Dec. 1, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Complete Release in PDF Format
– Date/Site/Time: Fri.-Sat., Dec, 3-4, 2010 – 7:35/7:05 p.m. – Steve Cady Arena (4,000) – Oxford, Ohio
– The Teams: #12/#12 Notre Dame (9-4-2/7-2-1-1) vs. #6/#6 Miami (9-4-3/7-3-2-1)
– Broadcast Information: Radio: Notre Dame hockey can be heard live on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend. Darin Pritchett, the voice of the Irish will call the action with the pregame show beginning 20 minutes before the opening face off.
– Internet Broadcast: Audio: Both games of the Notre Dame-Miami series will have live audio streaming at the Notre Dame website – und.com. Video: Both games will have video streaming available at the Miami website – www.muredhawks.com. The charge is $6.95 for both games. Statistics: Gametracker will be available at both the Notre Dame site – und.com and on the Miami website – www.muredhawks.com.
CCHA SHOWDOWN: For the second consecutive season, Notre Dame will open the month of December by traveling to Oxford, Ohio for a pair of games with the Miami RedHawks. This season, the two teams will meet on Dec. 3-4 at Steve Cady Arena with first place in the CCHA on the line. The Irish bring a 9-4-2 overall record and a 7-2-1-1 mark in the CCHA into the weekend, good for 23 points and second place in the conference. Miami is 9-4-3 on the season and moved past the Irish into first place last weekend with a 7-3-2-1 mark for 24 points. Notre Dame has two games in hand in the race for the top spot. Friday night’s game is set for a 7:35 p.m. start while Saturday’s game will drop the puck at 7:05 p.m. The series with Miami will close out a four-game road swing for the Irish and a string of nine of the last 11 on the road for Notre Dame. The Irish went 0-1-1 last weekend at North Dakota, losing on Nov. 26, 6-3, before coming from behind on Nov. 27 in a 2-2 overtime tie. Miami split its series with Western Michigan over the Thanksgiving weekend, dropping a 5-2 decision on Friday before winning 5-1 on Saturday night. Following this weekend’s series on the road in Oxford, Notre Dame returns home to close out the first half of the schedule with a pair of games against Northern Michigan on Sat.-Sun., Dec. 11-12.
IRISH VERSUS REDHAWKS: Notre Dame and Miami have met 57 times in the all-time series with the RedHawks holding a 34-15-8 edge in those games, including six straight wins since the 2007-08 season. At Oxford, Ohio, Miami is 18-8-2 against the Irish, including three consecutive wins since the 2007-08 season. Notre Dame’s last win at Miami and in the series came on Nov. 9, 2007, a 2-1 win at Goggin Arena. Since then, the Irish have lost one at Goggin, one at Joe Louis Arena in the 2008 CCHA semifinals, two at the Joyce Center and two at Steve Cady Arena. Those last two losses came a year ago in 1-0 and 4-0 losses on Dec. 4-5, 2009.
OH CANADA: Sophomore center Riley Sheahan (St. Catharine’s, Ont.) is one of 39 players to be selected to attend Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp, Dec. 12-15, at Mastercard Arena in Toronto. From that group, the 22-man roster for the IIHF World Junior Championships will be selected. A 2010 first round draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings, Sheahan is one of four NCAA Division I college players invited to the Selection Camp along with Miami’s Reilly Smith. The World Junior Championships will be held in Buffalo, N.Y., Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2011.
CCHA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman center T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) has been selected as the CCHA rookie of the month for the month of November. In eight games during the month, Tynan led all CCHA rookies with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Two goals came on the power play, two were short-handed and one was a game winner. He was +5 for the month and took just 19 shots for a .316 shooting percentage. During November, Tynan scored in seven of the team’s eight games with five of the contests being multiple-point games. He was named the CCHA rookie of the month on two occasions – for games the week of Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. Tynan is the second Irish player to take CCHA rookie of the month honors this season as teammate Anders Lee (Edina, Minn.) was October’s winner.
