Christian Minella signs D-1Scholarship with Notre Dame

Nov. 17, 2005 - Notre Dame, Ind. - University of Notre Dame hockey coach Jeff Jackson announced today that right wing Christian Minella (Aurora, Colo.) has signed a national letter-of-intent to join the Irish hockey program in the fall of 2006. In making the announcement, Jackson said, "We are pleased to add a player like Christian Minella to the Notre Dame hockey program. He brings size and speed to our roster. Christian Minella is a 6-2, 200-pound right wing who is in his third season with the Sioux City Musketeers in the United States Hockey League. As the team captain in 2005-06, Minella has three goals and three assists for six points in the first 16 games of the season along with 17 minutes in penalties. The big, physical forward and his teammates are currently in fifth place in the USHL's Western Division with a 6-7-3 record, just three points behind second-place Omaha.

In 2004-05, Minella helped Sioux City to second place in the USHL's Western Division with a 37-17-6 record while scoring seven goals with 15 assists for 22 points in 58 games. In his rookie season, Minella had seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points in 53 games while receiving 65 minutes in penalties. A native of the Pittsburgh area, Minella is a product of the Pittsburgh Hornets Midget program where he played with current Irish freshman Christian Hanson. For more details, go to the Notre Dame hockey website announcement about Christian.

Congratualtions Christian on this wonderful accomplishment and for continuing to add to the Hornet reputation as the top amateur hockey program in Western Pennsylvania and clearly one of the best amateur hockey programs in North America.