Dec. 4, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format 
• The Game: #1/#1 Notre Dame (10-3-2/6-2-2-2) at Ferris State (7-6-3/6-4-2-0)
• Date/Site/Time: Fri.-Sat., Dec. 5-6, 2008 • Ewigleben Arena (2,493) • 7:05 p.m.
• Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Mike Lockert, now in his seventh season, will call all the action for the Irish.
• Internet: All Notre Dame hockey games can be heard live on the internet via the Notre Dame website at www.und.com. All home games that are not televised will be streamed live on und.com. All Notre Dame home games and all CCHA games are available via gametracker.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Notre Dame takes to the road this weekend for a pair of games at Ferris State on Dec. 5-6. Game times at Ewigleben Arena are set for 7:05 p.m. both nights. The Irish will put their five-game road winning streak on the line in Friday’s contest as they have not lost away from the Joyce Center since the season opener against Denver. The series is the first of three consecutive road games for the Irish. Notre Dame also is in the midst of a 10-game unbeaten run (8-0-2). For the year, the Irish, who moved into the top spot in the national rankings for the first time this season, are 10-3-2 overall and 6-2-2-2 in the CCHA, good for 16 points, three points behind first-place Miami in the conference standings with two games in hand. The Irish are coming off a win (4-1) and a shootout win (3-3, 2-1) at home against Western Michigan last weekend. The Ferris State Bulldogs open the weekend with a 7-6-3 record overall and are 6-4-2-0 in the CCHA, good for 14 points and a tie for third place with Alaska and Ohio State. The Bulldogs are just two points behind the Irish but have played two more league games. Last weekend, Ferris State traveled to Northern Michigan where the Bulldogs took 6-4 and 2-1 decisions. Following the Ferris State series, Notre Dame will close out the first half with a home-and-home series against Bowling Green on Dec. 12-13. The Irish will then break for finals and the holidays before returning to action at the Shillelagh Tournament in Chicago, Jan. 2-3.
IRISH VERSUS BULLDOGS: Notre Dame and Ferris State have met 63 times in the all-time series with the Bulldogs holding a 37-20-6 record. At Big Rapids, Ferris State is 14-8-2 versus Notre Dame. The last time the Irish won at Big Rapids was Oct. 26, 2007, a 3-2 win. The two teams met seven times last season with the series even at 3-3-1. Ferris State won the regular-season series, 2-1-1. In the CCHA second round series, the Bulldogs won game one of the series only to see the Irish take games two and three to advance to the CCHA finals in Detroit.
NICE NOVEMBER: Notre Dame closed out the month of November with a 7-0-2 mark in the nine games played. During the month, the Irish out scored the opposition by a 41-15 margin (4.56 to 1.67). In the two ties, Notre Dame won the CCHA contests with a pair of 2-1 shootout victories. Last season, the Irish were 9-1-0 in the month of November.
WESTERN MICHIGAN RECAP:
Saturday, November 29 – Notre Dame jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Christian Hanson (Sr., Venetia, Pa.) and Billy Maday (Fr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) only to see Western Michigan score three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead after two periods. Patrick Galivan, Tyler Ludwig (ppg), and Max Campbell scored for the Broncos and moved into the third period with a one-goal lead. Ryan Thang (Jr., Edina, Minn.) would tie the game with a power-play goal at 6:27 of the third and regulation and overtime ended in the 3-3 tie. In the shootout, Notre Dame prevailed, 2-1. Campbell gave WMU a 1-0 lead before Thang tied it with Notre Dame’s third shot. After Ben Ryan (So., Brighton, Mich.) was stopped and Galivan missed the net in the first sudden-death round, Erik Condra (Sr., Livonia, Mich.) scored for the Irish and Jordan Pearce (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) stopped Kevin Connauton to give Notre Dame the win. Tommy O’Brien (Jr., Mokena, Ill.) made his second career start for the Irish and played the first 23:15, giving up two goals on eight shots before givig way to Pearce who surrendered one goal on 20 shots. Jerry Kuhn made 35 saves for the Broncos in the contest.
