Dec. 11, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) has selected Notre Dame sophomore Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) as the conference offensive player of the week for his play in Notre Dame’s home-and-home sweep of Michigan on Dec. 8 and 10.
Condra, who leads the Irish in scoring this season, had one goal and five assists for six points and was +2 in the 7-3 and 4-3 wins over seventh-ranked Michigan.
In the series opener at Yost Arena on Dec. 8, the sophomore recorded the second four-point game of his career, scoring once on the power play while adding three assists in the 7-3 Irish win. Condra helped get Notre Dame on the board early as he set up defenseman Tom Sawatske’s (Sr., Duluth, Minn.) first goal of the season at 1:08 for the opening period. Condra then scored his goal at 2:17 of the second period to give the Irish a 3-1 lead. He added assists on goals by Kevin Deeth (Fr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) and Evan Rankin (Jr., Portage, Mich.). His previous four-point game was a four-assist game as a freshman versus Bowling Green on Feb. 17.
After taking Saturday off, the two teams met at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center on Dec. 10 and Condra added two assists in the come-from-behind, 4-3 victory. The Livonia, Mich., native set up Kyle Lawson’s (Fr., New Hudson, Mich.) power-play goal that tied the game at 1-1 in the first period and then combined with his linemates, Deeth and Ryan Thang (Fr., Edina, Minn.) to set up Thang’s ninth goal of the season (a power-play goal) that tied the game at 3-3 at 7:13 of the third period.
This marks the second time this season that Condra has been selected as the CCHA’s offensive player of the week as he was chosen on Nov. 13 after series sweep of Bowling Green.
For the year, Condra leads Notre Dame in scoring with six goals and 16 assists for 22 points and is +12 on the year. He has two power-play goals and one game winner on the year.
The Irish are now 14-3-1 overall and 9-2-1 in the CCHA, good for 19 points and are in second place in the league, two points behind first-place Miami (10-3-1, 21 pts.) with two games in hand. Notre Dame moved up to fourth in both the USAToday/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CSTV hockey polls. A year ago, the Irish had just 13 wins all season and the 14 victories before finals and the Christmas holidays are the most in the program’s 39-year modern history.
Condra and his teammates break for two weeks for finals and the holidays before opening the second half of the season on Dec. 30-31 with a CCHA series against Northern Michigan. The Dec. 30 game will be played at the Allen Country War Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and has a 1:05 p.m. starting time. The New Year’s Eve game will be held at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center with face off set for 4:05 p.m.