Nov. 26, 2014
Notre Dame, Indiana –
The 2014 Shillelagh Tournament
– Date/Site/Time: Fri., Nov. 28, 2014 – 4:05/7:35 p.m. – Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022) – Notre Dame, Ind.
Sat., Nov. 29, 2014 4:05/7:35 p.m. – Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022) – Notre Dame, Ind.
– The Teams: Notre Dame (6-6-2), rv/#17 Union College (6-5-1), Ohio State (4-7-1), Western Michigan (3-8-1)
- The Games: Friday - 4:05 p.m. - Ohio State vs. Western Michigan 7:35 p.m. - Notre Dame vs. rv/#17 Union College
Saturday - 4:05 p.m. - rv/#17 Union College vs. Western Michigan 7:35 p.m. - Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on New Country 99.9 FM in South Bend or at WatchND. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish, will call the action.
– Internet Broadcast: Audio: Both Notre Dame games can be heard at WatchND on the Notre Dame website. Video Streaming: Both Notre Dame games will have live video streaming at NBC Sports.com and are free of charge. The first games each day will be streamed at WatchND on the Irish website and are free of charge. Live Stats: Available at und.com with all games of the Shillelagh Tournament available on Game Tracker. Twitter: Follow Irish hockey on Twitter at @NDHockey.
SHILLELAGH TIME: The fifth installment of the Shillelagh Tournament and the second played at the Compton Family Ice Arena will take place this weekend – Nov. 28-29 – with the University of Notre Dame playing host to Ohio State University (Big Ten), Union College (ECAC) and Western Michigan (NCHC). The tournament began in 2009 with the first three (2009-11) played at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., prior to the building of the Compton Family Ice Arena. This year’s tournament will begin at 4:05 p.m. on Nov. 28 with Western Michigan facing off against former CCHA foe Ohio State. Then, at 7:35 p.m., Notre Dame will face the defending national champions from Union College in the second game of the day. The championship and third-place games will be held at 4:05 p.m. and 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29. Notre Dame will play in the 7:35 p.m. game no matter what happens on Friday night. The Dutchmen of Union College are 6-5-1 on the season and 1-4-1 in the ECAC. They are the lone team in the tournament that is ranked in this week’s national polls, as they are receiving votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and are 17th in the USCHO.com poll. The Ohio State Buckeyes are 4-7-1 on they year and 1-1-0 in Big Ten play. Their opponent, the Western Michigan Broncos, are 3-8-1 and have a 1-6-1 mark in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Notre Dame is 6-6-2 in its first 14 games and owns a 2-2-2 record in Hockey East play.
SHILLELAGH TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The 2014 Shillelagh Tournament is the fifth edition since 2009. The Irish won the first two tournaments at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, winning in 2009 with wins against Union College (3-1) and Minnesota-Duluth (3-1). In 2010, Notre Dame won for the second time, with a 5-2 win over Colgate before tying North Dakota in the championship game (3-3), winning the shootout to claim the tourney title. In 2011, the Irish finished third with Minnesota taking that tournament title with the Irish finishing third. After taking two years off, the tournament resumed last Thanksgiving weekend with Notre Dame falling in the championship game to Northeastern by a 3-2 score. Notre Dame has played in 42 in-season tournaments in the 47-year history of the program and owns a 32-47-5 record. The Irish have finished first (nine times), second (eight times), third (10 times) and fourth (15 times). The last time Notre Dame played in an in-season tournament was Oct. 10-12, 2014, when the Irish hosted the Ice Breaker Tournament and finished fourth.
