Vita Dulcedo Skate

We notice things that don't work. We don't notice things that do.

2009-10-07T22:22:00.002-04:00

Here's notice that last season's senior class has found work in professional hockey:

Erik Condra is in the Seanators' AHL affiliate in Binghamton.

Christian Hanson played 5 games with the Leafs last year, recording two points. He has started this season with the Leafs' AHL affiliate (also in Toronto).

Jordan Pearce went to the Red Wings' AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids at the end of last season and played poorly in his only appearance. He started the year in Grand Rapids but now is on the ECHL Toledo Walleyes' roster. I believe he still plans to go to medical school when he's done with his hockey career.

Garrett Regan went to the Las Vegas Wranglers at the end of last season, registering two points in two games, but was released in July. He signed with the Idaho Steelheads (the Stars' ECHL side) last month.

Justin White just recently showed up on the roster of the Pens' ECHL affiliate Wheeling Nailers.

Luke Lucyk played for the ECHL Charlotte Checkers at the end of last season. He was in camp with the Rangers' AHL Hartford Wolfpack, but was reassigned to the Checkers last month.

Wake up Maggie, I think Bo's got something to say to you

2009-10-02T16:08:00.006-04:00

It's a bit past late September, and I already am back at school, but I just wanted to give a pointer over to a new college hockey blog. This one is from ncaa.com, and its author is a Notre Dame '03 alumnus who should be updating several times a week once the season ramps up (and in whose honor I've titled this post). Enjoy!

NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey blog

Lucky that life has been good to you so far

2009-02-21T23:02:00.009-05:00

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are
CCHA Regular Season Champions

With Notre Dame's 1-0 win over the University of Nebraska - Omaha this evening, they have clinched the regular season title in the CCHA for the second time in program history (and the second time in three years ... thanks Jeff Jackson!).

Now on to the Mason Cup to see if we can't repeat the double-up from the 2006-2007 season. And still hanging in the balance is the NCAA tournament seeding, at the hands of the ever fickle Pairwise; there's no time to rest on one's laurels, the Irish need to keep winning.

Having been an English literary graduate ...

2009-02-20T23:21:00.002-05:00

I was told there would be no math. (Okay, that's not true. I'm not an English major, in fact I toil in a rather math-intensive field. But Douglas Adams never said jack about that. And that doesn't stop the CCHA magic number from being tedious to calculate, nor the PWR from being near-inexplicable)

After tonight's game 1 out in Omaha (Billy, you're turning into a Calle, don't stop it?) here's where Notre Dame stands with regards to winning their second-ever CCHA regular season championship:
-- ND moves to 42 points in the league with 3 games remaining.
-- UM moves to 36 points in the league with 3 games remaining, so they can get to 42 points.
-- MU stays at 36 points in the league with 3 games remaining, so they can get to 42 points.

So our magic number versus Miami is one point (a failure to win by Miami or even a single tie for us). We have to beat them outright, because in order to be in the position in which we were to tie in points, Miami would have to win three straight and ND lose three straight, which would give them the first CCHA tiebreaker (league wins) 19-18.

Versus Michigan, our magic number is also 1 point, because we have to beat them outright because they would beat us in the first tiebreaker (21-18).

"Go Irish At Least Get A Point Versus Mavericks!" doesn't quite have the right cadence, though.

He may not have gone where he intended to go (update) ...

2009-02-20T15:01:00.001-05:00

I passed along the links from my last post to Chris over at WCHB and he said he'd try to run down any confirmation. Apparently he didn't get any vigorous denials, because he's running with it as well: Fowler Likely Gone To OHL.

Re-"Damn it".

He may not have gone where he intended to go ...

2009-02-20T12:46:00.002-05:00

A USA Today column and a Hockey News update indicate that Cam Fowler may have committed to the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. This would indicate he's bypassing college, where he had previously signed an LOI to attend Notre Dame, in order to play major junior, forgoing all NCAA eligibility.

Losing Fowler, long regarded as one of the best players in the world for his age, would be a major blow. On one hand simply landing such a player's commitment, even if he ends up not showing up on campus gave Jeff Jackson's Fighting Irish program some visibility with other high-end recruits. On the other hand, with Ian Cole a possibility to leave after this year given his outstanding sophomore campaign (in addition to the possible departures of Kyle Lawson and Teddy Ruth, who are also good pro prospects), the Irish blueline that seemed incredibly stacked may suddenly become a shallow point if the worst case happens regarding possible defections.

To paraphrase, on whichever hand: "damn it".

Let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself

2009-02-12T18:31:00.000-05:00

... the concept, much like Faith, or True Love, the concept of a real, live Notre Dame hockey arena:

Official University Press Release

As usual Kabong was right on. How exciting; definitely sounds like the basic plan was the Goggin plus some extra seating. And who can complain? The Goggin is a beautiful facility and has helped Miami jump from just another midwestern school that plays hockey to a member of the "New Two" to challenge the "Big Two" of the CCHA.

A good, friendly and egalitarian place to meet

2009-02-11T02:14:00.002-05:00

Some thoughts about the plan as laid out in the last entry, hopefully more eloquent this time than "holy crap!" ...

