Nov. 13, 2001
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- The Games: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-5-3/2-2-2) at Western Michigan Broncos (4-4-2/3-4-1)
- Date/Site/Times: Fri.-Sat., Nov. 16-17, 2001 – Lawson Arena (3,667) – 7:05 p.m(Fri.)/8:05 p.m.(Sat.)
- Broadcast Information: The game can be heard live on WDND South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620 with Dave Mager calling the action. The broadcast can also be heard via the internet at www.und.com.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: After picking up a win and a tie at the Joyce Center versus Ferris State last weekend, the Fighting Irish take to the road with a pair of games at Western Michigan on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 16-17. The Irish, 2-1-2 in their last five games, will face a Bronco team that is coming off a weekend split with Nebraska-Omaha, losing the series-opener 4-1 on Friday before shutting out the Mavericks 2-0 in Saturday night’s game. The Irish are now 1-2-1 at home this season and 1-3-2 on the road. The Irish split their last road series at Northen Michigan (Nov. 2-3). Western Michigan has played seven of its first 10 games at home, going 4-2-1 in Kalamazoo, Mich., and 0-2-1 on the road. The Irish will go to Kalamazoo with a 2-2-2 CCHA record. That’s the best start for Notre Dame in CCHA play since a 5-1-0 start in the 1998-99 season. Following this weekend’s road series at Western Michigan, the Irish have a week off before returning to play at home on Sat.-Sun., Dec. 1-2 with a pair of games versus the Lake Superior State Lakers.
TIME CHANGE: The game time for Notre Dame’s game with Western Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 17 has been changed to 8:05 p.m. The change from 7:05 p.m. is to help alleviate traffic congestion around Lawson Arena due to the Central Michigan – Western Michigan football game scheduled at 3:00 p.m.
IRISH VERSUS BRONCOS: Notre Dame and Western Michigan have met 47 times in the all-time series with the Irish trailing, 17-27-3. Since Notre Dame returned to the CCHA in 1992-93, the Irish are 11-16-2 in 29 games. At Western Michigan, Notre Dame is 6-15-2 all-time and just 2-12-1 since returning to CCHA play. Over the last 15 games in the series, dating back to the 1996-97 season, Notre Dame is 9-4-2 versus the Broncos including 2-3-1 at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich. Last season, the Irish were 2-1-1 in the four games played. Notre Dame upset fifth-ranked Western Michigan 4-1 on Jan. 12 and then tied the Broncos 3-3 the following night at Western Michigan. On March 2, Notre Dame knocked off the 15th-ranked Broncos, 5-4 at Kalamazoo, but then lost the season finale at home 7-2 to be eliminated from the CCHA playoffs.
HEAD COACH DAVE POULIN: Irish head coach Dave Poulin is now in his seventh season behind the Notre Dame bench. He owns an 83-126-32 (.411) overall record and is 59-92-28 (.408) in CCHA contests. Versus Western Michigan, Poulin-coached teams are 9-7-2.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS: Western Michigan comes into the weekend series with a 4-4-2 overall record and a 3-4-1 mark in CCHA play. The Broncos are 4-2-1 at Lawson Arena and 0-2-1 on the road. Last weekend, WMU split with sixth-ranked Nebraska-Omaha, losing 4-1 on Friday before taking a 2-0 shutout win on Saturday. To date, Western has defeated three top-10 teams at home, having beaten Michigan (10/19) and Maine (10/26) prior to Saturday’s win over Nebraska-Omaha. The Broncos are led offensively by freshman Pat Dwyer (6-4-10) and senior Mike Bishai (0-10-10). Freshman goaltender Mike Mantua is 4-3-1 on the season with a 3.09 goals against and a .881 save percentage. For more information on the Western Michigan Broncos, check their website at www.wmubroncos.com.
