OFF TO FLORIDA FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Notre Dame hockey will make its first-ever appearance in the state of Florida on Dec. 27-28 when the Irish participate in the 4th Annual Everblades College Hockey Classic. The tournament will be played at the Teco Arena in Estero, Fla., which is home to the East Coast Hockey League's (ECHL) Florida Everblades. Joining the Irish in the tournament field are Cornell from the ECAC, Maine from Hockey East and Ohio State from the CCHA with all three of those teams going into this week ranked in the top 15 in the nation. The Notre Dame-Cornell game will be played at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 27 and will be televised live by College Sports Television (CSTV). The Maine-Ohio State game follows at 7:35 p.m., also on CSTV. On Sunday, Dec. 28, the championship game will be televised by CSTV at 4:35 p.m. Notre Dame comes into the tournament on a two-game losing skid as the Irish dropped a pair at Western Michigan (8-6, 6-4) on Dec. 5-6. Notre Dame is 8-5-2 overall and 7-5-2 in CCHA play, good for 16 points and a third-place tie with Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 11-7-0 overall and 8-5-0 in league play. Notre Dame and Ohio State have already played twice this season with the teams splitting a pair of games. The Irish opened the year with a 5-2 win on Oct. 10th at Value City Arena and then dropped a 3-1 decision on Oct. 11.

THE IRISH AND IN-SEASON TOURNAMENTS: The Everblades College Hockey Classic marks the 26th in-season tournament that Notre Dame has participated in. The Irish own a 16-31-3 overall record in those tournaments. The last time the Irish won an in-season tournament came at the 1981 Great Lakes Invitational. Current Irish coach Dave Poulin was a member of that team. Notre Dame has won four tournaments, finished second six times, third, four times and fourth a total of 11 times. Last season, the Irish tied for third at the Ledyard National Bank Tournament at Hanover, N.H. The Irish lost to Dartmouth (6-4) in the opening game and tied Vermont (3-3) in the third-place contest.

THE OPPONENTS - CORNELL: The Irish will face Cornell at 4:05 p.m. in their tournament opener on Dec. 27. The two teams have met three times in the series history with the Irish winning all three contests. The last time the two teams met was in November of 1979. Irish head coach Dave Poulin was a member of that Notre Dame team but did not play in the 1979 series due to a viral infection that sidelined him for 11 games. Cornell comes into the game with a 4-2-5 overall record and is currently tied for second in the ECAC with a 4-0-2 league record. In their last game, the Big Red defeated Harvard at home by a 1-0 score. They are 1-1-3 in their last five games.

OHIO STATE: The Irish and Buckeyes come into the tournament tied for third in the CCHA, one point behind first-place Miami. The Buckeyes are 11-7-0 overall and 8-5-0 in the league and are coming off two losses to Miami, 2-1 in Columbus and 4-2 at Oxford on Dec. 5-6. OSU is 3-2-0 in its last five games.

MAINE: The Black Bears are ranked third in the nation in both polls and are off to an impressive 12-2-1 overall start. Their only losses have come at New Hampshire (6-3) and Boston College (4-1). Maine is 5-0-1 since the Boston College loss and is second in Hockey East with a 6-2-1 conference record. The Irish own a 2-1-0 edge in the all-time series, although they have never actually won a game on the scoreboard vs. Maine. The first two meetings between the teams came in Orono on Dec. 29-30, 1991. Maine won both games, by 5-1 and 6-3 scores. The Irish losses were changed to wins later in the year when it was ruled that Maine had used an ineligible player. The last meeting between the two teams came on Nov. 25, 1994 at the Great Western Freeze Out in Inglewood, Calif. The Black Bears took a 4-3 decision in that game.

LONG BREAK: When the Irish drop the puck with Cornell on Dec. 27 in Estero, Fla., it will be the first game for Notre Dame in 21 days. The last game the Irish played came on Dec. 6 at Western Michigan, a 6-4 loss to the Broncos. Since Dec. 6, the Irish have had just three practices before breaking for finals on Thurs., Dec. 10. The lone practice the Irish will have since Dec. 9 will come on Dec. 26 at Teco Arena. The Irish were 4-2-2 in their previous eight games before the break.

ON THE SIDELINES: Notre Dame Goaltender Morgan Cey (Jr., Wilkie, Sask.) underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Wednesday, Nov. 19. He re-injured the knee on Nov. 8 at Michigan State and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. Cey also missed the first five games of the season after having knee surgery in July. Defenseman Derek Smith (Jr., Marysville, Mich.) will miss the game with the Everblades Tournament as he remains sidelined with post-concussion syndrome. He suffered a concussion on Jan. 4, 2003 at Nebraska-Omaha and has not played since.

