Nov. 9, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Complete Release in PDF Format
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• The Series: Notre Dame (1-5-0/0-2-0) vs. Bowling Green (2-4-1/2-2-1)
• Date/Site/Times: Thur.-Fri., Nov. 10-11, 2005 – 7:35 p.m. – Joyce Center (2,713)
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1580, South Bend’s SportsCenter. Mike Lockert, “the voice of Irish hockey” will bring you all the play-by-play action live from the Joyce Center for both games of the series.
• Television: Thursday’s game will be televised live by Comcast Local. Ben Holden and Lyle Phair will handle the play-by-play and color commentary. Comcast Local is available in South Bend on Comcast Cable TV at Channel 3.
• Internet Broadcast: At the Notre Dame website – www.und.com.
WEEKNIGHT SERIES ACTION: Notre Dame returns home to face the Bowling Green Falcons in a rare Thurdsay-Friday series at the Joyce Center on Nov. 10-11. Both games will have a 7:35 p.m. starting time. Notre Dame comes into the series looking for its first CCHA victory. The Irish are 1-5-0 on the season and 0-2-0 in conference play after dropping a pair of games last weekend to Michigan. The Irish dropped an 8-5 decision on Friday night at home and then fell to the Wolverines at Yost Arena on Saturday by a 4-2 score. The Irish fell victim to Michigan’s power play as the Wolverines converted on 7-of-13 chances in the series. Bowling Green comes into the series with a 2-4-1 overall record and a 2-2-1 mark in league play. The Falcons are coming off a home weekend sweep of Nebraska-Omaha, picking up 7-3 and 4-3 wins last weekend at the Bowling Green Ice Arena. Game one of the series on Thursday night will be televised live by Comcast Local with Ben Holden and Lyle Phair calling all the action. Hockey fans in the South Bend area will be able to view the Thursday’s game on Comcast Cable Channel 3 at 7:35 p.m.
IRISH VERSUS FALCONS: The two teams have met 71 times in the all-time series with Bowling Green holding a 34-32-5 edge in the series. At the Joyce Center, the Irish are 18-12-4 versus the Falcons. As cluster partners, the two teams meet each season for four games, two at home and two away. The Irish will travel to Bowling Green on Feb. 17-18, 2006. Last year, the Irish were 0-3-1 versus Bowling Green, dropping both games in Ohio and going 0-1-1 at the Joyce Center. The 0-3-1 mark versus the Falcons in 2004-05 marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Irish failed to win the season series against Bowling Green. Prior to last year, the Irish were 9-1-1 against the Falcons in the previous 11 contests. The last time the Irish won at home against Bowling Green was Jan. 10, 2004, a 3-0 shutout by David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.)
PLAYING FIVE-ON-FIVE: Last weekend, the Irish had a great deal of success playing 5-on-5 versus Michigan. In the two games, the Irish actually outscored the Wolverines, 6-5, when playing at equal strength. Special teams was a different story though as Michigan outscored the Irish, 7-1, on the power play, going 7-fo-13 on the weeked, including 4-for-7 in Friday’s 8-5 win at the Joyce Center.
