March 8, 2000
Notre Dame senior left wing Andy Jurkowski (Madison, Wis.) has been named to the prestigious eight-player Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Academic Team for 1999-2000, making Notre Dame the CCHA’s only school to produce an All-Academic honoree during each of the last five seasons.
Jurkowski-who received the second-most votes for the All-Academic team-has made a valuable contribution to the Notre Dame forward lines this season, after moving up from the defenseman position that he held during the previous two seasons. A seven-time Dean’s List student, he has posted three 4.0 semesters and owns a 3.86 cumulative GPA as a finance major. He has been nominated for GTE Academic All-America honors for fall and winter “at-large” sports, with that team to be announced in mid-April (Notre Dame hockey players have been named Academic All-Americans each of the past three years).
Prior to a recent hand injury, Jurkowski had played in a team-best 86 consecutive games. A former walk-on who began his career in 1996-97 as a forward/defenseman, he has appeared in 104 career games, with six goals and 12 assists. Jurkowski has missed Notre Dame’s last four games due to a hand injury but could return for the upcoming CCHA Tournament quarterfinal series versus Ferris State.
After shifting to forward just a few games into the 1999-2000 season, Jurkowski made an immediate impact en route to ranking as the team’s eighth-leading scorer this season with four goals and eight assists in his 34 games played. He registered points in eight of 10 games during an Oct. 24-Dec. 4 stretch, including goals in consecutive games versus Ferris State (4-2 loss) and Miami (5-2 win). He went on to score goals in back-to-back games versus Nebraska-Omaha (a 5-3 loss) and Alaska Fairbanks (a 1-0 win), with that game-winner versus the Nanooks providing the Irish with two valuable points in the final regular-season standings.
Jurkowski’s assists in 1999-2000 include a memorable play on Dec. 5 in which he hustled to beat two Michigan State players to the puck before banking a pass off the boards to Ryan Clark, whose deflected shot was knocked into the net with five minutes left to play-producing a 1-0 Irish win over the nationally-ranked Spartans. He also registered assists in the 2-2 tie with Miami, the 3-2 win over UAF, a 5-1 win over Vermont, the 4-3 overtime win over Western Michigan and the 2-1 win at UAF. He had two assists in a 4-3 loss to Princeton, for the first multi-point game of his career.
His other 1999-2000 season stats include 36 shots on goal, a .111 shot pct., a -1 plus/minus ratio, five penalties for 10 minutes and one first goal of the game. His low career penalty total includes just 24 penalties in104 games played.
The All-Academic Team will be one of several award groups to be honored at the 2000 CCHA Awards, which will be held Thursday, March 16, at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $45 for dinner and the awards presentation. Tickets for the awards presentation only are $15. All tickets may be purchased by calling (248) 888-0600.
NOTES: The other seven players named to the All-Academic team-as selected by the faculty athletic representatives from the 12 CCHA schools-include (listed in order of voting points received): Bowling Green senior forward Zach Ham, Ferris State junior defenseman Jim Dube, Miami senior forward Dustin Whitecotton, Michigan State senior center Shawn Horcoff, Ferris State senior defenseman Gary Ricciardi, MSU junior goaltender Joe Blackburn and Western Michigan senior forward Jason Redenius … the team typically includes just six honorees but a tie in the voting led to eight players being recognized … Notre Dame has produced eight first team CCHA All-Academic team selections since rejoining the CCHA in 1992-93, with the previous ones including: Curtis Janicke and Carl Picconatto in 1992-93, Garry Gruber in ’95-’96, Steve Noble in ’96-’97 and ’97-’98, and Forrest Karr and Aniket Dhadphale in ’98-’99 … during that eight-year span, only Western Michigan (9) has produced more CCHA All-Academic selections than Notre Dame’s eight … 11 other CCHA players received votes and were named honorable mention All-Academic for 1999-2000 … two other Notre Dame players were nominated: junior left wing Dan Carlson (3.43 in finance) and sophomore left wing/center David Inman (3.62 in the College of Business).
Honorable mention: Nick Fohr, F, Nebraska Omaha, Jeff Jillson, D, Michigan, Will Magnuson, D, Lake Superior, Brian McCullough, F, Ferris State, Grady Moore, D, Bowling Green, Craig Murray, F, Michigan, Dave Noel-Bernier, F, Nebraska Omaha, Bart Redden, F, Lake Superior, Darren Tiemstra, D, Alaska Fairbanks, Scott Titus, D, Ohio State, Mark Wilkinson, F, Western Michigan.
Special Mention: Matt Addessa, F, Western Michigan, Ray Aho, G, Ohio State, Bobby Andrews, F, Alaska Fairbanks, Marc Barlow, F, Bowling Green, Andrew Bogle, F, Michigan State, Dan Carlson, F, Notre Dame, Yan Des Gagne, F, Ohio State, Yevgeniy Dubravin, F, Lake Superior, Joe Goodenow, F, Michigan State, David Gove, F, Western Michigan, Mike Gresl, G, Michigan State, Aaron Grosul, D, Alaska Fairbanks, Adam Hall, F, Michigan State, Chad Hamilton, D, Alaska Fairbanks, David Inman, F, Notre Dame, Jim Lawrence, F, Alaska Fairbanks, Kevin Magnuson, D, Michigan, Louis Mass, D, Bowling Green, Scott Matzka, F, Michigan, Rodney McLeod, G, Nebraska Omaha, Chris McNamara, F, Lake Superior, Jason Nightingale, F, Lake Superior, Chris Peck, G, Western Michigan, Bryan Phillips, F, Northern Michigan, Jayme Platt, G, Lake Superior, Nathan Rocheleau, F, Alaska Fairbanks, Daniel Samuelsson, D, Nebraska Omaha, Kevin Schmidt, D, Northern Michigan, Doug Schueller, D, Bowling Green, Joe Statkus, D, Bowling Green, Bart Stevens, D, Miami, Bill Trainor, F, Michigan, Tyson Turgeon, D, Lake Superior, Curtis Valentine, F, Bowling Green, J.P. Vigier, F, Northern Michigan, Ryan Wetterberg, F, Bowling Green, Damon Whitten, F, Michigan State, Dennis Williams, F, Bowling Green, Colin Young, D, Northern Michigan, Dwayne Zinger, D, Alaska Fairbanks.