Jan. 30, 2001
BACK TO CCHA ACTION: Notre Dame returns to CCHA action this week when the Irish travel to Ohio State for a pair of games with the Buckeyes, Feb. 2-3 at the Value City Arena in Columbus … the Irish close the season with nine CCHA games remaining on the docket – three at home and six on the road … this will be the second meeting of the season between the two schools as they met in South Bend on Jan. 19-20 with Ohio State winning 5-3 on Jan. 19 before the two teams battled to a 2-2 overtime tie on Jan. 20…the Irish are coming off a non-league weekend split at Yale where the Irish dropped an 8-2 decision on Jan. 27 and then defeated the Bulldogs 4-3 on Jan. 28…the Irish are now 6-19-5 overall with a 3-12-4 mark in the CCHA…ND is tied with Bowling Green for 11th place, two points behind Lake Superior State for tenth place and the final playoff spot…the Irish are three points behind Ferris State for ninth place…Ohio State was idle this past weekend and comes into the weekend with a 12-10-2 overall record and a 9-7-2 mark in the league…the Buckeyes are tied for sixth place with Northern Michigan and are just three points out of third place in the standings…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 Dave Mager calling the shots…the play-by-play also available via the internet at www.und.com.
IRISH VERSUS OHIO STATE – ROUND 1: Ohio State won the first meeting of the season on Jan. 19 as three freshmen scored all the Buckeye goals…Dave Steckel (2), Paul Caponigri (2) and Scott May did the scoring and freshman goaltender Mike Betz had 27 saves in the 5-3 win…OSU broke open a 1-1 game with two second period goals..Aaron Gill (Fr., Rochester, Minn.), Dan Carlson (Sr., Edina, Minn.) and Ryan Dolder (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) scored for the Irish…Tony Zasowski (So., Darien, Ill.) took the loss in goal, making 20 saves…on Jan. 20, Dolder scored a shorthanded goal and David Inman (Jr., Toronto, Ont.) got the game tying goal with 3:29 left in a game that would end in a 2-2 tie…Jean-Francois Dufour and R.J. Umberger scored for OSU…Mike Betz made 32 saves for the Buckeyes while Kyle Kolquist (Sr., Duluth, Minn.) made 27 stops for the Irish.
IRISH VERSUS OHIO STATE: Notre Dame leads the all-time series, 20-13-4 in the first 37 meetings…since the Irish rejoined the CCHA in ?92-’93, ND has a 13-9-3 advantage…at Columbus, the Irish are 9-7-3 all-time…the two teams met twice last season at the Value City Arena with Ohio State winning the first game, 3-1 before the Irish won the second contest, 2-1 in overtime…Ohio State is 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings in the series and is 5-3-1 at home versus the Irish since the 1995-96 season.
THE COACHES: Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin owns a 77-118-27 mark (.408) in his sixth season at Notre Dame…Poulin is 5-9-2 versus Ohio State during his six years at Notre Dame…OSU head coach John Markell is 97-109-19 (.473) in his seventh season guiding the Buckeyes…he is 9-5-2 versus Notre Dame.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE: Hockey information on the Ohio State Buckeyes is available at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com…additional information on Notre Dame, Ohio State and the CCHA is also available on the CCHA website at ccha.com…
MICHIGAN RECAP: The Irish opened last week at Michigan on Tues., Jan. 23…Mark Kosick and Mike Cammarelli each scored hat tricks and goaltender Josh Blackburn made 21 saves as sixth-ranked Michigan handed Notre Dame a 9-0 loss at the Yost Ice Arena…the two hat tricks in a game were the first given up by the Irish since returning to the CCHA in 1992-93…the loss was Notre Dame’s worst since an 11-1 loss to the Wolverines on Jan. 20, 1996 at Yost Arena…the Irish have not won a regular season game at Ann Arbor since Oct. 22, 1982 and are just 1-16-0 since that game…Notre Dame goaltender Kyle Kolquist (Sr., Duluth, Minn.) made 20 saves while giving up four goals in the first 25:27 of the game…junior Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills, Ill.) gave up five goals over the final 34:33 while making 22 saves on the night…Michigan fired a season-high 51 shots at the Irish while Notre Dame had just 21 for the game…
