Dec. 18, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team (7-9-2, 4-6-2 CCHA) shakes off the rust this week for a rare Sun.-Mon. home series vs. Princeton (Dec. 19-20), following a break from action for finals week … the Irish split a pair of games last week with UMass (4-3 loss, 5-3 win) at the Joyce Center … the Dec. 10-11 series vs. Michigan State is ND’s only Central Collegiate Hockey Association action in a 55-day span … the Irish will return to action after Christmas break by playing in the Norwest Denver Cup, versus Denver on Dec. 31 and Maine or Colorado College on Jan. 1 … the Princeton series will be aired live by WJVA radio 1580 AM (also available via the Notre Dame website at www.und.com, as are real-time stats for all home games).
IS YOUR LINE CHART READY?: Notre Dame faces some interesting lineup choices during the next four games, due to the absence of three U.S. junior national team members – sophomore C Brett Henning, sophomore C/LW David Inman and freshman C Connor Dunlop … seniors Ben Simon and Troy Bagne are the team’s only remaining experienced centers, with other center options for the Princeton series and Denver Cup including a trio of junior wingers: Ryan Dolder, Matt Van Arkel and Chad Chipchase.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Notre Dame’s 5-3 comeback win over UMass made the Irish 2-9-1 this season when the opponent scores first and 2-9-0 when facing a two-goal deficit … ND scored a season-high three PPGs in that game (5-for-12 in the series) … ND’s seven wins have featured seven different game-winning goalscorers … ND is 23-for-25 on the penalty kill during the past six games … the Irish are 16-4-4 (.750) in their last 24 regular-season home games, with two losses by one goal … ND has allowed 21 first-period goals (3.50 GAA for 60 minutes), compared to just 27 goals allowed in the second and third periods combined (2.25 GAA) … the Irish are 21-0-3 during the past two seasons when leading at the second intermission (5-0-0 this season), 16-1-2 when ahead at the first break (4-0-0) and 20-2-4 when scoring first (5-0-1) … five of the ND’s last eight games have been decided by one goal … the eight goals in the UMass series are the most by ND in consecutive games this season … ND had allowed just five goals in the previous five games before the 4-1 loss at MSU on Dec. 5. … junior RW Ryan Dolder (GWG, 2 GWA) is the only Irish player with more than two game-winning points this season (a total of 13 players have scored or assisted on the seven GWGs this season) … ND’s 2.64 team goals-against average is on pace to challenge the team record set in 1998-99 (2.60) … prior to the 4-1 first period vs. Vermont, the Irish had been outscored 13-4 in the first period this season (now 21-13, with a 15-13 edge in the second, 16-14 in the third).
SURGES AND DROPOFFS: The 3-2 win over UAF is Notre Dame’s only victory this season in the second game of a CCHA series (1-4-1), with the following dropoffs on the second night of the five CCHA series this season: goals allowed (13 in first games, 23 on second night, avg. of 2.2 to 3.8), PK pct. (drop from .865 to .795) and PP pct. (.139 to .105) … Notre Dame’s 7-9-2 start stands in contrast to its 10-6-2 opening in ’98-’99, with the most notable dropoffs coming in goals per game (3.5 to 2.3), PP pct. (.234 to .171) and first-period goals (16 to 13) … only two current Irish players have six-plus goals, compared to six players with six-plus goals after 18 games in ’98-’99 … senior C Ben Simon (37G-74A) is the only current player with 70-plus career points, compared to four 70-plus scorers through 18 games in ’98-’99.
TESTING THE D-DEPTH: In its last 68 games (dating back to the Feb. 6, 1998), Notre Dame has played without at least one of its top four defensemen 52 times, going 26-20-6 in those games… the top four D missed a combined 39 games last season, yet the Irish still set the school record for goals-against average (2.61) … games missed by Irish defensemen in the last 68: junior Ryan Clark (26, final 24 games of 1998-99 and three games this season, including last two), senior Tyson Fraser (18, five last season, first UAF game this season), senior Nathan Borega (16, eight to open ’98-’99, first Miami game this season), senior Sean Molina (2, UNO series this season) and 1999 graduate Benoit Cotnoir (two, early in ’98-’99).
