SERIES NOTES
FRIDAY NIGHT RECAP: Senior LW Aniket Dhadphale and sophomore LW Dan Carlson both scored twice as Notre Dame overcame the absence of several regulars to remain unbeaten at home, following a 6-2 victory over visiting Alaska Fairbanks … UAF scored in the first two minutes of the game before falling behind 5-1 … 10 Irish players recorded points … Irish freshman Brett Henning, the usual third-line center, did a solid job filling in for Ben Simon on both the first forward line and first power-play unit … Henning led the charge and recorded an assist on a second-period goal by Carlson before notching his third goal of the season early in the final period for a 6-1 Irish lead … sophomore LW Chad Chipchase had the other Irish goal.
MISSING IN ACTION: The Irish played last night without junior C Ben Simon (the CCHA’s second-leading scorer), junior D Tyson Fraser and sophomore D Ryan Clark … Simon was serving a one-game suspension handed down by the CCHA, for a stick incident earlier in the season, while Fraser missed his second game of the season due to injury … Clark missed his fifth straight game while recovering from Dec. 23 shoulder surgery.
IRISH GETTING THEIR SHOTS: Notre Dame has outshot UAF 163-84 during the last four games of the series (average of 41-21), including a 43-22 edge last night … the Irish own a 17-8 scoring edge over UAF during the last four games of the series, including a 3-2 overtime loss at UAF last season.
POWER SURGE: Notre Dame owns an impressive .348 power-play pct. (8-for-23) in its last four games versus UAF, including a 3-for-7 effort in last night’s 6-2 victory.
SERIES STREAK: Notre Dame is 4-1-0 vs. UAF in the last five games of the series (23-10 scoring edge) and has won five of the last seven meetings (30-16 scoring edge).
SERIES SCORING: Senior RW Brian Urick has nine goals and five assists in 10 career games vs. UAF, with other top Irish scorers in the series including: senior D Benoit Cotnoir (8 gms, 2G-11A), junior C Ben Simon (6, 1-7) and senior LW Aniket Dhadphale (8, 5-4).
AROUND THE CCHA: Notre Dame (13-6-2, 10-5-1 CCHA) pushed its winning streak to four games and moved within a point out of third place in the CCHA standings, after Ferris State (10-5-2) posted a 4-0 home win over second-place Michigan (12-3-1) … that win moved FSU into a tie for third with Ohio State (10-6-2), which was playing a non-conference game at Cornell … UAF (6-15-0, 5-14-0 CCHA) dropped into a tie for ninth place in the CCHA standings, thanks to a 5-1 home win by Miami (4-12-3) over last-place Lake Superior (3-10-2).
TEAM NOTES
HOME ICE ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame is 7-0-1 at home this season, with a 39-14 scoring edge … the Irish are 10-2-1 in their last 13 home games, with a commanding 58-24 scoring edge … that 13-game stretch has included seven wins by three goals or more (7-1 vs. Ferris State, 5-2 vs. Northern Michigan, 7-1 vs. Western Michigan, 3-0 vs. Ohio State, 6-2 vs. Bowling Green, 9-5 vs. WMU and 6-2 vs. UAF).
LETTING IT FLY: Since returning to CCHA action, Notre Dame has outshot the opposition 112-71 (average of 37-24) during the last three games.
SPECIAL TEAMS SURGE: The renewed Notre Dame power play converted on 3-of-7 man-up chances vs. UAF on Friday, giving the Irish five power-play scores in their last 13 opportunities (after an 0-for-17 slide) … the surging Irish penalty-killing unit has stopped 14 of 15 opponent power plays during the last three games.
MAN DOWN: Notre Dame’s top four defensemen have combined to miss 21 games this season due to injury (including tonight’s game): senior Benoit Cotnoir (2), juniors Nathan Borega (8) and Tyson Fraser (3) and sophomore Ryan Clark (8, out indefinitely after Dec. 23 shoulder surgery) … in its last 34 games overall, Notre Dame has played without at least one of the above players 29 times but managed to go 16-10-2 in those games (prior to tonight) … the Irish are 7-3-0 (prior to tonight) over the last 34 games when two of the top defensemen have been on the shelf (3-0 this season).
IRON MEN: Just four Irish skaters (plus senior G Forrest Karr) have appeared in all 21 games this season: senior RW Brian Urick, freshman C’s David Inman and Brett Henning and sophomore LW Chad Chipchase. (CONT. …)
PLAYER NOTES
NEARING THE CENTURY MARK: Senior LW Aniket Dhadphale’s pair of goals last night leave him three points shy of 100 for his career (55G-42A, 126 games) … after a sophomore slump (5G-16A), Dhadphale has totaled 56 points in 58 games over the past two seasons (37G-19A) … Dhadphale’s shooting pct. as a sophomore was .046 (5G, 109 shots), compared to .217 last season (25, 136) and .240 this season (12, 50) … his 21 career power-play goals are tied for 10th in Notre Dame history, just one out of 8th (only four Irish players ever have totaled more than 25 PPGs in their career).