YALE RECAP: The Irish hoped to put the Michigan loss behind them when they traveled to New Haven, Conn. for a pair of games with the Yale Bulldogs…Saturday afternoon at the New Haven Coliseum, the Irish got off to a slow start as Yale scored the first three goals of the first period on the way to an 8-2 win in its first game at the Coliseum since 1984…Yale’s Jeff Hamilton had a five-point (2g, 3a) game and Ben Stafford also chipped in two goals and two assists…Hamilton’s five-point game was the first against the Irish since Jan. 20, 1996 when Michigan’s Brendan Morrison (2g, 3a) and Kevin Hilton (0g, 5a) scored five points each…the Irish got goals from Rob Globke (Fr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) and David Inman in the loss…Tony Zasowski made 34 saves in the game…on Sunday afternoon, the two teams met at Yale’s Ingalls Rink where the Irish freshmen provided all the offense…after spotting Yale a goal, just 24 seconds into the game, Notre Dame went on the offensive, scoring three first period goals…Aaron Gill tied the game at 6:28 and Globke put the Irish ahead to stay at 9:28 with his first of the game…Brett Lebda (Fr., Buffalo Grove, Ill.) closed the first period scoring with his fifth goal of the season at 14:14…Yale cut the lead to 3-2 at the midway point of the second period before Globke scored his second of the game and 12th of the year at 11:18…the Irish surrendered a third period power play goal, but Zasowski held off the Bulldogs’ late rally to get the win…the sophomore goaltender stopped a career-high 40 shots in the game…Notre Dame killed off three Yale power plays in the final seven minutes of the game to seal the win…Yale outshot the Irish 43-26 in the game…Gill, Lebda and Connor Dunlop (So., St. Louis, Mo.) each had two points in the game…
INJURY REPORT: Left wing Brett Henning (Jr., Huntington, N.Y.) has announced his decision to retire from playing hockey due to a disc condition in his cervical spine…the condition materialized due to a trauma sustained in the second Lake Superior State game (12/2)…Henning has missed the last 15 games…the Irish have lost 55 man-games to injuries or illness this season…
RED HOT LINE: The Irish line of Dan Carlson, Aaron Gill and Ryan Dolder, all Minnesota natives, has carried the Irish since December 19 at Nebraska-Omaha…the trio has scored in 10 of its 13 games together and had a nine-game streak snapped versus Michigan…in 13 games together, the line has collected 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points…Carlson leads the group with seven goals, 10 assists and 17 points, Dolder follows with six goals, eight assists and 14 points and Gill has four goals, five assists and nine points…
STREAKERS: Ryan Dolder’s streak of three consecutive games with a goal came to an end in the loss to Michigan….Dan Carlson (7-9-16) and Dolder (6-7-13) had nine-game point scoring streaks snapped in the shutout…those were the longest point scoring streaks by an Irish player since the 1996-97 season when Ben Simon had an eight-game streak (3-9-12)…The Irish head into the Ohio State weekend with two players having two game scoring streaks – Rob Globke has three goals in his last two games and Connor Dunlop has three assists in his last two.
CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Dolder is closing out his collegiate career in fine fashion…heading into this week’s action, Dolder has career highs in goals (12) and points (26) and has equalled his career high with 14 assists…last season was his best year at Notre Dame as he had 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points…he is currently second on the squad in scoring (12-14-26)… Dolder picked up the first shorthanded goal of his career at Western Michigan (1/13) and then got his second a week later versus Ohio State (1/20)…he has nine 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)…the senior right wing also had a goal in each of the games of the R.P.I. Tournament…versus Ferris State, Dolder had a goal and an assist in the series…at Westen Michigan (1/13), he scored the game tying goal shorthanded and added and assist in the 3-3 tie…
HOCKEY HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Irish right wing Ryan Dolder was nominated for the 2001 Hockey Humanitarian Award which will be presented at the 2001 Frozen Four in Albany, N.Y. the weekend of Apr., 5-7…the award is presented annually to the college hockey player, male or female from Division 1, 2 or 3, who has made a difference off the ice as well as on, to the team, to the program, to the school, and to the community in which the player lives…Dolder, a senior, is one of four players from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) to be nominated for the award…he joins Alaska-Fairbanks’ Ryan Reinheller, a 2000 finalist for the award, Michigan State’s Damon Whitten and Nebraska-Omaha’s Jason Cupp among the 12 nominees.