MICHIGAN RECAP: The Irish dropped a pair of games last weeked to No. 3 Michigan, losing 8-5 at the Joyce Center on Friday night and then 4-2 at Yost Arena on Saturday. The two losses extended Notre Dame’s losing streak to the Wolverines to eight games. On Saturday night, Chad Kolarik scored two power-play goals while Andrew Cogliano and T.J. Hensick had single goals for the Wolverines. Matt Amado (Sr., Surrey, B.C.) and Michael Bartlett (Jr., Morton Grove, Ill.) scored for the Irish. The two teams traded 29 shots on goal on the night. Notre Dame peppered Michigan goaltender Billy Sauer with 17 in the third period, but failed to score. Sauer finished with 27 saves in the game while Jordan Pearce (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) made 25 in the Notre Dame goal. Michigan was 3-for-6 on the power play and Notre Dame was 0-for-5 with the extra man. On Friday night, the Irish showed off their offense, scoring five goals in a game for the first time since getting five versus Ohio State in the CCHA Super Six on March 18, 2004. The only problem was that Michigan scored eight of its own goals as the No. 3-ranked Wolverines defeated the Irish by an 8-5 score in front of a sellout crowd of 2,763 at the Joyce Center. Cogliano paced the Michigan attack with two goals and two assists while Hensick was one of five Michigan players with a goal in the win. Hensick also had two assists for his three-point game as the Wolverines scored four power-play goals in seven chances in the game. Travis Turnbull, Kolarik, Jason Bailey, Brandon Naurato and Kevin Porter also scored for Michigan. For the Irish, senior right wing Tim Wallace (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) and freshman right wing Erik Condra (Fr., Livonia, Mich.) led the way with a goal and an assist in the game. Matt Amado, Mike Walsh (Sr., Northville, Mich.) and Garrett Regan also had single goals for the Irish. Michigan was 4-for-7 on the power play in the game while the Irish were just 1-for-10. The Wolverines out shot the Irish by a 33-31 margin. Noah Ruden made 26 saves for Michigan while David Brown had 23 saves in 56:33. Rory Walsh (Sr., Newton, Mass.) had two saves in 2:10 of playing time in the third period.
HIGH-SCORING AFFAIR: Notre Dame scored five goals in a game on Nov. 4 versus Michigan for the first time since Mar. 18, 2004 when the Irish lost to Ohio State, 6-5 in overtime, in the first game of the CCHA Super Six. Since that game, the Irish had only scored four goals in a game once, a 4-4 tie last season versus Bowling Green. Notre Dame and Michigan combined for 13 goals, the most goals in a game involving the Irish since an 8-6 loss to Western Michigan on Dec. 5, 2003.
AMAZING AMADO: Senior forward Matt Amado scored a goal in each of the games last weekend versus Michigan for his first two goals on the season. In his career, Amado now has scored 17 goals with five of them coming against Michigan.
SLOW START: Notre Dame’s 1-5-0 start is its worst start since beginning the 2001-02 season with an 0-4-2 record.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Irish have struggled on special teams through the first six games of the season. With the power play, the Irish are just 4-for-45 on the year for an 8.9% success rate. On the other side of the puck, the Irish have given up 12 power-play goals in 45 chances for a 73.3% penalty-killing rate.
NO. 1 TEAMS: Through the first six games of the season, the Irish have played four versus ranked teams. The Irish opened with No. 4 Colorado College and then played No. 9 Denver. Last weekend, the Irish faced No. 3 Michigan in a pair of games. All three of those teams have been ranked No. 1 in the nation at one time or another this season. Combined, those three teams have a 22-5-1 record.
PLAYING LIKE VETERANS: Notre Dame freshmen Erik Condra and Garrett Regan have stepped right into the Notre Dame lineup and played like they belong there. Condra leads the Irish in scoring with a goal and six assists for seven points in the first six games this season. Regan has played in five games and has two goals and an assist for three points.
WALLY WORLD: Tim Wallace is off to the best start of his Notre Dame career with three goals and three assists for six points on the season. Included are a pair of two-point games for the veteran right wing. His two-goal game versus Princeton on Oct. 28 was the second of his career. His other came on March 14, 2004 in the first round of the CCHA playoffs when he had a pair of goals in game three versus Western Michigan in Notre Dame’s 5-4 overtime win. This year’s two-goal game was the first by a Notre Dame player since Wes O’Neill scored two in a 4-4 tie with Bowling Green on Nov. 5, 2004. Wallace continues to add to his “Iron Man” streak as he played has now played in 123 consecutive games for the Irish. He currently has a two-game point streak (1-2-3).