OFF TO A FAST START: Notre Dame's 8-5-2 overall record is the best for the Irish after 15 games since starting the 1998-99 season with a 9-4-2 overall record. The 7-5-2 record in the CCHA is the best for the Irish in league play after 14 games since 1998-99 when they started the CCHA schedule with an 8-5-1 record.

CENTURY MARK FOR GLOBKE: Senior right wing Rob Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich.) became the 40th player in Notre Dame hockey history to go over 100 points in his career with two assists versus Western Michigan (Dec. 6). He now is tied for 37th on the all-time points list with 59 goals and 42 assists for 101 points. The 59 goals rank him 18th on Notre Dame's all-time goal list. On the year, Globke has 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points and is tied with Aaron Gill for the team lead in scoring. On the year, Globke now has three games with two or more goals and has 13 for his career. He opened the season with a hat trick in Notre Dame's 5-2 win at Ohio State. The hat trick was the second of his career. He has added two goal games versus Lake Superior (Nov. 21) and Northern Michigan (Nov. 29).

GAME-WINNING GLOBKE: With his game-winning goal versus Northern Michigan (11/29), Rob Globke now has three game winners for the Irish to lead the team in that category. He is tied for first in the CCHA with three game winners and is tied for fourth in the nation. Over his Notre Dame career, Globke now has 11 game-winning goals. That ties him for fourth all-time with Paul Regan ('73).

CENTURY MARK: With Rob Globke reaching the 100-point mark in his career, next on the list is senior center Aaron Gill. The Rochester, Minn., native comes into the Everblades Tournament with 90 career points on 32 goals and 58 assists. Gill is tied with Globke for the team lead in scoring this season with five goals and 12 assists for 17 points in 15 games.

RISING TO THE OCCASION: With Morgan Cey sidelined for all but two games this season, freshman goaltender David Brown (Fr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) has played in 13 games for the Irish and has had a strong first half. In 11 starts, Brown is 6-3-2 with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. He had an eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) snapped on Dec. 6 in a 6-4 loss at Western Michigan. During his streak which covered nine games, Brown had a 1.96 goals against (17 goals in 521:30 minutes and a .932 save percentage (232 saves). Included in those nine games were three consecutive shutouts between 10/18 and 10/31. For good measure, Brown also threw in a fourth shutout on Nov. 14 versus the U.S. Under-18 team that does not count in the statistics. He was also named CCHA rookie of the week three times and was named the Hockey Commissioner's Association (HCA) national rookie of the month for October.

CCHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Notre Dame goaltender David Brown has been named the CCHA's rookie of the week three times this season. The most recent honor came on Dec. 2 after he led the Irish to a weekend sweep of Northern Michigan (5-1, 4-2) by stopping 44-of-47 shots (.936 save percentage) and giving up just three goals (1.50 goals-against average). He was also named rookie of the week for Oct. 15 and Nov. 2.

MR. STEADY - CORY'S STORY: Junior right wing Cory McLean (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) recorded two goals and an assist in two games at Western Michigan (Dec. 5-6). His two-point game (1g, 1a) in the 8-6 loss to the Broncos was his third multiple-point game of the season. On the year, he has scored in 12 of Notre Dame's 15 games and is third in scoring with seven goals and seven assists for 14 points. His season-opening four-game point-scoring streak (2-3-5) was snapped at Boston College. He had a breakout year with the Irish in 2002-03 as he recorded 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. Four of his goals came on the power play. As a freshman, McLean had just one goal and four assists for five points.

SCORING BY CLASS: Here's how Notre Dame scoring breaks down by classes this season.

IRISH ON CSTV: Notre Dame's game with Cornell on Dec. 27 will be the third appearance this season for the Irish on College Sports Television (CSTV). The Irish are 2-0 so far this year with wins over Ohio State (10/10) and Boston College (10/24). The Irish are also schedlued to appear again on CSTV on Friday, Feb. 27 versus Michigan. Face off is set for 8:05 p.m.

WILD ONE: Notre Dame and Western Michigan combined for 14 goals (8-6 Bronco win) on December 5. The last time the Irish played in a game that both teams combined for 14 goals was on November 20, 1998 when the Irish downed Western Michigan, 9-5. Coming into the Dec. 5 game with Western, the Irish had surrendered just eight goals in their last five games. The last time the Irish gave up eight goals in a game was Jan. 27, 2001 in an 8-2 loss at Yale.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Through the first 13 games this season, the Irish displayed the stingiest defense in the history of the program. Notre Dame's 1.97 goals-against average after the 13 games was the lowest ever after 13 games. In the first 13 games, the Irish had surrendered a total of 26 goals. In the Western Michigan series, the Irish gave up 14 goals over two games. That raised the team's goals-against average to 2.64.

