Senior captain Joe Lavin leads the Irish in their first home game since Nov. 20 when they face Northern Michigan on Saturday night.

On The Clock With Joe Lavin

Nov. 1, 2010

Notre Dame senior defenseman Joe Lavin is in his second season with the Irish hockey team after transferring from Providence College. The Shrewsbury, Mass., native was named the team’s captain prior to the start of the season. Lavin and his teammates are off to a 5-1-1 start and are ranked 11th in the nation to start the week. Und.com’s Maura Jones caught up with Lavin to find out more about the defenseman, his hockey career and playing at Notre Dame.

When and how did you start playing hockey? My father got me playing when I was about three and my brother was five. Nobody in my family played hockey, but we used to watch old Boston Bruins games. It was right around Christmas time when we asked for a pair of skates, and that’s what we got.

What hockey players did you look up to when you were younger? The player that I always looked up to was Bobby Orr.

Why did you want to play hockey at Notre Dame? Notre Dame was one of the first teams I talked to and the coaching staff was really personable. They were really good to me.

What was the best game of hockey that you have ever played?It was probably when I played for the U.S. National team my senior year at the championships. We played against Team Canada, and we won in overtime. It was a real thrill. It was in front of a European crowd, and there was a lot of tension obviously. It was something I had been working toward for two years, so it was great.

Does the team have any traditions or pregame rituals?I’m not sure that I can tell you those, but personally I like to put my gear on the same way for every single game. I also like to eat a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and honey right before I put my stuff on.

What is one of your favorite or funniest hockey stories? The funniest story that I have came when I was playing AAA hockey. I was about fifteen at the time and it was our championship game for our league. Before the game they do the starting lineups where you start from the goal line and skate out, and I remember when I skated out my pants fell down to my knees. When I went to stop I just fell down, and it was so embarrassing.

What was the most exciting hockey trip that you have been on with this team? The most exciting trip I’ve had with this team was for the playoffs at Ohio State last year. It obviously wasn’t a very good memory losing to the Buckeyes in the playoffs, but it was good to go play them. I know everybody was really excited for the playoffs even though it didn’t go our way.

Do you have any future goals for hockey?I was drafted by Chicago in 2007 which is obviously an honor, but it’s not something I can dwell on a whole lot right now.

What is something that coach always says to the team before a game? He always harps on the same things like bring the right work ethic every day, but there is no real quote. He is a really good motivator.

What is it like to be the captain of the team? It’s awesome. It’s really great. There are a lot of leaders on this team, so it’s easier. We don’t have that many seniors, but the seniors that we do have all do a really good job as leaders.

How is the team looking this year? We’ve gotten off to a good start and have done some good things so far. We continue to work hard, trying to improve our all-around game every day in practice and be better in our next game.

Did you ever get in a fight on the ice? If so, what was it like? I got in my first fight my junior year of high school when I was playing for the U.S. National team. I was a little bit smaller, and I was younger for the junior league. Everybody on the ice got into this line brawl, so I didn’t really want to, but kind of had to. I didn’t win at all.

Do you have a nickname on the team? If so, why do you have it?My nickname is “Zilla.” I don’t remember how it happened. Everyone says that I made it up, but I don’t think so. It was something that just kind of stuck when someone called me “Lav-zilla” or something. They shortened it, and now our trainer and everyone on the team calls me it. I don’t mind it; it’s funny, but I don’t know where it came from.

What do you study at Notre Dame? I study political science. I was actually a business major at Providence [College], but Notre Dame doesn’t accept business transfers. I was thinking about double majoring in Political Science at Providence, so I had some classes that transferred. I’ve had members of my family go through political science and I think it’s just something that’s really applicable to today. People should know a lot about politics and I find it to be pretty interesting.

What other activities are you involved in at Notre Dame? We do a lot of team community service stuff. We go over to Robinson Center a lot especially during the season to help with the after school program. We set up games and play. The kids love it. During the summer and off-season we do a lot of foundation stuff like walks.

What’s your favorite place on campus? My favorite place on campus is probably LaFortune.

What has been the best thing that has happened to you since you started at Notre Dame? I think the best thing has just been being around this group of guys. Last year we had a really good group, but we weren’t as tight as we are this year. I think everybody on this team is really close. We were together the whole summer and we formed friendships really quickly. I think that’s very important because we have a lot of young guys, so we needed to come together. That, and just the opportunity to be a senior leader on this team.

What is one thing that fans would not know about you? I am a huge momma’s boy. When I go home I hangout with my mom a lot. My mom and I are really, really close. I’ve always been like that ever since I was little.

What is something that you want to happen before you graduate?One of the other reasons I came here was because the academics are so good. I’m really focusing on studying hard this year to get my GPA up to where I want it to be. If you come to a school like Notre Dame you have to take advantage of every opportunity you have. Last year was kind of a transition year for me, so now that I’m settled I should really work on getting my GPA up.

What do you think your life is going to look like after Notre Dame? Hopefully I will be playing hockey, but like I said I’m not really thinking about that right now. It’s something that is really important to me, but everything kind of depends on how our team does this year. If I can represent this team well and if we can really work together as a team it will only help me in the end. I do want to be playing hockey at this time next year.