FERRIS STATE RECAP: The Irish picked up their first three-point weekend of the season with a win (5-2) and a tie (3-3) versus Ferris State. In Friday’s 5-2 win over the Bulldogs, Notre Dame’s unsung heroes led the Irish to victory. Sophomore defenseman T.J. Mathieson (Clarksville, Md.) and sophomore right wing Kyle Dolder (Hutchinson, Minn.) each scored the first goals of their collegiate careers with Mathieson’s goal putting the Irish ahead 2-1 at 14:19 of the second period. Dolder followed with the eventual game-winner at 4:27 of the third period which gave the Irish a 3-1 lead on the way to the 5-2 win. After Ferris State cut the lead to 3-2 on Mike Kinnie’s power play goal at 8:26 of the third, Michael Chin (So., Urbana, Ill.) banked one in off Bulldog goaltender Mike Brown at 11:21 to restore the two-goal lead at 4-2. David Inman (Sr., Toronto, Ont.) closed the scoring with a power play goal at 15:29 for the final of 5-2. The Irish scored two power play goals (10 chances) for the first time on the year. Junior Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) got the Irish scoring started with a power play goal at 11:33 of the first period. Notre Dame outshot Ferris State, 34-31, in the game. Morgan Cey (Fr., Wilkie, Sask.) made 29 saves for his first-career home victory. On Saturday night, Notre Dame scored three times in a 3:29 span of the second period to take a 3-1 lead, but for the third time this season, the Irish could not hold the lead and settled for the 3-3 tie. Inman (PPG, 4:51), Brett Lebda (So., Buffalo Grove, Ill.) at 6:36 and Aaron Gill (So., Rochester, Minn.) with a power play goal at 8:20 handled the Irish scoring. Ferris State got back in the game with Derek Nesbitt’s five-on-three power play goal at 17:06 of the second. Derrick McIver tied the game at 5:43 of the third. The Irish outshot the Bulldogs 33-29. Tony Zasowski (Jr., Darien, Ill.), making just his second start of the season, made 26 saves in the game for his second 3-3 tie of the season.
TURNING ON THE POWER: For the first in almost two seasons (54 games), the Irish turned in back-to-back games with two or more power play goals. Notre Dame was two-for-10 in Friday’s game versus Ferris State and followed with a two-for-seven performance on Saturday. On the weekend, the Irish were four-for-17 (23.5%). On the year, they are seven-for-52 for a 13.5% success rate. The last time the Irish scored two or more power play goals in back-to-back games was Feb. 12 and Feb. 18, 2000. Notre Dame was four-for-10 versus Nebraska-Omaha (Feb. 12) and two-for-three versus Bowling Green (Feb. 18). David Inman leads the team with three power play goals while Aaron Gill has two and Brett Lebda and Connor Dunlop each have one.
STREAKING IRISH: David Inman has points in three of his last four games (4-3-7) … Michael Chin has scored points in three straight games (1-2-3) to equal his career best … John Wroblewski (Jr., Neenah, Wis.) has points in four of his last five games (2-2-4) … defenseman Tom Galvin (So., Miller Place, N.Y.) has a two-game scoring streak (0-4-4) and Aaron Gill has scored in two consecutive games (1-2-3).
FOUR-POINT WEEKEND: Sophomore defenseman Tom Galvin scored as many points in two games versus Ferris State this past weekend as he did in 26 games last year. Galvin turned in the first two multiple-point games of his career with a pair of assists in each game. Last season, the 5-9, 187-pound blueliner had four assists for the year. So far this season through 10 games, Galvin has a goal and five assists for six points.
CAREER FIRSTS: T.J. Mathieson and Kyle Dolder each scored their first collegiate goals in the 5-2 win over Ferris State on Friday night. For Dolder, his goal was also the first game-winning goal of his career. Defenseman Tom Galvin also had the first multiple point games of his career collecting two assists in each of the Ferris State games. Goaltender Tony Zasowski recorded the first assist of his Notre Dame career when he helped set up Brett Lebda’s second period goal in the 3-3 tie with Ferris State.
FATHER’S DAY: So far this season when Notre Dame goaltender Tony Zasowski gets his chance to play it’s been like Father’s Day as the junior goaltender has played in a pair of 3-3 ties. Zasowski made 29 saves in a 3-3 tie at Northeastern (Oct. 27) in his first start of the year. He turned in his second 3-3 tie on Nov. 10 with a 26 save game versus Ferris State. For the year, Zasowski is 0-0-2 with a 2.77 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.
FOUR BY FOUR: Connor Dunlop’s four-point and four-assist game on Nov. 2 versus Northern Michigan were career-bests for the junior center. The four-point game also extended his point-scoring streak to a personal-best of five consecutive games (1-9-10). Dunlop leads the Irish in scoring with those 10 points. The last Notre Dame player to get four assists in a game was defenseman Brett Lebda, who had four assists in a five-point game at Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 20, 2000. The Irish won that contest, 7-4.