Friday, November 28 – Notre Dame used four power-play goals to roll to a 4-1 win over Western Michigan on Friday night at the Joyce Center. The Irish got a four-point game (2g, 2a) from Calle Ridderwall (So., Stockholm, Sweden) and a three-point contest (0g, 3a) from Christian Hanson in the win. Billy Maday added a goal and an assist and Kevin Deeth (Jr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) added the fourth power-play goal for the Irish. Max Campbell scored the lone Western Michigan goal, giving the Broncos a 1-0 lead at 10:09 of the first period. On the night, the Irish out shot Western Michigan, 49-22. Jordan Pearce had 21 saves in the game while Jerry Kuhn made 45 stops for the Broncos. Notre Dame got one goal in the first period, two in the second and one in the third for the win. The 49 shots on goal were a season high for the Irish.
POWER SURGE: After being held scoreless on the power play on Nov. 14 versus Lake Superior State, the Irish have now gone 16-for-34 (47.1%) on the power play over the last five games. In the last three games versus Bowling Green (6-for-12) and Western Michigan (4-for-4 and 2-for-5), the Irish are 12-for-21 with the man advantage for a 57.1% success rate.
Christian Hanson takes a five-game point streak (5g, 7a) into the Ferris State series.
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EN FUEGO: Sophomore left wing Calle Ridderwall and senior center Christian Hanson have been on fire over the last five games for the Irish. Ridderwall, who had five goals and two assists for seven points as a freshman in 2007-08, has scored five goals and nine assists for 14 points in his last five games. Hanson has 12 points over the last five games, scoring five goals with seven assists in that span. Freshman right wing Billy Maday isn’t far behind. The rookie has scored goals in five consecutive games and has five goals and two assists for seven points in his last five contests.
CCHA HONORS: Sophomore Calle Ridderwall and freshman Billy Maday were honored by the Central Collegiate Hockey Association last week as the conference’s offensive player and rookie of the week respectively. Ridderwall helped the Irish to the win and tie versus Western Michigan by scoring two goals and adding three assists for five points. Included was his second consecutive four-point game (2g, 2a) in the 4-1 win over the Broncos on Nov. 28. Maday scored a pair of goals and added an assist for three points on the weekend to take rookie honors. The talented right wing scored a goal and an assist in the 4-1 win over Western Michigan and then added a goal in the 3-3 tie with the Broncos. Maday has been the rookie of the week twice this season.
ON THE SIDELINES: The Irish will be without the services of sophomore goaltender Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich.) for the entire season. Phillips injured his right knee in the preseason and will be out of action for the year. He was 4-1-0 as a freshman with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
A CHILL (ING) REUNION: When Calle Ridderwall and freshman Billy Maday were put on the same line with center Kevin Deeth in the second game of the Miami series, it marked the first time that Ridderwall and Maday played together at Notre Dame. The two aren’t strangers as they spent the 2005-06 season as linemates with the Chicago Chill Midget AA program, helping the Chill to a second-place finish at the USA Midget AA championships. Maday had 38 goals and 87 assists for 125 points in 74 games with the Chill while Ridderwall had 52 goals and 66 assists for 118 points that season. In 11 games together this season, the duo has combined for 14 goals and and 16 assists with Maday having seven goals and six assists and Ridderwall seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in those games.
ROAD WARRIORS: As a team, the Irish have now won five games in a row on the road and are 5-1-0 this season away from the Joyce Center. The current five-game road streak is the first for Notre Dame since Feb. 2 – Feb. 17, 2007 when the Irish won a weekend series at Bowling Green and Alaska as part of a five-game road winning streak. At home, the Irish are 5-2-2, 3-0-2 in the last five games.
WINNING TEAMS: Since the start of the 2006-07 season, Notre Dame has the winningest hockey program in the nation. Heading into this weekend’s series versus Ferris State, Notre Dame ranks first in wins (69) and first in winning percentage (.707). Here are the top five teams by wins and winning percentage (as of Dec 3).
Wins Winning Pct.Notre Dame 69 Notre Dame (.707)Michigan 68 Michigan (.705)Miami 65 Miami (.704))Boston College 63 Boston College (.680)North Dakota 57 New Hampshire (.659)New Hampshire 56
ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman right wing Billy Maday has been named the CCHA rookie of the month for November. In nine games during the month, Maday had seven goals and four assists for 11 points. Included in his seven goals were five power-play markers. Maday scored points in eight of the nine games and was +4 in the month. He finished the month scoring goals in the last five consecutive games, going 5g, 2a in that span.