AT THE MIDPOINT: Despite an 0-4-0 start in the CCHA, Notre Dame is 4-2-2 in its last eight CCHA games and tied for ninth place, just four points out of fourth … the Irish rank 10th in the CCHA for overall goals/gm (2.44), 6th in goals allowed (2.67), 4th in power-play pct. (.171), 9th in penalty-kill pct. (.837) and 1st in fewest penalty minutes/gm (15.00) … sophomore LW David Inman is tied for 14th in the CCHA with seven goals (he totaled 10 in ’98-’99).
SLAP SHOTS: Notre Dame’s four first-period goals in the 5-1 win over Vermont (Nov. 28) were its most in 25 games, since scoring four times in the first period vs. UAF on Feb. 6, 1999 (a 5-2 win) … Notre Dame has allowed just five goals in its last four games (0 vs. UAF, 2 vs. UAF, 2 vs. UNH, 1 vs. Vermont) … the Irish have scored PPGs in 10 of 14 games this season … the Irish are 17-5-4 in their last 26 regular-season home games … Notre Dame has scored two or fewer goals in eight of 14 games (three games with three, one with four, two with five) … Notre Dame’s last eight OT games have produced seven ties and one loss (0-1-5 in 1998-99).
WARMING UP FOR THE WJC: Three Notre Dame players currently are training with the U.S. National Junior Team that will compete in the World Junior Championship (Dec. 26-Jan. 4 in Skelleftea and Umea, Sweden), marking the fourth consecutive year that Irish players will be members of the prestigious 22-player team … the invitees include sophomore C Brett Henning (Huntington, N.Y.), sophomore C/LW David Inman (Toronto, Ont.) and freshman C Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) – representing the most players from any school on the U.S. team … the team assembled Dec. 13 in West Point, N.Y., before traveling to Sweden for exhibition games (Dec. 20-22) … the U.S. team was introduced between periods of the N.Y. Rangers-L.A. Kings game on Dec. 15 … the threesome will rejoin Notre Dame in time for a CCHA series vs. Lake Superior (Jan. 7-8) … Inman – whose mother Straughn is a U.S. citizen – holds joint citizenship in Canada and the U.S. and was one of the final two forwards cut from the ’98-’99 U.S. National Junior team … Henning and Dunlop have past experience playing for U.S. national teams, as members of the National Team Development Program that trains in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Henning in ’97-’98 and Dunlop during each of the past two years) … Dunlop was an alternate captain and one of the leading scorers on the ’98-’99 U.S. Under-18 national team … Notre Dame is one of five schools that have placed players on the National Junior Team during each of past four years … current Irish senior C Ben Simon played on the USA’s silver medal-winning team in ’96-’97 and was joined on the USA squad in ’97-’98 by senior RW Joe Dusbabek while junior LW Dan Carlson was a member of the ’98-’99 junior national team … Boston College leads the way with nine selections to the National Junior Team during the past four years, followed by Notre Dame (7), Minnesota (6) and Michigan State (6) … six different Notre Dame players have been named to the team in the last four years (second to BC’s seven.
AVOIDING THE SIN BIN: Notre Dame’s low team goals-against average (2.64) is due in large part to a surging penalty-killing unit (.837, 23 for the last 25) and the CCHA’s least-penalized squad (7.3 penalties and 15.00 penalty minutes/gm, leading to just 5.5 opponent PP chances/gm) – since ranking as the CCHA’s most-penalized team in ’95-’96 (11.31 penalties/gm), the Irish were the CCHA’s least-penalized teams in ’96-’97 (8.69 pen./gm) and ’97-’98 (6.37) and the third-least penalized in ’98-’99 (8.40) – Notre Dame’s more disciplined players this season have included sophomore RW John Wroblewski (2 penalties), senior LW Andy Jurkowksi (2, 21 in 88 career games), senior C Ben Simon (4, compared to 30-31-31 in the past three seasons), and sophomore C Brett Henning (3, 18 in 56 career games) – senior D Sean Molina has 5 penalties this season and just 31 in 122 career games – senior D Nathan Borega had just 16 penalties as a sophomore and 13 as junior but already has totaled 17 in 17 games played this season.