THE IN(MAN) THING: For the second time in his Notre Dame hockey career, David Inman scored four points in a game on two goals and two assists. The most recent time came in the 5-4 Irish win at Northern Michigan on Nov. 2. The first time came on Feb. 12, 2000 when he turned in a four-point effort (2g-2a) versus Nebraska-Omaha. With his big night at Northern Michigan, Inman now has five two-goal games in his career and five games with two assists.
LEBDA FOR THE DEFENSE: Sophomore defenseman Brett Lebda turned in the first two-goal game of his career in the 5-4 win over Northern Michigan. For the offensive-minded blueliner, the two goals were his first of the season. In the win over Northern, Lebda also had a career-high 10 shots on goal, passing his previous best of eight set in his rookie year versus Niagara at the Maverick Stampede.
PENALTY MARK: With 24 penalties for 78 minutes in the loss to Northern Michigan, the Irish set school records for both penalties and minutes. The previous record for penalties was 22 at Michigan State (3/4/00). The previous penalty-minute record was 77 and was also set versus Northern Michigan on Dec. 12, 1981. Rob Globke (So., West Bloomfield, Mich.) led the Irish with six penalties for 31 minutes. He received a game-disqualification penalty in the post-game penalty-parade and will have to sit out the first game versus Ferris State on Friday night.
FRESHMAN FIRSTS: Rookie defenseman Derek Smith scored his first career goal at 12:33 of the second period in Notre Dame’s 5-4 win over Northern Michigan. That goal was the second of three scored by the Irish defense in the second period (Brett Lebda had the other two) as Notre Dame wiped out a 3-1 Wildcat lead on the way to a 5-4 win. Freshman goaltender Morgan Cey recorded his first career win at Northern Michigan, making 19 saves in the 5-4 victory. Freshman right wing Brad Wanchulak (Edson, Alb.) scored the first goal of his Notre Dame career in the 4-4 tie with Ohio State (Oct. 20). He was set up on the play with a nifty cross-rink pass from fellow freshman Yan Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.). Wanchulak added his first career assist in the Oct. 21 game versus Ohio State when he set up a Connor Dunlop goal.
CLOSING THE DEAL: Through the first 10 games of the season, the Irish have struggled keeping teams off the scoreboard in the third period. So far, the Irish have led five times heading into the third period and are 2-2-1. The losses came at Ohio State and Boston College and snapped a 50-game (42-0-8) unbeaten string when the Irish led after two periods that went back to Jan. 9, 1998. Prior to this season, that was the last time the Irish lost when leading after two periods. In that game, UAF’s Sean Fraser tied the game (2-2) with a power-play goal in the third minute of the final period before Chris Kirwan converted a breakaway with 0:45 left in overtime. Since the loss at Boston College, the Irish are now 2-0-0 in games that they lead after two periods of play.
PENALTY KILLERS: Notre Dame gave up two power play goals (one in each game) in 16 chances versus Ferris State last weekend. For the season, the Irish have killed 54 of 61 penalties for an 88.5% success rate. That is second-best in the CCHA and 9th-best in the nation. The Irish have also scored two shorthanded goals (Rob Globke and Brad Wanchulak) on the season.
PERANI CUP STANDINGS: The CCHA has reached an agreement with Perani’s Hockey World to sponsor the league’s “Three Stars of the Game” at CCHA games this season. Members of the media are asked to select the game’s three stars for which points are accumulated – 1st Star gets five points, 2nd Star gets three and 3rd Star gets one.
FIVE IN A ROW: Goaltender Morgan Cey started the first five games of his Notre Dame career to become the first Irish freshman to start the first five games of his career since Greg Louder (1990-94) played the first five contests of the 1990-91 season. Cey and Louder are the last two rookies to start the season opener in goal at Notre Dame. Cey made 28 saves in a 2-1 loss to Union College on Oct. 11. Louder made 36 saves in a 7-2 loss at Minnesota on Oct. 23, 1990. Cey’s streak was stopped in game six when junior Tony Zasowski made his first start of the season versus Northeastern turning in a 3-3 tie. Louder went on to start all 33 games that season, missing just 30 minutes of play, while turning in a 16-15-2 record. For the year, Cey has started eight of Notre Dame’s 10 games on the season.
