Dec. 21, 2000

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish break for the Christmas holidays from Dec. 22 through Dec. 27 before returning to action at the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29-30 at Troy, N.Y…the Irish will be joined in the tournament by the host team, R.P.I. Engineers, along with the St. Lawrence University Saints and the Northeastern Huskies…the Irish open play on Dec. 29 with a 4:30 p.m. game versus St. Lawrence…the Saints come into the tournament with a 3-7-3 overall record and are 2-1-2 in the ECAC…R.P.I. (8-3-1 overall) faces Northeastern (6-6-3) in the nightcap beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Houston Field House…the third place and championship games will be held on Dec. 30 at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. respectively…the Irish snapped their nine-game winless streak (0-7-2) at Nebraska-Omaha with a 7-3 win on Wednesday, Dec. 20…Notre Dame is now 4-12-3 overall and 2-8-2 in CCHA play…Notre Dame’s next CCHA action comes on Jan.5-6, 2001 when ND faces Ferris State at the Joyce Center in a pair of 7:05 p.m. games….all 2000-01 Irish hockey games, with the exception of ND’s games at Alaska-Fairbanks (2/23 and 2/24) will be broadcast on WLHY radio (1620 AM) with the play-by-play also available via the internet at www.und.com…

IRISH AT THE RENSSELAER TOURNAMENT:
The Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday tournament is the oldest college hockey tournament in the country as this year’s tourney is the 50th annual…Notre Dame makes its second appearance in the R.P.I. Tournament, hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. …the Irish finished fourth in 1988-89, losing 6-0 to R.P.I. in the opener and 7-5 to Air Force in the 3rd Place game….

NOTRE DAME VERSUS ST. LAWRENCE:
Notre Dame opens with St. Lawrence University in the opening game of the tournament at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 29…the Saints are 3-7-3 overall and 2-1-2 in ECAC play…SLU last played on Dec. 8-9 when the Saints dropped two games at Michigan (5-1 and 6-2)…Notre Dame is 2-0-0 versus the Saints all-time but hasn’t faced-off against SLU since 1972 when the Irish defeated the Saints, 8-5 on Dec. 19, 1972 in the ECAC Holiday Tournament at Madison Square Garden…the previous year, Notre Dame defeated St. Lawrence, 4-2 to win the ECAC Holiday Tournament in New York…

NOTRE DAME VERSUS NORTHEASTERN:
Notre Dame and Northeastern have already met twice this season with the two teams splitting a pair at the Joyce Center on Oct. 20-21….ND won the first meeting, 6-4 and then fell 5-3 to the Huskies…the Irish lead the all-time series, 3-2-0…Notre Dame has played Northeastern in tournament action before, losing 4-2 to the Huskies at the 1997 Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis while winning 4-1 at the 1970 Boston Arena Christmas Tournament…Northeastern goes into the tournament with a 6-6-3 overall record and a 2-4-3 mark in HOCKEY EAST…

NOTRE DAME VERSUS RENSSELAER:
R.P.I. comes into the tournament with an 8-3-1 overall record and is ranked 11th in the nation in both the USA Today Poll and U.S. College Hockey Online…the Engineers are 3-2-1 in ECAC play and are 5-0-1 in their last six games…ND and R.P.I have met just once, Dec. 29, 1988 at the R.P.I. Tournament where the Engineers won 6-0….

THE IRISH TOURNAMENT RECORD:
In 16 in-season tournaments in their history, the Irish have finished first (4 times), second (4 times), third (once) and fourth (seven times)…the last time Notre Dame won an in-season tournament was in 1981 when the Irish, led by current head coach Dave Poulin, won the Great Lakes Invitational by beating Michigan and Michigan Tech….last year, the Irish competed in the Norwest Denver Cup Tournament…the Irish tied Denver, 3-3, but lost the shootout…ND then finished fourth by losing to Colorado College, 5-2 in the third place game….

