Tag: Ryan Bischel

Two Notre Dame players nominated for college hockey’s top award

Think either of them have a chance?

Since the Hobey Baker Award first was awarded in 1981, no Notre Dame has won it. That’s a big deal because it means the Irish never have had the player considered the best in college hockey over that period of time. Two players have a chance to put the Irish on the board though after this year’s ballot was released.

The two Irish players who have been nominated for hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy are goaltender [autotag]Ryan Bischel[/autotag] and forward [autotag]Landon Slaggert[/autotag]. Bischel has a 13-11-2 record with a 2.41 GAA, a .928 save percentage and three shutouts. Slaggert leads the Irish with 25 points and already has a career-high 16 goals.

Fans with registered accounts on the award’s website can vote for the winner through March 10. While only 1% of the fan vote will account for the final ballot, it still gives fans their chance to have their voices heard. Hopefully, they feel strongly enough about at least one of the Irish’s nominees.

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Notre Dame’s Ryan Bischel makes Richter Award Watch List

Congrats, Ryan!

One of Notre Dame’s strong points this season has been at goaltender. [autotag]Ryan Bischel[/autotag] is the clear standout, and those who follow college hockey for a living seem to agree. Bischel has been named to the watch list for the Mike Richter Award, which is awarded annually to the best collegiate goaltender. The award hasn’t even been around for a decade, but the Irish already boast a winner in [autotag]Cale Morris[/autotag], who captured the honor in 2018.

Bischel leads all collegiate goaltenders in shutouts with four, and that’s only the beginning. He has the second-most saves in the country with 673, and he has a 2.70 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. Earlier this season, he was named the Big Ten’s Third Star of the Week.

We don’t know what more Bischel can offer this season, but it’s unlikely that he’s finished proving himself. The Irish will go as far as he can take them, which hopefully will be far.

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Notre Dame’s Matthew Galajda earns weekly Big Ten honor again

This is getting to be a regular thing.

Notre Dame really is riding a hot goaltender in Matthew Galajda heading into the Big Ten Tournament. Last week, he was named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week. He has earned that honor for the second consecutive week. Ben Meyers of Minnesota also made the conference’s weekly stars in back-to-back weeks, and rounding out the list is Justen Close, Meyers’ teammate.

Galajda, who also has two Third Stars of the Week this season, was the winning goaltender in both of the Irish’s recent wins over Michigan. Over the two games, Galajda made 59 out of a possible 61 saves, giving him a .967 save percentage to go with a 1.00 GAA. His recent strong play was a key factor in the Irish’s five-game winning streak that ended the regular season.

This season, Galajda is second in the Big Ten in both GAA (1.88) and save percentage (.932). He and fellow Irish goaltender Ryan Bischel are two of four conference netminders to have surrendered less than 40 goals this season.

[lawrence-related id=52490,52477]

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Notre Dame’s Ryan Bischel is Big Ten’s First Star of the Week

The Irish are killing it on the ice right now.

For the third week in a row, a Notre Dame player has been named one of the Big Ten’s Stars of the Week. This time, it’s Ryan Bischel taking home the honor, and he’s the conference’s First Star of the Week. This comes after back-to-back weeks of Ryder Rolston and Spencer Stastney getting the Third Star. Bischel is joined this week by Second Star Mason Lohrei of Ohio State and Third Star Carl Fish of Minnesota.

Bischel won both starts against Penn State over the past weekend, making 67 out of a possible 69 saves. The second game saw him make 35 saves for the shutout. That brought him to a 10-4-0 record, a .930 save percentage and a conference-leading GAA of 1.93.

This is the second time an Irish player has been named the Big Ten First Star of the Week. Max Ellis earned the honor Nov. 23.

The Irish continue their season Thursday and Friday at Wisconsin.

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Bischel And Galajda Named To Richter Award Watch List

Notre Dame’s goaltenders have been key in the team’s success this year and were recognized nationally this week.

The following is courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics:

SOUTH BEND, Ind.  – The Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) announced Fighting Irish goaltenders Ryan Bischel and Matthew Galajda have been named to the Watch List for the 2022 Mike Richter Award, which has been given annually to the top goalie in NCAA Division I men’s hockey since 2014.