THE SERIES: Princeton leads the series 7-0-0 … the teams last met on Dec. 28-29, 1996, when the Tigers swept a home series 5-2, and 3-2 (OT) … in the 5-2 game, Princeton seniors Chris Barber and Brad Meredith each netted their first career goals … ND dropped its two home games of the series, 5-4 and 6-4, in 1991-92 … Princeton won the first meeting of the series, 9-4, in 1984-85 … the Tigers have taken two of the seven games in OT … Princeton defeated ND 6-3 in 1994-95, in the consolation game of the Great Western Freeze-Out played at the Forum in Los Angeles … the Irish have lost their last 12 games when the winning goal was scored in the final minute of regulation or OT (dating back to Oct. 30, 1992), including the 5-4 loss at Princeton in 1996-97 (Scott Bertoli’s pass was redirected into the net by an ND player with 0:19 left in OT).
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Princeton is 3-6-3 overall (3-2-3 ECAC), after dropping two one-goal games at Bemidji State … Princeton is tied for fourth in the ECAC with St. Lawrence, trailing co-leaders Colgate, Harvard and Yale by a single point, after been picked 11th in the ECAC preseason poll … the Tigers have the second-ranked power play in the ECAC, hitting at a 21.9% (16-of-73) while their penalty kill is 10th at 73.8% (17 PPG allowed in 65 chances) … Princeton is paced offensively by junior winger Chris Corrinet (6G-7A), junior center Kirk Lamb (2G-10A), sophomore forward Brad Parsons (5G-5A) and senior forward Benoit Morin (2G-8A) … sophomore Dave Stathos leads the team between the pipes with a 3-3-0 record (2.72 GAA, .915 save pct.) … the Tigers were on the NCAA bubble last year after advancing to the ECAC semifinals, but close losses in the semifinals and third-place game kept them home … Princeton is looking to replace its three leading scorers (which represent one-third of its points from last season) … the Tigers are being outscored 30-19 in the first two periods, but hold a 16-11 advantage over their opponents in the final period. FRIEND OR FOE?: Notre Dame freshman D Evan Nielsen and Princeton freshman D Trevor Beaney were teammates on the blue line at The Taft School in Watertown, Conn.
RECAPPING THE UMASS SERIES (Dec. 10-11, 3-4, 5-3): The teams combined for 10 first-period goals, with UMass claiming a 3-2 lead in the first game and the Irish leading 3-2 in the second game … ND held a 36-23 shot edge in the first game but Markus Helanen made 33 saves (20 in the third) … Tony Zasowski yielded four goals in the first 24 minutes before giving way to Jeremiah Kimento (10 saves) … the teams traded goals in the 8th minute, with Sean Seyferth’s shot being tipped in by Jay Kopischke for his second goal in as many games … ND again tied the game, on a PPG from Ryan Dolder (assisted by Ben Simon, Joe Dusbabek) … the Irish set up an exciting finish by scoring early in the second, with Simon scoring after passes from Dolder and Dan Carlson … UMass jumped ahead 2-0 the next night but ND stormed back, scoring on three of their next four shots versus Mike Johnson, with goals from Evan Nielsen (assists by Carlson, John Wroblewski), Simon (PPG, assists by Tyson Fraser and David Inman) and Dolder (PPG, assisted by Inman) … the Irish added to their lead with Simon’s second goal of the night – and the team’s third PPG – in the second period (assists to Dolder, Nielsen) before icing the win on Nathan Borega’s empty-netter … Kimento gave up the early goals before stopping 19 of the next 20 shots … ND played in the series without freshman C Connor Dunlop (arm injury vs. MSU , Dec. 4) and junior D Ryan Clark (concussion at MSU, Dec. 5)