BAD ENDINGS: Notre Dame has struggled in the third period this season giving up 15 goals while scoring just nine. Eleven of the goals came in three games as the Irish surrendered five third-period goals in a 7-4 loss to Union College (Oct. 12), four third-period goals to Boston College in a 4-1 loss (Oct. 26) and two third-period goals in a 3-2 loss at Ohio State (Oct. 21).
FIVE-GOAL PERIOD: Union College exploded for five third-period goals in the 7-4 win over the Irish on Oct. 12. The last time the Irish surrendered five goals in a period was on Nov. 20, 1998 when Western Michigan scored five goals in the third period of a 9-5 Notre Dame victory.
IRON MEN: Right wing Ryan Dolder finished his Notre Dame career having played in 103 consecutive games including all 42 games in 1999-00 and all 39 this season. Teammate Dan Carlson is the only other Irish player to have played in every game over the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons. He finished his career playing in 101 consecutive games. In his career, Carlson played in 158 of a possible 160 games. The only two he missed came while playing at the World Junior Championships in 1998-99. The longest current consecutive game streak belongs to sophomore Brett Lebda who played in all 39 games last season. He has now played in 49 straight for the Irish.
PENALTY SHOTS: Notre Dame sophomore Rob Globke scored on a penalty shot in the 7-4 loss to Union College. The talented forward was pulled down at 3:41 of the third period on a breakaway and was awarded the shot by referee Steve McInchak. Globke was able to pull Union’s Brandon Snee down and slide the puck from his backhand past the diving Snee. The penalty shot was the first for an Irish player since Feb. 5, 1998 when Brian Urick was stopped by Ohio State’s Jeff Maund. The last penalty shot the Irish had to face came on March 13, 1999 when Matt Eisler stopped Michigan’s Bill Muckalt in a CCHA playoff game.
FOR OPENERS: Notre Dame’s 2-1 season-opening loss to Union College on Oct. 11 makes the Irish 17-18-0 in season openers in the 35 years of hockey during the modern era at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is 0-3 in its last three season openers with the last win coming on Oct. 2, 1998, a 2-1 win over Wisconsin in the first game played at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Notre Dame is also 20-15 in its first 35 home openers. The Irish opened with a win at home last season, a 2-1 overtime win versus Wayne State.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Several former Notre Dame hockey players have continued playing professionally this season:
- Mark Eaton – Nashville Predators (NHL)
- Ben Simon ’00 – Chicago Wolves (AHL)/called up to the Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) on Nov. 10th
- Dan Carlson ’01 – Saint John’s Flames (AHL)/Johnstown Chiefs (ECHL)
- Jamie Ling ’96 – Dayton Bombers (ECHL) – player-assistant coach.
- Benoit Cotnoir ’99 – Richmond Renegades (ECHL)
- Aniket Dhadphale ’99 – Trenton Titans (ECHL)
- Sean Molina ’00 – Trenton Titans (ECHL)
- Joe Dusbabek ’00 – Roanoake Express (ECHL)
- Ryan Clark ’01- Mississippi Seawolves (ECHL)
- Matt Van Arkel ’01 – Pee Dee Pride (ECHL)/Trenton Titans (EDHL)
UNDERGRADUATE ASSISTANT COACH: Senior Brett Henning (Huntington, N.Y.) has been named an undergraduate assistant coach with the Notre Dame hockey team. Henning was a three-year regular for the Irish but was forced to retire from hockey after suffering a neck injury last September. A center iceman, Henning played in 89 games for the Irish with eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points. He recorded 30 penalties for 60 minutes and had four power play goals and one game winner.
NEW FACE: Freshman forward Ryan Mundt (Edgartown, Mass.) has been added to the Irish roster for the 2001-02 season. The 5-7, 150-pound Mundt played last season at Martha’s Vineyard High School where he led the team in scoring with 36 goals and 37 assists for 73 points. He is that school’s all-time leading scorer. He made the team after trying out in the preseason.
BLOODLINES: Four current members of the Notre Dame hockey program – senior forward Jon Maruk, junior center Connor Dunlop, sophomore defenseman Neil Komadoski and freshman forward Yan Stastny – hold a unique connection, as each of their fathers enjoyed a lengthy career in the National Hockey League.
Dennis Maruk played 14 NHL seasons-with the California Golden Seals (’75-’76), Cleveland Barons (’76-’78), Minnesota North Stars (’78-’79, ’83-’88) andthe Washington Capitols (’78-’83)-and finished as the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer in 1982 (60G-76A) while compiling 878 career points (356G-522A) in 888 games.
