Nov. 21, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
• The Tournament: The 57th Annual Rensselaer Holiday Tournament
• The Teams: #9/#9 Notre Dame (10-4-0); Alabama-Huntsville (1-6-1), nr/#16 Rensselaer (6-3-2) and American International College (2-5-1)
• Date/Site/Time:Fri.-Sat., Nov. 23-24 • 4:00/7:15 p.m. • Houston Field House (5,217)
• The Games: Friday - 4:00 p.m. - Notre Dame vs. Alabama-Huntsville 7:15 p.m. - Rensselaer vs. American International College Saturday - 4:00 p.m. - TBD vs. American International College 7:15 p.m. - TBD vs. Rensselaer
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1490, South Bend's SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, "the voice of Irish hockey" will bring you all the play-by-play action.
• Internet Broadcast: At the Notre Dame website - www.und.com.
THIRD TIMES A CHARM: Notre Dame will make its third visit to the Rensselaer Hockey Tournament with the Irish looking for their first-ever victory in college hockey’s longest running tourney. They made their first appearance in the tournament during the 1988-89 season and finished fourth with a 6-0 loss to Rensselaer and a 7-5 loss to Air Force. Notre Dame’s second trip to the tournament came in 2000-01 with the Irish dropping a 6-3 decision to St. Lawrence in the opening game and a 6-2 verdict to Rensselaer in the third-place game. The tournament starts on Friday, Nov. 23 with Notre Dame facing Alabama-Huntsville in the opening game at 4:00 p.m. Rensselaer will battle American International College in the nightcap with face off set for 7:15 p.m. The Irish, ranked ninth in both the USA Today and the USCHO.com polls, bring a 10-4-0 overall record into the tournament. Alabama-Huntsville, members of College Hockey America (CHA) are 1-6-1 to start the season. Rensselaer, a member of the ECAC, is ranked 16th in the USCHO.com poll and brings a 6-3-2 mark into the tournament. American International, located in Springfield, Mass., is a member of Atlantic Hockey and will face the Engineers with a 2-5-1 record.
NCAA REMATCH: Notre Dame’s meeting with Alabama-Huntsville is a rematch of the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament in Grand Rapids, Mich., last March. The Irish took that game by a 3-2 score with the game-winning goal coming at 15:18 of the second overtime. Josh Sciba `07 and Ryan Thang (So., Edina, Minn.) staked Notre Dame to a 2-0 lead with goals at 3:18 and 4:26 of the first period. The Chargers would score twice in the second period to tie the game at 2-2 on goals by Dominik Rozman and Cale Tanaka. The score would stay that way until Thang beat goaltender Marc Narduzzi from the top of the left circle to give Notre Dame the win. The Irish out shot Alabama-Huntsville, 53-30. Narduzzi made 49 saves in relief of starter Blake MacNichol. David Brown `07 made 28 saves for Notre Dame. The game was the longest in Notre Dame history as the two teams battled 95:18 to decide a winner. The Irish lost the following day in the NCAA quarterfinals to eventual NCAA champion Michigan State, 2-1.
BUSY SCHEDULE: The Rensselaer Holiday Tournament wraps up a busy stretch of the 2007-08 schedule for Notre Dame. The two games this weekend will close out a stretch of five games over nine days. Through the first three games, the Irish are 3-0-0 with two wins against Western Michigan (4-1 and 5-1) on Nov. 16-17 and a 2-1 victory over Bowling Green on Nov. 20. This marks the second time this season that the Irish will play three games in five days and five games in nine days. The first time occurred between Oct. 18-27. In that span, the Irish were 3-2-0.
TOURNEY RESULTS: The Fighting Irish have now appeared in 28 in-sesaon tournaments in their 40-year history. They have won five times, finished second six times, were third six times and ended up fourth a total of 11 times. The last in-season tournament won by Notre Dame was the Lightning Collegiate Hockey Classic during October of 2006 in Tampa, Fla.
TOURNAMENT TIME: The Rensselaer Holiday Tournament is the second in-season tournament for the Irish this year. They opened the season at the Lefty McFadden Tournament in Dayton, Ohio, losing to Wisconsin before defeating Mercyhurst for a third-place finish. Notre Dame will again host the Lightning College Hockey Classic at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., on Dec.29-30. The University of Massachusetts, Rensselaer and Colorado College also will participate in the tournament.
NOVEMBER NUMBERS: Notre Dame enters this weekend’s tournament having won three straight games and six-of-seven during the month of November. The lone loss for the Irish in November came at the hands of No. 1 ranked Miami by a 3-1 score on Nov. 10. Notre Dame owns the only win over the RedHawks this season as the Irish won the opener of that series, 2-1, on Nov. 9.