HEAD COACH DAVE POULIN:
Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin owns a 75-111-25 mark (.415) in his sixth season at Notre Dame…Poulin-coached teams have never faced St. Lawrence or R.P.I….versus Northeastern, Poulin owns a 2-2-0 record…

SCOUTING THE TOURNAMENT TEAMS:
Hockey information on the three participants in the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Tournament can be found at the following sites: Rensselaer (www.rpi.edu/dept/athletics), St. Lawrence (www.stlawu.edu) and Northeastern (www.GoNU.com)…additional information on Notre Dame, and the CCHA is also available on the CCHA website at ccha.com…

A LOOK BACK AT THE NEBRASKA-OMAHA SERIES:
The Irish played two of their best games of the season at Omaha, Neb. on Dec. 19-20…on Tuesday night, junior goaltender Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills, Ill.) sparkled in the nets as he made a career high 35 saves in the 1-0 loss to the Mavericks…the lone goal came on a second period deflection by the Mavericks’ James Chalmers…the Irish were outshot 36-23 in the game and went 0-for-6 on the power play…the loss was ND’s fifth in a row and extended their winless streak to nine games (0-7-2)…Wednesday night was a different story for the Fighting Irish as they took an early lead and defeated the Mavericks, 7-3, in their highest scoring output of the season…senior left wing Dan Carlson (Edina, Minn.) paced the Notre Dame attack with his first career hat trick and an assist for four points on the night…freshman defenseman Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) had his best game of the season as he scored a shorthanded goal and added four assists for the first five-point night by a Notre Dame player since Oct. of 1994…ND also got goals from John Wroblewski (So., Neenah, Wisc.), Jay Kopischke (Sr., Alexandria, Minn.) and Matt Van Arkel (Sr., Richton Park, Ill.)…for Kopischke and Van Arkel, it was their first goals of the season…Kimento again played another strong game in goal making 25 saves to improve his record to 3-5-1 on the season…ND outshot UNO, 38-28 in the game…the Irish special teams played a key role in the win as they connected twice on the power play and twice shorthanded while killing eight Maverick power plays in the game and 12 in a row for the series…

USA…USA…USA:
Notre Dame played the two games versus Nebraska-Omaha without the services of sophomore center Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and freshman right wing Rob Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich) who are members of the 2001 U.S. Junior National hockey team competing in the World Junior Championships in Moscow, Russia from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5, 2001…the Irish duo will miss six games in all including the R.P.I. Tournament and the Ferris State series…Dunlop is making his second appearance on the team after getting a goal and assist in seven games last year to help the U.S. to a fourth place finish in Sweden…this marks the fifth consecutive year that Notre Dame has had a representative on the U.S. team…in all, the Irish have had eight players play in the World Junior Championships: Jack Brownschidle (1976-77, 78-79), Ben Simon (1996-97, 97-98), Joe Dusbabek (1997-98), Dan Carlson (1998-99), Brett Henning (1999-2000), David Inman (1999-2000), Dunlop and Globke…

INJURY REPORT:
Defenseman Tom Galvin (Fr., Miller Place, N.Y.) suffered severed tendons in his left arm at practice on November 2nd…he underwent surgery to repair the tendons and is out indefinitely. He has missed the last 11 games…

Left wing Brett Henning (Jr., Huntington, N.Y.) suffered a cervical spine sprain against Lake Superior State (12/2) and is out of the lineup indefinitely…he has missed the last four games…the Irish have lost 41 man-games to injuries or illness this season…

PENALTY KILLING PROWESS:
The Fighting Irish killed of 12 of 12 Nebraska-Omaha power play chances on Dec. 19-20 and have now killed 55 of 60 (91.7% penalty killing efficiency) since Oct. 27…the Irish had put together 24 consecutive penalties killed before Lake Superior State scored on Dec. 2…the Irish went the entire month of November (five games) without giving up a power play goal…following the Michigan State game on October 27, ND had given up 15 power play goals on 48 chances (68.8% penalty killing efficiency)…heading into the R.P.I. Tournament, the Irish have given up 20 power play goals in 108 chances for an 81.5% penalty killing efficiency…