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN: In 15 games this season, Notre Dame defensemen Brett Lebda (Sr., Buffalo Grove, Ill.), Tom Galvin (Sr., Miller Place, N.Y.), Neil Komadoski (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.) and Wes O'Neill (Fr., Essex, Ont.) have combined for six goals and 26 assists for 32 points. Lebda leads the defensemen with two goals and seven assists, Galvin (with eight assists) and Komadoski (two goals and six assists) are tied for second with eight points and O'Neill has two goals (both ppg's) and five assists for seven points.

SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS: Notre Dame has scored at least one power-play goal in each of its last nine games. In those nine games, the Irish have converted 10-of-42 chances for a 23.8% success rate. On the year, the Irish power play ranks sixth in the CCHA, converting on 13-of-71 chances for an 18.3% success rate. On the penalty-killing side, the Irish have given up just eight power-play goals (just two games with two ppg's against) in 59 chances for a 86.4% success rate.

LEBDA'S LINE: With a goal the 8-6 loss to Western Michigan, Irish defenseman Brett Lebda comes into the Everblades Tournament having scored 22 goals with 48 assists for 70 career points in 127 games on the Notre Dame blue line. The Irish have had 10 defensemen in their history score 80 or more points in their careers. Lebda needs just 10 points this season to finish among the top 10 in scoring among Notre Dame blueliners.

PUTTING THE "P" IN POWER: Sophomore left wing Mike Walsh (Northville, Mich.) is quickly becoming one of the top power forwards in the CCHA. On top of that, he also has a knack for scoring in the clutch. Walsh believes that the quickest way to get from point A to point B is a straight line as he barges and charges to the net. Walsh now has a four-game point scoring streak (2g, 3a) and has points in 10 of his last 12 games (7g, 5a). He has already surpassed last season's totals of a goal and an assist. Two of his seven goals this season are game winners.

IT'S BEEN AWHILE: Irish goaltender Rory Walsh (So., Milton, Mass.) made his first appearance in goal since Oct. 17 when he took over in relief of David Brown in the third period of the Dec. 5 game at Western Michigan. It marked the first relief appearance for Walsh in his career. Walsh took the loss versus Western Michigan as he surrendered the game-winning goal to Jeremy Cheyne at 2:10 of the third. On the year, Walsh is now 1-1-0 with a 3.53 goals against average and a .881 save percentage.

DOWN BY TWO: Prior to the Nov. 29 comeback versus Northern Michigan (the Irish trailed 2-0 in a 4-2 win), last time the Irish rebounded from a two-goal deficit to win a game was on Oct. 12, 2002 when the Irish fell behind Minnesota-Duluth, 2-0, and rallied for a 5-3 win at Duluth.

SOME TRICK: Sophomore defenseman Chris Trick (Troy, Mich.) recorded his first collegiate goal in the Nov. 28, 5-1 win over Northern Michigan. He made the most of it too, as the goal came short-handed in the second period and proved to be the game winner. Trick came out of the penalty box after a Northern Michigan centering pass eluded the point men. Trick beat Craig Kowalski with a backhander for his first goal in 35 career games.

BEATING THE BEST: Notre Dame's 1-0 shutout win at Boston College on Oct. 24 came versus the Eagles while they were ranked first in the nation in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll. The last time the Irish beat a top-ranked team came on Jan. 3, 1999 when they won 4-3 at North Dakota.

The last time the Irish faced a top-ranked team prior to Oct. 24 was on Nov. 10, 2000 when they played Boston College. Notre Dame lost that game by a 5-3 score.

FIT TO BE TIED: Notre Dame's 2-2 tie with Lake Superior State on Nov. 22 marked the eighth consecutive overtime game for the Irish to end in a tie. The Irish were 0-0-6 in 2002-03. Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, the Irish have been involved in 35 overtime games and are 5-2-28 in those contests. The last time Notre Dame won an overtime game during the regular season was on Jan. 25, 2002, a 4-3 overtime win for the Irish at Miami. The Irish had two postseason games decided in overtime during the 2001-02 season (a 3-2 double overtime loss to Nebraska-Omaha and a 2-1 win versus the Mavericks).