THE RANKINGS: Notre Dame enters the first week of December ranked 12th in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and the USCHO.com poll. Miami is ranked sixth in both the USA Today poll and the USCHO.com rankings.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: This weekend’s series against Miami closes out a grueling eight-game stretch for the Irish that has seen them play four consecutive ranked opponents. Starting on Nov. 12-13 the Irish faced #9/#8 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. On Nov. 19-20, the Irish played host to rv/#17 Michigan State at the Joyce Center. Last weekend, Notre Dame traveled to Grand Forks, N.D., to face #10/#9 North Dakota and this weekend, Dec. 3-4, the Irish are at #6/#6 Miami. In the first six games of the eight-game run, Notre Dame is 3-2-1.
NORTH DAKOTA RECAP: Friday, Nov. 26 – North Dakota jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead in the series opener and never looked back on the way to a 6-3 win at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Irish got goals from freshmen David Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa) and Jeff Costello (Milwaukee, Wis.) and senior Ryan Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn.) in the loss. North Dakota fired a season-high 39 shots on goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) who finished with 33 saves in the game. The Fighting Sioux got goals from five different players led by Justin Gregoire’s three-point night (2g, 1a) while Mike Cichy, Corban Knight, Evan Trupp and Chay Genoway had single goals in the win. The Irish had 30 shots on goal in the contest as Aaron Dell made 27 saves in the win. Notre Dame was 1-for-5 on the power play while North Dakota was 1-for-7.
Saturday, Nov. 27 – Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge, Ill.) scored his first collegiate goal with 3:03 left in the game to give Notre Dame a 2-2 overtime tie at Ralph Engelstad Arena. T.J. Tynan, who set up Calabrese’s goal, had the other goal, a short-handed tally, in the 2-2 tie. North Dakota got goals from Derek Rodwell and Matt Frattin in the game. Rodwell got the first goal of the game at 10:42 of the second period when he deflected a Derek Forbort shot past Mike Johnson. Tynan tied the game at 14:57 when he followed a short-handed bid by Riley Sheahan to make it a 1-1 game. Just 1:31 into the third period, North Dakota took a 2-1 lead when Frattin deflected a shot by defenseman Chay Genoway past Johnson for a 2-1 lead. That set up Calabrese’s goal. Tynan broke down the left side and got around the defenseman as he drove to the goal. Aaron Dell made the stop but the rebound came loose in front. Jeff Costello got off a shot as he crashed into the goal. The puck laid in the crease where Calabrese raced in from the right point and managed to push it over the goal line for the tying play. The Fighting Sioux then got two power-play chances in the overtime, only to see the Irish kill both off with Sheahan almost scoring with 10 seconds left. North Dakota had a season-high 41 shots against the Irish. Johnson made his second-highest career save total with 39. Aaron Dell made 26 in the Sioux net. North Dakota was 1-for-7 on the power play while Notre Dame was 0-for-3.
DOING IT SHORT-HANDED: Notre Dame’s penalty-killing unit was at it again in the 2-2 tie with North Dakota as the Irish racked up their seventh short-handed goal of the season with T.J. Tynan getting his second of the year. Versus Michigan State (Nov. 19-20), Notre Dame scored short-handed three times in that series. The seven short-handed goals lead the nation going into this weekend’s series and is already three more than the team had in 2009-10. The seven shorties are the most for the Irish since the 1997-98 season when they had nine. Notre Dame has a way to go for the school record which is 19 and was set during the 1981-82 season. Tynan and defenseman Joe Lavin (Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.) lead the team with two each while Sean Lorenz (Sr., Littleton, Colo.), Bryan Rust (Fr., Novi, Mich.) and Billy Maday (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.) have one each. On the season, the Irish have seven short-handed goals and have given up just eight power-play goals.
SHOOTING THE PUCK: Through the first 13 games of the season, Notre Dame had the edge in shots in a game 11 times with one game being tied and the opposition out shooting the Irish just once. Versus North Dakota, Notre Dame was out shot in both games with the Fighting Sioux setting season highs for an Irish opponent in both games. On Nov. 26, North Dakota out shot the Irish 39-30. The following night, the Sioux had a 41-28 margin for the overtime contest. Through the first 15 games, Notre Dame has had 470 shots on goal for a 31.3 shots per game average. Opponents have fired 408 shots on the Irish goal for a 27.2 shot per game average.