Of course it's good for the hockey program to have a shiny new arena; it also gives Jackson a tangible plan, both for encouraging him to stick around and for allowing him to continue to amp up recruiting efforts now that we're routinely competing with the powers of college hockey for recruits.

The hockey program won't continue to grow without community support, so what better way to engender community support than by putting the facility within easy range of use by the community. That allows the possibility of rec leagues, St. Joe's High, and other things currently cramped in the schedule of the Ice Box to play there. It will be good to have the rink up year-round for the team, as well as for the community as hockey and other ice sport enthusiasts. Anything the University can do to reach out and include the community can't hurt with overall T&G relations anyway.

The location not only reaches out to the community by being on the edge of campus, it is in a place easily accessible to the DPAC, Eddy Street Commons, Irish Green (or whatever they call that proposed park), and new Snite. This is an added attraction with respect to making a feasible "neutral zone" attractive to both students and the community.

The second rink is a luxury that if on a budget I would have said we could avoid, but is another solid component of any plan. Having two sheets makes this even more palatable even during hockey season when the varsity team might get a little antsy about having their new facility take on all-comers (though certainly there is public access in the current rink). It also allows for booking the facility for camps, competitions, etc. which would allow additional continued expansion of the Notre Dame hockey brand. As mentioned, it also leaves open the future possibility of the addition of a NCAA women's ice hockey team, which is a natural demographic fit for Notre Dame athletics.

The price seems reasonable considering what all it entails -- Miami's new Goggin went for more than $32,000,000 and that was several years ago now and almost a quarter smaller. I don't have many doubts it'll be adequately shiny and spiffy looking to be attractive and enticing for recruits, donors to the program, and future coaching candidates.

So, sight unseen -- and to be honest, I'd probably be happy enough with any plan that gets them out of a temporary rink with temporary stands in the north dome -- I like it. It'll be a good day for Irish hockey when it's announced, and a great day for Irish hockey when the Fighting Jeff Jacksons can actually move in.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

2009-02-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

... but $50,000,000? That's no small potatoes.

At the risk of irritating the good folks over at NDNation let me quote verbatim a post from over there so that if it scrolls off the board it isn't lost. Mike Coffey '91, yes, that very same one from a whole day ago, has confirmed with sufficient sources to meet his criteria for releasing what he's heard about the new hockey arena plan:

The plan, as it was described to me, is for a standalone facility where the Tower Lot is right now. It will occupy the space where Edison used to be prior to its relocation, and will be across the street from the Eddy Street Commons hotels, although a bit to the east of it. It will be kitty-corner across the street from the new Technology Center.
The facility will have two ice sheets, which will be used not only for practice (and a possible women's hockey team) but for public use as well. Planned seating is between four and five thousand.
Ground will be broken about a year from now, with a planned finish in time for the 2011-12 season.
The cost will be close to $50m, but they've secured most (if not all) of the financing, with special thanks to the previous anonymous donor for making another strong contribution. They've kept the cost down by using a design-and-build strategy (similar to how they did the Gug), which is where the same company does the building design and construction rather than having the architecture and build done separately. This is expected to knock $10 to $15m off the cost, and (hopefully) represents a sea change in ND's thinking of how these things will be done going forward.

Holy crap! This plan, which sounds as though Notre Dame actually has made a commitment to a bar-none first-class facility, is amazing. I suppose I should couch that with some sort of "if it happens" language, but quite honestly I trust Mike enough to know that he wouldn't be exaggerating nor leading us on in any way intentionally. I'll try to come up with some commentary on this, but at the moment I'm almost at a loss for words because of the magnitude of this news, to say nothing of the change it represents in the perceived aggressiveness of the athletic department leadership.

Spirits were brave, the stakes were high.

2009-02-08T14:19:00.002-05:00

NDNation, specifically proprietor Mike Coffey '91, seems to think that not only did the Board of Trustees approve upgrades for hockey facilities when they met this week, they may have approved a stand-alone facility outside the north dome. This of course would be monumental news for the program, as Jackson has been recruiting his ass off against the big boys already -- imagine what a first-class facility would do instead of the worst facility in a power conference!

Where does this come from? Well here are his comments from Jackson's Rink:
"I really really like Jack Swarbrick. You guys really really will too. Really really." And in a reply assuming that it was the BoT's acceptance of an idea for a basketball practice facility in the empty space remaining after the hockey arena upgrade, he added: "The empty space ...of which there may be a hell of a lot more than first thought."

So, um, stay tuned?

Weekly Update 11/18/08

2008-11-18T19:34:00.002-05:00

So that's what a shootout looks like, eh? It's good fun and I guess exciting, but I'll take conventional 2-point games rather than 3 if it's all the same to you, thanks. I still don't like the idea of some games being worth more than others. A 3-2-1-0 or 5-3-2-0 system wouldn't bother me -- I'm not anti-shootout specifically, rather anti-inconsistency.

Not much to report on the games themselves this week, due to writing time constraints. I promise to do better next time. Yay for the 4th line continuing to skate well and provide solid contributions. Boo for a generally lackluster Friday night in earning the tie/SOW. Much better Saturday with 10 different players tallying at least a point in the 5-2 win.

This week's Quip of the Week is from Brainasium's description of Calle Ridderwall's shootout score:

To describe Ridderwall's SO goal as "sick" is an understatement. I have never seen a goalie beat so badly that the shooter goes five hole to the top shelf.