TWO BELLS: Dhadphale notched just his second multiple-goal game of the season last night (he had his first career hat trick vs. Bowling Green on Nov. 13) … he has 10 career multiple-goal games, including six as a junior and two as a freshman.
PP EXPERT: Senior D Benoit Cotnoir has been a vital part of Notre Dame’s power play throughout his career … Cotnoir has set up power-play scores by 17 different Irish teammates over the past four seasons, including 10 by classmate Aniket Dhadphale … in 124 career games, Cotnoir owns 34 career power-play assists to go along with nine power-play goals … his 43 career power-play points account for 55% of his career point total (78) while 63% of his career assists have come on the PP (34 of 54) … in the last two seasons alone, Cotnoir has five PPGs and 21 PPAs for 26 power-play points (he has 18 non-PP points during the last two years).
FROM THE BLUE LINE: Cotnoir’s 78 career points (24G-54A) rank 11th in Notre history among defensmen, just one behind Matt Osiecki (21-58, 1990-94) and two behind Steve Curry (19-61, 1970-74) … Cotnoir needs to record 22 more points to become the sixth Irish defenseman ever to reach 100 career points.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?: Junior RW Joe Dusbabek is looking to rediscover his freshman-season scoring touch that produced a team-best 13 goals and helped him finish as runner-up for CCHA Rookie of the Year … since that high-scoring rookie season (13G-12A, 25 games), Dusbabek has totaled just three goals and 17 points over his last 39 games.
DISCIPLINED AGGRESSION: Junior D Nathan Borega epitomizes Notre Dame’s philosophy of playing hard-hitting hockey while limiting penalty minutes … the 6-2, 225-pound Borega has made a name for himself as one of the hardest hitters in the CCHA yet has totaled just five penalties in 13 games this season … for his career, Borega has totaled just 52 penalties in 82 games, including 21 in 41 games over the past two seasons … Notre Dame has ranked among the least-penalized teams in the CCHA for the past three seasons, averaging 8.69 penalties per game in 1996-97, 6.37 last season and 8.43 this season (compared to a league-worst 11.31 in the first season of the Dave Poulin era, 1995-96).
SHARPSHOOTER: Sophomore LW Chad Chipchase has scored seven goals on just 27 shots this season, for a team-best .259 shooting pct. (the rest of the team is shooting .113) … Chipchase owns a .214 career shooting pct. (12-for-56), after burying five of 29 shots as a freshman.
JURKO STEPS IN: Junior D Andy Jurkowski has been one of the more unsung heroes for Notre Dame this season … Jurkowski is one of just four Irish skaters who have appeared in all 21 games this season and has bolstered an Irish defense that has been forced to cope with the loss of 1998 CCHA Rookie of the Year Mark Eaton (a free agent signee by the Philadephia Flyers) and repeated injuries to the squad’s top four defensemen … Jurkowski, who also has played left wing during his Irish career, has totaled just three penalties in 21 games this season while helping put the Irish on pace for a team-record goals-against average (currently 2.65).
CALLING ALL KARRS: Senior G Forrest Karr remains on pace to set Irish records for career GAA (3.04), season GAA (2.56) and career save pct. (.885) while his current season save pct. of .901 ranks third in Notre Dame history … Karr has allowed just 25 even-strength goals in 21 games while playing all but 70 minutes for the Irish this season … he has 103 saves and just six goals allowed in the current four-game winning streak.
WHO’S HOT:
Junior C Ben Simon 4 points in last 3 games (1G-3A), points in 16 of 20 games played in '98-'99Senior LW Aniket Dhadphale 4 points in last 3 games (3G-1A)Freshman C David Inman 4 points in last 3 games (1G-3A)Senior RW Brian Urick 5 points in last 4 games (2G-3A)Senior D Benoit Cotnoir 6 points in last 4 games (2G-4A)Sophomore LW Dan Carlson 4 points in last 3 games (2G-2A)
WHO’S DUE:
Freshman D Sam Cornelius 0 points in last 11 games, one in last 16 (1A)Junior D Andy Jurkowski 0 points in 1998-99 (21 games)Junior LW Jay Kopischke 0 points since Oct. 24 (9 games played)Junior C Troy Bagne 0 points since Oct. 10 (15 games played), 0 goals in last 34 games Junior D Sean Molina 0 goals in 91 career gamesJunior RW Joe Dusbabek 1 point in last 7 games, 1 goal in last 13 games, 3 goals in last 39 games