DR. KIMENTO:
Junior goaltender Jeremiah Kimento played two strong games for the Irish in their series split with Nebraska-Omaha…in the Dec. 19 game, Kimento made a career high 35 saves in a tough, 1-0 loss to the Mavericks…his previous best was 32 saves in a 4-3 loss to Princeton, exactly one year before, on Dec. 19, 1999…in Wednesday’s win, Kimento stopped 25 of 28 shots for his third win of the season equalling his entire total from the previous year…on the year, Kimento has appeared in 13 games, making eight starts with a 3.06 goals against and a .894 save percentage…he has now made three consecutive starts for the Irish (1-2-0, 8 goals against , 2.68 goals against average, 81 saves, .910 sv%)…

CARLSON TO THE RESCUE:
Senior left wing Dan Carlson jolted the Irish offense to life in the 7-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha with his first career hat trick and first career four-point (3g, 1a) games…Carlson also picked up the game winner and a shorthanded goal in the game…his hat trick was the first by a Notre Dame player since November 13, 1998 when Aniket Dhadphale scored three at Bowling Green…the four-point night was his fourth multiple point game of the season…the shorthanded goal was the fifth of his career and moves him into eighth on the all-time shorthanded list…

LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE:
Defenseman Brett Lebda had a career night in just the 19th game of his Notre Dame career as he collected a goal and four assists in the 7-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha…the four assists were the most by a Notre Dame player in a game since Oct. 21, 1994 when Jamie Ling had five assists versus Waterloo…the five-point game was alos the most by an Irish player since Ling racked up seven points (2g, 5a) versus Waterloo…Lebda’s goal came shorthanded when he scored into an empty net from 175 feet away…

GILL THE THRILL:
Freshman center Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) posted another two-game series for the Irish centering a line with Dan Carlson on his left and Ryan Dolder on his right…Gill has now scored in three of his last four games (2-2-4) and has started to play a key role on the power play and killing penalties…the 6-0, 170-pound center is also one of ND’s top face-off men …on the year, he is tied for third in scoring with five goals and six assists for 11 points in 19 games….

ROUGH STRETCH:
The 7-3 Irish win at Nebraska-Omaha (12/20) snapped a pair of bad streaks for Notre Dame…the Irish had lost five in a row for the first time since the 1998-99 season…the Irish also snapped a nine-game winless streak (0-7-2) which was the longest the Irish had gone without a win under Coach Dave Poulin…the last time ND had gone that long without a win was the 1993-94 season when the Irish went 10 straight (0-7-3) without a win…

KOLY THE GOALIE:
Senior goaltender Kyle Kolquist made his first two starts of the season at Lake Superior and just the second and third of his career…Kolquist made 25 saves in a 2-1 loss on December 1 and then made a career high 33 stops in just 40 minutes of the 4-1 loss on December 2…Kolquist has played in three games for the Irish this season after seeing action in just two games (69:09) in his previous three seasons…on November 25, the Duluth, Minn. native took over in relief versus Northern Michigan and made 27 saves to help the Irish salvage a 3-3 tie…before last weekend’s starts at Lake Superior, Kolquist’s only other start came on December 20, 1999 at home verus Princeton (21 saves, 4-2 loss)…in three games this season, the veteran goaltender is 0-2-1 with a 2.86 goals against average and a .924 save percentage…

SHOT MARKS:
The 48 shots on goal surrendered by the Irish to Lake Superior State were the most given up by Notre Dame since January 2, 1999 when North Dakota took 44 versus the Irish…the 20 shots taken by Lake Superior in the first period were a season high this season passing the 17 that were given up to Northeastern (10/21) and Northen Michigan (11/25)…

IRON MEN:
Senior right wing Ryan Dolder (Hutchinson, Minn.) has now played in 83 consecutive games and was one of just two Notre Dame players to play in all 42 games last season…the other was senior left wing Dan Carlson (Edina, Minn.) who has now played in 138 of 141 games in his three-plus years at Notre Dame (missing two while at the ’98-’99 World Juniors)…Carlson needs to appear in 15 more games to break John Schmidt’s ND record for career games played (152, ’78-’82).

