Jan. 19, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame hockey team (8-13-5, 5-7-4 CCHA) continues its battle to
move up the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings this week, with
a pair of home games vs. Western Michigan (8-10-2, 7-7-2) ... WMU is tied
for the fifth and final home-ice spot in the CCHA playoffs ... Notre Dame's
trip last week to Northern Michigan yielded a 2-2 tie and 6-0 loss ... the
Irish close the regular season with seven of 10 games on the road ... the
WMU series will be aired live by WJVA radio 1580 AM (also available via
the ND website at www.und.com, as are real-time stats for all home games).
QUICK NOTES FROM THE NMU SERIES: It's been nearly two years since ND posted
its last overtime win (5-4 at Bowling Green on Jan. 24, 1998), with the
Irish going 0-1-10 in OT since that game (0-0-5 this season, including the
2-2 game at NMU) ... the Irish continued their season-long trend of series
dropoffs at NMU, as ND has totaled 10 points in first games of CCHA series
(4-2-2) but just four points in the second games (1-5-2) ... ND is mired in
a goalscoring slump that has seen the Irish score just five goals in the
last four games (three on the PP) ... ND was whistled for 13 penalties in
the NMU loss (leading to nine NMU PPs), well above of the team average of
7.5 penalties per game ... the Irish have yet to win on the opponent's ice
this season (0-5-3) ... the Irish have scored 0-2 goals in 16 of 26 games
this season ... due to the league's new four-team cluster format, the Irish
are not making the customary trips to four CCHA cities, including Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. (Lake Superior), Kalamazoo (WMU), Ann Arbor (Michigan) and Oxford, Ohio (Miami) ...
the four teams that will not visit the Joyce Center in 1999-2000 include
Northern Michigan, Ferris State, Bowling Green and Ohio State.
LONG TIME, NO SEE, PART II: Notre Dame and Lake Superior met recently for
the first time in nearly a year, but this week's series between the Irish
and WMU is the first action between those teams in 14 months-since a 9-5 ND
win at the Joyce Center on Nov. 22, 1998 ... in its 52 games since that
time, the Irish are just 18-26-8 while playing 40 times versus other CCHA
teams, including: NMU (8 games), MSU (5), UAF (5), Miami (5), Michigan
(4), Ferris State (4), Lake Superior (3), Ohio State (2), Bowling Green (2)
and Nebraska-Omaha (2) ... ND's upcoming series at OSU (Feb. 4-5) also will
be the first games between the Irish and Buckeyes in 14 months (they last
played on Dec. 5, 1998).
PLAYOFF POSITIONING: With anywhere from 10-14 league games remaining for
each CCHA team (ND has 12 left), the majority of the positioning for the
10-team CCHA playoffs is still up for grabs ... Michigan (13-4-0), Michigan
State (12-5-0) and NMU (11-3-2) have separated from the pack and will be
looking to clinch a crucial top-three finish (which would avoid any
possible inclusion in the 4-vs.-5 play-in game that determines the final
semi-finalist, after the five first-round series) ... Lake Superior (9-6-1)
has surged to fourth place, followed by Ferris State (8-8-0) and WMU
(7-7-2) ... ND (5-7-4) is tied for seventh with Nebraska-Omaha (5-7-4) and
Miami (6-6-2) while Bowling Green (6-10-0) is looking to hold off Ohio
State (4-11-1) and Alaska Fairbanks (3-15-0) for the final spot.
FIT TO BE TIED: Head-to-head tiebreakers likely could be used to determine
the CCHA playoff matchups, with the Irish already concluding series with
Michigan, NMU, LSSU, FSU and Miami ... ND holds the head-to-head
tiebreakers with LSSU and Miami (both 1-0-1) but dropped both games to FSU
... this weekend's results would help settle a potential tie with WMU ...
ND trails the UNO series (0-1-1), needing either a pair of wins on Feb.
