April 23, 2017
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame junior forward Anders Bjork and junior goaltender Cal Petersen were named Monogram Club co-Most Valuable Players at the hockey program’s annual awards banquet on Sunday afternoon (April 23) at the University’s Morris Inn.
Bjork also was named the team’s Compton Family Leadership in Service Award winner as well as the team’s offensive Player of the Year. Petersen also earned Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Senior forward Ben Ostlie earned the Charles “Lefty” Smith Coaches Award, while senior goaltender Chad Katunar was named the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Student-Athlete Award winner.
Sophomore forward Andrew Oglevie was selected as the team’s Most Improved Player, while freshman defenseman Andrew Peeke picked up Rookie of the Year honors.
In addition, former Irish All-American forward and 1983 graduate Kirt Bjork was honored with the team’s Distinguished Alumni Award and Coordinator of Hockey Operations Nick Siergiej was given an Honorary Alumni Award.
Anders Bjork
Bjork posted a career-high 52 points on 21 goals and 31 assists in 2016-17. He was named a Second Team East CCM/AHCA All-American and earned First Team Hockey East All-Star honors.
Bjork skated in 39 games as his 52 points tied for fourth in Hockey East and tied for ninth in the country. He had six game-winning goals, which tied for fifth in the country. The Irish were 22-5-2 in 2017-17 when he registered at least one point and 11-3-0 when he scored at least one goal. He posted 16 multi-point games this season, including four-point efforts against Arizona State (Oct. 8) and UConn (Oct. 28).
In Notre Dame’s two games at the 2017 NCAA Northeast Regional, Bjork led the Irish with a two-goal performance against No. 1 seed Minnesota, including the game-winning goal, and he tallied the primary assist on all three goals in a 3-2 overtime win over UMass Lowell. He had five points on the weekend and was named the NCAA Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player.
Skating in 115 career games, Bjork has scored 40 goals and added 69 assists for 109 points, which ranks tied for 42nd on Notre Dame’s career points list. He notched his 100th point with an assist versus Providence (Feb. 18), becoming the 51st player in program history to reach 100 career points and the first junior to do so since Tynan and Lee in 2013.
He joins father, Kirt, as the only father-son duo to earn All-America recognition while skating for the Irish. The Bjorks are one of five father-son combinations to earn All-America honors, and one of two to complete a pair this season, joining fellow 2017 Second Team (West) honoree Luc Snuggerud of Omaha and father, Dave, who was a 1989 second-teamer from Minnesota, as the fourth and fifth father-son All-Americans.
Cal Petersen
As a junior captain in 2016-17, Petersen led the Irish to their third Frozen Four appearance in program history. One of five finalists for the 2017 Mike Richter Award, Petersen was selected to the NCAA Northeast Regional All-Tournament team after posting wins over Minnesota and UMass Lowell.
Petersen finished the season with a 23-12-5 record to go along with a 2.22 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and six shutouts. His save percentage ranked third in Hockey East and 11th nationally, while his six shutouts tied for the NCAA lead. Petersen’s 2016-17 numbers were compiled against a tough schedule that included 18 games against top-20 offenses (teams who finished the season ranked in the top-20 nationally in goals per game).
A 2017 First Team Hockey East All-Star, Petersen led the Irish to a weekend sweep of Providence College in the Hockey East quarterfinals (March 10-11). In the two games versus the Friars, Petersen posted a 1.00 goals against average and a .973 save percentage to go along with a 43-save, game one shutout. He earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors following the series.
Petersen was also named the Hockey East Co-Defensive Player of the Week following back-to-back shutouts versus Alaska (Dec. 31 and Jan. 1), including a 34-save performance in game one of that series. From Dec. 10 to Jan. 6, Petersen went 207:10 without allowing a goal, which is the second-longest shutout streak in program history.
Petersen has started 90-consecutive games in goal for the Irish, the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history. He ranks first in career save percentage (.924) at Notre Dame, second in minutes played (6498:02), third in saves (3,042) and goals against average (2.30), tied for third in victories (55) as well as fourth in shutouts (11) and games played (110).
Ben Ostlie
Ostlie was one of two seniors on the 2016-17 roster and provided a steadying presence for a young Irish team. He began his career at Notre Dame as a defenseman and transitioned to forward, while also filling in on the blue line when needed. A Rosenthal Leadership Academy participant, he scored the game-winning goal in Notre Dame’s 3-1 win at fifth-ranked Boston University on February 24, helping secure a first round bye in the Hockey East playoffs. He played in 93 career games, including a season-high 30 as a senior. He will graduate in May with a management consulting degree from the Mendoza College of Business.
Chad Katunar
Katunar, the other senior on the 2016-17 Irish roster, will graduate in May with degrees in Finance and Economics. He finished his career with a 7-4-2 record in 22 appearances. He was Notre Dame’s Elite 90 nominee at the 2017 Frozen Four.
Oglevie had a breakout year offensively for the Irish while playing both wing and center. He skated in all 40 games and finished third on the team with 41 points on 21 goals and 20 assists, all of which were career-high totals. He increased his point total from his freshman year to sophomore season by 32 and his 41 points tied for 10th in Hockey East. He scored the overtime, game-winning goal against UMass Lowell in the NCAA Northeast Regional Final to send the Irish to the Frozen Four.
Peeke developed into one of the top young defensemen the nation this season. The only defenseman to be named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team, he finished the season with four goals and 10 assists for 14 points and he had four multi-point games. He skated in all 40 games and posted a plus-10 rating. He led Hockey East and finished third in the country with 95 blocked shots.
— 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).