This week also brings a bonus quip courtesy of the JACC student section (Section 6), dealing with Lake State's verbosely-named goalie:

Mahoney Hyphen Wilson Mahoney Hyphen Wilson Mahoney Hyphen Wilson Mahoney Hyphen Wilson Mahoney Hyphen Wilson, you suck! It's all your fault!

The show where everything's not made up and the polls don't matter:
USCHO poll: 5 (Opponents -- BC: 4, MU: 7, UM: 9, DU: 10, UNO: 19)
USAHM poll: 6 (Opponents -- BC: 4, MU: 7, UM: 9, DU: 10)
INCH Power: 4 (Opponents -- BC: 6, DU: 8, MU: 13, UM: 14, UNO: 17)

Go Irish! Beat Falcons!

Weekly Update 11/11/08

2008-11-11T23:54:00.001-05:00

*tweeeet* ... uh, oh, I think Friday night's refs just called another penalty. 10 penalties (20 minutes) in the first period and 24 penalties overall? Holy crap. On one hand these teams don't like each other very much and the refs were trying to keep the game under control, on the other hand it was as though having 5-on-5 hockey was somehow verboten.

Officiating aside (and it wasn't unfair, just excessive), excellent performance for the boys in Conte. Hardnosed game, strong defensive play -- especially shutting down their PP 0-8! The empty netter makes the score look a bit less close than the game was, but ND controlled the run of play for much of the night even though BC seemed to actually out-possess the Irish, so I have no real complaints. Jordan Pearce was fantastic, and really shut the door any time that the ND defense lagged even the smallest bit. Overall a tremendous performance Friday.

One final thought is a protest that Billy Maday's goal was kicked in. What is it about these teams and kicking the puck, you'd think they were all soccer players or something.

Oh, right, and we played Providence too. Lost in the much-talked about National Championship Game rematch was the followup versus PC. ND again was perfect on the kill and Pearce ended the weekend with a GAA of essentially 1 (slightly higher than that due to delayed penalty time). Other than the fact that both games were 4-1 with an empty-netter they couldn't have been much more different ... a total of 5 penalties between the two teams for the entire game, and whereas BC handily outshot the Irish, ND outshot the Friars 28-27.

Quip of the Week:

When they pulled Muse, the crowd was quite enthusiastically chanting "Let's go Eagles". Deeth then quickly scored an EN/SHG, and it became apparent what they really had been doing was announcing their intention to vacate the premises.

The show where everything's not made up and the polls don't matter:
USCHO poll: 9 (Opponents -- DU: 4, BC: 5, UM: 8, MU: 10, MSU: 17)
USAHM poll: 9 (Opponents -- DU: 4, BC: 6, UM: 8, MU: 10)
INCH Power: 7 (Opponents -- DU: 4, BC: 8, UM: 11, MU: 15, MSU: 18)

Go Irish! Beat Former Fighting Jeff Jacksons! (er ... Lakers!)

Weekly Update 11/03/08

2008-11-03T23:37:00.001-05:00

Much better against NMU this weekend. Granted their season hasn't exactly met the lofty expectations placed on them thus far, but it's always nice to pick up 4 points on the road. Further, the team looked (well, sounded ... I couldn't make it up to Marquette) good doing it. Even further it's nice to see a good effort in games that could easily be taken for granted looking ahead to the national championship final rematch next week.
A nice all-around effort spreading the puck (and thus the points) around with effective PP and perfect PK:


Blatchford 0/4
Maday      1/2
Hanson     1/2
Thang      1/1
Lawson     1/1
Cole       1/0
Ridderwall 1/0
Kissel     1/0
Deeth      0/1

Third Family Member delivers the quip of the week recalling an anecdote told by Fr. Jim Riehle, the long-time hockey (and seemingly every other ND sport) chaplain, who died last week:

There used to be a team of skating priests that would travel round the country, challenging local college players to games, and one year they came to Notre Dame. It was before Adam Parsons graduated, because I can remember he was one of the players who took on the priests--who included Fr. Riehle. Adam tried to illegally check someone, a priest, obviously, and Fr. Riehle had the game stopped, made Adam kneel at center ice, and confess his sins.

The show where everything's not made up and the polls don't matter:
USCHO poll: 12 (Opponents -- BC: 2, DU: 6, UM: 7, MU: 8, MSU: 11)
USAHM poll: 12 (Opponents -- BC: 2, DU: 6, UM: 7, MU: 8, MSU: 11)
INCH Power: 12 (Opponents -- BC: 3, DU: 6, UM: 9, MSU: 10, MU: 11)

Go Irish! Beat Eagles! (ND 3-0-1 in last 4 regular-season meetings with UBICH.)

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

2008-10-31T00:15:00.003-04:00

Forgive the title, but 'tis the season. In any case, Calle Ridderwall ("you're turning into a pumpkin. Stop it"?) wishes all the (any?) readers of Vita Dulcedo Skate a happy Halloween!

