costello got the game-tying goal at 16:37 of the second period. Pisellini finished with 19 saves in the game as Western Michigan out shot the Irish, 31-21. Notre Dame was 0-for-3 on the power play while the Broncos were 1-for-5.

ANOTHER MILESTONE: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30, 3-2 win over Western Michigan was the 200th CCHA win for Irish coach Jeff Jackson. Now in his 12th season at the Division I level, Jackson is 200-80-45 in his career in CCHA play in six seasons at Lake Superior State (1990-96) and six seasons at Notre Dame. Earlier this month, Jackson won his 300th career game as a Division I coach. His all-time record stands at 303-118-48 for a .697 winning percentage.

TOUGH ROAD AHEAD: Saturday’s game at Western Michigan was the start of five straight road games for the Irish and a stretch of nine of the next 11 games away from the Joyce Center for the Irish. Between Oct. 30 and Dec. 4, Notre Dame will have played at Western Michigan (Oct. 30) and will be at Bowling Green (Nov. 5-6); at Michigan (Nov. 12-13); at North Dakota (Nov. 26-27) and at Miami (Dec. 3-4). The lone home series for the Irish comes on Nov. 19-20 when Notre Dame plays host Michigan State at the Joyce Center.

SHOOTOUT FACTS AND FIGURES: Notre Dame’s shootout win over Western Michigan on Oct. 30 was the first for Notre Dame in CCHA play since Nov. 19, 2009 against Michigan State. The Irish had lost four consecutive CCHA shootouts. Last season, Notre Dame was 2-5 in the shootout in CCHA games and 3-5 overall. The extra win was a shootout win in the championship game of the Shillelagh Tournament. In the three seasons that the CCHA has had the shootout, the Irish are 6-5 all-time (3-0 in `08-’09; 2-5 in `09-’10 and 1-0 in `10-’11).

2010-11 Results

10/30/10 – Win, 1-0, vs. WMU (three rounds)

2010-11 Shootout Statistics Player Goals Shots Pct. Ben Ryan 1 1 1.000 Calle Ridderwall 0 1 .000

Goaltender Goals Saves Pct. Mike Johnson 0 3 1.000

All-Time Totals For Active Players Player Goals Shots Pct. Ben Ryan 3 8 .375 Billy Maday 4 8 .500 Calle Ridderwall 3 9 .333 Totals 10 25 .400

All-Time Goaltending Goaltender Goals Saves Pct. Mike Johnson 6 14 .700

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshmen class has played a key role in the 5-1-1 start for the Irish. In the series versus Western Michigan, 11 of the 12 rookies saw action (only third goaltender Joe Rogers did not play) and accounted for all five Notre Dame goals in the win and tie. In the first seven games, the Irish freshmen have accounted for 15 of the team’s 25 goals (60.0%), 18 of the 46 assists (39.1%) and 33 of team’s 71 points this season (46.5%).

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson and freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays split the goaltending duties last weekend in the Western Michigan series. Summerhays recorded his first collegiate win on Friday night (Oct. 29), making 29 saves in a 3-2 win over the Broncos. He is 1-1-0 with a 3.54 goals-against average and a .844 save percentage. His first start came on Oct. 10 versus Boston University in a 5-4 loss to the Terriers. Summerhays joined the Irish after playing the last two seasons with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. In `09-’10, Summerhays was a first team all-USHL selection and the USHL goaltender of the year after going 31-2-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Johnson ran his personal best unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) in the Oct. 30, 2-2 tie with the Broncos, making 29 saves in the game. For the year, Johnson is 4-0-1 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. As a freshman, Johnson took CCHA all-rookie team honors, playing in 29 games in `09-’10, going 10-13-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Joining Summerhays and Johnson in the Notre Dame goaltending corps is freshman Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.) who has yet to play this season. Rogers joins the Notre Dame roster after playing last season in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) with the Albert Lea Thunder. Rogers was 13-19-2 with a 3.97 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.