HOT HAND: In four of his last five games dating back to Nov. 9 at Miami, junior goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) has held the opposition to just one goal. In that five-game span, Pearce is 4-1-0 with a 1.41 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage. Pearce stopped 27-of-28 Bowling Green shots on Nov. 20 in a 2-1 win over the Falcons. He has started 13 of Notre Dame’s 14 games this season and is 9-4-0 with a 1.94 goals-against average and a .920 save mark. He leads the nation with 775:00 minutes played. Prior to this year, in 12 career appearances, Pearce had played just 621:56 minutes.
BOWLING GREEN RECAP: Jordan Pearce made 27 saves and got goals from Ben Ryan (Fr., Brighton, Mich.) and defenseman Kyle Lawson (So., New Hudson, Mich.) in a 2-1 win over the Bowling Green Falcons Tuesday night at the Joyce Center. Derek Whitmore scored the lone goal for Bowling Green. Ryan gave Notre Dame a 1-0 lead at 6:29 of the first period with his third goal of the season. Whitmore tied the game at 9:15 with his 12th goal of the season and the teams went to the first intermission tied 1-1. In the second, the Irish took the lead for good at 2:05 when Lawson scored from the slot for his third goal of the season. Pearce made the one-goal lead stand up, stopping all 14 shots he faced over the final two periods. Bowling Green out shot Notre Dame, 28-24 in the game. Nick Eno made 22 saves for the Falcons. BG was 0-for-5 on the power play while the Irish were 0-for-4.
CCHA DEFENSEMAN OF THE WEEK: Sophomore defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) has been selected as the CCHA defenseman of the week for the week ending Nov. 18. In the weekend sweep of Western Michigan, Lawson collected two assists in Friday’s 4-1 win and was +2 in the series. Lawson and the Notre Dame defense limited the Broncos to 23 shots in the two games and killed all seven WMU power-play chances on the weekend.
STINGY DEFENSE: Notre Dame surrendered just two goals in the weekend series against Western Michigan. In the two games, the Irish out shot the Broncos by a 76-23 margin. In Friday’s game, Notre Dame gave up just 12 shots and followed that by giving up just 11 in Saturday’s game. The 11 shots are the fewest given up by the Irish this season as were the two shots given up in the third period of Saturday’s game.
KILLING PENALTIES: On the season, Notre Dame has given up just four power-play goals.After giving up power-play goals in back-to-back games against Lake Superior on Nov. 1-2, the Irish have killed 20-of-21 opponent power-play chances for a 95.2% success rate, including 12 straight over the last three games. On the year, the Irish have killed 62-of-66 for a 93.9% penalty-killing ratio in 14 games. That ranks the Irish third in the nation and second in the CCHA behind Miami. Yale is tops in the nation with a 97.1% success rate.
SPREAD THE WEALTH: Notre Dame scored nine goals in the two games of the series against Western Michigan. Seven different players lit the lamp for the Irish. Only Erik Condra and Ryan Thang scored more than one goal. Also scoring for the Irish on the weekend were Dan VeNard, Mark Van Guilder, Calle Ridderwall, Justin White and Dan Kissel.
THE MARKSMEN: Senior Mark Van Guilder and sophomore Ryan Thang each scored their seventh goals of the season in the series against Western Michigan. Van Guilder got his seventh on Nov. 16, scoring his fifth power-play goal of the season. That ties him for 4th in the CCHA and tied him for 5th in the nation. Thang scored once in each game with both goals coming on the power play. Thang now has four man-advantage goals, which ties him for sixth in the CCHA and eighth in the nation.
CONDRA CAPERS: Right wing Erik Condra (Jr., Livonia, Mich.) now has a three-game point-scoring streak after recording an assist in the Bowling Green win. He had back-to-back multiple-point games (1g, 1a) in the wins over Western Michigan. That gives him three multiple-point games this season. On Nov. 1, he recorded the second, five-point game of his career in the 7-3 win over Lake Superior. Condra scored twice and added three assists for five points on the night. His previous five-point game came on Jan. 5, 2007 at Robert Morris when he had a goal and four assists. Condra currently leads the Irish in scoring with six goals and nine assists for 15 points in the first 14 games of the season.
CENTURY CLUB: Notre Dame’s “Century Club” will soon be accepting a new member as junior right wing Erik Condra enters the weekend with 97 points in his career. Condra now has 26 goals and 71 assists in 92 career games.
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS: Through 14 games this season, the Irish have some good news and some bad news to report. In Notre Dame’s 10 victories, the Irish have scored 39 goals for a 3.90 average. In the four losses, Notre Dame has scored just three goals for a 0.75 goals-per game mark. In the 10 wins, the Irish have given up just 15 goals (1.50 goals-against average) while in the four losses, they have given up 13 goals (3.25 goals against).
HIGHS AND LOWS: Notre Dame’s 44 shots in the Nov. 16 win over Western Michigan are a season high for the Irish. The 11 shots given up by Notre Dame in Saturday’s game (Nov. 17) are the fewest the Irish have given up this season. Notre Dame’s 11 power-play chances on Friday night were also a season high.