Oh, and Michigan sucks:

Weekly Update 10/28/08

2008-10-28T20:55:00.005-04:00

Ouch. Rough weekend results in a big drop in the polls. I'd like to say I told you so with my prediction that ND was overrated given the flux of the team coming into the season, but even I didn't expect to get no points at home against Miami with the Redhawks starting two newbie goalies. ND looked out of sync for most of the two games; this team seems to play much differently with a capacity crowd and excitement from Section Six and the band (they missed this series because of the University's fall break). That isn't to say that Miami didn't deserve their wins -- they came in and kicked ass like a veteran team (which is odd, they're supposed to be quite young this season. Ah well.) No doubt Jackson will be hard on the boys this week to get their passing in better form, as that was much of the problem this weekend; that and fighting for loose pucks, but the latter seems less "coachable". A long way to go ...

JJFP delivers the quip of the week in her derision of the state of college hockey officiating:

I think at the next game, the giveaway ought to be a box of tampons because the refs are turning this into women's hockey. Note to Shegos, Vargas and any other D1 refs out there: hip checks are legal.

The show where everything's not made up and the polls don't matter:
USCHO poll: 13 (Opponents -- BC: 2, DU: 4, MU: 7, UM: 8, MSU: 11)
USAHM poll: 13 (Opponents -- BC: 2, DU: 4, MU: 6, UM: 8, MSU: 12)
INCH Power: 14 (Opponents -- BC: 3, DU: 5, MU: 9, UM: 11, MSU: 12)

Go Irish! Beat Wildcats!

Weekly Update 10/20/08

2008-10-20T20:40:00.007-04:00

ND bounced back from their opening loss to Denver with a pair of decisive wins against overmatched Sacred Heart. Congratulations to Tommy O'Brien for his collegiate debut, first career win, and first career shutout this weekend! A great all-around showing for ND, but that was quite honestly to be expected. Now the conference season starts and no doubt the games get harder, starting with a matchup against another team expected to finish near the top of the CCHA, Miami.

The show where everything's not made up and the polls don't matter:
USCHO poll: 8 (Opponents -- DU: 2, BC: 3, UM: 5, MU: 11, MSU: 12, NMU: 18)
USAHM poll: 8 (Opponents -- DU: 2, BC: 4, UM: 5, MU: 10, MSU: 14)
INCH Power: 8 (Opponents -- DU: 2, BC: 4, UM: 7, MSU: 13, MU: 14, NMU: 20)

Go Irish! Beat Redhawks!

See first, Think later

2008-10-18T11:15:00.001-04:00

Hrm, perhaps I spoke too soon? A post on NDNation indicates that this year's Athletics Annual Report gives the first public renderings of the new hockey facility. Voila:

Unfortunately there are no context clues for what angle we're looking at. But let's assume that the championship/NCAA/etc. banners (which are out of date in this rendering!) are in the same place they currently reside. In that case, at first glance it looks a lot like the current setup, especially the "top left" which looks identical to the present permanent seating is. And I suppose that's not a bad thing, as the permanent seating they have now is fine.

It's also unclear whether the cutout in the top left is a pressbox (as it is right now) or some suites. The counterpart on the right side isn't within view, so it's hard to tell whether there even is a counterpart on the right side.

It appears the seating on the right side goes up considerably higher than it currently does, which would help them get to the estimated 4000-5000 capacity. If that back wall with the University wordmark actually constrains those seats and forces them to be steeper than the others, then all the better, that'd be a good spot for the student section.

The far wall also seems to have a better scoreboard than the current hanging ones, and perhaps I can dream that the video board there actually makes the final project design. I assume a scoreboard will be at the near end as well, though it's unseen ... it could be hanging still, since it's not shown over the corresponding near-side entrance, and there wouldn't be room on the bottom-right corner.

I can't tell if this is the ceiling as-is or a dropped faux-ceiling. It's just not clear from the drawing. It's also pretty clear that this is a drawing advertising the future facility, perhaps still trying to raise money or garner support, and not an actual architectural rendering of exactly how it will look. So best not to get too excited or discouraged about anything seen. But hot damn, at long last at least they're throwing us a bone.

Trying to avoid the idea of doing art?

2008-10-15T00:46:00.008-04:00

At the risk of feeling like I'm whistling past a graveyard ... take a look at some renderings from schools that apparently:
(a) value hockey more than ND -- not that there's anything wrong with that
(b) have their shit together in a way that ND seemingly will never be able to claim.

St. Cloud

Duluth

Lorenz, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-10-10T15:52:00.000-04:00

Sean Lorenz

Sean Lorenz D R 10/17/2006 2008 USNTDP U18 Team 6' 1 185 3/10/1990

Reminds approximately everyone of Ian Cole. As well he should.

http://www.insidecollegehockey.com/7Archives/Notebooks/0506/recruiting_0445.htm
Sean Lorenz (6-1, 185): From Littleton, Colo., Lorenz impressed observers with his overall game. He scored four points (all assists) and showed equal aplomb in all situations. His size and skill will have recruiters wooing him over the course of the next two seasons. Lorenz played last year for the Colorado Thunderbirds.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/sean_lorenz

Draft Article
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/062108aab.html

NAHL profile
http://www.pointstreak.com/templatepreview/pro/playerpage.html?playerid=904871&seasonid=2025

Maday, you're turing into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-10-06T20:16:00.000-04:00

Billy Maday RW R 4/6/2006 2008 Waterloo (USHL) 5'11 165 2/25/1988

Gaul, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-10-01T00:35:00.002-04:00

Center Patrick Gaul is the most diminutive member of the incoming freshman class at somewhere between 5'6 165 and 5'8 180 depending on which scouting report's lies you choose to believe. He joins the Irish from the USNTDP U-18 team. Gaul, a '90 birthyear, committed to Jeff Jackson way back in August of 2006, so he's been long-anticipated as an arrival on campus. His brother plays at Dartmouth, who along with Boston College and UNH were among the many teams in the race for his signature, showing that he's every bit the high level prospect you've come to expect from Jeff Jackson's signees.

