Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Hockey Falls In Opening Exhibition

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The ninth-ranked University of Notre Dame hockey program fell to the United State National Team Development Program U18 team Sunday evening, 5-3, in their first contest of the season.

Junior Ryder Rolston, and USNTDP alum, opened the scoring early with a goal just 59 seconds into the first period to put the Irish up 1-0.

The U18 team would find the equalizer near the halfway point of the first with a goal in the waning seconds of an Irish major penalty kill.

Tyler Carpenter put the Irish back on top with a shot from the near circle that found itself lodged in the back of the net.

The Irish looked to carry the one-goal lead into the second period but a last-minute goal by the USNTDP trickled under the left skate of Ryan Bischel in net. After a brief review the goal stood and the two teams skated to the locker rooms knotted at 2-2 after 20 minutes.

The line of Jack Adams and Justin Janicke carried their success from last season into the start of 2022-23 with a goal at 6:23 of the second period to break the stalemate.

Once again, the USNTDP found the equalizer late in the period and the two teams found themselves tied through two periods of play.

The U18 team would score twice more in the final period, a powerplay tally and empty net goal, for the 5-3 final.

Shots on goal stayed fairly even throughout the contest, with ND being just narrowly edged, 30-28. Irish defenders jumped in front of 12 pucks in the contest, led by Ben Brinkman with three blocked shots.

Goals

  • Rolston lit the lamp less than a minute into play to take the early 1-0 lead over his former team. The forward gathered Jake Boltmann’s rebound out front and backhanded a shot over the blocker of the USNTDP netminder. Jackson Pierson also tallied an assist on the play.
  • At 11:35 of the first period, Nick Leivermann found Tyler Carpenter skating in to his left and fed a pass up the middle where Carpenter buried the puck for the 2-1 lead. Solag Bakich recorded the secondary assist on the play, finding Leivermann in the middle who skated up ice and into the slot before sending the puck up to Carpenter.
  • Justin Janicke picked off a U18 attacker in the Irish defensive end partway through the second to create the odd-man rush with Adams for the third Irish goal of the night.

Key Stats

  • Eight Irish skaters highlighted the box score in Sunday’s exhibition, including three different goal scorers. Rolston, Carpenter and Adams all lit the lamp in ND’s loss to the USNTDP while Bakich, Pierson, Boltmann, Leivermann and J. Janicke all tallied assists.
  • In 59:17 between the pipes, Bischel registered 25 saves on 29 shots faced.
  • Three individuals blocked multiple shots in Sunday night’s contest. Brinkman’s three was a team best, followed by Leivermann and Plucinski who each had two.
  • Adams’ goal in the second was the team’s final of the night as the graduate student led the team in shots with four.

What They’re Saying

Head Coach Jeff Jackson

“It’s the first game, and that’s why we like playing this team early on. They’re fast, they’re hard to play against. It’s a good evaluation for us as coaches.”

“The game of hockey is all about momentum. And when you give the other team that many minutes on the power play, it changes the whole momentum of the game.”

Up Next

The Irish head West for the 2022 Ice Breaker Tournament where they will officially open the 2022-23 season at top-ranked Denver Friday night. Following their tilt with the Pioneers, the Irish will conclude the tournament at Air Force Saturday.