Jake Pivonka – Syndication Server

Notre Dame’s Jake Pivonka is finalist for Derek Hines Award

Congrats to the Irish captain.

An Achilles injury put Notre Dame forward Jake Pivonka’s senior season in jeopardy. He was able to return to game action in mid-December after sticking around as a team leader as he went through rehabilitation. Now, the captain and 2018 New York Islanders fourth-round pick is being recognized in a big way. He has been selected as the Big Ten finalist for the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award.

The award, which is presented by the Hockey Commissioners Association, is given to the player who best “displays exemplary sportsmanship, is supremely competitive, intelligent and extraordinarily conditioned with an unmatched work ethic.” It is named after Derek Hines, a former Army player who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2005.

In 126 career games with the Irish, Pivonka has 38 points, nine of which have come on goals. Of those nine, four have been game-winners. One of those came in the deciding game of the Irish’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal win over Wisconsin.

The winner of the award will be announced April 8 during Frozen Four weekend festivities in Boston.

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Notre Dame names captains for 2021-22 season

Good picks for the Irish?

With the first game on the horizon, Notre Dame has named its five captains for the upcoming season. Wearing the ‘C’ will be defenseman Adam Karashik and forwards Graham Slaggert and Jake Pivonka. Serving as alternate captains will be defensemen Spencer Stastney and Nick Leivermann. All of the aforementioned are seniors except for Karshik, who is a graduate student.

Slaggert and Leivermann are two of the Irish’s top three returning scorers. Slaggert led the Irish with 18 assists last season to go with seven goals. Leivermann was the Irish’s top scoring defenseman in 2020-21 with 12 of his 17 points coming on assists.

Karashik is a transfer who played the past four years with UConn and was one of the Huskies’ captains in 2020-21. Pivonka, who didn’t miss a game last season, currently is out with an injury. Stastney recently joined Slaggert on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.

The Irish will get their first taste of game action Sunday with an exhibition against the U.S. National Team Development Program. Their first regular-season game is Oct. 9 when they welcome Long Island University to Compton Family Ice Arena.

Landon Slaggert Makes U.S. World Junior Championship Camp Roster

Landon Slaggert could have something other than Notre Dame on his mind for most of December.

Landon Slaggert could have something other than Notre Dame on his mind for most of December. The Irish’s freshman forward has been named to the U.S. roster for the camp in preparation for the World Junior Championship. The camp begins Dec. 6, and the roster will have 25 names for the tournament, which runs from Christmas Day to Jan. 5 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Slaggert, a South Bend native, recorded the first point of his collegiate career in the Irish’s 3-2 win over No. 3 Michigan on Friday. He and his brother, Graham, both had assists on Nate Clurman’s goal. He has played in all four of the Irish’s games played thus far.

Notre Dame has sent 22 players to the World Junior Championship previously. Last year, Spencer Stastney and Jake Pivonka became the most recent Irish players to take part. Irish medalists in this tournament over the years are Andrew Peeke, Anders Bjork, Mario Lucia, Kyle Palmieri, Kyle Lawson and Ben Simon.

Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Swept in Weekend Series

No. 14 Notre Dame got back in the scoring column against Michigan on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a weekend sweep in a 3-1 loss. Graham Slaggert got Notre Dame (10-9-3, 5-5-2-1) on the board only 1:45 into the game, but the Irish …

No. 14 Notre Dame got back in the scoring column against Michigan on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a weekend sweep in a 3-1 loss.

Graham Slaggert got Notre Dame (10-9-3, 5-5-2-1) on the board only 1:45 into the game, but the Irish wouldn’t score again. Midway through the second period, Michigan (9-11-2, 4-7-1-0) got going when Nick Blankenberg tied the score on a power play. Five minutes later, Jack Summers gave the Wolverines the lead for good. Jake Slaker rounded out the scoring on an empty-netter late in the third.

Trailing, 2-1, the Irish’s best chance to get the game back even came early in the third period when Jake Pivonka tipped a shot from Nate Clurman. The puck went behind Strauss Mann’s glove, but it hit the post, skipping across the crease past the other side of the net.

Cale Morris made 32 saves for the Irish. Morris has a .965 save percentage over his past five starts.

Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Begin 2020 With Home-and-Home vs. Western Michigan

After nearly three weeks away from game action, No. 15 Notre Dame (9-7-2) will return to the ice Friday and Sunday for a home-and-home series against No. 19 Western Michigan (7-7-2). Though the Irish won their last game Dec. 14 over Penn State, it came on the heels of a seven-game winless streak, including six consecutive losses. These next two games will be the final tuneups before finishing the regular season with the remainder of their Big Ten schedule.

Despite the long layoff, Michael Graham, Matt Hellickson and Alex Steeves will look to continue their point streaks of three, two and three games, respectively. They’ll have to do it in Notre Dame’s seventh consecutive game against a ranked opponent Friday, one it has a long history with. The Irish and Broncos used to be rivals in the CCHA, and Western Michigan leads the all-time series, 43-37-11.

The Irish will be without center Jake Pivonka and defenseman Spencer Stastney. Both sophomores are members of Team USA at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Ostrava and Trinec, Czech Republic.