Irish fans will immediately note he's similar in stature to Kevin Deeth. He shares Deeth's same high-energy bulldog mentality for a short center. Gaul, whose USA Hockey media guide entry is shown above, was known in Ann Arbor for his leadership and charisma.

This leadership led to his captaining the United States U17 Select Team. With the U17 Selects he recorded 5 points in 4 games at the 2006 Three Nations tournament. The U17s aren't his only experience with high level hockey competition such as that he'll face at Notre Dame. While playing for the U18 team Gaul scored 2 goals versus NMU in a January 2008 exhibition.

His Pointstreak NAHL profile is here.

His father is the coach of the Pittsburgh Hornets midgets, and he has many of the characteristics you'd expect from a coach's son -- smart, gritty, skilled. As a Pittsburgh native, no doubt he is destined to be a favorite of Notre Dame hockey SID Tim Connor. Last year the Pittsburgh Hornets blog posted the text of a RedLine Editorial story on Gaul. The full text of the excellent profile is available at the link, but here's an excerpt of what Gaul had to say about his decision to attend Notre Dame:

"Coach [Jeff] Jackson has a good history," Gaul said. "He knows how to win. The coaches there at Notre Dame are very personable. They care about you as a person as much as anyone can."

The USHR has also profiled Gaul:

A combination of ice smarts and skill, Gaul is a pure playmaker who knows what to do when the puck is – and isn’t -- on his stick. Put him with linemates who can bury it, and you have something.

Though best known as a passer, he can beat opponents one-on-one with a combination of good skill and rugged determination. One scout was quoted as saying that Gaul "competes like a bastard". While I'm not quite sure what that means, I'm quite sure it's a good thing, and something to look forward to from one of this year's most promising freshmen.

Ringel, you're turing into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-09-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

Eric Ringel

Righthanded defenseman 6'2, 190 (6'0 189 per ND)

Committed 2/8/2007

4/4/90 birth

Played for Mahoning Valley of the USHL

NAHL profile:
http://www.pointstreak.com/templatepreview/pro/playerpage.html?playerid=891101&seasonid=2025

Signing story:
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/112907aac.html

The dew has fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning.

2008-09-23T01:54:00.000-04:00

And that thud is my reaction to the news that Notre Dame has been ranked 3rd in the USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine preseason poll. I'm going to take the probably unpopular position that, right now, we're overrated.

Don't get me wrong, I think we'll be a very good team this year. We'll return to the NCAA's, and more like 2006 than 2007 we'll likely be expected to advance beyond our first game. We'll get better as the season progresses and have a chance to make a postseason run like we did this past season.

But while ND returns a boatload of talent, it also loses some key pieces that will cause some early growing pains as on-ice skill and all-around leadership voids must be filled.

Chief among these is its captain, most experienced player, emotional rock, and third leading scorer in terms of both goals and points, Mark Van Guilder.

Also leaving is arguably our best defenseman last year, Brock Sheahan. Though not the one with the most talent, or the most potential, he was the most solid throughout the season, and his stay-at-home qualities hopefully have been well-studied by the three phenoms. He was our leader in +/- by more than 50% over his nearest teammate (+21 versus +13) and the team leader in penalty minutes -- not because of stupid penalties, but rather taking one when necessary to avoid a goal or to protect a teammate.

Also leaving is a solid gritty defenseman who deserved far more credit than he generally got (Dan VeNard), and a solid off-line forward who chipped in 19 points, +5 skating, and a nice mix of skills that let him play on either a scoring or checking line as needed (Evan Rankin).

Notre Dame can reasonably expect that, by the end of the year, we'll have a realistic shot to make a run that will stake the claim for the third year in a row that this has been the best year in Irish hockey history. But that doesn't mean we're number three in the country right now, because we're not. In the north dome magic 8 ball, I keep shaking, but I keep getting the same response: ask again later, preferably after the MU/NMU/BC five-game gauntlet.

As far as our opponents in the poll, Notre Dame faces six teams in the preseason top 15: #1 Boston College and #6 Denver (both on the road), and the four other CCHA teams among the contingent making up one third of the poll: #2 Michigan, #8 Miami, #12 Michigan State, and #14 Northern Michigan. Another possible Irish opponent, UMass-Lowell, is in the ARVs.

Murphy, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-09-14T21:04:00.001-04:00

Kyle Murphy is the youngest member of this year's incoming class, born May 11, 1990. He was also one of the last players into the class -- joining Nick Condon and Rich Ryan in the spring signing period. With a name like Kyle Patrick Murphy he had to consider the Irish program; though his brother played at Irish Catholic competitor BC several years ago. A lefty LW, he hails from New Jersey but prepped at Minnesota powerhouse Shattuck Saint Mary's (the same school as Kevin Deeth).

