Junior center Mark Van Guilder got his season off to a fast start with two goals and an assist in Notre Dame's season-opening 6-1 win against Minnesota State.

Irish Offense Rolls In 7-4 Win At Bowling Green

Feb. 17, 2006

Final Stats

Bowling Green, Ohio – Sophomore center Mark Van Guilder collected his first career hat trick and four-point game as Notre Dame’s offense exploded for seven goals on the way to a key road win Friday night, knocking off the Bowling Green Falcons, 7-4, at the Bowling Green Ice Arena.

Josh Sciba added two goals and an assist, Erik Condra had a career-high four-assist game and Wes O’Neill and Matt Amado added single goals in the Irish win.

Freshman goaltender Jordan Pearce, making his first start since Dec. 2, made 34 saves in the win. His start snapped a streak of 22 consecutive starts by Irish junior goaltender David Brown.

“Brownie (David Brown) has played a lot of hockey and I sensed that he was getting tired last weekend and this week in practice so I decided to give him a break,” said head coach Jeff Jackson.

“I need to have confidence in my backup goaltender and, no disrespect to Bowling Green, but I felt tonight was the chance to get him in there. He played well his last time out (a relief appearance, 4-3 win at Northern Michigan).”

The win, the third in a row for the Irish, moves them to 12-16-3 overall and 10-12-3 in CCHA play. Notre Dame goes into Saturday’s game at Bowling Green tied for eighth with 23 points along with Ohio State. The Buckeyes tied Ferris State with the Bulldogs tied for sixth with Northern Michigan as each team has 24 points. Alaska Fairbanks faces Western Michigan in Alaska. The Nanooks start the night in ninth place with 21 points. Bowling Green falls to 13-19-1 overall and 8-16-1 in conference play.

The two teams traded goals in the first period with the Irish scoring two early and the Falcons two late in the period.

O’Neill got the Irish scoring started just 2:26 into the opening stanza when he took a drop pass from Mike Walsh at the top of the left wing circle and drilled a wrist shot past Falcon goaltender Jon Horrell. The goal was O’Neill’s sixth of the year and it marked the third consecutive game that Notre Dame scored first. The Irish are 11-2-3 when they get the game’s first goal.

The lead would go to 2-0 just 1:12 later when Van Guilder scored his first of the night via the power play off pin-point passing by Condra and Sciba. Condra moved the puck from the left wing boards to Sciba at the top of the right wing circle for a one-time shot. Sciba instead slid a criss-cross ice pass to Van Guilder at the bottom of the left-wing circle and the sophomore center tucked a wrist shot inside the left post for his sixth goal of the season.

Mark Van Guilder is one of the most underrated players in the CCHA,” said Jackson.

“He’s a coaches’ player. He’s smart; he loves to play the game. He’s not pretty, but he gets the job done.”

Bowling Green tied the game in a 1:35 span late in the period. The Falcons first goal of the night came of a Notre Dame turnover behind the net. James Unger picked up the puck behind the net, carried it to the left side of Pearce and tucked it inside the left post for his 12th goal of the year.

The Falcons then tied the score on a five-on-three power play with just three seconds left in the period. Defenseman Mike Nesdill ripped a slap shot from the center point past Pearce for his second of the year at 19:57.

The teams combined for six goals in the second period with the Irish building a 6-4 lead. Van Guilder picked up his second power-play goal of the night at 3:48 off the rebound of an O’Neill shot.

The Falcons tied the game 3-3 at 5:58 when the Irish couldn’t clear a rebound in front. Falk knocked down a bouncing puck in the slot and Jeremy Bronson spun around to whip a shot past Pearce for his first collegiate goal.

From there the Irish scored three times to make it a 6-3 lead. Sciba scored on the power play (third of the game for the Irish) at 9:05 to make it 4-3.

Amado came out of the penalty box to score unassisted at 11:17, his eighth of the year, when he backhanded a shot over Horrell from the bottom of the right wing circle and Van Guilder closed out his hat trick when he took a cross rink feed from Amado and fired the puck into a wide-open net for a three-goal lead.

Amado’s goal was his first since Nov. 26 and snapped an 18-game goal less drought.

“It’s great to score any goal in a game, but to get three is fantastic,” said Van Guilder.

“I got some great set ups tonight from (Erik) Condra and (Matt) Amado. All I had to do was put it in the net.”

Van Guilder’s hat trick was the second of the season by Notre Dame. Josh Sciba had the other Irish three-goal game on Nov. 10 in a 9-4 win at the Joyce Center.

The Falcons weren’t done though and cut the lead to 6-4 at 19:41 as Alex Foster scored his ninth of the season just as a penalty to Tom Sawatske was ending.

“Bowling Green is scary offensively,” said Jackson.

“I knew the two-goal lead wasn’t safe, they had already come back once. We settled down in the third period and played the way we had to. We did a better job of protecting the puck and came out with the win,” said Jackson.

The Irish added their final goal in the third period when Josh Sciba picked up his second of the game and team-best 15th of the season to cap his three-point night off a perfect feed from Evan Rankin at 13:36.

On the night, Notre Dame was out shot, 38-33. Horrell made 26 saves for the Falcons. The two teams meet again on Saturday night with a 7:05 p.m. game at the Bowling Green Ice Arena.

IRISH NOTES:

** Mark Van Guilder and Erik Condra turned in the first four-point games of the year for the Irish in the win. The last Notre Dame players to have four-point games were Rob Globke ’04 and Aaron Gill ’04 who each had four points on March 18, 2004 in a 6-5 overtime loss to Ohio State in the CCHA Super Six. Condra’s four-assist game was the first by a Notre Dame player since Connor Dunlop had four on Nov. 2, 2001 in a 5-4 win at Northern Michigan.

** The Irish have now won two in a row on the road and since Dec. 6 are 6-3-1 away from the Joyce Center. Since starting the season 1-5-0, Notre Dame is 11-11-3. Since Dec. 3, the Irish are 9-7-2.


GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F
Notre Dame (12-16-3/10-12-3) 2 4 1 - 7
Bowling Green (13-19-1/8-16-1) 2 2 0 - 4
Scoring
First Period: ND: Wes O'Neill 6 (Mike Walsh), 2:26; ND: Mark Van Guilder 6 (Josh Sciba, Erik Condra), PPG, 3:38; BGSU: James Unger 12 (unassisted), 18:22; BGSU: Mike Nesdill 2 (Don Morrison, Mike Falk), PPG, 19:57.
Penalties: ND: 6 for 12 minutes; BGSU: 5 for 10 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Van Guilder 7 (O'Neill, Condra), PPG, 3:48; BGSU: Jeremy Bronson 1 (Falk), 5:58; ND: Sciba 15 (Van Guilder, Condra), PPG, 9:05; ND: Matt Amado 8 (unassisted), 11;17; ND: Van Guilder 8 (Amado, Tim Wallace), 12:22; BGSU: Alex Foster 9 (Nesdill, Jonathan Matsumoto), PPG, 19:41.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; BGSU: 4 for 8 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Sciba 16 (Evan Rankin, Condra), 13:36..
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BGSU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 13 - 13 - 7 - 33
Bowling Green 12 - 14 -12 - 38
Goaltender Saves:
ND - Jordan Pearce (60:00) 10 - 12 -12 - 34
BGSU - Jon Horrell (60:00) 11 - 9 - 6 - 26
Power Plays:
ND: 3 for 7
BGSU: 1 for 7
Attendance: 2,941