Junior center Josh Sciba has been named the CCHA offensive player of the week ending Feb. 19.  Sciba had three goals and an assist in an Irish win and tie at Bowling Green.

Josh Sciba Named CCHA Offensive Player Of The Week

Feb. 20, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. – For the second week in a row, the Notre Dame hockey team has had one of its’ players selected as one of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s (CCHA) players of the week. Junior center Josh Sciba (Westland, Mich.) was named the conference’s offensive player of the week for his play in the two games at Bowling Green on Feb. 17-18. Sciba scored three goals and added an assist as the Irish took a 7-4 win on Friday night and a 1-1 tie on Saturday. He is the second Notre Dame player to be chosen as the offensive player of the week this season.

Sciba follows goaltender David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) who was the league’s goaltender of the week for the week ending Feb. 12. Notre Dame has now had six players honored with one of the league’s weekly awards this season. Sciba and Brown join Tim Wallace (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska), Erik Condra (Fr., Livonia, Mich.), Jordan Pearce (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) and Noah Babin (Jr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) to receive one of the league’s weekly awards. Wallace was named offensive player of the week, while Babin took defensive honors. Condra and Pearce was each named rookie of the week.

Sciba recorded his third game of the season with three points (two goals, one assist) and eighth multiple-point game of the year in Friday’s 7-4 win over the Falcons. His two goals give him a pair of multiple-goal games and he leads the team with 17 markers. He is in the midst of a three-game scoring streak with four goals and two assists for six points.

Sciba got involved in the Irish offense early in the game, assisting on Mark Van Guilder’s (So., Roseville, Minn.) first-period power-play goal at 3:38 for a 2-0 Notre Dame lead.

With the score tied at 3-3 in the second period, the power-play specialist snapped the tie at 9:05 with his 15th goal of the season and 10th on the power play to give the Irish a 4-3 lead. They would add two more goals in a 3:17 span to give Notre Dame a 6-4 lead heading into the second intermission. Sciba then restored the three-goal lead with his second goal of the night at 13:36 of the third period for the final of 7-4.

In Saturday’s 1-1 overtime tie with the Falcons, Sciba scored the lone Irish goal on the night. With Notre Dame trailing in the third period, junior defenseman Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.) led a rush into the Bowling Green zone where he passed to Matt Amado (Sr., Surrey, B.C.). Amado’s shot was stopped by Falcon goaltender Jimmy Spratt, but Sciba was there to fire home the rebound to even the score. He had seven shots on goal in the game to lead the Irish and had nine on the weekend.

On the season, the speedy Sciba is second in team scoring with 17 goals and 13 assists for 30 points and a team-best +6 mark, all career highs for the sociology and computer applications major. His 10 power-play goals lead the team, as well as, the CCHA. The last time a Notre Dame player had 10 power-play goals in a season was the 1999-2000 campaign when Ben Simon `00 scored 10. His power-play total ties him for the 10th best single-season mark with the Irish along with Simon and Dave Poulin `82, who did it twice in his career.

Sciba and his teammates close out the regular-season schedule this weekend when they play host to Alaska Fairbanks at the Joyce Center on Feb. 24-25. Both teams are tied for the final home-ice spot in the CCHA playoffs. Friday’s game starts at 7:35 p.m. with Saturday’s Senior Night set for 7:05 p.m.