Feb. 18, 2014
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has been named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 16. Summerhays was 1-0-1 on the weekend against Providence, recording a 2-2 overtime tie and a 3-0 shutout win.
In the two-game series with the Friars, the 6-0, 190-pound goaltender gave up two goals in 125 minutes of action for a 0.96 goals-against average and stopped 83-of-85 shots for a .976 save percentage. His shutout was his sixth of the season and he leads the nation in that category. This marks the second time this season that Summerhays was named the league’s defensive player of the week as he also was selected on Oct. 14.
In Friday’s 2-2 overtime tie, the former Green Bay Gambler faced a season-high 49 shots on goal and made a personal, career-best 47 saves in the tie.
He followed that with 36 saves in a 3-0 shutout over the Friars on Saturday night. That win snapped a six-game winless (0-5-1) streak for the Irish on the road in Hockey East. The shutout was the third for Summerhays in Hockey East games this season and his first Hockey East road shutout of the season. It was his second road shutout of the year overall.
Summerhays becomes the first Notre Dame goaltender to record six shutouts in a season since Jordan Pearce `09 had eight in the 2008-09 campaign. The blanking of Providence was also the 12th career shutout for Summerhays at Notre Dame. That ties him with David Brown `07 and Pearce for the most in Notre Dame hockey history.
This season, Summerhays is 15-11-2 on the year with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage to go with the six shutouts. He is tied for first in the league in wins (15), leads the conference in minutes played (1,676:27), is fifth in goals-against average (2.04), ranks seventh in save percentage (.925) and first in shutouts (6).
The Irish return to action this weekend at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, February 21, when they open a weekend series with Boston University at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Game two of the series is set for 7:05 p.m. on Feb. 22.
Notre Dame has just three games left in the 2013-14 regular season as the Irish close the campaign on March 1 with a single game at Boston College.