Oct. 8, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team opened the 2005-06 season with the annual Blue-Gold intrasquad game and fans in attendance got to see a little more than they bargained after the team’s played to a 2-2 tie in regulation and overtime. The Blue squad scored twice in five shootout tries and goaltender David Brown (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ont.) held the Gold scoreless to give the Blue a 3-2 win in the shootout.
Sophomore right wing Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) received the George Komadoski Award as the game’s MVP with a goal and an assist and the Blue team took the Edward Slaggert Award as winners of the Blue-Gold game for the second year in a row.
With head coach Jeff Jackson watching from the pressbox, the Irish did their best to impress the new coach in the first game action since official practices began on Oct. 1.
Freshman Garrett Regan (Hastings, Minn.) got the gold team on the scoreboard first at 21:48 of the first half (the team’s played two 25-minute halves) when he redirected a Victor Oreskovich (Oakville, Ont.) pass behind Brown for the 1-0 lead. Senior Tim Wallace (Anchorage, Alaska) started the play with a pass from the left wing boards to Oreskovich in the slot.
The duo of Van Guilder and Erik Condra (Fr., Livonia, Mich.) teamed up for the first of two goals for the blue team with just 29 seconds left in the first half.
Van Guilder centered a pass from the right wing boards that Condra redirected past freshman goaltender Jordan Pearce (Anchorage, Alaska) to tie the game at 1-1.
Condra returned the favor just 3:09 into the second half when he found Van Guilder in the high slot with a pass. Van Guilder took the pass in stride and drilled a low, hard shot past goaltender Rory Walsh (Sr., Milton, Mass.) for a 2-1 lead in favor of the Blue.
“It was good to get out there again and put on the uniform,” said Van Guilder.
“Erik (Condra) and I clicked. He’s good to play with. He makes good decisions with the puck. Overall, I thought we played pretty well for the first time going full speed. We made some mistakes, but we’ll work on them.”
The Gold squad tied the game at 2-2 with 12:55 left in the game via the power play. T.J. Jindra (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) played the puck off the left wing boards and slid it ahead to freshman Christian Hanson (Venetia, Pa.) at the bottom of the left wing circle. Hanson looked to the goal and found senior Tony Gill (Rochester, Minn.) cutting in from the right side. Gill directed the pass behind Pearce to even the score.
After a scoreless five-minute overtime, the two teams went to the shootout. Evan Rankin (So., Portage, Mich.) beat Walsh on the first shot to give the Blue a 1-0 edge. Matt Amado (Sr., Surrey, B.C.) clinched the win when he scored on the Blue team’s fourth shot. Brown stopped Wallace, Mike Walsh (Sr., Northville, Mich.), Gill and Hanson for the victory. Walsh stopped Van Guilder and Condra on their attempts.
Overall Jackson seemed to be pleased with his new team’s efforts.
“I was pleased with the way a lot of the guys played tonight,” said Jackson following the game.
“For the most part, I saw some positive things. We played well defensively, only giving up a couple of odd man rushes. We’ve only worked on defensive zone and neutral zone coverage the first week, so for the most part I was happy. The energy was good. They are making the transition to a new system, a new style of play and they look like they are picking it up pretty well.”
Brown played the first 25 minutes for the Blue team, making seven saves and then played in the shootout. Pearce played nine minutes in the first half for the Gold team, making eight saves and then played the second 25 minutes and overtime for the Blue, making13 saves. Walsh played a total of 46 minutes for the Gold and made 22 saves.
The Irish return to action on Friday, Oct. 14 when they play host to the University of Waterloo in a preseason game at the Joyce Center. Faceoff is set for 7:35 p.m. The Waterloo game is the only preseason game before Notre Dame opens the regular season on Oct. 21 at Colorado College.
Blue-Gold Summary:
1 2 OT SO FBlue 1 1 0 1 3Gold 1 1 0 0 2
First Period: G - Garrett Regan (Victor Oreskovich, Tim Wallace), 21:48; B - Erik Condra (Mark Van Guilder), 24:31.Penalties: G - 4 for 4 minutes; B - 1 for 2.5 minutes.
Second Period: B- Van Guilder (Condra), 3:09; G - Tony Gill (Christian Hanson, T.J. Jindra), PPG, 12:05.Penalties: G - 2 for 2 minutes; B - 5 for 5 minutes.
Overtime: No Scoring.Penalties: G- 1 for 1 minute; B - 1 for 1 minute
Shootout:Gold: Wallace (save), Mike Walsh (save), Gill (save), Hanson (save) vs. BrownBlue: Evan Rankin (score), Van Guilder (miss), Condra (save), Matt Amado (goal) vs. Walsh
Shots on Goal:Blue: 14-15-2 - 31Gold: 8 -13-1 - 22
Saves:B - David Brown, 25 min., (7 saves) Stopped 4 of 4 in shootout W Jordan Pearce, 30 min, (13 saves)G - Rory Walsh, 46 min (22 saves) - L Jordan Pearce, 9 min (7 saves)