Nov. 30, 2016
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame returns to Hockey East play with a weekend road series at UMass (Dec. 2-3).
Dating back to a 2015 Hockey East playoff series, the Fighting Irish carry a four-game winning streak against the Minutemen into this weekend’s series. The opening game of that Hockey East playoff series proved to be college hockey’s longest game, a 5-4 five overtime win by UMass. Cal Petersen also set the NCAA record with 87 saves in that contest.
OVERVIEW | GAME 15
Matchup: Notre Dame at Massachusetts
Date: Friday, Dec. 2
Time: 6:00 p.m. (ET)
Site: Amherst, Mass.
Arena: Mullins Center (10,500)
Television: American Sports Network
[Clearances include: WHME-46, CSN Chicago Plus, NESN, TSN GO]
Play-by-Play: Tom Caron
Analyst: Billy Jaffe
Live Streaming: None
Live Radio: WZOC 94.3 FM / WatchNDv
Play-by-Play: Darin Pritchett
Live Stats: HockeyEastonline.com
Live Updates: @NDHockey
Series History: ND leads, 9-5-0
NOTES TO KNOW
— Cal Petersen is 5-1-0 in six career games against UMass and has a 1.20 goals against average to go along with a .957 save percentage.
— Junior defenseman Jordan Gross has scored a goal and added six assists for seven points in seven career games against Massachusetts.
— The weekend series at UMass will be Notre Dame’s final road series of the calendar year, and it will not play another road game until Jan. 13-14 at Merrimack.
— The Fighting Irish enter the weekend tied for fourth in Hockey East (3-2-1, 7 points), while UMass is tied for 10th (1-5-1, 3 points).
UMASS AT A GLANCE
— The Minutemen are 3-7-2 on the season and are coming off a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the 2016 Friendship Four tournament.
— In Belfast, UMass lost to eventual tournament champion Vermont, 4-2, before bouncing back to tie St. Lawrence, 2-2.
— Massachusetts’ wins this season have come against Colorado College (Oct. 7), Army (Oct. 21) and Merrimack (Nov. 11).
— Sophomore forwards Austin Plevy (4-4-8) and Kurt Keats (3-5-8) are tied for the team lead with eight points apiece (Keats is suspended for game one of this weekend’s series).
— Junior forward Dominic Trento leads the team with seven assists. — In net, freshman Ryan Wischow (2-3-2, 2.49 GAA, .912 Sv%) and sophomore Nic Renyard (1-4-0, 4.20 GAA, .888 Sv%) have combined to play the majority of the minutes, though Wischow has started three of the last four games.
— Greg Carvel is in his first season as head coach at UMass (he replaced current Irish Special Assistant to the Coaching Staff John Micheletto).
BJORK PLAYS LEADING ROLE
— Junior forward Anders Bjork, a 2014 fifth-round pick by Boston, ranks tied for second in Hockey East with 23 points (9-14-23).
— Bjork’s nine goals rank tied for third in Hockey East, while his 14 assists are tied for second in Hockey East (tied for third in the country).
— Bjork has been held without a point in just four of Notre Dame’s 14 games this season (including the 0-0, two-period tie at Northeastern).
— Bjork has posted six multi-point games, including four-point games against ASU (Oct. 8) and UConn (Oct. 28).
— The Irish are 7-2-1 on the season when Bjork notches at least one point (5-1-0 when he scores at least one goal).
TOP MARKS IN THE COUNTRY
— Released on Nov. 15, the Irish rank third in NCAA Div. I hockey in the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) with a score of 94 (Bowling Green is first with 100, followed by Air Force at 96). — Notre Dame also ranks first in NCAA Div. I hockey in the Federal Rate (measured by the federal government in its Department of Education report) with a score of 82.
— Miami is second in the Federal Rate with a score of 79.
— The University of Notre Dame has claimed a share of the 2016 national championship for graduating student-athletes in all sports–in the process posting the top NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) figure (98) for its student-athletes for the 10th straight year.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).