CENTRAL SCOUTING RANKINGS: The National Hockey League's (NHL) Central Scouting has released it's preliminary rankings for the 2004 NHL Entry Draft next June. Irish defenseman Wes O'Neill is ranked third among U.S. College players behind North Dakota's Drew Stafford and Boston College's Adam Pineault. He is tops among the 14 CCHA players ranked. Notre Dame goaltender David Brown is ranked second among collegiate goaltenders behind Michigan's Al Montoya. Four of the five ranked goaltenders are from the CCHA.

HCA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH: Notre Dame freshman goaltender David Brown was selected as the Hockey Commissioner's Association (HCA) national collegiate rookie of the month for the month of October. Brown had an October to remember as he recorded a Notre Dame school record three consecutive shutouts in his first four career starts and a school-record shutout string of 193:27 consecutive minutes. His three shutouts also set a Notre Dame record for shutouts in a season. For the month, the 5-11, 188-pound puck stopper was 3-2-0 with a CCHA-leading 1.15 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage to go with the three shutouts. Among his three shutouts was a 1-0, 27-save performance on Oct. 24 versus the top-ranked Boston College Eagles at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The three shutouts came versus Bowling Green (10/18), Boston College (10/24) and Nebraska-Omaha (10/31). He has been selected as the CCHA rookie of the month twice this season (10/19 and 11/2).

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END: Irish goaltender David Brown saw his streak of three consecutive shutouts end in the Nov. 8 game versus Michigan State. Jim Slater's goal at 7:12 of the first period ended his consecutive-minute streak at 193:27. That is a new Notre Dame record. The last time Brown had given up a goal was on Oct. 17 versus Bowling Green with 4:22 left in the third period. He followed with shutouts versus Bowling Green (Oct. 18), Boston College (10/24) and Nebraska-Omaha (10/31).

RIVALRY CLUSTERS: Notre Dame and Bowling Green will team up with Northern Michigan and Lake Superior as the four teams in their cluster and will face each other four times this season. The Irish have played all three schools this season and have a 4-1-1 mark in the six meeting. The Irish are 2-0 versus Northern Michigan, 1-1 versus Bowling Green and 1-0-1 versus Lake Superior. A year ago, the Irish were 7-4-1 in their cluster that included Bowling Green, Western Michigan and Ferris State.

OH CANADA: Freshman defenseman Wes O'Neill was a member of Canada's Under-18 Select team that played in last summer's Under-18 Select World Cup tournament. O'Neill had a goal and four assists in helping Canada to a fourth-place finish. The former Green Bay Gambler also played for Team Ontario at the Under-17 World Championships in Feb. of 2003. There he had three goals and nine assists in six games. O'Neill was the second pick in the 2002 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Draft by the Kingston Frontenacs. He is the highest-drafted OHL player to decide to play college hockey.

CEY IT AIN'T SO: Goaltender Morgan Cey missed the first five games of the season after having knee surgery in July. He returned to the lineup on Oct. 30 and played two games before re-injuring the knee on Nov. 7. In those two games, he was 1-1-0 with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. Prior to this season, Cey had started 71 of Notre Dame's 79 games as a freshman and sophomore. He was 15-15-6 last season with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage with two shutouts. Career-wise, Cey is 31-30-9 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage with four shutouts. He is sixth on Notre Dame's all-time wins list with 31. His 2.77 goals-against average, .911 save percentage and his four shutouts make him the leader in all three categories at Notre Dame.

POWER PRODUCER: Senior defenseman Neil Komadoski snapped an 0-for-13 Notre Dame power-play scoring drought in the Oct. 31 win over Nebraska-Omaha. He followed with his second power-play goal of the year in the 3-3 tie at Michigan State. His last three goals for the Irish (including the 2002-03 season) have come via the power play. In 2002-03, he led Notre Dame defensemen in scoring with one goal and 23 assists for 24 points. He now has seven goals in his career with three coming on the power play.

CONSECUTIVE GAME STREAK: Graduated defenseman Evan Nielsen ('03) set Notre Dame's record for consecutive games played last season with 114 in a row from 2000-03. Coming into this weekend at the Everblades Tournament, seniors Rob Globke and Brett Lebda have each played in 72 consecutive games and are the leaders among active players. The only games Lebda has missed in his career came in 2001-02 when he missed four games while playing at the World Junior Championships. He has played 128 of 132 career games.

NICE GUYS: Notre Dame's Oct. 30 game with Nebraska-Omaha featured just one penalty. The Irish were not penalized at all while UNO picked up one minor for two minutes. Notre Dame was 0-for-1 on its only power-play chance. For the year, the Irish have just 82 penalties for 172 minutes in 15 games this season. Notre Dame is second in the CCHA second in the nation for fewest penalty minutes.