SHILLELAGH TOURNAMENT HISTORY:2009 Tournament:
Minnesota-Duluth 2, UMass-Lowell 1Notre Dame 3, Union College 1
Third-PlaceUnion 2, UMass-Lowell 1
ChampionshipNotre Dame 3, Minnesota-Duluth 1
All-Tournament TeamG - Jordan Pearce, ND (MVP)D - Evan Oberg, UMDD - Kyle Lawson, NDF - Ben Ryan, NDF - Garrett Regan, NDF - Justin Fontaine, UMD
2010 Tournament:
North Dakota 3, Niagara 1Notre Dame 5, Colgate 2
Third-PlaceNiagara 5, Colgate 1
ChampionshipNotre Dame 3, North Dakota 3 (ot)Notre Dame wins shootout, 2-1 (five rounds)
All-Tournament TeamG - Mike Johnson, NDD - Jake Marto, North DakotaD - Brett Blatchford, NDF - Billy Maday, ND (MVP)F - Kevin Deeth, NDF - Brett Hextall, North Dakota
2011 Tournament:Brown 6, Boston University 1Minnesota State 4, Notre Dame 3
Third- PlaceNotre Dame 3, vs. Boston University 3 (ot)Notre Dame wins shootout, 1-0, (three rounds)
ChampionshipMinnesota State 7, Brown 3
All-Tournament TeamG - Phil Cook, Minnesota StateD - Matt Wahl, BrownD - Cameron Cooper, Minnesota StateF - Jack Maclellan, BrownF - Ryan Galiardi, Minnesota StateF - Michael Dorr, Minnesota State (MVP)
2013 Tournament:
Northeastern 1, Western Michigan 1 (ot)Northeastern wins shootout 1-0 (three rounds)Notre Dame 5, Alabama Huntsville 2
Third-PlaceWestern Michigan 1, Alabama Huntsville 0
ChampionshipNortheastern 3, Notre Dame 2
All-Tournament TeamG - Clay Witt, NortheasternD - Robbie Russo, Notre DameD - Stephen Johns, Notre DameF - Braden Pimm, NortheasternF - Bryan Rust, Notre DameF - T.J. Tynan, Notre Dame (MVP)
IRISH VERSUS DUTCHMEN: Notre Dame and Union College have met four times with the all-time series even at two games each. In games played at Notre Dame, the Dutchmen hold a 2-0 advantage. The last time the two schools met was on Jan. 2, 2009, in the 2009 Shillelagh Tournament with the Irish taking a 3-1 victory. During the 2001-02 season, the teams played a series at the Joyce Center with Union winning 2-1 and 7-3. The first meeting came on Oct. 16, 1999, in the third-place game at the Ice Breaker Tournament. Notre Dame won that game 4-0.
RANKINGS: Notre Dame is receiving votes in this week’s USCHO.com poll but is not ranked in the USA Today/U.S. Hockey Magazine rankings. Union College is receiving votes in the USA Today poll and is ranked 17th by USCHO.com.
A LOOK AHEAD: Following this weekend’s Shillelagh Tournament, the University of Notre Dame will travel to Amherst, Massachusetts, for a Hockey East series with the University of Massachusetts. The Irish will face the Minutemen in a pair of 7 p.m. games on December 5-6 at the Mullins Center. This will be Notre Dame’s first visit to Amherst since Dec. 30-31, 1994, when the Irish split a pair of games. Massachusetts leads the all-time series 4-3. Last season, the two teams split a pair of games at the Compton Family Ice Arena with Notre Dame taking a 5-3 win and the Minutemen a 3-2 victory in game two of the series.
UMASS LOWELL RECAP: Thursday, Nov. 20 – Notre Dame, Indiana – UMass Lowell junior goaltender Kevin Burke stopped 26-of-27 Notre Dame shots and got all the scoring he needed from Michael Colantone (shg), Michael Louria and Zack Kamrass on the way to a 3-1 win over the Irish. Sam Herr (Jr., Hinsdale, Ill.) scored the lone goal for Notre Dame. On the night, the River Hawks out shot the Irish by a 35-27 margin. Chad Katunar (So., Victoria, B.C.) finished the night with 32 saves. Both teams were shutout on the power play as UMass Lowell was zero-for-seven while the Irish failed to score on four chances.
Friday, Nov. 21 – Notre Dame, Indiana – For the second consecutive night, University of Notre Dame goaltender Chad Katunar made 32 saves with none bigger than his final save of the night when he stopped UMass Lowell’s Joe Gambardella on a breakaway with five seconds left in overtime to give the Irish a 2-2 tie with the River Hawks. Notre Dame built a 2-0 lead on goals by Mario Lucia (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) and Sam Herr, only to see UMass Lowell battle back to tie the game at 2-2 on goals by John Edwardh and Gambardella. The Irish looked like they took the lead at 13:52 of the third period, scoring on a power-play goal by Austin Wuthrich (Anchorage, Alaska), but after a referee’s video review, an Irish player was ruled in the crease and visually impairing the goaltender from defending the goal (rules 83.6 and 73.1) and the goal overturned. The River Hawks out shot Notre Dame by a 34-23 margin with Katunar, who started back-to-back games for the first time in his career, making 32 saves to equal his career high set on Thursday night. Kevin Boyle had 21 saves for UMass Lowell. The Irish were zero-for-two with the man advantage while the River Hawks were zero-for-three on the power play.
