Nov. 1, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Over the first seven games of the 2006-07 season, the Notre Dame hockey team struggled to score goals, averaging just 2.43 per game. That all changed on Thursday night at the Joyce Center when the Irish offense erupted for seven goals in a 7-3 win over the Lake Superior State Lakers.
Junior right wing Erik Condra paced the Notre Dame attack, scoring a pair of goals while adding three assists for the second five-point game of his career. Linemate Mark Van Guilder added two goals of his own and a pair of assists for the second four-point night of his career and even freshman left wing Robin Bergman chipped in a goal and an assist as the line combined for five goals and six assists on the night.
Ryan Thang and Dan VeNard also got on the scoresheet with first-period goals that gave the Irish a 2-1 lead. Nathan Perkovich, Rick Schofield and Josh Sim scored for the Lakers in the game.
The win moves Notre Dame to 5-3-0 overall and 3-1-0 in CCHA play. Lake Superior falls to 1-3-1 on the young season while the Lakers dropped their conference opener to fall to 0-1-0 in league play.
After having the door slammed on the Irish power play last weekend at Ferris State, Notre Dame got its special teams back in order on the second chance of the evening and was 3-for-5 in the game.
The Lakers’ Rick Schofield received a double-minor penalty at 7:48 of the first period to give the Irish a four-minute power play. The first two minutes went by with no shots on goal, but Thang made sure the first power-play shot of the night counted when he took a feed from Van Guilder in the slot and beat goaltender Pat Inglis over his glove had at 10:43 to give the Irish a 1-0 lead. The goal was Thang’s fifth of the season and Condra recorded his first assist of the night on the goal.
The Lakers bounced back with a power-play goal of their own at 12:20. Perkovich’s shot changed directions several times, finally getting past Irish goaltender Jordan Pearce for the sophomore right wing’s fourth goal of the season. The power-play marker snapped Notre Dame’s streak of 31 consecutive penalties killed over the last six games and was the first given up by the Irish since the third period of the opening-game loss to Wisconsin.
That tie lasted just over six minutes when VeNard scored his first goal since March 3, 2006, a span of 24 games that VeNard has played in since his last lamplighter. The senior defenseman took a feed from defensive partner Ian Cole at the right point and blasted a shot past Inglis at 18:22 to put the Irish ahead to stay at 2-1.
Notre Dame scored early and often in the second period, getting four goals in the middle stanza. Bergman started the scoring parade just 17 seconds into the period when he followed a Condra shot that was stopped by Inglis and buried it over the Laker goaltender for the first of his career.
Van Guilder scored his first of the night at 4:20, converting a feed by Condra to make it 4-1. The goal was Van Guilder’s fifth of the year and the assist was Condra’s third of the night.
Lake Superior cut the Notre Dame lead in half at 8:08 when Schofield converted a nice centering pass from the left wing boards from Steven Oleksy, deflecting the puck over Pearce as he tried to slide across the crease. The goal was Schofield’s first of the season and the score was 4-2.
At 11:55 of the second period, the game got a bit chippy as the Zac MacVoy slammed Evan Rankin into the boards, picking up a major for cross-checking to give the Irish a five-minute power play. They would score twice on three chances to open a 6-2 lead.
Condra scored his first goal of the night as he tapped the rebound of a Van Guilder shot past Inglis for his second of the year at 14:47.
Van Guilder notched his second goal of the night and sixth of the season at 16:19 converting some hard work by defenseman Kyle Lawson into his fourth power-play goal of the season. Lawson took a shot that was blocked by the Lake Superior defense. He tracked down the rebound and found Van Guilder alone in front and he tucked it home to give the Irish a 6-2 lead after two periods.
The teams traded goals in the third as Condra made it 7-2 just 40 seconds in as Bergman returned the favor from earlier in the game, setting up his linemate for the first multiple-point game of his career.
Sim closed the scoring at 8:28 with his first of the season and the final of 7-3.
In the game, the Irish out shot the Lakers by a 27-15 margin. Inglis finished the game with 20 saves in the Lake Superior goal while Pearce made 12 stops for Notre Dame and picked up a career-best fifth win of the season.
The two teams will meet in game two of the series on Friday night at the Joyce Center. Game time is 7:35 p.m.
** IRISH NOTES **
• Notre Dame’s win gives the Irish a five-game winning streak in the last five meetings versus Lake Superior State.
• Erik Condra’s last five-point game came on the road at Robert Morris (1/5/07) last season. He had a goal and four assists in that game. Mark Van Guilder’s last four-point game came at Bowling Green (2/17/06) during his sophomore year. He had three goals and one assist in that game.
• The three power-play goals in the game were the most for the Irish in one game this year. They are now 10-for-53 (18.9%) with the man advantage.
• After seeing their penalty-killing streak snapped in the first period, the Irish have now killed 36-of-38 opponent power plays this season for a 94.7% success rate.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FLake Superior (1-3-1/0-1-0) 1 1 1 - 3#13/#14 Notre Dame (5-3-0/3-1-0) 2 4 1 - 7
ScoringFirst Period: ND: Ryan Thang 5 (Mark Van Guilder, Erik Condra), PPG, 10:43; LSSU: Nathan Perkovich 4 (Zac MacVoy), 12:20; ND: Dan VeNard 1 (Ian Cole, Kevin Deeth), 18:22.Penalties: LSSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Robin Bergman 1 (Condra), 00:17; ND: Van Guilder 5 (Condra), 4:20; LSSU: Rick Schofield 1 (Steven Oleksy), 8:08; ND: Condra 2 (Van Guilder, Deeth), PPG, 16:19; ND: Van Guilder 6 (Kyle Lawson, Deeth), PPG, 16:19.Penalties: LSSU: 3 for 17 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Condra 3 (Bergman), 00:40; LSSU: Josh Sim 1 (Troy Schwab), 8:28.Penalties: LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Lake Superior 4 - 3 - 8 - 15Notre Dame 9 - 12 - 6 - 27
Goaltender Saves:LSSU - Pat Inglis (60:00) 7 - 8 - 5 - 20ND - Jordan Pearce (60:00) 3 - 2 - 7 - 12
Power Plays:LSSU: 1 for 4ND: 3 for 5
Attendance: 2,117