July 7, 2009
Ottawa, Ont. – Notre Dame hockey right wing Erik Condra (Livonia, Mich.) has signed an National Hockey League entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators. The announcement was made by Senators’ general manager Bryan Murray on July 1.
Condra joins fellow 2009 Irish hockey graduates and teammates Christian Hanson (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Jordan Pearce (Detroit Red Wings) to sign with NHL teams since the end of the 2008-09 season.
The 22-year old right wing was selected in the seventh round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, 211th overall by Ottawa but opted to play collegiately at Notre Dame for the last four seasons. He closed out his career at Notre Dame in 2008-09 by being selected as both a second team American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA)/Reebok All-American and a second team ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American on the At-Large team, becoming the first Notre Dame hockey player to be named to both teams in a single season.
Condra served as team captain in 2008-09 and led Notre Dame to its second Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) regular-season and postseason title in the last three years. The Irish were 31-6-3 overall and spent seven weeks ranked number one in the nation. Over his four seasons at Notre Dame, the Irish were a combined 103-47-14, including 90-28-10 in the last three years for the best mark among Division I teams since 2006-07.
The talented right wing led the Irish in scoring for the fourth consecutive season, scoring 15 goals with 23 assists for 38 points and was a second team all-CCHA selection. He added five power-play goals, two short-handed tallies and two game winners on the season. Condra was a finalist for the CCHA’s top defensive forward award and was the winner of the conference’s Terry Flanagan Memorial Award for perseverance, dedication and courage as he overcame a serious knee injury suffered in the 2008 playoffs and returned in time to start last season.
For his career, the 6-0, 195-pound Condra ranked 13th on the all-time points list with 158 on 48 goals and 110 assists. His assist total (110) are the seventh highest mark in the program’s history and he is just one of 10 Notre Dame players to record 100 or more assists for his career. He also finished third on the all-time list in games played (159), fifth in game-winning goals (11) and tied for fourth with six short-handed markers.
Nationally, he was recognized by Lowe’s as a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award while at Notre Dame, he earned the highest honor given to a student-athlete when he was awarded the Byron V. Kanaley Award while also receiving the Francis Patrick O’Connor Award that honors male and female student-athletes who best display the total embodiment of the true spirit of Notre Dame as exemplified by their contributions and inspirations to their respective teams. To be considered, student-athletes must possess those qualities attributed to Pat O’Connor: caring, courage, confidence, encouragement, humility, honesty, humor, kindness and patience.
He graduated from Notre Dame on May 17 with a 3.55 grade-point average and degrees in psychology and pre-professional studies (pre-med).