11-12 vs. the Mavericks to win the tiebreaker (or a tie and a win by
three-plus goals) ... head-to-head results will be decided in February vs.
OSU and BG while the Irish need only one tie next week at UAF to clinch
that tiebreaker.
FOUR ND PLAYERS LISTED AMONG NHL'S TOP DRAFT PROSPECTS: Four current and
future Notre Dame hockey players are listed among the top 160 players on
the NHL's Central Scouting Service midseason skater rankings-representing
the most players listed from any team in the CCHA ... the rankings list
the top prospects (separated into skaters and goaltenders) for the 2000 NHL
Draft, which is open to players born between Sept. 16, 1980 and Sept. 15,
1982 ... players born after Sept. 15, 1981 must "opt-in" and forfeit their
college eligibility, regardless or whether they already have completed a
year of college hockey ... ND's top-rated player is fall of '99 signee Neil
Komadoski (Feb. 10, 1982 birthdate), considered one of the nation's top
prospects among defensemen in his age group ... Komadoski (Chesterfield,
Mo./U.S. Under-18 National Team) checked in at 51st, ranking as the
fourth-highest rated player/signee from teams in the CCHA (two of his
current U.S. teammates that also are headed to CCHA schools are rated ahead
of him) ... current ND players on the Central Scouting list include three
draft-eligible freshmen: defenseman Evan Nielsen (Evanston, Ill.), center
Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.) and right wing Michael Chin (Urbana, Ill.)
... Nielsen checks in at 70th on the list, sixth-highest among all current
CCHA players/signees and first among active CCHA defensemen (six spots
ahead of Northern Michigan's Sean Connolly) ... Dunlop is listed 118th,
eight-highest among all players with CCHA ties and second among active CCHA
forwards (Michigan center Andy Hilbert is listed 26th). Chin is the
ninth-highest CCHA player/signee on the list, at No. 158.
THE ND-WMU SERIES
Western Michigan owns a 26-13-2 series edge vs. Notre Dame (15-7-1 since
the Irish rejoined the CCHA in 1992-93) but the Irish own a 5-3-1 edge in
the last three seasons ... ND has averaged 3.6 goals per game vs. WMU
during the last nine games of the series, including a 17-8 scoring edge
last season (7-1, 1-2, 9-5) ... the Irish are 1-12-0 at WMU's Lawson Arena
since 1992-93, with the only win coming in 1997-98 (2-1) ... ND's top
career scorers vs. WMU include senior C Ben Simon (2G-10A), junior LW Dan
Carlson (4G-4A) and junior RW Matt Van Arkel (4G-2A).
BRONCOS NOTES
WMU is in the thick of the battle for one of five home-ice spots in the
CCHA playoffs, as the Broncos (8-10-2, 7-7-2 CCHA) are tied with Ferris
State (8-8-0) for fifth place, three points behind Lake Superior but just
two points ahead of Miami, Nebraska-Omaha and Notre Dame ... WMU dropped
two non-league games last week at Cornell (4-3, 3-1) after splitting a pair
of 3-2 home games with Alaska Fairbanks ... WMU ranks 4th in the CCHA for
scoring (3.25 goals/gm), 8th in defense (3.20 goals allowed/gm), 2nd in
power play (.188), 7th in penalty killing (.845) and 6th in fewest penalty
minutes per game (21.18) ... junior C David Gove is the CCHA's
third-leading scorer (20G-11A) while sophomore center Mike Bishai is tied
for 12th on the CCHA scoring charts (19G-10A) ... sophomore Jeff Reynaert
ranks 12th in the CCHA with a 2.96 goals-against average, logging all but
63 minutes this season for the Broncos (he is 8-8-2, with a .905 save pct.)
