Tag: Nick Leivermann

Notre Dame adds defenseman transfer Drew Bavaro

Solid pickup for the Irish?

Notre Dame lost a lot of players on the blue line to graduation, and it needs to replenish that somehow. Some help is arriving with the addition of defenseman Drew Bavaro, who hails from Bradenton, Florida. For the past two years, he has skated for Bentley of the Atlantic Hockey Association. During the 2021-22 season, he was a First Team All-Atlantic selection who led his team with 27 points and 17 assists to bring his total for that program to 39 points over 52 games.

Before Bentley, Bavaro played junior hockey for the Wenatchee Wild for the 2019-20 season. He played 51 games that season, and 24 of his 33 points went for assists. His nine goals that season matched the number he had for his second and final season with Bentley.

The Irish’s top scoring defensemen for the past season were seniors [autotag]Spencer Stastney[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Leivermann[/autotag] with 27 points apiece. It might be tough for Bavaro to reach that immediately at a higher level, but at least he’s shown he’s capable of it.

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Notre Dame gets Nick Leivermann back for fifth season

The Irish have some experience coming back.

Notre Dame is expected to have a lot of turnover on next year’s roster after having many seniors and graduate students this year. Defenseman Nick Leivermann was one of those seniors. However, he’s not going anywhere. That’s because he has decided to come back for a fifth season.

Leivermann, who had 27 points in 2021-22 to tie for second on the Irish, said the following:

““After looking at potential options, I felt returning to Notre Dame would be best for my career development. I’m looking forward to continuing my education and becoming a Double Domer and I’m excited to hit the ice with our returning group.”

Irish coach Jeff Jackson also chimed in:

“We’re very excited to have Nicky returning to our program. He’ll continue to develop his game and strive to become one of the best defensemen in the country. He also has the experience and leadership qualities necessary to help sustain our culture moving forward.”

Congratulations to the 2017 Colorado Avalanche seventh-round pick and three-time Big Ten All Academic Team selection. Let’s hope next season will be his best.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

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.

Notre Dame Dominates Ohio State in Weekend Series Opener

Notre Dame had an opportunity to get back to .500 with Friday’s series opener at Ohio State. It did so with authority.

Notre Dame had an opportunity to get back to .500 with Friday’s series opener at Ohio State. It did so with authority. After a start that made some Notre Dame fans nervous, the Irish let them know in no uncertain terms that this was their game. Their 6-1 win represented the most times the Buckeyes have been scored upon this season.

Although it took about half the first period for the Irish (9-9-1, 7-7-1) to even record their first shot on goal, they drew first blood on a Spencer Stastney goal from the left faceoff circle. A couple of minutes later, Nate Clurman was whistled for checking from behind and, after a review, received a game misconduct. With plenty of time still on the five-minute Buckeyes power play, Landon Slaggert was sent to the box for hooking, forcing the Irish to skate two men down. Incredibly, the Irish’s penalty kill, helped by some nice saves from Dylan St. Cyr, got the job done and kept Ohio State (5-13-1, 5-12-0) off the scoreboard that entire time.

With momentum on their side, the Irish seized control in the second period, outshooting the Buckeyes, 18-5. They most of it by getting goals from Matt and Alex Steeves, Jesse Lansdell and Landon Slaggert, who scored 25 seconds into a power play. Nick Leivermann added a goal in the third, but all action was a formality at that point.

Alex Steeves was the Irish’s best player with three assists to go with his second-period tally. Graham Slaggert picked up two assists, and Lansdell and Leivermann also got into the assists column. St. Cyr stopped 23 of 24 shots for his sixth win of the season.

Michael Graham Returning Home as Notre Dame Visits Minnesota

When Notre Dame travels to face top-ranked Minnesota this weekend, it will be a homecoming of sorts for nine native Irish players.

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When Notre Dame travels to face top-ranked Minnesota this weekend, it will be a homecoming of sorts for nine native Irish players. Among them is Michael Graham, one of four Notre Dame players from Eden Prairie. Graham, who is in a four-way tie for second on the Irish in scoring, is the subject of a new piece for the Brainerd Dispatch. Gophers fans know him well as the player who ended their team’s season during the 2019 Big Ten Tournament:

Still, Graham’s high school days are remembered fondly in his home state. Naturally, that would include Lee Smith, his high school coach:

“Michael was a four-year standout for us. There are very few kids that we bring up from our (youth hockey) association as ninth-graders, but Michael had such incredible speed and hand skills, and he’s a good person and good player, we figured we had to bring him up. And we were very fortunate he decided to stay his senior year.”

As a senior, Graham began the season with the Fargo Force in USHL. Though he strongly was encouraged to stay there the entire season, he decided to returned to an Eden Prairie roster that had lots of future Division I talent, including current Irish teammate Nick Leivermann. The team came within one victory of becoming state champions.

But Graham is not coming back to his home state for nostalgia. He’s here to try and knock off the Gophers, something only No. 12 Wisconsin has done this season. However, the Badgers did that last week, albeit in Madison. A win and a tie at minimum would be a real shot in the arm for an Irish team struggling to stay at .500.

Three Notre Dame Hockey Players Honored by Big Ten

It’s hard to remember now, but the Notre Dame hockey team’s season ended before sports were shut down.

It’s hard to remember now, but the Notre Dame hockey team’s season ended before sports were shut down. With everything going on, people surely forgot that Big Ten honors still had to be distributed. That finally happened Monday.

Junior defenseman Matt Hellickson and senior goaltender Cale Morris both were named Honorable Mention All-Stars. Senior forward and team captain Cal Burke became a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree. A media voting panel and conference coaches selected the honorees.

Eleven of Rogers’ 16 points came on assists. He tied with Nick Leivermann for most goals on the team by a defenseman with five and had a team-leading three game-winning goals.

Morris ended his career with the top save percentage in program history (.931) and second all-time in wins (58) and goals-against average (2.18).

Burke won a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for the second year in a row. He also was a finalist for the Senior CLASS and Hockey Humanitarian awards.

Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Hold Lead, Lose to Gophers

Notre Dame would have liked to come off its Big Ten bye with at least one win over Minnesota. But after tying the Gophers and losing a shootout Friday, the Irish blew a 1-0 lead in the third period of the teams’ rematch Saturday and lost, 2-1. Nick …

Notre Dame would have liked to come off its Big Ten bye with at least one win over Minnesota. But after tying the Gophers and losing a shootout Friday, the Irish blew a 1-0 lead in the third period of the teams’ rematch Saturday and lost, 2-1.

Nick Leivermann scored the lone goal for Notre Dame (12-12-6, 7-8-5-3) at the 8:02 mark of the second period. Colin Theisen was credited with the only assist on the tally.

Ben Meyers tied it for Minnesota (14-11-5, 9-6-5-4) 3:34 into the third period after the Irish turned it over at the blue line. A couple of minutes later, Cam Morrison was sent to the penalty box for elbowing, and Blake McLaughlin made him and the Irish pay by scoring on the ensuing power play. It was the only penalty kill out of eight between the two games this weekend that Notre Dame failed at.

Cale Morris made 24 saves for the Irish.