USA…USA…USA: Irish defensemen Ian Cole (So., Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Teddy Ruth (So., Naperville, Ill.) have been selected to the 22-man roster for the U.S. Junior National Team that will compete in the World Junior Championships from Dec. 26- Jan. 5 in Ottawa, Ont. The tournament pits the top hockey players in the world under the age of 20 against each other. For Cole, this marks the second time that he has been named to the team as he played in last year’s tournament. Ruth becomes the 12th Irish player selected to play for the U.S. Junior National Team. They join fellow defenseman Kyle Lawson (Jr., New Hudson, Mass.) as current Irish players to have played in the tournament during their careers.
UNBEATEN STREAKS: Notre Dame’s current 10-game unbeaten streak is the longest for the Irish since they went 8-0-2 from Nov. 6, 1987 to Dec. 4, 1987. The next longest streak for the Irish is a 13-game unbeaten streak (10-0-3) that occured from Dec. 11, 1968 to Jan. 20, 1969.
MR. RELIABLE: Senior goaltender Jordan Pearce has been a regular in the Notre Dame goal over the last two seasons. Since Jan. 5, 2008, Pearce has appeared in 37 of the last 38 Irish games. Of those 37 games, 35 have been starts. Pearce had appeared in 11 straight games since Oct. 18 until last Saturday, Nov. 29 when Tommy O’Brien (Jr., Mokena, Ill.) made second career start. Pearce came on in relief after 23:15 of action as O’Brien surrendered two goals on eight shots. Pearce has appeared in 14 of Notre Dame’s first 15 games this season and is 10-3-2 with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. In his current 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2), Pearce has a 1.54 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage. His 40-save performance against the Lakers on Nov. 14, was the most saves in his career, surpassing the previous high of 34 set on Feb. 17, 2006 versus Bowling Green in a 7-4 win.
LETTERS OF INTENT: Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson has announced that five players have signed national letters-of-intent to play hockey at Notre Dame beginning in the fall of 2009: The list includes two defensemen and three forwards. Joining the Irish for next season are:
Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.), Cam Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Nick Larson (Apple Valley, Minn.), Kyle Palmieri (Montvale, N.J.) and Riley Sheahan (St. Catharines, Ont.). Calabrese, Fowler and Palmieri all play for the USA Under-18 team while Larson plays for Waterloo in the USHL and Sheahan is a member of the St. Catharines Falcons organization in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Calabrese and Palmieri are eligible for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft next June while Fowler and Sheahan can’t be drafted until the June of 2010 draft. Larson was selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft by the Calgary Flames.
WE’RE NO. 1: For just the third time in the 41-year history of the Notre Dame hockey team, the Irish are ranked No. 1 in the nation. Both polls, the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CBS College Sports polls, had Notre Dame at the top of their lists. This is the first time since the 2006-07 campaign that Notre Dame has been ranked No. 1 . During that year, the Irish were tops in the nation for seven consecutive weeks. The first time that Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 was during February of 1977 when the Irish were on top for just one week.
RANKINGS UPDATE: Notre Dame entered the 2008-09 season ranked fourth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CBS College Sports polls. The Irish finished the 2007-08 campaign ranked third in the USA Today poll and 12th in the USCHO.com polls. During the `07-’08 season, the Irish were ranked every week of the season for the first time in the program’s 41-year history. Going back to the 2006-07 season, Notre Dame has been ranked in both polls for 46 consecutive weeks, the longest stretch for the Irish icers. During the `06-’07 season, Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 for seven straight weeks from Feb. 5 to March 25. Prior to that, the Irish had been No. 1 just one other time, for a week during the 1976-77 season.
Week-by-week with the Irish this season:
2008-09 Irish National RankingsDate USA TODAY USCHO.com10/01 3rd ---10/06 4th 4th10/13 8th 8th10/20 8th 8th10/27 13th 13th11/3 12th 12th11/10 9th 9th11/17 6th 5th11/24 2nd 2nd12/1 1st 1st
PICK SIX: Notre Dame had one of the best power-play performances in program history on Nov. 22 at Bowling Green when the Irish went six-for-12 on the night with the man advantage.Prior to that, the last time Notre Dame scored six power-play goals in a game was Oct. 21, 1994 when the Irish had six ppg’s in an 8-4 win over Waterloo at the Joyce Center. The last time the Irish had 12 power-play chances in a game was on Oct. 8, 2004 at home against Minnesota-Duluth. The Irish were 1-for-12 on the power play in that game.