BEST OFâ⒬ˆTHEâ⒬ˆBEST: Over the past four seasons, the Notre Dame hockey program ranks among the top five programs in the country. Since the start of the 2006-07 season, the Irish have won 108 games and have a .679 winning percentage. The Irish are third in that time period in wins, trailing Michigan (118) and Miamiâ⒬ˆ(114). Notre Dame’s .679 winning percentage is also third behind Miami (.698) and Michigan (.688). Here are the top five teams by wins and winning percentage since 2006-07.

       WINS           WINNINGââ'¬Ë†.PCTMichigan (118)            Miami (.698)Miami (114)               Michigan (.688)Notre Dame (108)          Notre Dame (.679)Boston College (105)      Boston College (.664)North Dakota (105)        North Dakota (.636)

FAST START: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel leads the Irish in scoring after seven games with nine points. All nine points have come on assists, giving him a career high in that category. A year ago, Guentzel had just six points in 36 games, with all six coming on assists. The Irish alternate captain last scored on March 13, 2009 in a CCHA playoff game against Nebraska-Omaha. He has now gone 46 games without scoring a goal. His career-best season came in 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 40 games.

SHOOTING THE PUCK: After averaging 35 shots per game over the first five games of the season, the Irish were held to a combined 45 shots in the series against Western Michigan last weekend (24 on Friday and 21 on Saturday). Previous to that, the fewest shots Notre Dame had in a game was 34, something that happened three times. After seven games this season, the Irish are now averaging 31.4 shots per game. The 21 shots that Notre Dame surrendered to the Broncos on Oct. 29 also was a season low with the previous being 24 to Boston University. For the season, the Irish are holding the opposition to 28.0 shots per game.

PLAYING SHORT-HANDED: Through the first seven games of the 2010-11 season, Notre Dame has been very successful killing penalties. The Irish have killed 34-of-39 opponent power-play chances for a 89.7% success rate. While giving up just four power-play goals in seven games, Notre Dame already has scored three short-handed markers on the season. In 2009-10, the Irish had just four short-handed goals in 38 games. To date, Joe Lavin (Holy Cross), Bryan Rust (Boston University) and Billy Maday (Lake Superior State) have scored short-handed for the Irish.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME: In each of Notre Dame’s last two wins over No. 1 ranked teams, Calle Ridderwall has played a part. On Oct. 23, Ridderwall scored two goals, including the game winner in a 2-1 win over No. 1 Boston College. On April 10, 2008, Ridderwall scored twice, including the overtime game winner in the 5-4 overtime win for the Irish against No. 1 Michigan. That victory came in the 2008 NCAA semifinals in Denver, Colo.

THEâ⒬ˆSPECIALIST: Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall is second on the team in goals with four through the first seven games this season. He has led Notre Dame in goals in each of the last two seasons, getting 17 in 2008-09 and 19 last season in 2009-10. Over the last two-plus seasons, Ridderwall has scored 40 goals with 24 of them coming via the power play. Last season, his 11 power-play goals led the CCHA. Ridderwall had 11 power-play goals in `08-’09 to match last season’s total and has two this year. His 24 power-play goals tie him for ninth on Notre Dame’s all-time list with Brian Walsh `77. For his career, Ridderwall has 45 goals and 25 assists for 70 career points in 124 games.

LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall is one of 20 Division I hockey players to be selected as a candidate for the 2010-11 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. The award is presented annually to an NCAA Division I student-athlete in 10 sports based on achievement’s in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School and the award focuses and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. This is the fifth year that Lowe’s has sponsored an award for hockey. In 2006-07, former Irish goaltender David Brown `07 won the Senior CLASS Award while in 2007-08, Mark Van Guilder `08 and in 2008-09, Jordan Pearce `09 and Erik Condra `09 were among the top 10 finalists. Team captain Ryan Thang `10 was the team’s nominee last season.

FRESHMAN FIRSTS: Notre Dame’s 12-man freshman class has wasted little time in making their mark on the team’s success in 2010-11. Here are their firsts so far this season.

