May 1, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Central Scouting Service has listed seven incoming Notre Dame hockey players among the top 240 North Americans who are eligible for the NHL Entry Draft scheduled for June 22-23 in Columbus, Ohio. Among the group are six skaters ranked among 210 players and one goaltender ranked among 30 goaltenders.
Notre Dame’s group of seven includes three players who played this past year for the U.S. National Team Development Program and four players who saw action in the United States Hockey League (USHL).
Notre Dame’s goaltending prosepect is Brad Phillips (Farmington Hills, Mich./U.S. Under-18 Team) who is a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program. The 6-2, 163-pound puck stopper is ranked ninth among 30 North American goaltenders and second among collegiate goaltenders. This season with the U.S. Under-18 team, Phillips played in 24 games and was 15-5-2 in 1,425:55 minutes played. He had a 2.33 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage while turning in two shutouts on the season.
The highest ranked Irish skater also comes from the U.S. Under-18 Team and is one of Phillips’ teammates, defenseman Ted Ruth (Naperville, Ill./USA Under-18 Team). Ruth moved up in the NHL’s rankings from 34th in the mid-term report to 32nd among the 210 skaters and is the 11th-highest rated North American defenseman. The 6-1, 199-pound blueliner played in 39 games for the Under-18 team and had five goals and 11 assists for 16 points to go with 64 penalty minutes. He had three power-play goals and one game winner on the year.
Next on the list is center Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich./ Des Moines Buccaneers-USHL) who jumped from 50th on the mid-term list to 37th on the final rankings. With Des Moines, Ryan finished third in scoring with 22 goals and 42 assists for 64 points and 66 minutes in penalties. He had 10 power-play goals and two game winners while helping Des Moines to a 29-21-10 record. In the Buccaneers first-round five-game upset of first-place Omaha, Ryan had one goal and two assists for three points. Selected to play in the USHL Prospects/All-Star Game, Ryan is one of seven USHL players invited to attend the NHL’s Draft Combine, May 29 through June 2, prior to the draft.
Making the biggest jump among Irish recruits from the mid-term to the final rankings is defenseman Ian Cole (Ann Arbor, Mich./U.S. Under-18 Team) who teams with Ruth on the U.S. Under-18 Team. Cole, a 6-1, 211-pound defenseman moved from 113 at the midterm and is now ranked 81st overall, a jump of 32 spots. He played in 49 games with the national team with four goals and 16 assists for 20 points and 50 minutes in penalties. At the recent International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Under-18 World Championships in Finland, Cole helped the U.S. to a silver medal and was named one of Team USA’s top three players in the tournament.
Following Cole at 123 is center/left wing Robin Bergman (Stockholm, Sweden/Cedar Rapids Roughriders-USHL) who fell from 97th at the midway point of the season. At Cedar Rapids, the 6-0, 189-pound forward was fourth in scoring for the Roughriders and second in goals with 26 lamplighters and 17 assists for 43 points. His 26 goals tied him for 10th in the USHL and his 17 power-play goals were the second-best total in the league. Cedar Rapids finished the season with a 37-18-5 record, good for second in the USHL’s East Division. In the first round of the playoffs, Bergman had a goal and four assists for five points in the Roughriders’ first-round sweep of Ohio. He joined Ryan and Calle Ridderwall in the USHL Prospect/All-Star game in January.
Five spots behind Bergman is fellow Swede, Calle Ridderwall (Stockholm, Sweden/Tri-City Storm-USHL). A 5-11, 165-pound left wing, Ridderwall moved down from 119th at the midterm to 128th in the final rankings. Ridderwall led the Tri-City Storm in scoring with 27 goals and 35 assists for 62 points to finish tied for 14th in the USHL and was selected to the all-rookie team following the regular season. Among his 27 goals were 14 power-play tallies, three short-handed markers and seven game winners. His 27 goals tied him for eighth overall in the USHL and his seven game winners were tops in the league. Tri-City finished second in the USHL’s West Division with a 36-18-6 record and knocked off Sioux City in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Ridderwall had three goals and three assists in the seven games and scored the game winners in games three and six. Along with Ryan and Bergman, he was one of three incoming Notre Dame players to play in the USHL Prospects/All-Star game in January.
Rounding out the incoming Irish players listed among the skaters is center Billy Maday (Burr Ridge, Ill./Waterloo Black Hawks-USHL) who, despite missing half the season with a broken wrist, moved up in the rankings from 177 to 158 at the end of the season. In 33 games, Maday had 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points, including four power-play goals and two game winners. Waterloo finished first in the USHL East Division and defeated Chicago, four games to one in the first round of the playoffs with Maday getting one goal and one assist for two points.
Notre Dame's Incoming Class of 2007-08
Player Pos. DOB Ht. Wt. S/C Hometown/2006-07 TeamRobin Bergman F 7/12/88 6-0 189 L Stockholm, Sweden/Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)Ian Cole D 2/21/89 6-1 211 L Ann Arbor, Mich./U.S. Under-18 TeamBilly Maday F 2/25/88 5-11 165 R Burr Ridge, Ill./Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)Brad Phillips G 4/22/89 6-2 163 L Farmington Hills, Mich./USA Under-18 TeamCalle Ridderwall F 5/28/88 5-11 165 L Stockholm, Sweden/Tri-City Storm (USHL)Teddy Ruth D 2/14/89 6-1 199 R Naperville, Ill./USA Under-18 TeamBen Ryan F 10/18/88 5-11 190 R Brighton, Mich./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)