... Gove is tied for seventh in the CCHA for goals (11) and ranks fourth
with 19 assists ... Bishai's seven power-play goals lead the CCHA (he also
has three game-winners) while senior Jason Redenius owns two of WMU's seven
shorthanded goals ... WMU returned 18 of 23 letterwinners from its 1998-99
team that went 6-20-8 overall and finished 10th in the CCHA ... top
returning scorers included Gove (9G-14A in '98-'99) and senior D Daryl
Andrews (3G-11A) while Reynaert posted a 3.57, .891 last season (when he
was 1-7-1).
FRIEND OR FOE?
Several Notre Dame and WMU players are former teammates ... ND senior D
Nathan Borega and WMU senior RW Caley Jones (Vernon Vipers) ... ND senior D
Sean Molina and WMU senior LW Matt Addesa (Dubuque Fighting Saints) ...
Irish senior D Sean Seyferth and WMU senior LW Jeff Wojcik (Compuware
Ambassadors) ... ND junior D Ryan Clark and WMU junior C Chad Kline
(Lincoln Stars) ... Irish junior LW Chad Chipchase and WMU junior RW Jay
McCabe (summer hockey) ... ND freshman LW Jake Wiegand and McCabe
(Compuware Ambassadors).
1998-99 ND-WMU RECAPS
@ND 7, WMU 1 (Oct. 10): Brian Urick and
David Inman scored twice while Ben
Simon had 1G-3A ...Inman's breakaway opened the scoring seven minutes into
the game and the Irish added four PPGs while striking twice in a 31-second
span of 4-on-4 ... Forrest Karr had 20 saves while helping stop six of
seven WMU man-up chances ... WMU's Chris Peck stopped 34 of 41 shots, 17 of
which came during the nine Irish power-play chances ... Can Carlson and
Chad Chipchase scored the other ND goals while Jason Redenius scored for
WMU.
@WMU 2, ND 1 (Oct. 24): ND owned a 32-22 shot edge but could not solve Matt
Barnes (31 saves) ... the victory gave WMU its 14th win over the Irish in
the last 15 at Lawson Arena ... WMU struck late in the first period, when
Chuck Mindel collected a loose puck and wristed a shot from the left corner
that deflected off Karr's right shoulder ... ND tied the game early in the
second, on a play initiated by Jay Kopischke's right-side faceoff win ...
Brett Henning made a pass back into the slot for Kopischke, whose rebounded
shot was put back by Matt Van Arkel (1:14) ... Steve Rymsha scored the
game-winner at 3:14 of the third, knocking home a rebounded shot by
Redenius ... ND was 0-for-4 on the power play).
@ND 9, WMU 5 (Nov. 20): Chipchase scored 32 seconds into the game (he added
another goal in the 2nd period) and ND built its lead to -0, with eight
different Irish players eventually scoring goals (vs. three different WMU
goalies) ... Ben Simon, Carlson and Van Arkel each had 1G-2A for the Irish
... ND's nine goals came on just 21 shots (.4238 shooting pct.) ... WMU
scored five 3rd-period goals but could not overcome ND's biggest goal
output since a 10-2 win over St.-Francis Xavier on Oct. 14, 1993 ... the
nine goals were most by ND in a CCHA game since a 9-6 win over Miami on
Jan. 14, 1983 ... the 14 combined goals were most in a game involving ND
since the Irish dropped a 10-6 game to Ferris State on Jan. 11, 1994 ...
other ND goalscorers included Joe Dusbabek, Urick, Tyson Fraser and Craig
Hagkull ... WMU's goalscorers included Rymsha, redenius, Chuck Novock and
Corey Waring.
AROUND THE HORN
Junior RW Ryan Dolder has 10 points (3G-7A) in the last 12 games and
remains atop the Irish scoring charts with 16 points (5G-11A) ... senior RW
Joe Dusbabek's PPG vs. LSSU made him the eighth different player to record
a game-winning goal for ND this season (in eight wins) ... Dusbabek leads
ND with nine points in CCHA play (3G-6A) and ranks second on the team with
five PPGs ... he has totaled four points in the last five games (2G-2A )
... sophomore F David Inman returned to center in the LSSU series and had
1G-1A in the two games, in his first action since returning from the World
Junior Championship ... Inman's goal in the 2-1 win was his first in five
games played and just his second since Nov. 6 (spanning nine games played)
... both of freshman RW Michael Chin's goals this season have come during
the last seven games (he scored the equalizer in the 1-1 tie with LSSU) ...