THE CAPTAINS: Senior center Aaron Gill will serve as the team captain for the Irish in 2003-04. As a junior, he finished fourth in scoring with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points. Four of his 13 goals came on the power play and he recorded his first career hat trick on Oct. 19 in an 8-5 win over Western Michigan. Serving as alternate captains this season are senior right wing Rob Globke and senior defenseman Neil Komadoski. Globke led the Irish in scoring last season with 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points. Komadoski was Notre Dame's top scorer from the blue line last year as he scored a goal and added 23 helpers. His 23 assists and 24 points were career-highs for the veteran defenseman.

SEN-CEY-SATIONAL: Junior goaltender Morgan Cey is in his third season as Notre Dame's go-to-guy in goal. Coming into the 2003-04 season, Cey appeared in 71 of the team's 79 games from 2001-2003. As a sophomore, Cey was 15-15-6 with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. He is already tied for sixth on Notre Dame's all-time win list with 30 career wins. His .911 career save percentage and last season's mark of .912 are school records. Cey is currently tied for first with four career shutouts. In the eight career postseason games, the Wilkie, Sask., native is 4-4 with a 1.66 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage. During the first round of the 2002-03 CCHA playoffs, Cey recorded back-to-back shutouts versus Miami (a first at Notre Dame) and set a then school record with 147:19 of shutout hockey.

BRAIN POWER: Senior defenseman T.J. Mathieson (Clarksville, Md.) is a candidate for Rhodes, Mitchell and Marshall Scholarships for postgraduate studies. Mathieson owns a 3.812 grade-point average in aerospace engineering in Notre Dame's School of Engineering. He is a two-time winner of Notre Dame's Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award. He spent the past summer working at General Electric Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati. There, he worked doing stress analysis of high-pressure turbines for commercial aircraft engines.

NHL DRAFTEES: Notre Dame has three players on the 2003-04 roster that have been selected in the National Hockey League Entry Draft. Senior Rob Globke was a second-round choice of the Florida Panthers in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Selected 40th overall, Globke's selection was the earliest any Notre Dame player has ever been chosen. Senior defenseman Neil Komadoski was selected in the third round of the 2001 draft by the Ottawa Senators. Sophomore left wing Mike Walsh was selected in the fifth round of the 2002 draft by the New York Rangers.

FAMILY MATTERS: After having as many as four players whose fathers played in the National Hockey League, only one remains for the 2003-04 season. That would be Neil Komadoski, Jr. (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.), whose father, Neil Komadoski, Sr., played eight NHL seasons as a defenseman with the Los Angeles Kings ('72-'78) and the St. Louis Blues ('77-'80), totaling 16G-76A and 632 penalty minutes in 501 career games.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Two Irish sophomore hockey players - Rory Walsh (So., Milton, Mass.) and Mike Walsh - have fathers who attended Notre Dame. Rory Walsh's father, Brian ('77), was an all-American hockey player for the Irish. A center iceman, the elder Walsh is Notre Dame's all-time leading scorer after recording 234 career points on 89 goals and 145 assists. Mike Walsh's father, Max, ('74) was an offensive lineman on the Notre Dame football team and a member of the 1973 national championship team.

FOURTH TIME: Morgan Cey's back-to-back shutouts (1-0 and 5-0) versus Miami in the first round of last season's CCHA playoffs made him the fourth goaltender to turn the trick. The others are:

1988-1989 -
Bruce Hoffort, LSSU beat Ferris State, 5-0, 3-0.

1993-94 -
Blaine Lacher, LSSU beat Ohio State, 5-0, 8-0

1999-00 -
Ryan Miller beat Notre Dame, 4-0 in semis and Nebraska-Omaha, 6-0 in finals.

PENALTY SHOTS: Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey has faced four penalty shots in his Irish hockey career, including three last season. On Feb. 28, in a 4-2 loss to Western Michigan, Cey stopped Bronco Vince Bellissimo at 14:06 of the third period. A month earlier, Jan. 25, in a 3-3 tie with Michigan State, Cey stopped Jim Slater at 16:23 of the second period. His first stop in 2002-03 came on Nov. 22 at Michigan. In that game, a 4-2 loss to the Wolverines, he stopped Milan Gajic at 12:36 of the second period. The first penalty shot Cey faced came during his freshman season when he stopped Bowling Green's Greg Day on Dec. 8, 2001. That stop came in a 4-2 loss to the Falcons.