40 SAVES: Sophomore goaltender Tony Zasowski made a career-high 40 saves in Notre Dame’s 4-3 win over Yale on Jan. 28…the 40 saves were the most by an Irish goaltender since Matt Eisler made 44 versus Michigan in a 3-1 loss on Feb. 17, 1997…Zasowski’s 40 saves was also the most by an Irish goaltender in a Notre Dame victory since Eisler kicked out 40 St. Cloud State shots in a 5-2 Notre Dame win on Jan. 24, 1997…
BY THE NUMBERS: The Irish are now 1-3-1 in their last five games, 2-6-2 in their last 10 and 3-14-4 since the Nov. 3 win at Miami…the Jan. 12 win versus Western Michigan was also the first for the Irish at the Joyce Center since Oct. 20 when they knocked off Northeastern, 6-4…the win snapped an 0-9-1 winless skid on home ice…ND finishes the season with eight of its last 11 on the road..
LAST TIME: Notre Dame’s 4-1 win over Western Michigan on Jan. 12 marked the first Irish win against a ranked team since they defeated fifth-ranked Michigan State, 1-0, on Dec. 4, 1999…Tony Zasowski was the goaltender in that one and the win came at the Joyce Center…
OVERTIME NUMBERS: Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie with Ohio State was the seventh time this season that the Irish have played overtime…ND is 1-1-5 in those games…Notre Dame’s 3-2 overtime loss to Ferris State (Jan. 6) snapped ND’s 14-game unbeaten streak in overtime games (3-0-11)…the OT loss by the Irish was the first since March 5, 1999 when they fell at Miami…ND had also gone 14 overtime games without a loss at home (3-0-11), not dropping a game in overtime at the Joyce Center since a Nov. 17, 1996 loss to Mankato State…
PENALTY KILLING PROWESS: Notre Dame’s penalty killers gave up five power play goals in 17 chances in three games last week as the Irish have now killed 136 of 171 (79.5%) power play chances…over the last seven games, ND has given up nine power play goals in 40 chances (77.5%) while scoring two shorthanded goals in that time… the Irish started the year by giving up 15 ppgs in 48 chances (68.7% penalty killing)…since then, Notre Dame penalty killers have given up 20 in 123 (83.7%)…from Oct. 27 through Dec. 2, the Irish killed off 24 consecutive opponent power plays, going the entire month of November (five games) without giving up a man-advantage goal…
U.S. JUNIOR NATIONALS: Connor Dunlop and Rob Globke were selected to the 2001 U.S. Junior National hockey team that finished fifth at the World Junior National Tournament in Moscow, Russia…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…
KOLY THE GOALIE: Senior goaltender Kyle Kolquist (Sr., Duluth, Minn.) has had a solid year in goal for the Irish, but is still looking for his first career win…at Michigan (1/23), Kolquist gave up four goals on 24 shots in the first 25:27 before being pulled…on Jan. 20, versus Ohio State (1/20), Kolquist made 27 saves in the 2-2 tie…he now has a 3.24 goals against average with a .910 save percentage and an 0-4-2 record…his first two starts of the season came at Lake Superior State (Dec. 2-3) and were 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 four games for the Irish this season after seeing action in just two games (69:09) in his previous three seasons…on November 25, he took over in relief versus Northern Michigan and made 27 saves to help the Irish salvage a 3-3 tie…before his starts at Lake Superior, Kolquist’s only other start came on December 20, 1999 at home verus Princeton (21 saves, 4-2 loss)…
SHOT MARKS: The 51 shots on goal surrendered by the Irish to Michigan (1/23) were the most given up by Notre Dame this season and the most the Irish have given up in a game since March 10, 1995 when they gave up 53 shots at Bowling Green…the previous high this season was 48 by Lake Superior State (12/2)…Lake Superior had 20 shots in the first period of that game which is still the season high for one period…
CARLSON TO THE RESCUE: Senior left wing Dan Carlson jolted the Irish offense to life in the 7-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha (12/20) 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 shorthanded goal was the fifth of his career and moves him into eighth on the all-time shorthanded list…
PERANI CUP STANDINGS: The CCHA has reached an agreement with Perani’s Hockey World to sponsor the league’s ?Three Stars of the Game? at remaining league games this season…members of the media are asked to select the game’s three stars for which points are accumulated – 1st Star gets three points, 2nd Star gets two and 3rd Star gets one…through six games since balloting began, here are the standings for Notre Dame players:
IRON MEN: Senior right wing Ryan Dolder (Hutchinson, Minn.) has now played in 94 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 149 of 152 games in his three-plus years at Notre Dame (missing two while at the ’98-’99 World Juniors)…Carlson needs to appear in four more games to break John Schmidt’s ND record for career games played (152, ’78-’82).