RISING PROSPECTS:
Two members of Notre Dame’s freshman class, Rob Globke (Fr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Neil Komadoski (Fr., Chesterfield, Mo.) are ranked among the top U.S. College players by the NHL’s Central Scouting…the November report ranks Globke fourth overall while Komadoski is 18th…Komadoski is eligible for the 2001 draft while Globke would have to opt-in to be selected in 2001…13 of the top 40 players ranked are from the CCHA including three of the top four…

FIVE GOAL OUTBURST:
Notre Dame’s five-goal, second period outburst versus Northeastern (10/20) marked the first time that the Irish have scored five goals in a period since November 2, 1996…that night at Bowling Green, ND scored five, third period goals to pull out a 7-5 win versus the Falcons…a year ago, Notre Dame only scored six or more goals in a game once, a 7-4 win over Nebraska-Omaha on February 12th…

SEVEN GOAL OUTBURST:
The seven goals scored by Notre Dame in the 7-3 Irish win over UNO (12/20) was the most goals scored by ND this season…in fact, ND had scored just five goals in its previous five games…the last time the Irish scored seven or more goals in a game came on Feb. 12, 2000 in a 7-4 win at home versus Nebraska-Omaha…

ONE TIMERS:
With ND’s 1-0 loss to Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 19, the Irish have been held to one goal or less in eight games this season (0-7-1)…Notre Dame has scored just one goal in four of its last five games, five of its last eight and six of its last nine games…prior to the 7-3 win, Notre Dame had scored just 13 goals in its last nine games (1.44 per game)…in the last 10 games, the Irish have scored 20 goals (2.00 per game)…

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Freshman Rob Globke was selected as the CCHA’s Rookie of the Week for the week ending October 22nd…the 6-2, 200-pound right wing had two goals and an assist in the three games versus Wayne State and Northeastern…he was the first Irish player to receive this honor since Tony Zasowski was named rookie of the week for the week ending January 24, 2000…

FRESHMEN LEADERS:
Freshmen Rob Globke, Aaron Gill and Brett Lebda rank among the top ten rookie scorers in the CCHA…All three are tied for seventh among rookie scorers with 11 points: Globke (7-4-11), Gill (5-6-11) and Lebda (2-9-11)…Lebda ranks second among freshmen defenseman in scoring, trailing only Western Michigan’s Mike Jarmuth (0-12-12)… they all trail Western Michigan’s Jeff Campbell who has 13-10-23 in 17 games this season…

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT:
Through the first 19 games of the season, the Irish newcomers (seven freshman, one transfer) have shown their abilities by contributing to the ND attack with 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 of the team’s 114 points…that amounts to 30.4% of the goals, 38.2% of the assists and 35.1% of the team’s points…Rob Globke leads the way (7g, 4a), followed by Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) with (5g, 6a), Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) with (2g, 9a), Jon Maruk (Eden Prairie, Minn.) with (0g, 5a), Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.) with (0g, 1a) and Tom Galvin with (0g, 1a)…

THE TOP OF THE LIST:
Senior right wing Ryan Dolder has picked up where he left off last season as he is Notre Dame’s second leading scorer through the first 19 games of the season with six goals and eight assists for 14 points…last season, Dolder closed out his junior year by scoring a goal in each of the Ferris State playoff games to help the Irish to a trip to the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena…he has six multiple point games this season…versus Northeastern (10/20) he personally wiped out a 2-0 first period deficit as he scored a pair of goals just 19 seconds apart early in the second period…the Hutchinson, Minn. native had a goal and an assist in the 5-2 Irish win over Miami (11/3) and added another goal and assist game versus Northern Michigan (11/25)…Dolder added a two-assist game at Nebraska-Omaha (12/20)…

STANDING ROOM ONLY:
The standing room only crowd of 2,749 at the Notre Dame-Boston College game on November 10 was the largest crowd to watch a Notre Dame home hockey game since March 3, 1995 when a sellout crowd of 3,310 saw the Irish defeat Illinois-Chicago, 5-2…the capacity of the Joyce Center was reduced to 2,667 the following season (1995-96) when new seating was installed…this year, seating has increased to 2,713 due to relocation of the band…since capacity became 2,667 for the 1995-96 season, Notre Dame has played in front of 35 sellout crowds at the Joyce Center….

