Notre Dame Hockey lost to Northeastern 9 to 2 on Friday, December 2nd at the Compton Family Arena.
Talented, offensive-minded defenseman ... has great vision, instincts and offensive skills with the puck ... strong skater who sees the ice ... makes great decisions with the puck ... strong in transition or on the break out ... plays with poise and great composure on the ice ... should see time as a quarterback of the Notre Dame power play ... will add to the Irish attack from the blue line ... product of the U.S. National Team Developmental Program where he was a teammate of fellow freshman Austin Wuthrich ... selected in the fourth round, 95th overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders ... went into the draft ranked 55th overall among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings ... as a member of the USA Under-17 team in 2009-10, played in 52 games with seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points with 58 penalty minutes ... helped the U.S. to a first-place finish at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Timmins, Ont. ... with the Under-18 team in 2010-11 served as team captain and was sixth in team scoring with four goals and 26 assists for 30 points and 27 minutes in penalties ... helped the national program to gold medals at the Four Nation, the Five Nations and the 2011 IIHF World Under-18 Championships ... tied for third in scoring at the Four Nations Cup with two goals and four assists for six points ... in gold medal game had a goal in regulation and then scored twice in the shootout to defeat Sweden ... was fourth in scoring among defensemen with a goal and seven assists for eight points at the Under-18 World Championships, setting up the overtime game-winning goal in the gold medal game against Sweden ... was selected by the tournament's coaches as one of the USA's top three players ... invited to the U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp held at Lake Placid, N.Y., between Aug. 6 to Aug. 13 along with current teammates Stephen Johns, Bryan Rust and T.J. Tynan ... one of six Illinois natives on the roster, joining Billy Maday (Burr Ridge), Sam Calabrese (Park Ridge), Kevin Lind (Homer Glen), T.J. Tynan (Orland Park) and Garrett Peterson (Manhattan) .... one of seven alums of the U.S. National Team Developmental Program on the Notre Dame roster ... one of 28 USNTDP alums to play for the Irish all-time ... signed national letter-of-intent in the early signing period (Nov. `10) along with Eric Johnson, Andy Ryan and Peter Schneider.
PREP & PERSONAL: Graduated from Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., while playing for the U.S. National Team program ... was a teammate of current Irish center T.J. Tynan while members of the Chicago Mission midget program ... had 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points for the Mission Midget Major team in 2008-09 ... full name is Robbie Victor Russo ... son of Rob and Debra Russo ... has two sisters, Renee and Olivia ... born Feb. 15, 1993 in Westmont, Ill. ... enrolled in First Year of Studies at Notre Dame with plans to major in business.