Blake Dunlop played 11 seasons in pro hockey (’73-’84), including NHL stints with the Minnesota North Stars (’73-’77), Philadelphia Flyers (’77-’79), St. Louis Blues (’79-’84) and Detroit Red Wings (’83-’84), while totaling 130G-274A in 550 career NHL games.
Neil Komadoski, Sr., played eight NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings (’72-’78) and the St. Louis Blues (’77-’80), totaling 16G-76A and 632 penalty minutes in 501 career games.
Rounding out the quartet is Peter Stastny who played 15 seasons in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques (’80-’90), the New Jersey Devils (’90-’93) and the St. Louis Blues (’93-’95) is currently the 23rd all-time scorer in league history with 450 goals, 789 assists and 1,239 points in 997 games. A six-time NHL all-star, Stastny is the highest scoring European-born player in NHL history and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1998. The 1981 NHL rookie-of-the-year, Stastny is currently a special assignment scout for the St. Louis Blues and will serve as general manager for the 2002 Czech Olympic team.
Notre Dame’s NHL connection doesn’t stop there. Senior Brett Henning who suffered a career-ending neck injury last season is the son of former NHL player and coach Lorne Henning who played nine seasons with the New York Islanders (’72-’81) and has been involved in coaching over the last 15 years. An original member of the Islanders, Henning compiled 73 goals and 111 assists as a forward over his 543-game career and played a major role in a four-year Stanley Cup dynasty (’80-’83). Henning served as an assistant with the Islanders from ’80-84 and ’87-’94, as head coach for the Minnesota North Stars (’85-’87) and the Islanders (’94-’95), and as a Chicago Blackhawks assistant from ’95-’98 before returning in ’98-’99 to the Islanders, as associate coach.
Freshman forward Alexander “Newsy” Lalonde also has NHL lineage as he is a distant relative of NHL pioneer and Hall of Famer, Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde. Lalonde played for the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Americans between 1917 and 1927 for a total of six seasons in which he scored 124 goals and 41 assists for 165 points in 99 games.
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM Sophomore Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.), Notre Dame’s slick skating defensemen tied for third in scoring for the Irish with seven goals and 19 assists, good for 26 points, the most by an Irish freshmen since defenseman Mark Eaton had 29 points during the 1997-98 season. Lebda led all CCHA freshmen defensemen in scoring and was fifth among all league blue liners. He was the first Irish player selected to the all-rookie team since David Inman (1998-99). Forwards Aaron Gill and Rob Globke were honorable mention selections.
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS: Notre Dame is the nation’s only Division I hockey program to produce a Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American during each of the past five seasons (as part of the fall-winter at-large program). Dan Carlson kept the streak going in 2000-01 by earning third team honors with a 3.49 gpa and a double major in finance and computer applications. He joins two-time selection Steve Noble who took second-team honors in 1996-97 and first-team honors in ’97-’98, goaltender Forrest Karr who was a second teamer in ’98-’99 and left wing Andy Jurkowski who was a third team selection in 1999-2000.
CCHA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Notre Dame 2001 graduate and two-time team MVP, left wing Dan Carlson (Edina, Minn.) was named to the prestigious eight-player CCHA All-Academic Team for 2000-01, making Notre Dame the CCHA’s only school to produce an All-Academic honoree each of the last six seasons. Carlson led the Irish in scoring for the second consecutive season (17-25-42) and was also an honorable mention all-CCHA selection. A six-time Dean’s List student, Carlson graduated from Notre Dame with a 3.49 cumulative grade point average and a double major in finance and computer applications. Notre Dame has produced eight previous first team CCHA All-Academic selections since rejoining the CCHA in ’92-’93: Curtis Janicke and Carl Picconatto (’92-’93), Garry Gruber (’95-’96), Steve Noble (’96-’97, ’97-’98), Forrest Karr and Aniket Dhadphale (’98-’99) and Andy Jurkowski (99′-’00). During that nine-year span, only Western Michigan (10) has produced more CCHA All-Academic selections than Notre Dame’s nine.