MAKING THE MOST OF A CHANCE:
Sophomore defenseman Paul Harris (Ridgefield, Conn.) worked his way into the Irish lineup after battling injuries as a freshman and only playing in nine games …this season, Harris moved into the lineup at the Maverick Stampede after fellow soph Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.) came down with the flu prior to the Boston College game…Harris has picked up two assists in 13 games this season and owns a team-best +6…

BACK AT IT…
After not playing in either game at Lake Superior State (Dec. 1-2) sophomore goaltender Tony Zasowski started versus Miami (Dec. 8) and played just 23:26 of the game with three goals against in seven shots before being lifted…on the season, Zasowski has started nine games, but has been pulled four times…for the season, Zasowski is 1-6-1 with a 3.90 goals against and a .871 save percentage…

DID YOU KNOW:
According to the CCHA, the average height and weight for a player in the league is six-foot tall and 188-pounds…Notre Dame’s average team height is 72.04 inches – just over six-feet tall – which ranks the Irish fifth in the league in that department…ND is the biggest team in the league weight-wise as the Irish tip the scales at an average of 195.96-pounds per player…

Closing The Deal:
Notre Dame has built an impressive record in games that the Irish lead after two periods of play….ND is unbeaten in its last 45 games when holding a lead at the second intermission (39-0-6, including 11-0-3 in 1999-2000) … the Irish are 4-0-1 in 2000-01 when leading after two periods…the last time ND lost after holding a second-intermission lead was Jan. 9, 1998, in the second of three games at Alaska-Fairbanks … UAF’s Sean Fraser tied the game (2-2) with a power-play goal in the third minute of the final period before Chris Kirwan converted a breakaway with 0:45 left in overtime … the Irish also are 24-3-4 since the 1998-99 season when leading at the first intermission (10-1-1 in 1999-2000 and 2-1-1 in 2000-2001).

OVERTIME NUMBERS:
Notre Dame is unbeaten in overtime in its last 14 overtime games going 3-0-11 since the beginning of the 1999-2000 season…the Irish are 1-0-3 this season and were 2-0-8 a year ago…the last time ND lost in overtime was March 5, 1999 at Miami…Notre Dame is also unbeaten in its last 14 home overtime games (3-0-11)…the last time the Irish lost in extra time at home was November 17, 1996 when the Irish fell to Mankato State, 4-3….

NOT SO SWEET HOME:
Notre Dame has struggled at home as the Irish have compiled a 2-7-1 record on the Joyce Center ice and are 0-7-1 in their last eight home games…the last home win came on Oct. 20 versus Northeastern (64)…Notre Dame was 23-10-6 (.667) from 1998-2000 at the Joyce Center and improved that to 25-10-6 (.683) before the current eight-game winless skid…since the building opened, ND is 275-226-34 (.544) in 535 home games…

Bloodlines:
Four current members of the Notre Dame hockey program?junior F Brett Henning, junior LW Jon Maruk, sophomore C Connor Dunlop and freshman D Neil Komadoski?hold a unique connection, as each of their fathers enjoyed a lengthy career in the National Hockey League (see p. 39 of the 2000-01 Notre Dame mdia guide for photos from their playing days).

• Lorne Henning played nine seasons with the New York Islanders (’72-’81) and has spent the past 15 years as an assistant and head coach in the NHL. An original member of the Islanders, Henning compiled 73G-111A as a forward over his 543-game career and played a major role in a four-year Stanley Cup dynasty (’80-’83). Henning served as an assistant with the Islanders from ’80-84 and ’87-’94, as head coach for the Minnesota North Stars (’85-’87) and the Islanders (’94-’95), and as a Chicago Blackhawks assistant from ’95-’98 before returning in ’98-’99 to the Islanders, as associate coach.
• Dennis Maruk played 14 NHL seasons?with the California Seals (’75-’76), Cleveland Barons (’76-’78), Minnesota North Stars (’78-’79, ?83-’88) and the Washington Capitols (’78-’83)?and finished as the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer in 1982 (60G-76A) while compiling 878 career points (356G-522A) in 888 games.
• Blake Dunlop played 11 seasons in pro hockey (’73-’84), including NHL stints with the Minnesota North Stars (’73-’77), Philadelphia Flyers (?77-’79), St. Louis Blues (?79-’84) and Detroit Red Wings (’83-’84), while totaling 130G-274A in 550 career NHL games.
• Rounding out the quartet is Neil Komadoski, Sr., who played eight NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings (’72-’78) and the St. Louis Blues (’77-’80), totaling 16G-76A and 632 penalty minutes in 501 career games.