HOME WINNING STREAK: Notre Dame’s sweep of Michigan State gives the Irish six straight wins at home this season and an eight-game home winning streak dating back to Jan. 30 of last season. The last time that the Irish lost at home was on Jan. 29, 2010, a 5-3 loss to Nebraska-Omaha. The eight-game home win streak is the longest for Notre Dame since the Irish won eight in a row at home between Oct. 12, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2006.
GOT THEIR NUMBER: From 1992-93 through the 2007-08 season, Notre Dame struggled when it came to facing Michigan State. In that time span, the Irish were just 5-32-7 versus the Spartans. Since March 29, 2008, a span of 10 games, Notre Dame is 7-0-3 against Michigan State, including a 5-0-1 mark at the Joyce Center. PENALTY SHOTS: Senior center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) was awarded a penalty shot just 22 seconds into the Nov. 20 game with Michigan State and was stopped by goaltender Will Yanakeff. It was the first penalty shot by a Notre Dame player since Jan. 31, 2009 when Ryan Thang `10, scored in a 3-2 win at Michigan. It was the fourth for the Irish since the 2001-02 season. They are 2-for-4 in that span. The last time the opposition had a penalty shot against teh Irish came on Dec. 4, 2009 when Miami’s Carter Camper was stopped by Mike Johnson.
BEST OFâ⒬ˆTHEâ⒬ˆBEST: Over the past four seasons, the Notre Dame hockey program ranks among the top five programs in the country. Since the start of the 2006-07 season, the Irish have won 112 games and have a .674 winning percentage. The Irish are third in that time period in wins, trailing Michigan (122) and Miamiâ⒬ˆ(118). Notre Dame’s .674 winning percentage is also third behind Miami (.692) and Michigan (.683). Here are the top five teams by wins and winning percentage since 2006-07.
WINS WINNINGââ'¬Ë†.PCTMichigan (122) Miami (.692)Miami (118) Michigan (.683)Notre Dame (112) Notre Dame (.674)North Dakota (110) Boston College (.662)Boston College (110) Denver (.646)
CAREER YEAR: Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel is currently second on the Irish in scoring after 15 games as he has two goals and 15 assists for 17 points on the year. The assist and points totals are career highs for Guentzel who had a seven-game point streak (1g, 9a) snapped at Michigan on Nov. 13. Guentzel picked up his second goal of the season on Nov. 26 at North Dakota. His first goal of the season at Bowling Green was his first since March 13, 2009 when he scored in a CCHA playoff game versus Nebraska-Omaha and snapped a 47-game, goal- less streak. Guentzel is coming off a junior year that saw him score just six points, all assists, in 36 games for the Irish. His previous best season was 2008-09 when he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points. He is currently fifth in the CCHA in scoring with 17 points and his 15 assists are third in the conference.
ANOTHER MILESTONE: Notre Dame’s Oct. 30, 3-2 win over Western Michigan was the 200th CCHA win for Irish coach Jeff Jackson. Now in his 12th season at the Division I level, Jackson is 203-82-45 in his career in CCHA play in six seasons at Lake Superior State (1990-96) and six seasons at Notre Dame. Earlier in October (Oct. 14 vs. Lake Superior State), Jackson won his 300th career game as a Division I coach. His all-time record stands at 307-121-49 for a .695 winning percentage. His winning percentage is the tops among active coaches with 10 or more seasons.
