HOCKEY: Irish hope to heat up on home ice
By CHRIS FEDERICO
Assistant Sports Editor
With just eight games left to go in the regular season, the Notre Dame hockey team needs to get on a roll, beginning tonight when they take on Alaska-Fairbanks in the Joyce Center.
"[We need] to get hot," Irish captain Evan Nielsen said. "These last eight games we need to string a few wins together."
Currently the Irish are tied for the seventh spot in the CCHA with last weekend's foe, Miami of Ohio. Just two points ahead of Notre Dame stands Ohio State in sixth place. That spot is significant because it would offer the Irish a chance to host a round in the upcoming conference playoffs. The Irish need to be leery, however, of falling out of the top 10 in the conference, thus eliminating them from post-season play.
"We need to come out here and get two wins this weekend and roll from there," Nielsen said. "No more split weekends."
The team is, indeed, coming off one of those split weekends against Miami last week. The Irish showed some poise in the first of the two games, stealing a 4-3 overtime victory from the RedHawks. The Irish defense faltered a little in the second night, though, giving up seven goals in a 7-3 defeat.
"We had a bad game," Nielsen stated. "I don't think it hurt our confidence any, but games like that, they're not enjoyable, and they're definitely tough to be a part of. You just come back and get back to work the next week to get another shot this weekend."
The Irish will work tonight on tightening up that defense that ceded as many goals as it had all year.
"Our first point of emphasis should be defense," said Irish forward Michael Chin, who is coming off of one of the best weekends of his career in notching three goals and an assist against Miami. "We need to focus on defense and be great on defense, and I think our offense will spawn from there."
That Irish defense will face an Alaska-Fairbanks squad that has been much of a surprise this year to its opponents. At the beginning of the season, the Nanooks were selected to finish last in the CCHA. Instead, they currently boast a 10-10-2 conference record, while standing four points ahead of the Irish in fourth place in the conference.
The Nanooks are led in scoring by a pair of sophomore forwards, Ryan Campbell and Cam Keith, with 24 and 23 points on the season, respectively.
"Our offense will take care of itself," Chin commented. "As long as we can be strong on defense, which it seems we've kind of gotten away from in the past few games, we will have a very successful weekend and a successful rest of the year."
The Irish and the Nanooks face off at 7:05 p.m. in the Joyce Center.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 1, 2002