TOP FIVE:
While Dan Carlson ranks 33rd on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list for the history of the program, he is currently just one of five Irish players to reach 100 points since ND returned to the CCHA in 1992…the five are:

RISING TO THE TOP:
Senior LW Dan Carlson is one of the top returning scorers in the CCHA, as his 35 points in 1999-2000 (17G-18A) rank sixth among current CCHA players, behind Western Michigan’s David Gove (18G-28A), Michigan State’s Adam Hall (26G-13A), Miami’s Pat Leahy (16G-22A), MSU’s Rustyn Dolyny (18G-19A) and Ferris State’s Kevin Swider (15G-21A).

CENTURY MARK:
Senior defenseman Ryan Clark (Littleton, Colo.) played in his 100th career game versus Miami (Dec. 9) and has now played in 102 games in his career…he joins five other Irish players with 100 career games played…senior center Chad Chipchase (Clinton, Ont.) played in his 100th career game versus the Northeastern Huskies (10/21) and has now played in 113 during his career…right wing Matt Van Arkel played in his 100th career game versus Minnesota and has now played in 118 overall…the remainder of that group includes Dan Carlson (138), Ryan Dolder (122) and Jay Kopischke (119).

USHL VETERANS:
Notre Dame’s 2000-01 roster?and particularly the freshman class?has plenty of experience with the United States Hockey League, as each of the five scholarship freshman?and junior newcomer Jon Maruk (Twin City Vulcans)?played in the USHL last season … all told, 17 different ND players have skated in the USHL, as members of that league’s traditional programs or the USA Hockey Under-18 Team … that group includes senior D Ryan Clark and sophomore LW Jake Wiegand (Lincoln Stars), senior LW Jay Kopischke (North Iowa Huskies), senior RW Ryan Dolder and Maruk (Twin City Vulcans), sophomore RW Michael Chin and freshman F Kyle Dolder (Twin City Vulcans) and sophomore G Tony Zasowski (Omaha Lancers) … Chin also played one year with the USA program, as did nine other current Irish players (see note below).

PATRIOTIC GROUP:
Notre Dame’s current roster includes 10 players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP) and/or the National Junior Team … Notre Dame’s current total of eight NTDP alums is the most at any Division I school … that group includes junior F Brett Henning and four members of the sophomore class?RWs Michael Chin and John Wroblewski, C Connor Dunlop and D Paul Harris?plus a trio of freshmen: RW Rob Globke and D Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda … senior LW Dan Carlson played with Team USA at the 1998-99 World Junior Championship while Henning, Dunlop and junior C David Inman played with the USA at the 1999-2000 World Juniors … four Irish players?Dunlop, Globke, Komadoski and Wroblewski?remain among the top candidates for the USA’s 2000-01 National Junior Team while a pair of 2000 Irish graduates?center Ben Simon and RW Joe Dusbabek?played for the USA at the World Juniors in ’96-’97 (Simon) and ’97-’98 (Simon and Dusbabek).

A SPECIAL PLAYER:
Dan Carlson has played a key role on both special-teams units during his Notre Dame career and could become the fifth player to rank among Notre Dame career top 10 for both power-play goals and shorthanded goals … Carlson needs six PPGs to crack that ND career top-10 list (nine shy of fifth) while his five career shorthanded goals tie him for rank 8th in ND history, two back of the record shared by three players.

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL:
During the past three seasons, the Notre Dame hockey program has sent several players on to the professional ranks, with 10 of those recent players competing in 2000-01 … D Mark Eaton?who in the summer of 1998 opted to forego his final three years of college eligibility at Notre Dame and signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Flyers?had a solid 1998-99 season with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League and played 27 games with the Flyers in 1999-2000 before being traded to the Nashville Predators prior to the start of the season … former