THE BIG KAT: Sophomore goaltender Chad Katunar made the first back-to-back starts in a series in his career against UMass Lowell, giving up five goals on 69 shots in a 3-1 loss and a 2-2 overtime tie. Katunar stopped a career-high 32 shots in each game of the series. The 3-1 loss to the River Hawks on Nov. 20, snapped a personal three-game winning streak for Katunar. He is now 3-2-0 on the season with a 2.54 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.
HERR TRIGGER: Junior left wing Sam Herr picked up goals in back-to-back games with UMass Lowell to move into a tie with Robbie Russo for second on the squad with five goals for the year. Herr brings a two-game goal and point streak into the Shillelagh Tournament this weekend. He is fifth on the team in scoring with five goals and three assists for eight points on the season.
SPECIAL TEAM STRUGGLES: Through the first 14 games of the season, Notre Dame has scored just four power-play goals and the Irish scored three of them in one game. For the year, Notre Dame is four-for-55 on the power play for a 7.3% success rate. Since scoring a power-play goal at Minnesota on Nov. 9 (one-for-six in game), Notre Dame has not scored in its last 15 chances over the last four-plus games. In the series versus UMass Lowell, Notre Dame was zero-for-six on the power play and surrendered a short-handed goal in Thursday’s contest.
THE BROTHERS DiPAULI: Notre Dame’s game with Union College will feature a pair of brothers facing off against each other. For the Irish, junior left wing Thomas DiPauli (Caldaro, Italy) will face his brother, Theo, a junior forward for the Dutchmen. Thomas is currently third on the Notre Dame score sheet with three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 14 games for Notre Dame. The 11 points is one off his career-best total of 12 points (5g, 7a) set in his freshman season (2012-13) when he played in 41 games. Theo has seen action in one game for the Dutchmen this season.
STANDING TALL: Prior to the start of the Merrimack series (Nov. 14), freshman goaltender Cal Petersen made five consecutive starts for Notre Dame, dating back to Oct. 25 when he shutout Niagara 7-0. In the five consecutive starts, Petersen was 2-2-1 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. For the season, Petersen is 3-4-1 with a 2.70 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage with one shutout. Chad Katunar broke Petersen’s streak of five straight starts when he started on Nov. 14 versus Merrimack.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Senior defenseman Robbie Russo (Westmont, Ill.) took over the Notre Dame team lead in scoring with a goal and an assist in the weekend series at Merrimack. Russo now has five goals and seven assists for 14 points on the season. He leads all Hockey East defensemen in goals with five and in scoring with the 12 points. He is third nationally among defensemen in points, just one behind Harvard’s Patrick McNally (4g, 9a) and Union College’s Jeff Taylor (3g, 10a) and his five goals are tied for the national lead among blue liners with Denver’s Joey LaLeggia. Russo also is +7 on the year and has 16 blocked shots for the Irish. He leads the squad with 49 shots on goal.
2014 WORLD JUNIOR A CHALLENGE: Two future Notre Dame players that have signed national letters of intent have been selected to play on the U.S. Junior Select Team in the World Junior A Challenge, Dec. 14-20, in Kindersley, Saskatchewan. Forward Andrew Oglevie (Fullerton, Calif.), a member of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, will be joined by defenseman Bobby Nardella (Rosemont, Ill.) of the Tri-City Storm. Oglevie was a member of the 2013 World Junior A Challenge team that won the gold medal. Oglevie, who signed his letter of intent during the 2012-13 season, is currently third on his Cedar Rapids team in scoring with four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 15 games. That puts him in a tie for 11th in the USHL scoring race. Nardella is fifth in scoring for Tri-City with two goals and seven assists for nine points in 15 games. He is tied for the team lead among Storm defensemen in scoring and is tied for seventh among USHL defensemen in scoring.
BACK ON TRACK: Junior left wing Mario Lucia snapped a personal five-game goal-less streak on Nov. 21 when he scored his team-best ninth goal of the season in the 2-2 overtime tie with UMass Lowell. Lucia now has nine goals and two assists for 11 points on the year. His nine goals leads Hockey East and ties him for fourth in the nation.
JACKSON ON THE RADIO: Catch Notre Dame hockey head coach Jeff Jackson during the season on Weekday Sportsbeat with Jeff Jackson beginning in January. Along with play-by-play announcer Darin Pritchett, Coach Jackson will talk Irish hockey live from CJ’s Pub in South Bend on WSBT Radio 96.1 FM and 960 AM on January 12 and 26, February 9 and 23 and March 2 or 9 and March 23.