FAST FRESHMEN: Freshmen T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee come into the Miami series ranked first and third in the CCHA in rookie scoring. Tynan has eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points while Lee has nine goals and three assists for 12 points. Lee’s nine goals are tops among CCHA freshmen followed by Tynan’s eight. Fellow freshmen Mike Voran (2g, 6a, 8 pts) is tied for ninth among freshmen and is followed by Jeff Costello (4g, 3a, 7 pts) who is tied for 13th. Defenseman Kevin Lind (1g, 5a) is tied for 15th with six points and that ranks him fourth among CCHA rookie defensemen. Tynan is fourth overall in scoring in the league and his eight goals tie him for fifth among CCHA goal scorers. Lee’s nine goals are third overall.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Notre Dame’s freshmen class has played a key role in the 9-4-2 start for the Irish. In the series versus North Dakota, 10 of the 12 rookies saw action as only goaltenders Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) and Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.) did not play. The freshmen had seven points (3g, 4a) in the series versus the Fighting Sioux. In the first 15 games of this season, the freshman class has accounted for 32 of the team’s 54 goals (59.3%), 39 of the 95 assists (41.1%) and 71 of team’s 149 points this season (47.7%). Summerhays has two of the team’s nine wins in goal. For the year, only Rogers has yet to play in any games.
LATE ADDITIONS: Center T.J. Tynan’s fast start (8g, 10a) in the first 15 games has been a key to the 9-4-2 start for the Irish. The 5-8, 156-pound center has moved in to become one of the team’s quarterbacks on the power play. The Orland Park, Ill., native wasn’t even supposed to be on this year’s team. Even though he signed a national letter-of-intent in Nov. of 2009, Tynan was going to defer and play another year with the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL where he was the Bucs’ leading scorer in `09-’10 and a member of the USHL’s all-rookie team. When Kyle Palmieri decided to sign with the Anaheim Ducks in early August, the call went out to Tynan and he joined the Irish roster. Freshman defenseman Kevin Lind (Homer Glen, Ill.) also signed a letter-of-intent in Nov. of `09 and was going to be playing this season with Tri-Cities in the USHL. He was asked to join the team in mid-August after Jarred Tinordi opted to play in the OHL. The 6-3, 221-pound Lind has played in 13 games and tops the defensemen in scoring with six points (one goal, five assists), and is second in plus-minus with a +8.
FULLâ⒬ˆHOUSE: With sellout crowds in each of the first six home games, Notre Dame has now recorded 13 consecutive sellouts since Nov. 28, 2009. The Irish have had sell outs in 20 of the team’s last 24 home games and last year averaged 2,765 fans per game. Since Dec. 13, 2008, the Irish have recorded sellouts in 29 of their last 33 home games. A sellout at the Joyce Center is 2,713 with 2,857 capacity with standing room. Twice during the `09-’10 season – Jan. 15 vs. Michigan State and Jan. 29 against Nebraska-Omaha – 3,007 fans jammed into the Joyce Center. Prior to that number, the largest crowd to see an Irish hockey game was 3,310 on March of 1995 when Notre Dame play Illinois-Chicago. The following season, new seating was installed and capacity was reconfigured.
SHARING THE WEALTH: Through 15 games this season, the Irish are 9-4-2 on the year. In the nine wins, Notre Dame has had nine different players score the game-winning goal.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson has now made six consecutive starts for the Irish, dating back to the start of the Michigan series (Nov. 12). In his last six starts, he is 3-2-1 with 2.98 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage. Johnson, who started the year with a 4-0-1 unbeaten streak in his first five starts is 7-3-2 on the year with a 2.57 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. As a freshman, Johnson took CCHA all-rookie team honors, playing in 29 games in `09-’10, going 10-13-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Behind Johnson are a pair of freshmen – Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) and Joe Rogers (Marysville, Mich.). Summerhays is now 2-1-0 with a 3.36 goals-against average and a .828 save percentage. He owns wins over Bowling Green and Western Michigan while his lone loss came to Boston University on Oct. 10. Summerhays joined the Irish after playing the last two seasons with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. In `09-’10, Summerhays was a first team all-USHL selection and the USHL goaltender of the year after going 31-2-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Joe Rogers who has yet to play this season. Rogers joins the Notre Dame roster after playing last season in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) with the Albert Lea Thunder. Rogers was 13-19-2 with a 3.97 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.