Irish center and ’96 graduate Jamie Ling is currentlywith the Dayton Bombers where he serves as a player assistant coach … RW Brian Urick (’99) had a solid preseason camp with the Edmonton Oilers and has been assigned to the AHL’s Hamilton (Ont.) Bulldogs … LW Aniket Dhadphale (’99) started the season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins before being sent to Trenton (ECHL) while another ’99 graduate, D Benoit Cotnoir, was in the tryout camp of the International Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves before returning to the Mobile (Ala.) Mystics of the East Coast Hockey League (he also played in Mobile last season) … five 2000 graduates likewise are active in pro hockey … C Ben Simon was in the camp of the Atlanta Thrashers and played in several preseason games before being assigned to the IHL’s Orlando (Fla.) Solar Bears … RW Joe Dusbabek attended the San Jose Sharks preseason camp and has joined the ECHL’s Roanoke Express … D Sean Molina tried out with the Chicago Wolves and has signed on with the ECHL’s Trenton (N.J.) Titans … D Nathan Borega currently is a member of the ECHL’s Louisiana Ice Gators while D Sean Seyferth is in the ECHL with the Dayton Bombers.

MAKING HIS MARK:
Former Notre Dame hockey standout, Brian Urick (?99) was named the American Hockey League’s Player of the Week for the week ending October 22, 2000…Urick helped lead the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Edmonton Oilers top farm club, to three wins during the week scoring four goals with two assists for six points…he was named First Star twice, following a 6-5 win (2 G’s 2 A’s) versus Quebec and after Hamilton’s 4-3 win over Philadelphia (1 goal)…

Academic All-Americans:
Notre Dame is the nation’s only Division I hockey program to produce a GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American during each of the past four seasons (as part of the fall-winter at-large program), with C Steve Noble earning second-team honors in 1996-97 and first-team honors in ’97-’98, followed by G Forrest Karr in ’98-’99 (second team) and LW Andy Jurkowski in 1999-2000 (third team).

CLUSTER PARTNERS, PART II:
The rotating CCHA cluster schedule has yielded four games for the Irish in 2000-01 versus Ohio State, Miami and Western Michigan?with two vs. the other eight squads in the 28-game schedule … the following CCHA teams will not visit the Joyce Center in 2000-01: Alaska Fairbanks, Lake Superior, Michigan and Nebraska Omaha … the Irish will not make regular-season trips in 2000-01 to Bowing Green, Ferris State, Northern Michigan and Michigan State … ND’s 1999-2000 cluster partners were UAF, MSU and UNO, with the 2001-02 partners to include Bowling Green, Ferris State and Michigan.

Double (OT) Dip:
Current Irish senior Dan Carlson turned in a rare feat during a three-week stretch of the 1999-2000 season, as the speedy left wing scored in overtime to beat both Western Michigan (4-3) and Ohio State (2-1) … that marked just the second time?and the first in 28 years? that an ND player has scored two overtime goals in the same season, as then-junior winger Paul Regan scored overtime goals in 1971-72 versus Michigan Tech (6-5) and Cornell (5-4).

FEELING A DRAFT:
Notre Dame has five players on its current roster that have been selected in the National Hockey League draft since 1997…the five include – seniors Jay Kopischke (8th round, L.A. Kings) and Ryan Clark (9th round, N.Y. Islanders), both taken in the 1997 draft… juniors David Inman (2nd round, New York Rangers) and Brett Henning (9th round, New York Islanders) were both selected in the 1999 draft and sophomore Evan Nielsen (8th round, Atlanta Thrashers) was chosen in the 2000 draft…just two other teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association?Michigan (7) and Michigan State (6)?have more draft picks on their 2000-2001 rosters than Notre Dame.

Midwest Magic:
Notre Dame continues to reap the benefits of the rapidly-improving youth hockey programs in the lower Midwest (namely Illinois and Missouri), as one-third of the current roster includes players from Illinois (6) or Missouri (2) … four of those players also are products of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP): sophomore RW Michael Chin (Urbana, Ill.), sophomore C Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and first-year D Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.) … sophomore D Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.) was invited to join the NTDP but returned for his senior year at The Taft School … ND’s other Illinois natives include the team’s top two returning goaltenders?junior Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills) and Tony Zasowski (Darien)?plus senior RW Matt Van Arkel (Richton Park). … prior to 1995, the ND hockey program had produced just eight total letterwinners from Illinois and two from Missouri.