CENTURY MEN: Left wing Dan Carlson became the fourth Notre Dame hockey player to reach 100 points for his career in the last four seasons. He finished his career with 50 goals and 82 assists for 132 career points, good for 20th on the school’s all-time scoring list. The Edina, Minn., native joins right wing Brian Urick (57G-69A) and left wing Aniket Dhadphale (61G-44A) who each reached 100 points in the 1998-99 season and center Ben Simon (44G-86A) who reached the milestone in 1999-2000. Carlson is just the fifth Notre Dame player to score over 100 points in his career since the Irish returned to the CCHA in ’92-’93. Only center Jamie Ling (1992-96) has scored more points (51-102-153) than Carlson over the past nine seasons. David Inman is the Irish player with the best chance to reach 100 points this season. The senior forward has 36 goals and 23 assists for 59 points in his career.
HOMETOWNS: The 2001-02 Notre Dame hockey team features players from nine states and three Canadian provinces – Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. In the six-year tenure of head coach Dave Poulin, the Notre Dame hockey letterwinners have hailed from 20 different states and provinces – those listed below, plus: Alaska, British Columbia, Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
FAN FAVORITES: Notre Dame played in front of three of the top 20 crowds ever to watch Irish hockey during the 2000-01 season. Notre Dame opened the season on Oct. 7 in the Hall of Fame Classic at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., in front of 18,064 – the sixth biggest crowd in the history of the program. A weekend series at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center Feb. 2-3 produced crowds of 12,354 and 10,451, the 14th and 19th largest crowds ever to watch Notre Dame hockey. The largest crowd ever to see the Irish play a hockey game was 21,347 on Dec. 29, 1982 when Notre Dame faced Michigan in the Great Lakes Invitational at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. The largest regular season crowd to ever see the Irish was on January 29, 1993 when 20,247 fans saw Notre Dame play Michigan at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich.
MIDWEST MAGIC: Notre Dame continues to reap the benefits of the rapidly-improving youth hockey programs in the lower Midwest (namely Illinois and Missouri), as one-third of the current roster includes players from Illinois (6) or Missouri (3). Four of those players also are products of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP): junior right wing Michael Chin (Urbana, Ill.), junior center Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and freshmen defensemen Brett Lebda (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Neil Komadoski (Chesterfield, Mo.). Junior defenseman Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.) was invited to join the NTDP but returned for his senior year at The Taft School.
Notre Dame’s other Illinois natives include two of the team’s top returning goaltenders – senior Jeremiah Kimento (Palos Hills) and junior Tony Zasowski (Darien) – plus freshman defenseman Joe Zurenko (Arlington Heights). Joining Dunlop and Komadoski from the St. Louis area is freshman forward Yan Stastny (St. Louis). Prior to 1995, the Notre Dame hockey program had produced just eight total letterwinners from Illinois and two from Missouri.
PATRIOTIC GROUP: Notre Dame’s current roster includes nine players who have past experience with USA Hockey, as members of the National Team Development Program (NTDP) and/or the National Junior Team. Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota currently have the most NTDP alums (9) with Michigan State in third with seven. That group includes senior forward Brett Henning, four members of the junior class – right wings Michael Chin and John Wroblewski, center Connor Dunlop and defenseman Paul Harris – plus three sophomores: right wing Rob Globke and defensemen Neil Komadoski and Brett Lebda (pictured above). Joining the list of NTDP alum on the Irish roster is freshman defenseman Derek Smith who was a member of the team in 2000-01.
Senior center David Inman played with the USA at the 1999-2000 World Juniors. Dunlop has played the last two years as a member of Team USA at the World Juniors, serving as team captain in ’00-’01. He was joined on that team by Globke, who made his first appearance with the national team. Globke and Lebda made the cut at the 2001 USA Hockey Summer Evaluation Camp and played in the Summer Challenge in August. Both are candidates for the 2001-02 Junior National Team.
WINNERS: Two of the newest members of the Notre Dame hockey team were members of national champion teams during the 2000-01 season. Forwards Yan Stastny and Brad Wanchulak were members of junior hockey national championship teams in the United States and Canada. Stastny played for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers while Wanchulak played for the Camrose Kodiaks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Stastny scored six goals and added six assists in 12 postseason games as Omaha won the USHL’s Clark Cup as league champions and then followed by winning the Gold Cup as champions of junior hockey in the U.S. Wanchulak also played a key role in helping Camrose to the Canadian national title. He was the AJHL playoff Most Valuable Player helping the Kodiaks to the AJHL title. In the Royal Bank Cup, which brings together the champions of all the Canadian junior leagues, Wanchulak scored the winning goal in the championship game versus Flin Flon.