SICK BAY: Junior captain T.J. Jindra (Faribault, Minn.) has missed the last four games due to a shoulder injury suffered on Oct. 22 at Denver. He is listed as day-to-day.
GOAL-SCORING WOES: Notre Dame will look to find an answer to its goal-scoring struggles from 2004-05 this season. Through the first six games this season, the Irish have 16 goals for a 2.67 average. In 38 games last season, the Irish scored just 60 goals (1.58 per game). Notre Dame was shutout five times on the year and scored two or less goals in 29 of 38 games on the year. The Irish scored a season-high four goals, just once, on Nov. 5, 2004 in a come-from-behind 4-4 tie with Bowling Green. The fewest goals the Irish had ever scored in a season prior to `04-’05 was 92 during the 1996-97 season.
IT’S FINALLY OVER: On Jan. 2 of last season, Notre Dame opened the New Year with a 2-1 win over R.P.I. at the Joyce Center. Little did anyone know at the time, but that would be the last win for the Irish until Oct. 29 of this season versus Princeton, a winless streak that would cover a school-record 22 games (0-20-2). Ties at Lake Superior State (Jan. 8) and with Nebraska-Omaha (Feb. 4) would be the only points the Irish would gain in the span. Notre Dame ended 2004-05 with a nine-game losing streak and extended that to 12 games with losses in the first three games of 2005-06.
FLUSHING AWAY THE LOSSES: When new Irish head hockey coach Jeff Jackson met with his team for the first time in the 2005-06 school year, they went over team rules, regulations, set up schedules and met with other administrators. At the end of the meeting, he gave the team’s returning players an index card to write down everything that they hated from the previous season (a 5-27-6 year that ended in a 19-game winless skid – 0-17-2). After doing that, the team went to where center ice would be at the Joyce Center rink and threw the cards into a waste basket to burn them, symbolizing that the previous year was done and it was time to move on. Jackson had the ashes placed in a jar that was kept in the locker room to remind everyone about the previous season. “I thought that it was would be good to keep them as a reminder of what happens when you’re not committed,” said Jackson. On Saturday night (Oct. 29) following the first period at home versus Princeton, after starting the season at 0-3 and coming off a bad second period performance the night before (in a 5-3 loss to the Tigers), Jackson walked into the locker room and before talking to the team, took the ashes into the restroom and flushed them down the toilet. “With the first three games, our second periods were horrible, so we flushed last year away,” said Jackson. “They (the players) laughed a little, but the toilet flushed and last year is behind us. Those losses from last year were still lingering over the team and I’m just glad it’s behind them and that now we can move on.” The Irish went out and scored two goals in the second period in the 2-0 win and the winless skid was over.
FAST START: Freshman Erik Condra’s three-point game (0g, 3a) versus Denver was the first three-point game by an Irish rookie since Brett Lebda `04 had five points (1g, 4a) versus Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 20, 2000. His three-point game was the first for the Irish since Nov. 5, 2004 when both Mike Walsh (Sr., Northville, Mich.) and Cory McLean `05 had three points versus Bowling Green in a 4-4 tie. Condra had his four-game point streak (1-6-7) snapped at Michigan on Nov. 5.
BACK BEHIND THE BENCH: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson returns to collegiate coaching this season for the first time since leaving Lake Superior State following the 1995-96 season. In six years with the Lakers, Jackson compiled a 182-52-25 career record with two national championships, two CCHA regular-season titles and four CCHA tournament championships. The veteran coach is the NCAA’s winningest active coach with at least five years experience with a .751 winning percentage. His 182 career wins (in just six seasons) ranks him 26th among active coaches. Included in his 182 wins are 36 postseason victories and a .837 winning percentage (36-7 in postseason). In CCHA postseason action, Jackson’s teams were 24-2 (.923) with the two losses coming to Michigan in CCHA Championship games (`94 and `96). All-time, Jackson owns a 16-5-1 record against Bowling Green.