#1 Steven Summerhays - G   First Game - vs. Boston University (10/10)   First Win - vs. Western Michigan (10/30)
#3 Shayne Taker - D First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Assist - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Goal - vs. Boston University (10/10)
#9 Anders Lee - LW First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Assist - vs. Boston University (10/10) First Goal - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Hat Trick - vs. Holy Cross (10/8)
#10 David Gerths - C First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14) First Goal - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14)
#11 Jeff Costello - D First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14) First Assist - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14) First Goal - vs. Western Michigan (10/30)
#16 Mike Voran - RW First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14) First Goal - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14) First Goal - vs. Lake Superior State (10/14)
#18 T.J. Tynan - C First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Assist - vs. Boston University (10/10) First Goal - vs. Holy Cross (10/8)
#21 Bryan Rust - RW First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Boston University (10/10) First Assist - vs. Lake Superior State (10/15) First Goal (SHG) - vs. Boston University (10/10)
#25 Kevin Lind - D First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Assist - vs. Holy Cross (10/8)
#28 Stephen Johns - D First Game - vs. Holy Cross (10/8) First Point - vs. Western Michigan (10/29) First Assist - vs. Western Michigan (10/29)
#29 Jared Beers - D First Game - vs. Boston University (10/10)

FULLâ⒬ˆHOUSE: With sellout crowds in each of the first four games, Notre Dame has now recorded 11 consecutive sellouts since Nov. 28, 2009. The Irish have had sell outs in 18 of the team’s last 22 home games and last year averaged 2,765 fans per game. Since Dec. 13, 2008, the Irish have recorded sellouts in 27 of their last 31 home games. A sellout at the Joyce Center is 2,713 with 2,857 capacity with standing room. Twice during the `09-’10 season – Jan. 15 vs. Michigan State and Jan. 29 against Nebraska-Omaha – 3,007 fans jammed into the Joyce Center. Prior to that number, the largest crowd to see an Irish hockey game was 3,310 on March of 1995 when Notre Dame play Illinois-Chicago. The following season, new seating was installed and capacity was reconfigured.

FAST START: Notre Dame freshman left wing Anders Lee knows how to get his career off to a fast start. The 6-3, 218-pounder scored a goal on his first shot in the 6-3 win over Holy Cross (Oct. 8), just 1:58 into the first period. He went on to record two more goals for a hat trick in his first-ever collegiate game. Lee then added an assist in the 5-4 loss to Boston University in the championship game of the Warrior Ice Breaker Tournament. For his efforts, Anders Lee was named the CCHA rookie of the week for the week ending Oct. 10. He joins John Noble `73 as the only other freshman to score three goals in his first game as Noble did the trick on Nov. 15, 1969 in an 8-3 win over Windsor. He joins recent Irish players – Billy Maday, Christiaan Minella `10 and Tim Wallace `06 – as freshmen who scored on their first shot on goal. Lee added a goal and an assist in the Oct. 15 win over Lake Superior State and through the first five games of the season, is tied for the Notre Dame team lead in goals with four and is second in points with six.

CAPTAINS: Four members of the Irish senior class will serve as captains for the 2010-11 season. Defenseman Joe Lavin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) will wear the “C” for Jeff Jackson’s squad this year. His three assistant captains will be Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden), Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) and Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.). For all four players, this is their first time as captains at Notreâ⒬ˆDame.

FRESH START: Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) had a freshman season that he would love to forget. The product of the USA Under-18 Team, Calabrese played in just three games, registering no points. Last Dec. 4, on the first shift of his third game, he suffered a broken leg at Miami that sidelined him for most of the season. This year, in five games, he has two assists and leads the team with a +6 rating.

EXTRA HOCKEY: During the `09-’10 season, the Irish were involved in nine overtime contests, finishing 1-0-8 in those games. The eight ties equaled a Notre Dame record set during the 1999-2000 season. All eight ties in `09-’10 went to a shootout where the Irish were 3-5 in those games. The lone overtime win came on Nov. 27, 2009 versus Bowling Green (2-1) and was the first for the Irish since Feb. 20, 2009 at Nebraska-Omaha, a 4-3 win. Through the first seven games of the 2010-11 season, the Irish have played one overtime game – on Oct. 30 at Western Michigan. That game ended in a 2-2 tie and the Irish won the overtime shootout, 1-0. Notre Dame is now 3-0-12 in overtime since its last overtime loss, a 2-1 decision to Miami on March 21, 2008, in the CCHA semifinal game.