Murphy is variously listed between 5'8 and 5'10 and about 170 pounds. He's a good skater and skill player, but his size will be a hurdle, at least early. This is especially true considering his age and coming direct from high school. Though I don't expect him to retreat to juniors mid-career, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him sit as a freshman -- he's probably not a flight risk as far as the pros are concerned and he has a lot of potential if his slick offensive game translates to this level and he can improve his defensive presence, so preserving a 5th year wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Perhaps since he's coming straight to HS, or because he's not an immediate pro prospect, the net is pretty quiet on Murphy, so I think this'll have to do. He doesn't even have a hockeyDB profile!

Condon, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-09-05T18:34:00.002-04:00

Defenseman Nick Condon comes to Notre Dame from the North American Hockey League. Born in January 1987, he's the oldest member of the incoming class, having played high school hockey in Wisconsin (Wausau West High School) before moving on to the development system. He started with Minnesota and North Iowa for the '05-'06 season before moving on to Marquette Rangers for '06-'07. His NAHL bio can be found here, since hockeyDB doesn't show his later NAHL stats.

At Marquette his first season was productive, appearing in 52 games (1-10-11) and accumulating 50 penalty minutes. The following season he played 42 games with Marquette, becoming a vital cog in the offense (3-29-32) before being dealt to the St. Louis Bandits where he accumulated 6 points in 8 games.

The lefty blueliner committed in March 2008, making him the second-to-last member of this class, and signed in the spring signing period. He is the older brother of Minnesota recruit Nate Condon. Though listed at 5'10 and 170ish pounds for recruiting purposes, he was perceived by many scouts to be too small to develop into a top-tier defenseman -- other sources have him as small as 5'8 and 155 pounds. He makes up for his small size with a strongly skilled playing style, including excellent skating ability and puck-handling.

Minnesota Ice Hawks coach Nick Fatis was quoted about Condon: "Nick is a great kid. He's had to work pretty hard to get past the stigma of being too small to play D-I hockey, so it's nice to see him get that brass ring. The Fighting Irish are getting a great player and even a better young man in Nick Condon. I wish him luck and look forward to seeing him skate in the gold and blue."

His coach with the Bandits described Condon as "a slick-skating, dynamic defenseman" who "should be able to compliment Notre Dame’s defensive group with excellent speed and puck-handling ability."

If your travel plans today do not include Washington, D.C., now would be a perfect time to disembark.

2008-09-02T23:09:00.005-04:00

Notre Dame has officially announced its schedule. It surprised approximately zero people on USCHO, but I suppose it's worth a mention here and a brief rundown of the key series. One thing remains uncertain; a date of 10/6 has been speculated for the drop-the-puck dinner, but I've heard no confirmation of this. It's also unclear whether the Blue-Gold Game will happen this year as it did last year in conjunction with that event.

A return trip to Denver for their series here last season will provide a stern early test for a team with sky-high expectations coming off an appearance in the final game of the college hockey season. (Hopefully our visit for the HOF game will not involve a tornado warning causing evacuation of the arena).

Notre Dame then returns home to face a second and third consecutive game against the Pioneers ... well, excepting the fact that the latter two are against Sacred Heart, not Denver. Apparently the consecutive games against LSU, Auburn, and Clemson didn't work out due to none of those three schools sponsoring NCAA hockey? Hopefully the students will stick around the Friday 10/18 at the start of fall break to welcome in a new hockey season; especially since the game that night is the home opener and will likely feature a ceremony to unveil new banners and whatnot (a third year on the NCAA banner, and however they want to do the Frozen Four and championship game).

As it was last year, the only series with Miami comes early in the season -- this year at home in the season's third weekend. The second game of the set (7pm Saturday 10/25) is up nearly exactly head-to-head with the Schadenfreude Bowl (ND @ UW, 8pm on ABC), so hopefully there's enough of a turnout to support the troops in this critical early season matchup against a team that may well be in the preseason top 10. A rematch of the Don't Kiss Your Sister CCHA Consolation Special follows, as the Irish trek to the UP to take on a Northern team expected to merit preseason ranking consideration and its highest expectations in several years. A rematch of the national championship game the following weekend in Conte against a BC team expected to be in the preseason top two and a trip to PC, who returns 20 of 25 letterwinners from last season, round out the most taxing portion of the Irish schedule.

A series against expected bottom-dwellars Lake Superior State and two home-and-homes against a BGSU program that Notre Dame is undefeated against (7-0-1) in the Jackson era, sandwich a tough pair of series as November cedes its hold on the calendar to December. Thanksgiving weekend WMU resumes their always intense rivalry with the Irish, and no doubt Saturday will give easy access to the Lawson Lunatics as the series finale drops the puck only an hour before the football contest at USC kicks off. Again, hopefully fans will show up in support of the Irish icers, as with the geographically closest opponent on our docket scheduled for that night, we run the risk of losing home ice advantage in our own place. The following weekend the Irish travel up the road to Big Rapids to take on a Ferris State team whose scrappy, aggressive, infuriating play is always a test for ND and has produced a very respectable 4-6-1 record against the Irish in recent years.