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…
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 8th in ND history, two back of the record shared by three players.
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) ranked 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). Those six players are among the league’s top players again this year: 2 – Gove (20-28-48), t9 – Carlson (10-19-29), 11 -Dolyny (9-19-28), t13 – Swider (12-14-26), t18 – Leahy (6-18-24) and t35 – Hall (12-8-20)…
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 36 sellout crowds at the Joyce Center….
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… HIGH SCORING FRESHMAN: Globke’s 12 goals this season are the most by an Irish freshman since the 1996-97 season when Joe Dusbabek scored 13…Irish head coach Dave Poulin holds the school record for goals by a freshman with 28 during his first season (1978-79).
ROOKIE DUO: Center Aaron Gill needs one more goal this season to give him 10 for his first year…if he reaches 10 goals, he and Globke will combine to give the Irish their first freshman duo with 10 or more goals since 1996-97 when Dusbabek had 13 and defenseman Mark Eaton had 12…Eaton would have been a member of this year’s senior class if he had not opted to turn pro with Philadelphia following his freshman year.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Through the first 30 games of the season, the Irish newcomers (seven freshman, one transfer) have shown their abilities by contributing to the ND attack with 26 goals and 40 assists for 66 of the team’s 185 points…that amounts to 35.6% of the goals, 35.7% of the assists and 35.7% of the team’s points…Aaron Gill (Rochester, Minn.) leads the way with (9g, 10a), Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) is second with (5g, 14a) and is followed by Rob Globke with (12g, 4a), Jon Maruk (Eden Prairie, Minn.) with (0g, 5a), Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.) with (0g, 5a) and Tom Galvin with (0g, 2a)…
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…midseason report ranks Globke third among Division I college players and 21st among North Americans…Komadoski is rated 15th among college players and 86th among North Americans…Komadoski is eligible for the 2001 draft while Globke would have to opt-in to be selected in 2001…
ONE TIMERS: ND’s 9-0 loss to Michigan (1/23) was the second time this season that the Irish have been blanked…the first came on Dec. 19, a 1-0 shutout at Nebraska-Omaha…the Irish have been held to one goal or less in nine games this season (0-8-1)…
Closing The Deal: Notre Dame’s win at Yale (4-3) continued its success in games that the Irish lead after two periods…ND is now unbeaten in its last 48 games when holding a lead at the second intermission (41-0-7, including 11-0-3 in 1999-2000) … the Irish are 6-0-2 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).
NOT SO SWEET HOME: Notre Dame has struggled at home as the Irish have compiled a 3-10-2 record on the Joyce Center ice…prior to the Jan. 12 win over Western Michigan, the Irish were 0-9-1 in their last ten 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 ten-game winless skid…since the building opened, ND is 276-229-35 (.546) in 540 home games…
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…
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 media 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.
CENTURY MARK: Senior defenseman Ryan Clark (Littleton, Colo.) played in his 100th career game versus Miami (Dec. 9) and has now played in 112 games in his career…he joins four 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 124 during his career…right wing Matt Van Arkel played in his 100th career game versus Minnesota and has now played in 130 overall…the remainder of that group includes Dan Carlson (149) and Ryan Dolder (132).
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 (Des Moines Buccaneers) 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).
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).
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).
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL: During the past three seasons, the Notre Dame hockey program has sent several players to the professional ranks, with 10 of those recent players competing in 2000-01 … D Mark Eaton?who 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 is with their IHL affiliate in Milwaukee … former Irish center and ’96 graduate Jamie Ling is currently with the Dayton Bombers where he serves as a player assistant coach … RW Brian Urick (’99) is with the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL team in Hamilton, Ont…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, is with the Mobile (Ala.) Mystics of the ECHL for his second year … 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 has split time in the ECHL with the Dayton Bombers and the Wheeling Nailers.
FEELING A DRAFT: Five current Notre Dame players 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 strong 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 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.