Oct. 14, 2007
Dayton, Ohio – After a tough opening night loss to Wisconsin (4-1) on Friday night, Notre Dame went back to its recipe for success from last season as the Irish defeated Mercyhurst, 4-0 in the third-place game of the Lefty McFadden Invitational at Nutter Arena Saturday afternoon.
Strong defense and goaltending, good special teams play and strong leadership were the key for the Irish as they improved to 1-1-0 on the season while Mercyhurst fell to 0-2-0.
Junior goaltender Jordan Pearce turned aside all 26 shots he faces as he recorded his third career shutout in the game. Irish special teams were 2-for-8 on the power play and killed all five Lakers’ power-play chances. The leadership was provided by senior captain Mark Van Guilder who scored the first and last goals of the game and had three on the weekend for Notre Dame.
Joining Van Guilder on the score sheet were Ryan Thang and Garrett Regan who each scored their first goals of the season.
The Irish got their offense in gear in the first period, controlling a good portion of the play as they poured 17 shots on Mercyhurst goaltender Ryan Zapolski, but failed to score.
The second period was a different story though as Notre Dame started finding the back of the net, building a 3-0 lead after the middle stanza.
Van Guilder started the scoring when he netted his first of the game and second of the weekend at 2:46 on the power play. Freshman Ben Ryan found the senior center with a pass out of the left-wing corner at the left face-off dot and Van Guilder snapped a shot over Zapolski’s glove hand.
The lead would go to 2-0 when the trio of Erik Condra, Kevin Deeth and Thang combined for a power-play marker at 5:48. Condra put Deeth and Thang in on a two-on-one at the blue line with Deeth carrying the puck. The speedy center flipped a centering pass in front where Thang got his stick on it to deflect it past Zapolski for his first of the season.
Regan capped the scoring in the period with the help of Ryan at 16:56. Ryan held the puck on the left-wing boards as Regan cut through the middle. Ryan slid the puck through a defenseman’s legs to Regan at the hash marks and the junior left wing undress Zapolski with a backhand-forehand move before depositing the puck in the net for his first goal of the season.
Van Guilder capped his strong first weekend as he took a pass from Brock Sheahn and drove down the right side on goal, jamming the puck between the right post and Zapolski’s pads just 20 seconds into the third period for the final goal of the night in the 4-0 win.
Notre Dame out shot Mercyhurst in the game by a 36-26 margin. Zapolski finished the night with 32 saves. Pearce has now recorded one shutout in each of his first three seasons for the Irish.
Notre Dame returns to action on Thursday, Oct. 18 when the Irish open the home schedule, playing host to the University of Denver. Game time at the Joyce Center is 7:35 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FMercyhurst (0-2-0) 0 0 0 - 0#7/#8 Notre Dame (1-1-0) 0 3 1 - 4
ScoringFirst Period: No Scoring.Penalties: MC: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Mark Van Guilder 2 (Ben Ryan, Brett Blatchford), PPG, 2:46; ND: Ryan Thang 1 (Kevin Deeth, Erik Condra), PPG, 5:48; ND: Garrett Regan 1 (Ryan).Penalties: MC: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 4 for 8 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Van Guilder 3 (Brock Sheahan), :20.Penalties: MC: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Mercyhurst 10 - 12 - 4 - 26Notre Dame 17 - 11 - 8 - 36
Goaltender Saves:MC - Ryan Zapolski (60:00) 17 - 8 - 7 - 32ND - Jordan Pearce (60:00) 10 - 12 - 4 - 26
Power Plays:MC: 0 for 5ND: 2 for 8
Attendance: 2,273