Dec. 4, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) has selected Notre Dame freshman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) as the conference rookie of the week for his play in Notre Dame’s sweep of Alaska on Dec. 2-3.
Lawson, currently tied for first among Irish defensemen in scoring, scored one goal and added an assist while being +5 on the weekend in 3-1 and 6-2 wins over 14th-ranked Alaska at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center.
In the series opener on Saturday, Dec. 2, Lawson was held off the scoreboard but had one shot on goal and was +2 as the Irish limited the Nanooks to just 22 shots in the 3-1 victory.
On Sunday, Dec. 3, Lawson recorded his first collegiate goal and added an assist for the first multiple point game of his career in the 6-2 win against Alaska. He first helped set up a Ryan Thang’s (Edina, Minn.) game-winning goal at 4:27 of the second period to make it a 3-1 game. At 8:15 of the middle stanza, Lawson picked up his first goal when his long shot from the right point found its way over Nanook goaltender Wylie Rogers right shoulder and under the cross bar to give Notre Dame a 4-1 lead. In the game, Lawson had five shots on goal and was +3 for the evening.
In 16 games this season, Lawson has one goal and seven assists for eight points. That ties him with senior Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) for the scoring lead among defenseman and ties him for seventh in overall scoring. His +14 +/- ratio is the best on the team and ties him for first in the CCHA.
Notre Dame is currently 12-3-1 overall and 7-2-1 in the CCHA, good for 15 points and third place in the conference, one point behind second-place Michigan and three behind first-place Miami. The Irish have played one less game than the Wolverines and two less than the RedHawks. This weekend, Notre Dame closes out the first half of the season with a home-and-home series against seventh-ranked Michigan. The two teams will meet on Friday, Dec. 8 at Yost Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. in a 7:35 p.m. game that will be televised on Fox Sports Net Detroit. On Sunday, Dec. 10, the two teams will face off at the Joyce Center in a 3:05 p.m. game that will be televised by ESPNU.
The Irish then break for finals and the Christmas holidays before returning to action on Dec. 30-31 against Northern Michigan.