Dec. 10, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior defenseman Dan VeNard (Vernon Hills, Ill.) has been named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s (CCHA) defenseman of the week for his play in a pair of Irish wins at Princeton during the weekend of Dec. 7-8.
In the two wins over Princeton, VeNard scored a pair of goals and added two assists for a four-point weekend while being +2. Defensively, the Irish limited the Tigers to a pair of goals and killed eight-of-nine power-play chances.
On Friday night in Notre Dame’s 4-2 win at Hobey Baker Arena, Notre Dame fell behind 1-0 before scoring three unanswered tallies. VeNard picked up his lone point of the night when he assisted on Garrett Regan’s (Jr., Hastings, Minn.) goal at 14:41 of the first period that tied the game at 1-1. He was even for the night.
In Saturday’s 7-0 shutout win over the Tigers, VeNard turned in a career-best two-goal and three-point game while going +2. The senior defenseman started the Notre Dame scoring barrage when he scored the game’s first goal on the power play at 10:05 for what would eventually be the game-winning goal. His second goal of the night came at 14:04 of the second period and increased the Irish lead to 6-0 as it capped a streak of three goals in a 2:46 span. An alternate captain, VeNard capped his career-high night when he assisted on Evan Rankin’s (Sr., Portage, Mich.) goal that closed the scoring at 7-0 at 16:30 of the final period.
The win for Notre Dame extended the current Irish winning streak to nine straight games, the longest in the nation. They are now 16-4-0 on the year and are 10-2-0 in the CCHA, good for 20 points and a tie for second place in the league standings.
On the season, VeNard now has five goals and three assists for eight points with the goal and point totals being single-season highs. The eight points in 20 games this year equals his career totals of two goals and six assists in his first three seasons.
VeNard and his Notre Dame teammates break for finals and the Christmas holidays and will next be in action on Saturday, Dec. 29 when they open play in the Lightning College Hockey Classic at Tampa, Fla. The Irish will face the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the first game at 5:05 p.m. while Colorado College and Rensselaer face off in the second game at 8:05 p.m.