Inman remains the only Irish players with more than six goals ... senior LW
Andy Jurkowski has played in a team-best 78 consecutive games ... junior LW
Jay Kopischke has 3G-3A in his last 10 games played ... senior C Ben
Simon's five-game point streak was snapped in the Denver Cup ... Simon has
113 career pts (37G-76A) in 128 games ... Simon notched his third career
two-goal game in the 5-3 UMass win (he has yet to record a hat trick) ...
Simon-who was held without a point at the DU Cup-has 10 points (4G-6A) in
his last 12 games (five in first 12) ... Simon is averaging just 2.2
shots/game (53 in 24 GP), compared to 3.1 in '98-'99 (113 in 37) and 2.8
over his first three seasons (287 in 104) ... Dolder was recognized by the
coaching staff for his emerging leadership by being named the team's third
alternate captain on Dec. 1 ... Jurkowski posted the first multi-point game
of his career in the 4-3 loss to Princeton (2A) and is tied for sixth on
the team with 10 points (4G-6A, he had 2G-4A in 70 games over his first
three seasons, as mostly a D) ... Jurkowski has no points in the last seven
games (0G-2A in the last 11) and is in the midst of a 15-game goalless
streak (he had 4G in the previous six games) ... Dolder, junior LW Dan
Carlson and Jurkowski are the only players to appear in all 26 games this
season ... sophomore Sam Cornelius played five games as a fourth-line
LW/extra D in mid-December and early January ... freshman C Connor Dunlop
has not registered a point since Nov. 13 (13 team games), with no points in
six games played while missing three games due to injury and four while at
the World Junior Championship ... sophomore C Brett Henning has no points
since Nov. 28 (he has no points in his last eight GP while also playing in
the World Juniors) ... Inman has 3A in his last five games, after totaling
just one in the first 17 ... Carlson's four-game point streak was snapped
in the LSSU tie (he has points in seven of the last nine games, 3G-4A).
FROM THE BLUE LINE
Senior D Sean Seyferth has five points this season (2G-3A) after totaling
seven in his first three seasons combined (4G-3A) ... senior D Sean
Molina's seven points this season (1G-6A) are a career-best ... junior D
Ryan Clark (from nearby Littleton, Colo.) scored in the Denver game for his
first goal of the season and second of his career ... Molina scored in the
4-3 loss to Princeton on Dec. 19, for his first career goal ... Molina is
tied for fifth on the squad in plus-minus (even), after ranking second on
the '98-'99 squad (+13) ... Molina has totaled just 35 career penalties
(four in the last 16 games) while playing the most games (132) of any
current Irish player (he is averaging 3.8 games per penalty for his career)
... Molina is tied for fifth on the 1999-2000 team with six assists,
equaling his career-best season total from '97-'98 ... senior D Tyson
Fraser's assist vs. UMass was his 50th career point (7G-43A) and marked his
45th career game with a goal or assist ... freshman D Evan Nielsen has
2G-3A in the last nine games.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Freshman Tony Zasowski ranks 7th overall in the CCHA with a 2.47 GAA ,
which would best the Irish record of 2.58 set by Forrest Karr last season,
while sophomore Jeremiah Kimento (3.01) ranks 14th in the CCHA ... Zasowski
has allowed just 24 even-strength goals in 14 games played ... Zasowski and
Kimento combined for 56 saves and three GA in the recent LSSU series ...
Zasowski picked up the 2-1 win over LSSU in his first appearance since Dec.