TWO-GOAL WIN: Notre Dame’s 2-0 win over Princeton was the first Irish win by two or more goals since March 12, 2004 when the Irish defeated Western Michigan, 4-2, in Game 1 of the CCHA playoffs. Last season, all five Irish wins were by one goal.
GOING FOR THE GOLD: For the first time since the 1975-76 season, the Notre Dame hockey team will wear gold helmets. When head coach Jeff Jackson took over the program he wanted the hockey program to have an identity. Most people identify Notre Dame with the Golden Dome and the gold football helmets worn by the football team. Irish equipment manager Dave Gilbert contacted the various hockey equipment companies during the summer and Bauer was able to recreate the Irish helmets with the same gold metallic paint that is used on the helmets of the Notre Dame football team. These helmets feature white cages (except for players who wear visors) and like the football helmets have no other markings except for an American flag on the back.
OPENING NIGHT STAND OUT: Senior right wing Tim Wallace has come up big on “Opening Night” for the Irish in his four seasons. On Oct. 21 at Colorado College, he continued a personal “Opening Night” streak with an assist versus the Tigers. During his four seasons at Notre Dame, Wallace has now scored a point in the first game of every year. In 2002, as a freshman, he scored a goal on his first shot at Minnesota-Duluth. As a sophomore in 2003, he had a pair of assists in a 5-2 win at Ohio State. Last season, he set up Notre Dame’s first goal of the season (by Josh Sciba) and this year he assisted on Victor Oreskovich’s goal versus Colorado College. In four season openers, Wallace has a goal and four assists for five points.
IRON MEN: Junior right wing Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) has played in all 123 games during his three-plus seasons at Notre Dame. He became Notre Dame’s all-time “Iron Man,” passing former defenseman Evan Nielsen (`03) who held the record with 114 games between 2000-03. Other Irish consecutive game streaks of 35 games or more include:
Chris Trick – 45 games
Mark Van Guilder – 44 games
Mike Walsh – 39 games
O’Neill and Van Guilder have not missed a game in their careers. Wes O’Neill (Jr., Essex, Ont.) saw his streak of 82 consecutive games snapped when he did not dress at Michigan on Nov. 5. Noah Babin’s (Jr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) streak of 51 straight games was snapped on Nov. 4 versus Michigan when he did not play versus Michigan. T.J. Jindra saw his streak of 79 consecutive game streak snapped due to a shoulder sprain. Michael Bartlett (Jr., Morton Grove, Ill.) had his 78-game streak snapped on Oct. 22 when he did not play against Denver.
FOR OPENERS: After losing their season opener at Colorado College, Notre Dame is now 19-17-2 in season openers and 14-20-3 in road openers. With the 5-3 loss to Princeton on Oct. 28, the Irish are now 20-17-1 in home openers.
LATE START: Notre Dame’s Oct. 21 opener at Colorado College was the latest the Irish have started a season since the 1991-92 campaign. That year, the Irish opened with a pair of games on Oct. 25-26 at Air Force where they split, losing 8-3 and winning, 5-3.
SHORT-CIRCUIT: The Denver Pioneers scored a pair of short-handed goals (Gabe Gauthier, Ryan Dingle) in the 6-3 win over the Irish on Oct. 22. That marked the first time since Dec. 8, 2000 against Miami that the Irish gave up two short-handed tallies in a game. The Irish lost that game, 5-2, with Jason Deskins and Gregor Krajnc each scoring a man down.
IRISH CAPTAINS: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson named his captain and alternates for the 2005-06 season on Oct. 5. Junior T.J. Jindra (Faribault, Minn.) was selected as the team’s captain, making him the first junior captain since Evan Neilsen `03. Jindra is the 13th junior in the program’s history to be selected captain. He will be assisted by seniors Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) and Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) along with junior Jason Paige. Walsh and Paige are in their second seasons as alternate captains for the Irish.
