-Notre Dame was selected No. 1 in this week's USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine men's college hockey poll. Teddy Ruth, a Naperville local, and The Fighting Irish will be in the area Jan. 2-3 for a tournament at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

-North Central College track and field will host a clinic for coaches and athletes (age 12 and up) on Sunday, Dec. 14 at Merner Fieldhouse. For more information, call Mahesh Narayanan at 630-637-5525 or e-mail mahesh@noctrl.edu.

-Strictly Shooting Co. will hold a basketball camp for boys and girls grades four through eight on Dec. 22-23 and Dec. 29-30 at Kennedy Junior High School in Naperville. For more information, call 630-355-0622 or visit strictlyshootinghoops.com.

-Prepvolleyball.com ranks Benet 16th, Naperville Central 43rd and Naperville North 70th in its Dec. 4 edition of the top 100 national rankings. All three teams finished its seasons last month. Phil Brozynski has an alumni update here.

Notre Dame blew a three-goal lead early on, and squandered another lead in the third period against Michigan in the Frozen Four on Thursday night. But the Irish, with Naperville's Teddy Ruth, got an overtime goal from Calle Ridderwall for a 5-4 victory to reach the national championship game for the first time.

In becoming the first No. 4 seed to advance this far, the most recent Irish victims have been Michigan State (3-1 in the regional final) and the Wolverines. Now they face Boston College in the final at 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.

Perhaps the Notre Dame football team should take notice. The football Irish went 0-3 against those schools last fall, losing by a combined 96-28.

But as much fun as Ruth and the hockey Irish are having, they are still a long way from turning the campus from a renowned football school into a puck haven.

"We're changing the hockey culture here, which is great," said Ruth, who started Thursday night, but did not figure in the scoring. "I've had a lot of people coming up to me, congratulating me."

That should only increase if Ruth returns to South Bend carrying a national championship trophy.