10, making 29 saves and helping stop all six Lakers PPs ... Zasowski closed
the game with 28 straight saves, after allowing an early goal ... he had
allowed four goals in each of his previous two games ... Zasowski's season
save percentage (.908) sits ahead of the long-standing ND record of .907
(set by Mark Kronholm in 1970-71) ... Zasowski has allowed 0-2 goals in
nine of his 13 starts ... Kimento closed the 1-1 game vs. LSSU with 25
straight saves (he totaled 27) ... Zasowski turned in an earlier shutout
streak of 130:36, spanning 54 minutes of the 2-1 loss at UNH and the first
76 minutes of the MSU series ... ND's team GAA of 2.80 could challenge the
team record (2.61 ,set in 1998-99), but the Irish have allowed 37 goals in
the last 12 games ... Zasowski (19 saves vs. UAF, 24 vs. MSU) is the second
ND goalie with two solo shutouts in the same season (Karr shut out OSU and
Miami in '98-'99) ... Kimento posted a 19-save shutout vs. Union, marking
the first time that the Irish have shut out three opponents in the same
season ... junior G Kyle Kolquist made his first career start (and second
career appearance) in the 4-2 loss to Princeton, with 21 saves and just one
even-strength goal allowed.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Notre Dame has posted a 16-3-5 home record in
regular-season CCHA games during the past two seasons (one loss to Ferris
State, two vs. Michigan) ... nearly 40 pct. of ND's goals this season have
come on the power play (23 of 59, including four of the last six), with
senior C Ben Simon (5 of 6), junior LW Dan Carlson (4 of 6) and senior RW
Joe Dusbabek (4 of 5) each scoring the bulk of their goals on the PP ...
ND's most noticeable dropoffs from last season are in goals per game (3.0
to 2.3) and first-period scoring margin (+6 to -9) ... after shutting out
Michigan State on Dec. 4 (1-0), the Irish gave up 27 goals in the next
seven games before allowing just three in the LSSU series (then eight at
NMU) ... 10 of ND's last 16 games have been decided by 0-1 goals (4-3-3 in
those games) ... ND's last 11 OT games have produced 10 ties and one loss
(0-1-5 in '98-'99), with ND's last OT victory coming nearly two years ago,
a 5-4 win at Bowling Green on Jan. 24, 1998 ... the Irish went 0-4-1 this
season when playing the first game of non-conference weekend action ...
ND's eight wins have featured eight different game-winning goalscorers ...
the Irish are 17-6-5 (.696) in their last 28 regular-season home games,
with three losses by one goal ... the Irish are 22-0-3 during the past two
seasons when leading at the second intermission (6-0-0 this season) and
17-2-2 when ahead at the first break (5-2-0) ... junior RW Ryan Dolder
(GWG, 3 GWA) is the only Irish player with more than two game-winning
points this season (a total of 14 players have scored or assisted on the
eight GWGs this season) ... prior to the 4-1 first period vs. Vermont, the
Irish had been outscored 13-4 in the first period this season (now 30-21,
with a 23-18 opponent edge in the second, 21-20 opponent edge in the third)
... since opening the '98-'99 season with a 10-0-2 record at home, the
Irish are just 10-8-4 in their last 22 home games.
RACKING UP THE MILES: Notre Dame's 11 road trips this season cover many
miles, with two trips to Denver, plus last week's trip to the upper
peninsula for a series at Northern Michigan, the upcoming trip to
Fairbanks, Alaska, and earlier visits to Omaha, Neb. and Durham, N.H. ...
the other trips include Big Rapids/Grand Rapids, Mich., East Lansing, Mich.
(2), Bowling Green, Ohio, and Columbus, Ohio ... the reworked CCHA
"cluster" schedule resulted in the loss of the customary short trips to
Kalamazoo (Western Michigan) or Ann Arbor (Michigan).
NEARING THE STRETCH RUN: Despite an 0-4-0 start in the CCHA, ND is 5-3-4 in
its last 12 CCHA games and tied for seventh, three points out of fourth ...