ALL TIED UP: The Fighting Irish have been involved in 49 overtime games since the start of the 1999-2000 season. In those games, they are 7-6-36. During the 2004-05 season, Notre Dame played in nine overtime contests, going 1-2-6 in those games. The lone overtime win came on Dec. 10 versus Michigan State and was the first regular-season overtime win since Jan. 25, 2002, snapping a 16-game winless (0-2-14) skid in regular-season overtime games. Notre Dame’s season ended in an overtime loss as the Irish fell 1-0 in overtime to Michigan in game two of the first round of the CCHA playoffs.
FIRST TIMERS: Freshman left wing Garrett Regan became the first Irish freshman to score a goal this season when he notched his first career goal at 3:59 of the second period. The goal was also the game winner. After getting no points in the first game of the season, Erik Condra burst on the scene with three assists in his second game of the year and now has five assists. Condra added his first career goal versus Michigan on Nov. 4 Goaltender Jordan Pearce had his first win and first shutout of the season on Oct. 29 versus Princeton. Defenseman Tom Sawatske (Jr., Duluth, Minn.) picked up his first assist on Nov. 5 at Michigan and has played in four games. Freshman Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) has played in four games with Justin White (Traverse City, Mich.) has seen action in two with both looking for their first points of the year.
SLOW NIGHT: The 13 shots and eight saves recorded by junior goaltender David Brown in Friday’s game versus Princeton were the fewest by Brown during his career in games that he played 60 minutes. On the season, Brown is now 0-2-0 with a 4.03 goals-against average and a .849 save percentage. For his career, the junior is now 16-19-4 in 43 games (39 starts) with a 3.06 goals-against average with a .902 save percentage.
MOVING ON: Over the last two seasons, Notre Dame has seen six of its players sign contracts with National Hockey League teams. Only Michigan with seven and Minnesota with six have as many or more NHL signees. This past summer, goaltender Morgan Cey (Wilkie, Sask.) and former Irish forward Yan Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.) signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Edmonton Oilers respectively. They joined 2003-04 signees – Neil Komadoski (Ottawa Senators), Brett Lebda (Detroit Red Wings), Aaron Gill (San Jose Sharks) and Rob Globke (Florida Panthers). Komadoski, Globke and Stastny were selected in the NHL Draft (Stastny was a Boston Bruin pick) while Cey, Gill and Lebda were free-agent signees. Stastny played at Notre Dame from 2001-03 before going to Germany to play professional hockey. He would have been a senior in 2004-05.
DROP THE PUCK: Notre Dame officially open the 2004-05 season on Tues., Sept. 6 when the Irish hosted their first-ever “Drop The Puck Dinner” at the Joyce Center featuring guest speaker Scotty Bowman. Over 400 fans attended and had the chance skate on the Joyce Center ice, meet and greet the `05-’06 team and then hear the legendary hockey coach talk hockey with the players, coaches and fans in attendance. Bowman, who won nine Stanley Cups in his illustrious coaching career, was also invited by Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis to address his team at practice on Sept. 6, just four days prior to football’s upset win at Michigan.
BEATING THE BEST: In each of the last two seasons, the Irish have faced a No. 1 ranked team and each year they’ve come away with a victory. In 2004-05, Notre Dame knocked off the No. 1 ranked Boston College Eagles in South Bend by a 3-2 score. The previous year, the Irish traveled to Chestnut Hill, Mass., and knocked off the top-ranked Eagles, 1-0, with current junior goaltender David Brown turning in the shutout. Here’s the list of Irish wins versus top-ranked teams in the 38-year history of the program.
