April 12, 2008

by John Heisler

DENVER -- The Notre Dame hockey player best represented in Denver at the Frozen Four? It's probably junior winger Garrett Regan from Hastings, Minn. A full busload of his family and friends made the trip from Hastings to Colorado for the weekend.

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The Notre Dame hockey pep band, joined by several hundred family members, friends and supporters, gave the Irish team a noisy send-off from the Denver Comfort Inn on 17th Street at 2:30 p.m. on the way to the Pepsi Center.

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Here's a quick history of Notre Dame's 17 NCAA Final Four (or equivalent) appearances (includes College Cup in soccer, Frozen Four in hockey, College World Series in baseball), representing six different sports just in the decade of the 2000s:

1950s (1) -- 1957/Baseball
1970s (1) -- 1978/Men's Basketball
1990s (6) -- 1994/Women's Soccer (runner-up), 1995/Women's Soccer (champion), 1996/Women's Soccer (runner-up), 1997/Women's Basketball, 1997/Women's Soccer, 1999/Women's Soccer (runner-up)
2000s (9) -- 2000/Women's Soccer, 2001/Women's Basketball (champion), 2001/Men's Lacrosse, 2002/Baseball, 2004/Women's Soccer (champion), 2006/Women's Lacrosse, 2006/Women's Soccer (runner-up), 2007/Women's Soccer, 2008/Hockey

-- ND --