ONE IN THE BOOKS: Sophomore defenseman Sam Calabrese notched his first career goal in Notre Dame’s 2-2 tie at North Dakota on Nov. 27. That gives him a goal and three assists for four points in 13 games this season and a +6. This comes after a freshman year he would love to forget. The product of the USA Under-18 Team, Calabrese played in just three games, registering no points. Last Dec. 4, on the first shift of his third game, he suffered a broken leg at Miami that sidelined him for most of the season.
GOING TO THE GOAL: Freshman center David Gerths has become a specialist when it comes to scoring those “dirty” goals. The 6-0, 208-pounder does his best work right in front of the net. In 14 games this season, he has scored five goals with one assist for six points. His last goal came at North Dakota (Nov. 26) when he jammed a rebound under goaltender Aaron Dell.
NOSE FOR THE NET: Freshman left wing Jeff Costello now has points in four straight games, scoring three goals with an assist over the last two weekends. On the year he has four goals and three assists for seven points with two power-play goals and a game winner.
THEâ⒬ˆSPECIALIST: Senior left wing Calle Ridderwall is third on the team in goals with seven through the first 15 games this season and tied for the team lead in power-play goals with three. He has led Notre Dame in goals in each of the last two seasons, getting 17 in 2008-09 and 19 last season in 2009-10. Over the last two-plus seasons, Ridderwall has scored 43 goals with 25 of them coming via the power play. Last season, his 11 power-play goals led the CCHA. Ridderwall had 11 power-play goals in `08-’09 to match last season’s total and has two this year. His 25 power-play goals move him into a tie for sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time power-play goal list with Aniket Dhadphale `99, Tim Kuehl `90 and Kirt Bjork `83, all of whom had 25 man-advantage goals in their careers. For his career, Ridderwall has 48 goals and 29 assists for 77 career points in 132 games.
POWER LESS: In the Nov. 12 game at Michigan, a 3-1 Irish win, Notre Dame did not have one power-play chance in the game. That marked the first time in seven seasons – since March 5, 2004 – a span of 258 games – that the Irish did not have a power-play opportunity in a game. In the weekend series at Michigan, the Irish did not get their first power-play on the weekend until there was 6:09 left in the third period, a span of 113:51 over the two games without a power play. In the final six minutes of Saturday’s game, the Irish did get three straight power plays.
HOMETOWN HERO: Freshman defenseman Jared Beers (Mishawaka, Ind.) has worked his way into the Notre Dame lineup and doesn’t seem to want to come out. In seven games this season, Beers has four assists for four points and is +2 for the year. He picked up his first career points on Nov. 6 versus Bowling Green with a two-point night. Beers joins Mike McNeill `84-’88 (South Bend), Tommy Smith `88-89 (South Bend) and Carey Nemeth’93-’94 (Granger) as local players to play for the Irish. Beers played two seasons at Culver Academy and then saw action in the NAHL with the Kenai River Brown Bears (2008-09) and the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders in the USHL in 2009-10.
FAST START: Notre Dame freshman left wing Anders Lee knows how to get his career off to a fast start. The 6-3, 218-pounder scored a goal on his first shot in the 6-3 win over Holy Cross (Oct. 8), just 1:58 into the first period. He went on to record two more goals for a hat trick in his first-ever collegiate game. Lee then added an assist in the 5-4 loss to Boston University in the championship game of the Warrior Ice Breaker Tournament. For his efforts, Anders Lee was named the CCHA rookie of the week for the week ending Oct. 10. He joins John Noble `73 as the only other freshman to score three goals in his first game as Noble did the trick on Nov. 15, 1969 in an 8-3 win over Windsor. He joins recent Irish players – Billy Maday, Christiaan Minella `10 and Tim Wallace `06 – as freshmen who scored on their first shot on goal. Lee added a goal and an assist in the Oct. 15 win over Lake Superior State and through the first 15 games of the season, he leads the team with nine goals, is tied for the top spot with three power-play goals and is fourth in points with 12 (9g, 3a). He was named the CCHA rookie of the month for October.