AROUND THE HORN
Junior RW Ryan Dolder was recognized by the ND coaching staff for his emerging leadership by being named the team’s third alternate captain last week – senior C Ben Simon notched his third career two-goal game in the win over UMass (he has yet to record a hat trick) – Dolder has 3G-2A in the last four games, including last week’s game-winner vs. MSU (1-0) – Simon has eight points (4G-4A) in the last five games (five in first 12) – senior LW Andy Jurkowski has skated in 60 straight games (longest by any current ND player) – senior D Sean Seyferth has three points (1G-2A) in the last four games – senior RW Joe Dusbabek has five points (1G-4A) in the last six games and nine (3G-6A) in his last 10 games played – senior D Tyson Fraser’s assist vs. UMass was his 50th career point (8G-43A) and marked his 45th career game with a goal or assist – Notre Dame freshman G Tony Zasowski ranks 8th overall in the CCHA with a 2.54 GAA, which would best the Irish record of 2.58 set by Forrest Karr last season – Zasowski turned in a shutout streak of 130:36, spanning 54 minutes of the 2-1 loss at UNH and the first 76 minutes of the MSU series – sophomore Jeremiah Kimento (2.68) ranks 10th in the CCHA – ND’s team GAA of 2.64 is just shy of last year’s team record (2.61) – Zasowski (19 saves vs. UAF, 24 vs. MSU) is the second ND goalie with two solo shutouts in the same season (Karr shut out OSU and Miami in ’98-’99) – Kimento posted a 19-save shutout vs. Union, marking the first time that the Irish have shut out three opponents in the same season – Jurkwoski (4G-4A) – who moved up from the D this season-has surpassed his scoring from the previous three season combined (2G-4A in 70 games, including 18 as a freshman F) – sophomore LW David Inman leads the Irish with seven goals but has just one in the last seven games – ND’s four 1st-period goals in the 5-1 win over Vermont (Nov. 28) were its most in 25 games, since scoring four times in the 1st vs. UAF on Feb. 6, 1999 (a 5-2 win) – the Irish are 3-2-1 in first games of CCHA series this season (1-4-1 in the second games) – senior D Sean Molina is tied for third on the squad in plus-minus (+2), after ranking second on the ’98-’99 squad (+13) – Molina has totaled just 31 career penalties (none in the last eight games) while playing the most games (124) of any current Irish player (he is averaging 4.0 games per penalty for his career) – Molina is tied for sixth on the 1999-2000 team with five assists, equaling his total from ’98-’99 and one shy of his career-best season total (6, in ’97-’98) … Simon is averaging just 2.1 shots/gm this season (36 in 17 games), compared to 3.1 in ’98-’99 (113 in 37) and 2.8 over his first three seasons (287 in 104).
LAMP LIGHTERS
Notre Dame entered 1999-2000 with five players who had 15-plus career goals (68.8 pct. of the team’s career goals) but those players have combined for just 31.8 pct. of the current total (14 of 44), as senior C Ben Simon has six goals, senior RW Joe Dusbabek and junior LW Dan Carlson each have 3G and junior RW Matt Van Arkel has two (junior LW Chad Chipchase has not scored in 10 GP) … unexpected scoring boosts have included 4G from senior LW Andy Jurkowski (two previous goals in his ND career), plus 3G from sophomore C Brett Henning (4G as a freshman), 5G from junior RW Ryan Dolder (8G in previous two seasons) and 2G from senior D Tyson Fraser (5G in previous three seasons).