Freshman Billy Maday has scored goals in five straight games for Notre Dame. He was the CCHA rookie of the month for November.
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FRESHMAN LEADER: Notre Dame rookie Billy Maday ranks third on the Irish in scoring with nine goals and six assists for 15 points in his first 15 games this season. He is tops among freshmen scorers in the CCHA with his 15 points and is currently tied for third on the national level. His nine goals and five power-play goals are tops among CCHA freshmen and tops among freshmen nationally.
GOING TO THE GOAL: In Notre Dame’s 10-game unbeaten streak, the Irish have outscored the opposition by a 44-17 margin (4.40 to 1.70). Over the last nine games the Irish have had four or more goals in seven of those contests. The two games with less that four were the 3-3 ties with Lake Superior State on Nov. 15 and Western Michigan on Nov. 29.
WEEKLY HONORS: Defenseman Brett Blatchford (Jr., Temperance, Mich.) and center Christian Hanson were selected as the CCHA’s defensive and offensive players of the week respectively for the week ending Nov. 23. Blatchford had four assists in the two games, including a three-assist game on Nov. 22 and was +3 in the two wins. This is the second consecutive week that Blatchford has captured the league’s top defensive player of the week award. Hanson had four goals and two assists for six points in the two games and was +3 for the series. Hanson scored two goals with one assist in each game for the first three-point games of his career. He also was selected as Inside College Hockey.com’s player of the week for his play in the games against the Falcons.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE MAN ADVANTAGE: Prior to Notre Dame’s series with Bowling Green (11/21-22), Notre Dame’s power-play was hitting at a 15.6% success rate and ranked fifth in the CCHA and 31st in the nation. Since then, the power-play is 14-for-27 against Bowling Green and Western Michigan for a 51.9% success rate. Notre Dame’s power play is now 24-for-104 for a 25.0% success rate. That leads the CCHA and is third nationally.
HANSON HEROICS: Senior center Christian Hanson turned in the first three, three-point games of his career and he did it back-to-back-to-back games during the Bowling Green series and in the first game versus Western Michigan. Hanson had two goals to go with one assist in each game of the Bowling Green series and then followed it up with a three-assist game versus Western. The two-goal games for Hanson were the second and third of his career. During the month of November, Hanson had six goals and nine assists of 15 points in nine games. Hanson is tied for the team lead in scoring with nine goals and nine assist for 18 points.
MINELLA MAGIC: Junior right wing Christiaan Minella scored his first career goal, on his first shot in his first collegiate game against Bowling Green on Nov. 11, 2006. It would be 46 games before he would score again, getting the second goal of his career on Oct. 18 of this season against Sacred Heart. The 6-2, 216-pound forward saw his goal streak snapped at three games (Nov. 14-Nov. 21). Since November 14, Minella has four goals and three assists for seven points. His four goals this season are a career-best for Minella and he’s done it in just 13 games.
THE PLAYMAKER: Junior defenseman Brett Blatchford (Temperance, Mich.) comes into the series with Ferris State with 14 assists for 14 points in 15 games to lead Irish defensemen in scoring. The smooth-skating defenseman has already exceeded his output of last season when he had 12 assists in 45 games. He is currently second among defensemen in scoring in the CCHA and ninth nationally. His 14 assists tie him for second in the CCHA and tie him for sixth nationally.
RED HOT SWEDE: Sophomore Calle Ridderwall credits his recent offensive exploits to increased confidence. The speedy left wing has seen his game take off in recent weeks as he has now scored 14 points (5g, 9a) in his last five games. His recent tear started in a game that he didn’t get credited with any points, but got the winning goal for the Irish. On Nov. 14, Notre Dame faced Lake Superior in their first-ever shootout and Ridderwall dazzled the crowd with a great move to score the winning goal for the Irish. He followed that with a career-best three-point game (1g, 2a) in the win over the Lakers the following night. Versus Bowling Green, Ridderwall had a pair of assists in the 5-1 win and then added his first career four-point game (2g, 2a) in the 9-1 win over the Falcons on Nov. 22. He didn’t wait long to get his second four-point game as he followed the first with another two-goal, two-assist night in the 4-1 win over Western Michigan and then added an assist in the second game versus the Broncos. For the year, Ridderwall is tied for first in scoring with seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points, surpassing his freshman totals of five goals and two assists for seven points.
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