Just after the new year, Notre Dame will host the new replacement for the Lightening Classic, the Shillelagh Tournament, in Chicago. Following is a home series against a TAFKAF program in crisis, another trip to the UP for a return trip to Lake State, and an off week. This lull in the schedule should allow the Irish to focus their energies on (but hopefully not look too much ahead to) a much anticipated clash with the other expected preseason top-2 school, the University of Michigan. Notre Dame, presumably having learned from the embarrassment that was the "home game" in the Palace last season, actually hosts the Friday matchup at home this season in the biggest home game of the year. Michigan will be looking to atone for the humiliating loss in the Frozen Four last season. (And, dare we hope, a loss to the Irish on the gridiron in September?)

Road trips to Columbus and Omaha intersperse with a return trip from NMU and a regional final rematch home-and-home slate with Sparty, who return the shortest player in college hockey, captain Jeff Lerg, for seemingly his 9th season. The MSU series may determine seeding for the CCHA tournament, as well as potentially the NCAA tournament. Michigan State is expected to start slowly due to mass defections to the pro ranks, but by the last series of the year, will no doubt be firing on all cylinders with hopes of additional postseason glory.

Here's the full schedule, according to the ND athletic department release linked above (but edited for formatting):

October
11 Sat. at Denver
17 Fri. Sacred Heart
18 Sat. Sacred Heart
24 Fri. Miami
25 Sat. Miami
31 Fri. at Northern Michigan

November
1 Sat. at Northern Michigan
7 Fri. at Boston College
8 Sat. at Providence College
14 Fri. Lake Superior State
15 Sat. Lake Superior State
21 Fri. Bowling Green
22 Sat. at Bowling Green
28 Fri. Western Michigan
29 Sat. Western Michigan

December
5 Fri. at Ferris State
6 Sat. at Ferris State
12 Fri. at Bowling Green
13 Sat. Bowling Green

January
Shillelagh Tournament
(Hoffman Estates, Ill.)
2 Fri. UMD vs. UM-Lowell
Notre Dame vs. Union
3 Sat Winners of Friday's games
Losers of Friday's games
9 Fri. Alaska
10 Sat. Alaska
16 Fri. at Lake Superior State
17 Sat. at Lake Superior State
30 Fri. Michigan
31 Sat. at Michigan

February
6 Fri. at Ohio State
7 Sat. at Ohio State
13 Fri. Northern Michigan
14 Sat. Northern Michigan
20 Fri. at Nebraska-Omaha
21 Sat. at Nebraska-Omaha
27 Fri. Michigan State
28 Sat. at Michigan State

March
6-8 Fri.-Sun. 1st Round CCHA Playoffs
13-15 Fri.-Sun. 2nd Round CCHA Playoffs
20-21 Fri.-Sat. CCHA Championships
(Joe Louis Arena, Detroit)
27-29 Fri.-Sun. NCAA Regionals

April
9/11 Thur./Sat. NCAA Frozen Four
(Washington, D.C.)

As pretty as an airport

2008-08-29T00:42:00.002-04:00

Or, in this case, the potential lack of one for Notre Dame in 2010. They say "a flight is a flight", but I doubt that would be very necessary for much of the CCHA if placed in 2010's midwest regional.

In recent years, and especially since the profile and expectations of the ND program took off under Jeff Jackson, there has been a bit of discussion about Notre Dame hosting a regional. Chicago was one option, with quite a few possible venues; another was a joint regional with Western Michigan. Indianapolis was discussed, especially given their increasing profile in all things athletics under the community leadership of Jack Swarbrick.

But the most common location discussed was Fort Wayne. Notre Dame has played home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne (home to the IHL Turner Cup champion Fort Wayne Komets) several times in recent years, including most recently in a 4-3 win against Northern Michigan in the 2006-7 season. Ft. Wayne is conveniently only about an hour and a half east of South Bend, nice and centrally located amidst the CCHA schools of OSU, UM, MSU, Notre Dame, and Miami, any of whom could make an easy trip to watch a regional game. That has come to pass -- the NCAA has announced some future regional sites, as detailed in an article on USCHO. In 2010, the midwest regional will be held at the ACWMC with Notre Dame as the official host school.

As the host school, Notre Dame is guaranteed to be placed in their own regional if they make the field. The regional was attractive to the NCAA for several reasons: it has a first-time host (and, I believe, first-time bidder), it is at a non-campus site and an arena that isn't the home arena for any college team, and it is centrally located amidst several potential regional participants. Finally, it also boasts an NHL sized arena, which is a new point of emphasis for the NCAA (though I don't think ND had any complaints about their results on the Olympic sheet in Colorado Springs last spring!)

Ryan, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.

2008-08-24T14:13:00.001-04:00

Let's start off the rundown on the incoming freshmen with the last addition to the class, Richard Ryan. Ryan is a 6'0 180ish left wing from Toronto, Ontario, ensuring that despite the departure of Brock Sheahan, a Canadian flag is still in fact merited alongside the American and Swedish banners hanging from the ceiling.

Ryan was the last member into the class, committing to the Irish this spring on May 27 and signing in the late signing period (well ... I assume he signed an LOI or signed his enrollment papers or something ... presumably he didn't just show up in Jeff Jackson's office at the start of the fall semester and say "hey, coach! whatcha up to, eh?").

