Feb. 13, 2008

Notre Dame Series Notes

• Alaska closed out the 2006-07 season with a pair of losses at the hands of the eventual CCHA Tournament Champion Notre Dame. For the visiting Nanooks, they could not match their feat from the previous year's playoffs, when they swept Notre Dame in the first round of postseason play and extend their season for another week.

• The teams have developed a bit of a rivalry in recent history, meeting six times last season and twice in the playoffs over the past two years. This weekend's series marks the 11th and 12th meetings between the Nanooks and the Irish in the last three seasons.

• The Blue and Gold will look to snap a six-game losing streak against the Irish this weekend in Fairbanks.

• Alaska looks to improve its 12-8-2 overall home-series lead with Notre Dame this weekend.

• Senior goalie Wylie Rogers is just two shots shy from surpassing the 3,000 mark for shots faced. With a program-best 105 career games under his belt, Rogers is the active leader for career saves with 2,725. He is second in the CCHA for total saves (688) and leads the league in saves per game (29.9). With .919 saves percentage through 23 games this year, he is on pace to break his own single-season record (.918) set during the 2005-06 campaign.

• The Blue and Gold will play a two-game series against a ranked opponent for the fifth time this season.

• Saturday's 4-1 win at Bowling Green gave Alaska its eighth CCHA win of the season, surpassing its total conference wins from the previous campaign.

• Friday night's 4-2 loss at BGSU was the Nanooks only letdown in their last nine games at Bowling Green. With Saturday's triumph they improved to 5-1-3 in the last nine meetings at the BGSU Ice Arena (9-10-3 overall).

• Alaska's number 13, freshman forward Landon Novotney, notched his team-best 13th goal of the year Saturday just 29 seconds into the contest, marking the third time this season the rookie winger lit the lamp for the Nanooks in the first minute of a game. The feat placed him 13th best in Nanook history for goals by a rookie. Steve Moria holds the single-season record for rookies, which stands at 29 (1982-83).

• Sophomore forward Dion Knelsen scored his 10th lamp-lighter of the season Saturday, doubling his goal output from his freshman campaign and becoming just the second Nanook skater to reach double-figure goals this season. Junior defenseman Tyler Eckford and freshman forward Dustin Sather are Alaska's next best goal-scorers with six apiece.

• Nine Nanook skaters have played in at least 100 career games, representing Alaska most experienced upper class in over a decade.