Nov. 24, 2007
Troy, N.Y. – The third time was a charm for the Notre Dame hockey team as they captured the 57th Rensselaer Hockey Tournament with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the host team RPI Engineers on Saturday night at the Houston Field House.
Sophomore left wing Ryan Thang scored the game-winning goal with 3:20 left in the game to cap a furious Notre Dame comeback as the Irish rallied from a 3-0 deficit early in the second period to win their fifth consecutive game.
This was Notre Dame’s third appearance in the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament as they also participated in 1988 and 2000, finishing fourth both times.
Notre Dame trailed 2-0 after two periods and 3-0 just over five minutes into the second period on Engineer goals by Chase Polacek, Tyler Helfrich and Jonathan Ornelas.
Despite the deficit, the Irish never quit.
“That was a character comeback for this team tonight,” said head coach Jeff Jackson following the game. “It’s rare to fall three goals behind against a quality team like R.P.I. and then come back to get a win.”
He continued, “It really showed good character to chip away to tie it and then win the game in regulation.”
After being out shot, 11-5, in the first period, Notre Dame would dominate play the final two periods, limiting Rensselaer to just seven shots on goal over the final two periods.
The Engineers dominated play through most of the first period, scoring twice in the first eight minutes. It took the Irish close to 14 minutes to get their first shot on goal as that came at 6:32 after R.P.I. had taken the first eight shots of the contest.
Rensselaer got on the scoreboard with game’s first goal at 5:34 at the end of a power-play chance. Senior captain Jake Morissette won a draw to right wing Andrei Uryadov who fired a shot on goal. Along the way, Polacek deflected it past Jordan Pearce for his third goal of the season at 5:34.
The R.P.I. lead would go to 2-0 at the 8:00-minute mark. Center Matt Angers-Goulet fired a shot from the left circle that hit Pearce in the mask. The rebound fell right in front of the goal where Helfrich was able to tuck it past the Notre Dame goaltender for his third goal of the season.
The Engineers’ lead would go to 3-0 just 5:30 into the second period as they scored on the power play (just their third power-play goal of the season). This one came on a 5-on-3 opportunity with Ornelas getting his fourth of the year when he tapped a rebound past Pearce.
The Irish started their comeback at 8:16 of the second period with a power-play goal of their own. Defenseman Kyle Lawson (two assists) moved the puck to Erik Condra in the left corner. Condra found Deeth coming down the slot and the speedy center redirected the pass through Jason Alford’s pads for his second goal of the season and in as many nights.
Strong forechecking led to Notre Dame’s second goal just 1:04 later as Evan Rankin and Christiaan Minella forced a turnover with the puck ending up on White’s stick in the slot. The junior center wasted no time in drilling a shot over Alford’s blocker at 9:20 for his second goal of the year, cutting the R.P.I. lead to 3-2.
Notre Dame would out shoot the Engineers, 12-2, in the final period and it seemed like it would be a matter of time before the Irish tied the game.
The Irish would take advantage of a power play for the tying goal. With the puck in the Notre Dame zone, goaltender Jordan Pearce moved it up the right side to VeNard. The senior blue line carried the puck through center and then into the Engineer zone. When no one stepped up to stop him he continued toward the goal, made a move around the defense and fired a low shot that beat Alford at 5:59 to tie the game at 3-3. The goal was VeNard’s third of the season.
The score would stay tied until late in the period when Thang would get his second game-winning goal of the weekend.
Condra, who picked up his 100th career point on the play, moved the puck to Lawson at the right point. Lawson carried the puck deep into the R.P.I. zone and found Thang trailing the play. The sophomore left wing fired from between the circles beating Alford at 16:40 with his team-best ninth goal of the season and the Irish had the 4-3 lead.
Rensselaer would pull Alford with 1:44 left in the game in favor of a sixth attacker but the Engineers would not get a shot on goal with the extra man on the ice.
The Irish finished the game with 33 shots on goal to R.P.I.’s 18. Alford finished the night with 29 saves in the Engineer goal while Pearce made 15 in picking up his 10th win of the season.
The victory improves Notre Dame to 12-4-0 overall while Rensselaer falls to 6-4-3 overall.
Thang was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and teammates Erik Condra, Brett Blatchford and Ian Cole were selected to the All-Tournament Team. They were joined by RPI forward Tyler Helfrich and Chase Polacek at forward and goaltender Mathias Lange who was the winner in Friday’s shootout win over American International.
The in-season tournament win was the second in three tries for the Irish under Jackson.
“Tournaments are a great experience for both the players and the coaches,” said Jackson. “It’s always good to play for something. It gives a team two opponents in two nights with different styles, different officials. It’s a good challenge during the year. It helps make you a better team in the end.”
Notre Dame returns home to face Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 30-Dec. 1 at the Joyce Center.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
** With two assists in the game, junior right wing Erik Condra became the 43rd player in Notre Dame history to score 100 points in his career. Condra has 26 goals and 74 assists for 100 points in 94 career games.
** The in-season tournament win for the Irish was the sixth in the program’s 40-year history. Notre Dame is now 22-33-3 in 29 tournaments all-time.
** Alabama-Huntsville won the third-place game, defeating American International College (AIC) by a 5-3 score. AIC took R.P.I. to overtime in the first round in a game that will go down as a 1-1 tie. R.P.I. won the game in a shootout, 2-1.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#9/#9 Notre Dame (12-4-0) 0 2 2 - 4NR/#16 Rensselaer (6-4-3) 2 1 0 - 3ScoringFirst Period: RPI: Chase Polacek 3 (Andrei Uryadov, Jake Morissette), 5:34; RPI: Tyler Helfrich 3 (Matt Angers-Goulet, Polacek), 8:00.Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; RPI: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: RPI: Jonathan Ornelas 4 ( Helfrich, Polacek), PPG, 5:30; ND: Kevin Deeth 2 (Erik Condra, Kyle Lawson), PPG, 8:16; ND: Justin White 2 (Christiaan Minella, Evan Rankin), 9:20.Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; RPI: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Dan VeNard 3 (Jordan Pearce), PPG, 5:59; ND: Thang 9 (Lawson, Condra), 16:04.Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; RPI: 2 for 4 minutes.Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 5 - 16 - 12 - 33Rensselaer 11 - 5 - 2 - 18Goaltender Saves:ND - Jordan Pearce (60:00) 9 - 4 - 2 - 15RPI - Jordan Alford (58:16) 5 - 14 - 10 - 29Power Plays:
R.P.I.: 1 for 7ND: 2 for 7
Attendance: 2,957