ND ranks 10th in the CCHA for overall goals/gm (2.27, just .02 ahead of
Ohio State and Alaska Fairbanks), 6th in goals allowed (2.85), 8th in
power-play pct. (.150), 8th in penalty-kill pct. (.840) and 1st in fewest
penalty minutes/gm (16.42) ... sophomore C/LW David Inman is tied for 21st
in the CCHA with eight goals in 22 games played (he had 10 in '98-'99)
while senior C Ben Simon is tied for fifth in the CCHA with five PPGs in 25
games played ... Simon and junior RW Ryan Dolder (5G-11A) is tied for 26th
on the CCHA scoring charts (Dolder is tied for 14th in assists).
LINEUP SHUFFLE: Notre Dame faced some interesting lineup choices in the
Princeton series (just 10 healthy forwards and seven D), due to the absence
of three U.S. junior national team members: sophomore C Brett Henning,
sophomore C/LW David Inman and freshman C Connor Dunlop ... three others
missed that series: senior RW Joe Dusbabek (illness), junior D Ryan Clark
(injury) and freshman RW John Wroblewski (injury), with Dusbabek and Clark
returning for the Denver Cup and Wroblewski back for the LSSU series.
AVOIDING THE SIN BIN: ND's low team GAA (2.80) is due in large part to a
surging penalty kill (.840, 29-for-33 streak) and the CCHA's
least-penalized squad (7.7 penalties, 16.4 PIM/gm, leading to just 5.8 opp.
PP chances/gm) ... since ranking as the CCHA's most-penalized team in
'95-'96 (11.31), the Irish were the CCHA's least-penalized in '96-'97
(8.69) and '97-'98 (6.37) and the third-least penalized in '98-'99 (8.40)
... ND's more disciplined players include soph. RW John Wroblewski (3
penalties), senior LW Andy Jurkowksi (5, 24 in 96 career games), senior C
Ben Simon (8, compared to 30-31-31 in the past three seasons), and
sophomore C Brett Henning (4, 19 in 60 career games) ... senior D Sean
Molina has nine penalties this season (35 in 132 career games) ... senior D
Nathan Borega had just 16 penalties as a sophomore and 13 as junior but has
26 this season ... the Irish were whistled for 13 penalties in the 6-0 loss
at NMU (most in 20 games, since 15 in the 4-2 loss to Ferris state on Oct.
24).
IRISH HELP U.S. REACH WORLD SEMI'S: Three ND players returned from a
three-week stint with the U.S. National Junior Team, helping the U.S. reach
the semi-finals of the World Junior Championship in Sweden (Dec. 26-Jan. 4)
... this marked the fourth straight year that Irish players have been
members of the prestigious 22-player team ... the invitees included soph. C
Brett Henning (Huntington, N.Y.), soph. C/LW David Inman (Toronto, Ont.)
and fr. C Connor Dunlop (St. Louis, Mo.)-most from any school on the
initial roster ... early U.S. highlights included ties with eventual
finalist Czech Republic (2-2) and rival Canada (1-1) ... Dunlop assisted on
the first U.S. goal and scored unassisted to give the U.S. a 3-1 lead, in a
5-1 quarterfinal win over Sweden ... the Czechs beat the U.S. in the semi's
(4-1) before Canada claimed the bronze with a shootout win over the U.S.
(4-3, 3-1 in shootout) ... Dunlop-who alternated as the 2nd and 3rd-line
center-led the U.S. in faceoff pct. (64), winning 69 of 108 ... Henning
won 14 of his 37 faceeoffs as the 4th-line center while Inman was used as a
winger on several lines ... the team first assembled Dec. 13 in West Point,
N.Y., and was introduced between periods of the N.Y. Rangers-L.A. Kings
game on Dec. 15 ... Boston College leads the way with nine selections to
the National Junior Team during the past four years, followed by ND (7).
|
|
 |