10/22/04 – vs. Boston College, 3-2
10/23/03 – at Boston College, 1-0
1/3/99 – at North Dakota, 4-3
11/20/78 – at Minnesota, 3-2
1/13/78 – vs. Denver, 5-3
1/18/74 – vs. Michigan Tech, 7-1
2/24/73 – vs. Wisconsin, 4-3
2/23/73 – vs. Wisconsin, 8-5
FAMILY MATTERS: Two incoming freshmen – forwards Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) and Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) – join seniors Rory Walsh (Milton, Mass.) and Mike Walsh as Irish hockey players with family ties to Notre Dame athletics. Condra’s uncle is All-American forward Kirt Bjork (`83) who played at Notre Dame from 1979-83. He scored 76 goals with 85 assists for 161 career points in 141 career games. He took All-American honors in 1983 when he had 29 goals and 34 assists for 63 points. Regan’s uncle – Sean Regan – was a defenseman for the Irish from1981-83 before finishing his career at the University of Minnesota. In two seasons, Regan had eight goals and 34 assists for 42 points in 60 games. Rory Walsh’s father, Brian (`77), was an all-American hockey player for the Irish. A center iceman, the elder Walsh is Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer after recording 234 career points on 89 goals and 145 assists. Mike Walsh’s father, Max (`74), was an offensive lineman on the Notre Dame football team and a member of the 1973 national championship team. Rory Walsh is one of Notre Dame’s goaltenders and Walsh plays left wing for the Irish.
FROZEN TUNDRA: Notre Dame has had a steady flow of players in recent years that played their junior hockey with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United State’s Hockey League. Four members of the current Notre Dame team have played in the Land of Lombardi. The trio is led by junior defensmen Noah Babin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Wes O’Neill (Essex, Ont.). The defensive duo were teammates there during the `02-’03 season. Two former Gamblers are members of the Irish sophomore class – center Victor Oreskovich (Oakville, Ont.) and defenseman Dan VeNard (Vernon Hills, Ill). Oreskovich played one season in Green Bay (`03-’04) while VeNard was a Gambler from 2001-04.
NHL DRAFTEES: This past August, the Irish had one player selected in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. That player – Kyle Lawson – was a seventh round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, 198th overall. Lawson signed a national letter-of-intent to attend Notre Dame during the early-signing period in Nov. of 2004. He then deferred until the start of the 2006-07 school year. Lawson will play this season in the United States Hockey League with the Tri-City Storm. The Irish have four players on this year’s roster – senior Mike Walsh (New York Rangers), juniors Wes O’Neill (New York Islanders) and David Brown (Pittsburgh Penguins) and sophomore Victor Oreskovich (Colorado Avalanche) – who have been drafted by NHL teams.
PUTTING ON THE FOIL: Notre Dame freshman Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) becomes the sixth player to play for the Irish whose father played in the National Hockey League. His father, Dave Hanson, played 10 years of professional hockey between 1974-75 and 1983-84, including stints with the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota North Stars and the World Hockey Association’s (WHA) Minnesota Fighting Saints and the New England Whalers. Fans might also be familiar with Dave Hanson, as one of the famed Hanson Brothers, made famous in the hockey movie – Slapshot. Hanson currently is the director of the Island Sports Center, home of Robert Morris University’s hockey team, in suburban Pittsburgh.
THE IRISH AND THE U.S. NATIONAL TEAM DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM: Notre Dame’s current roster includes six players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP). Since the program began, the Irish have had a total of 15 NTDP alums grace their roster. The current contingent includes senior Tim Wallace and juniors Noah Babin, Michael Bartlett (Morton Grove, Ill.), Tom Sawatske (Duluth, Minn.) and Josh Sciba (Westland, Mich.). The lone freshman is goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska). A 16th alum will join the Irish in 2006-07 as defenseman Kyle Lawson (New Hudson, Mich.) signed a letter-of-intent in November, 2004 and is playing this year in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm. Other former NTDP players who played at Notre Dame and their years in the national program include: Brett Henning (1997-98), Michael Chin (1997-98), Connor Dunlop (1997-99), Paul Harris (1997-99), John Wroblewski (1997-99), Neil Komadoski (1998-2000), Brett Lebda (1998-2000), Rob Globke (1998-2000) and Derek Smith (2000-01).