He prepped with the St. Michael's Buzzers, where he was an OPJHL all-star and the winner of the "most gentlemanly player" award for his division. His final season he was the second-leading points man for the Buzzers, just behind Lake State signee Fred Cassiani. Other former teammates he'll run into in CCHA play include Brandon Burlon and Louie Caporusso of Michigan, and Bryan Potacco of Bowling Green.

Trading Card:

An '88 who flew under the radar due to playing high school rather than immediately into juniors and due to an injury his final juniors season, he'll be 20 years old when he laces them up for the Irish for the first time. Despite being an older player, probably isn't the most ready of his class to jump right on the ice and contribute from day one. His game has developed significantly over the last year or two, turning him into a top-tier Division I prospect. He has solid skills as a two-way forward, but at St. Mike's was primarily considered an offensive threat.

(Aside: he has two first names. Those of you who have been following my post titles will find that I've seemingly picked the "wrong" as far as parallelism with the source quotation goes. Deal with it -- I'm planning ahead in case I decide to keep up this gag for post titles, because starting next year there would be namespace issues.)

Space is big.

2008-08-18T19:28:00.004-04:00

It's a fact, you can look it up. Notre Dame hockey isn't that big, but is big enough, so I suppose I need some ground rules.
Mike Lockert, Tim Connor, and the other people responsible for day-to-day coverage of Notre Dame hockey do a great job with play-by-plays, game summaries, and stats. I can't hope to compete, so while I may discuss games, I don't anticipate doing a tremendous amount of retelling. Instead, I'd like to focus on some analysis and on recruiting.

Yes, there are such things as hockey recruitniks, and yes, as you'd expect, we're dorks. Everyone loves Mike Frank over at Irish Eyes and the motley crew at II for football recruiting, but really, up until the last few years recruiting (primarily football) has been a rather niche area of college sports fandom. Well, tracking future Irish icers is a niche within a niche, but for the handful of ND hockey recruitniks out there at USCHO and Jackson's Rink, hopefully this space can be a nice compendium of ND recruiting info.

As far as the analysis, I admit up front that I'm not a hockey expert. Several years of near-perfect attendance at Notre Dame home games, however, hopefully leaves me more attuned than the average fan. I will offer views as I see them; and hopefully they'll be backed up by stats more often than not. However, since this doesn't really apply until the season starts, I'll be kicking off the real content with a survey of Notre Dame's current recruiting efforts as reported around the web. So in the coming weeks as the new season approaches look for profiles, links, descriptions, etc. on the incoming players.

(Caveat lector: when time permits or the mood strikes, I'll also probably venture into the well-covered world of Notre Dame football. It is still Notre Dame, after all. Other sports might be up for grabs too, but they won't be the focus ... after all, this isn't a "Spike Notre Dame" volleyball blog, a "Love Thee Notre Dame" tennis blog, or a "Down the Lane" swimming blog.)

Mostly Harmless

2008-08-17T19:26:00.009-04:00

Coming off two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and an appearance in the NCAA championship game, Notre Dame hockey is on the upswing. I'm hoping to capture that momentum with a new entry to the blogosphere -- a home for those of us who follow the Irish icers. Hopefully the population of Notre Dame hockey enthusiasts among the legions of Notre Dame Nation continues to grow. So, with that lead-in, welcome to Vita Dulcedo Skate, let's begin. Where better to begin than with a name. What's in a blog name?

Well, unfortunately Grantland Rice never wrote about Notre Dame hockey to my knowledge. And the north dome rink at the Joyce Center doesn't (yet) have a nickname after a former coach, and "north dome" or "jacc" are both boring and both taken. Even the student section doesn't fly, as the NC State Wolfpack apparently got there first. I can't use current player names in the blog name, and I don't think anyone I know has had a bad run-in with a roommate's pet named after Chad Kolarik or Nathan Gerbe.

My next thought was to emulate the Notre Dame study abroad programs (loNDon, aNDes, etc.) and find a word with which I could use creative capitalization. For the same reason as above coNDra is out. "gamemiscoNDuct" is taken, and "stickhaNDling", "butt-eNDing", and "checking from behiND" all have rather disturbing connotations. Providence fans' experiences with a certain ND assistant might prompt "dumpaNDchasehockey" or similar concepts, but that's not my bag. Besides, I wouldn't want to be confused with the Fighting [NCAA redacted] blogs that use the state abbreviation rather than the institutional UND.

So failing on the facilities and funny names front, how about iconic music? The bleacher-shaking jig has already been taken, and the quota of Notre Dame Victory March lyrics has been well filled. From there, I combined iconic music, a Notre Dame tie-in, and sacrilege to stumble upon something that caught my fancy.

And here you have it: Vita Dulcedo Skate. A blog by any other name would read ... er, never mind. For those of you confused about the name, it is a play off of a reference to the Blessed Mother from the Marian antiphon Salve Regina. The invocation opens "Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve", with the pertinent portion naming Mary as our "life, sweetness, and hope". "Vita, Dulcedo, Spes" serves as the motto for the University of Notre Dame. A quick word replacement and a blog was born.

What about me? Well, Jack is short for Jack Jeffson. If you're familiar with Notre Dame hockey and still confused about where my blogger moniker comes from, you're probably Clueless Girl or Mr. Loafers.

Again, welcome to Vita Dulcedo Skate!