EXTRA HOCKEY: Notre Dame is now 1-0-2 this season in overtime and has played the extra period in three of its last seven games. The Irish picked up their overtime win on Nov. 14 with a 3-2 victory at Merrimack. The overtime win was the first for Notre Dame since March 1, 2014 when the Irish took a 2-1 overtime win at Boston College’s Conte Forum. The last time the Irish lost an overtime game came on March 29, 2014, when Notre Dame lost a 4-3 overtime decision to St. Cloud State in the NCAA West Regionals in St. Paul, Minnesota. The first overtime game came on Nov. 1 with a 2-2 tie versus Vermont.
PENALTY SHOTS: Freshman center Connor Hurley (Edina, Minn.) was awarded a penalty shot with 6:37 left in the third period on Nov. 15 versus Merrimack. After making a great move to deke goaltender Rasmus Tirronen, Hurley had the whole net to shoot at, but the puck rolled off his stick and wide of the goal. The penalty shot was the first for a Notre Dame player since Dec. 6, 2013, when Jeff Costello was awarded one versus Massachusetts and scored in a 5-3 win. The last time a Notre Dame player missed a penalty shot came on Jan. 26, 2013 when Anders Lee was stopped in a game versus Ferris State.
RYAN FOR THE OFFENSE: Junior defenseman Andy Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) scored the first goal of the game in the 3-2 overtime win against Merrimack on Nov. 14. His goal snapped a personal 33-game goal-less drought for the 6-0, 204-pound blue liner. His last goal came on Dec. 6, 2013 in a 5-3 win over Massachusetts.
IT’S IN THE WATER: This year’s Notre Dame roster features seven Minnesota natives, including four from the town of Edina. The four, junior Steven Fogarty, sophomore Ben Ostlie and freshmen Connor Hurley and Bo Brauer, were all teammates with the Hornets in recent seasons, winning Minnesota State titles in 2010 (Fogarty and Ostlie) and in 2013 (Hurley and Brauer). Those four are following a long list of former Hornets to attend Notre Dame, a list that includes former captains Anders Lee, Ryan Thang and Dan Carlson. The remaining three Minnesota natives are junior Mario Lucia and freshmen Tony Bretzman (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Jordan Gross (Maple Grove, Minn.).
PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Junior left wing Mario Lucia was named the Hockey East/Warrior player of the month for October. In seven games, Lucia had seven goals and two assists for nine points. He had 19 shots on goal with a 36.8% shooting percentage and was +5. Lucia scored his first career hat trick in October and added one game-winning goal. His season-best six-game point streak (7g, 2a, 9 points) and three-game goal streak (3g, 1a, 4 pts.) were snapped in the 5-0 shutout by Minnesota on Nov. 7. Lucia leads Notre Dame with eight goals and is third on the roster in scoring with 10 points (8g, 2a).
SECOND SHUTOUT: University of Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox’ 20-save, 5-0 shutout for Minnesota on Nov. 7 was the second this season versus Notre Dame. On Oct. 12, in the third-place game of the Ice Breaker Tournament at Notre Dame, Minnesota Duluth’s Matt McNeeley stopped all 23 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout win. The 5-0 shutout by the Gophers was the largest margin of victory in a shutout against the Irish since Dec. 8, 2004, when Notre Dame was shutout 8-0 at home by Michigan.
FIVE GOALS: The five goals given up by the Irish in Friday’s (Nov. 7) 5-0 loss to Minnesota are the most goals given up by Notre Dame this season. The previous high was three goals. The last time the Irish gave up five goals or more in a game was on Feb. 1, 2014, in a 5-2 loss at New Hampshire. The five-goal loss was the largest margin of defeat since Dec. 2, 2011, when Notre Dame dropped a 9-2 decision to Northeastern at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
THE SHOOTIST: Throughout his Notre Dame hockey career, senior defenseman Robbie Russo has been encouraged by his coaching staff to shoot the puck. As a senior, the message has sunk in, as the talented defenseman leads the Irish in shots on goal with 49 through the first 14 games. Sam Herr is second with 36. Russo had a career-high nine shots on goal in the 5-3 win over Lake Superior State on Oct. 17.
SCORING FIRST: Notre Dame is now 6-1-2 on the season when scoring the first goal of the game. The Irish are 6-1-1 when they lead after one period and 5-0-2 when they have the advantage after two periods. On the other side of the coin, Notre Dame is 0-5-0 when giving up the first goal of the game and 0-4-0 when trailing after one period. The Irish are 0-6-0 when trailing after two periods of play.