Bischel, a junior, and Galajda, a graduate student, are two of 28 goalies who have been named to the Watch List and are the only set of teammates to make the list. They also represent two of the six Big Ten players up for the award.

Bischel has started 11 games this season, posting a 7-4-0 record to go along with a .923 save percentage and a 2.05 goals against average. He posted his first career shutout in Notre Dame’s 5-0 win over Niagara, stopping all 19 shots he faced (Jan. 2). He then made a career-high 38 saves in Notre Dame’s 4-2 win at Penn State (Jan. 7).

Galajda has gone 10-3-0 in 13 starts this season while posting a .929 save percentage and 1.93 goals against average. He posted shutouts against RIT (Oct. 22) and Wisconsin (Nov. 13) to move into a tie for third in NCAA Division I men’s hockey history with 21. He posted a career high 40 saves in Notre Dame’s recent 8-2 victory over Boston College (Jan. 19).

Former Notre Dame goaltender Cale Morris was the 2018 recipient of the Mike Richter award, while Galajda, playing for Cornell, was a finalist in both 2018 and 2020.

A committee of voters — made up of a cross section of coaches, administrators, scouts and media — will pare this list down to approximately 15 names within the next two weeks and then ultimately choose the winner who will be announced in April during the NCAA Frozen Four.

Next Up For Notre Dame

  • Notre Dame has the Big Ten bye this weekend and will then play host to 11th-ranked Minnesota on Jan. 28-29 at Compton Family Ice Arena to open the stretch run (tickets).
  • Both the Friday (7:30 p.m. ET) and Saturday (6 p.m. ET) games against the Gophers will be on Peacock.

Notre Dame’s Graham Slaggert is Big Ten’s First Star of the Week

Notre Dame wasn’t going to knock Minnesota from its No. 1 ranking by sweeping it over the weekend and not be honored somehow.

Notre Dame wasn’t going to knock Minnesota from its No. 1 ranking by sweeping it over the weekend and not be honored somehow. It began with the Irish entering the latest poll at 16th. But who should get an individual honor? How about Graham Slaggert as the First Star of the Week in the Big Ten?

Perhaps it was Slaggert’s play in the first game against the Gophers that caught people’s attention. He picked up assists on the Irish’s first two goals and then scored the game-winning in a 3-2 win. That three-point performance, a career high, brought him to 11 points, the most in a season for the South Bend native. He joins Ryan Bischel and Matt Ellis as Notre Dame players who have been one of the Big Ten Three Stars of the Week this season.

Having won three of their past four games, the Irish are third in the Big Ten with a 5-4-1 conference record and a 7-6-1 record overall. One point separates them from both second-place Wisconsin and fourth-place Michigan. They’ll play the latter of those teams for their next weekend series. Even though it’s still early in the second half of the season, the series could play a major role in how the conference tournament will be seeded.

Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Battle Badgers, Lose War

Notre Dame showed more life Friday against Wisconsin than it has lately, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 6-4 loss. The Irish (10-11-4, 5-7-3-2) fell victim to Cole Caulfield’s hat trick, which, coupled with 29 saves for Jack Berry, made the …

Notre Dame showed more life Friday against Wisconsin than it has lately, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 6-4 loss. The Irish (10-11-4, 5-7-3-2) fell victim to Cole Caulfield’s hat trick, which, coupled with 29 saves for Jack Berry, made the difference for the Badgers (10-12-1, 5-9-1-1).

Seven players have multiple points in this game, including Colin Theisen (one goal, two assists), Mike O’Leary (one goal, one assist) and Spencer Stastney (two assists). And with three power-play goals between the teams, there was no shortage of opportunities for players to pad their stats.

Cale Morris made 19 saves but was pulled for Ryan Bischel after allowing what turned out to be the game-winning goal from Max Zimmer on a Wisconsin power play. Cal Burke got the Irish within one with his own power-play tally, but they never got closer. The closest they got after that was when Trevor Janicke hit the crossbar on yet another man advantage late in the third period. Ugh.