The Irish continue to look for offensive boosts, after graduation losses of RW and team captain Brian Urick (16G-25A in ’98-’99), LW power-play ace Aniket Dhadphale (18-11) and All-America D Benoit Cotnoir (7-18) … senior C/LW Ben Simon (37 career goals, 74 assists) is the team’s most accomplished scorer while sophomore C/LW David Inman has seven goals this season … Inman has 15 points (10G-5A) in the last 21 regular-season games while junior RW Ryan Dolder has 13 (7G-6A) in the last 22 … freshman C Connor Dunlop has 2G-6A in 15 games plaed … ND’s trio of junior LWs – Dan Carlson, Chad Chipchase and Jay Kopischke – are due for a scoring breakthrough, as that threesome has combined for just seven goals in Notre Dame’s last 34 games … Carlson’s goal in the 3-2 CCHA playoff win over Northern Michigan represented his only goal in 21 games (before his PPGs this season vs. Ferris State and Miami and a nifty goal vs. Vermont) while Chipchase’s crucial goal in the ’98-’99 season finale at Miami (4-2) marks his only goal in his last 26 games played … Kopischke’s goal last week at Michigan State was his first since Jan. 30, 1998, spanning 50 games played (he then scored in the next game as well, vs. UMass) … senior RW Joe Dusbabek could provide a huge scoring lift for the Irish, after scoring 13 goals during his big freshman season (he has eight goals, plus 29 often timely assists, in 66 games over the past three years and heads into the Princeton series with 3G-6A in the last 11 games) … sophomore C Brett Henning had one goal in a 19-game span before netting goals vs. Union, Miami and UAF (he has 3G in the last 15 games and 2G-4A in the last 11) … junior RW Matt Van Arkel’s goals vs. Union and Miami extended his history of strong early-season play (19 of 25 career points before New Year’s).
SIMON REACHES 100: Notre Dame senior C Ben Simon (Shaker Heights, Ohio) has earned preseason CCHA “player of the year” honors from Hockey News … Simon registered a goal and assist in the season-opening Michigan series, giving him 100 points (32G-68A) in his 106th career game … he added 1G-2A in the series at UNO, 1G-2A vs. Vermont, 1A at MSU and 3G-1A in the UMass series, for a career total of 111 points (37G-74A) in 121 games … Simon is the fourth Irish player to reach 100 points in the five-year tenure of head coach Dave Poulin, joining ’96 graduate Jamie Ling (51-102) and ’99 grads Brian Urick (57-69) and Aniket Dhadphale (61-44) … Simon needs 13 more goals to become the 29th ND player ever to total 50-plus goals and 50-plus assists … he is 20 points shy of cracking Notre Dame’s top-20 career scoring list and needs 23 more assists to crack that top 10 list.
HOMESTANDERS: In its last 29 regular-season home games, Notre Dame is 19-6-4 with a 102-60 scoring edge (two 7-1 wins, one 9-5 win) – ND’s last 19 home wins have included 10 by three-plus goals – despite opening ’98-’99 with a 10-0-2 mark at home, the Irish are just 7-6-2 in their last 15 overall home games (including the CCHA first-round playoff series with Northern Michigan) and have been outscored 41-37 in those games.
EARLY ROOKIE HONORS: Notre Dame produced two early CCHA rookie-of-the-week honorees, with center Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) honored by the CCHA on Oct. 18 while goaltender Tony Zasowski (Darien, Ill.) was recognized on Nov. 1 for his strong series vs. Miami (58 saves, 4 GA) … Zasowski became the first freshman to start in net for the Irish since Matt Eisler made his first career start in the second game of ’94-’95 … Dunlop assisted on four of ND’s five goals in the IceBreaker Tournament.
Academics Job One: The Notre Dame hockey team posted a 3.10 team GPA in the spring of ’99 semester while the program held a 3.00 cumulative team GPA at the end of the ’99 spring – nine players on the ’98-’99 team posted at least one Dean’s List semester (3.4 GPA or higher), including two who made the Dean’s List in both the fall of ’98 and the spring of ’99 – the four returning players who turned in Dean’s List semesters in ’98-’99 are: senior D Andy Jurkowski (both semesters, 3.83 cumulative GPA), sophomore F David Inman (both semesters, 3.60 cumulative), junior LW Dan Carlson (spring ’99, 3.42 cumulative ) and senior D Tyson Fraser (fall ’98).