RIVALRY CLUSTERS: The CCHA begins its fourth season with the 12 teams grouped in “rivalry pairings.” In the pairings, Notre Dame is paired with Bowling Green. The league’s other pairings include Michigan-Michigan State, Miami-Ohio State, Lake Superior State-Northern Michigan, Ferris State-Western Michigan and Alaska Fairbanks-Nebraska-Omaha. Each season the teams are divided into three, four-team clusters and play a 28-game conference schedule. Cluster teams will face each other four times during the season with two games against each of the remaining eight teams. In 2005-06, Notre Dame will play Bowling Green, Miami and Ohio State four times with two games at home and two away. The Irish will also play home-and-home series with Ferris State, Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan with two-game home series with Alaska Fairbanks and Lake Superior State. The Irish play two-game raod series at Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Michigan. In 2004-05, the Irish played in the same cluster with Bowling Green, Michigan and Michigan State and were 1-10-1 in the 12 games.
STAR GAZING: Notre Dame’s freshman class of 2005-06 features three players who played their junior hockey for the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars of the USHL in `04-’05. The trio includes goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska), defensman Tom Sawatske (Duluth, Minn.) and forward Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.). They join sophomore right wing Evan Rankin (Portage, Mich.) who spent the `03-’04 season in Lincoln. Condra had 30 goals and 30 assists for 60 points for the high-flying Stars. Sawatske, a transfer from the University of Wisconsin, collected a goal and nine assists for 10 points in 34 games and Pearce was 22-10-4 with a 3.07 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage. Both Sawatske and Pearce were selected to play in the USHL Top Prospects game.
STORM WARNINGS: After bringing in three members of USHL’s Tri-City Storm for the 2004-05 season, the Irish added a fourth player former Storm player Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) to this year’s freshman class. Hanson joins sophomores Brian D’Arcy (Western Springs, Ill.), Luke Lucyk (Fox Point, Wis.) and Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) as Storm alums. All four were members of the 2003-04 Tri-City team that was the USHL regular-season champion and lost in the championship series to Waterloo. Hanson joins the Irish this season after leading Tri-City in scoring with 19 goals and 33 assists for 52 points on the year. He was the USHL’s 2005 Curt Hammer Award winner, the fourth USHL player to win the award and them play at Notre Dame.
IRISH IN CCHA/NATIONAL RANKINGS
Scoring CCHA NationalErik Condra (1-6-7) t22nd t66th (1.17 ppg)Tim Wallace (3-3-6) t30th t85th (1.00 ppg)
GoalsTim Wallace (3) t15th t68th (0.5 gpg
AssistsErik Condra (6) t16th t16th (1.00 apg)
Game-Winning GoalsGarrett Regan (1) t4th t17th
Rookie Scoring (Points per gameErik Condra (1-6-7 - 1.17) t3rd 3rd
Goals Against Avg. (30% of games)Jordan Pearce (3.33) --- 59th
Save%Jordan Pearce (.873) --- 64th
Team RankingsScoring Offense (2.67) 9th 33rdScoring Defense (4.33) t11th t52ndScoring Margin (-1.67) 11th 49thFewest Pen. Min. (16.67) 1st 8thPower Play (8.9%) 11th 54thPenalty Killing (73.3%) 12th 57th
IRISH SPECIAL TEAMSHere's a game-by-game look at Notre Dame's special teams this season:
POWER PLAY PEN. KILLINGGame G-Chances Kills-Opp@CC 0-4 6-7@DU 2-8 (2 SHG) 7-9PRINCE 0-10 5-7PRINCE 1-8 9-9MICH 1-10 3-7@MICH 0-5 3-6Home 2-28 (7.1%) 17-23 (73.9%)Away 2-17 (11.8%) 16-22 (72.7%)Neutral 0-0 (0.0%) 0-0 (0.0%)Totals 4-45 (8.9%) 33-45 (73.3%)