Oct. 21, 2006
Chestnut Hill, Mass. – There’s something about playing the Boston College Eagles that brings out the best in the Notre Dame hockey team.
For the third consecutive meeting (2003, ’04, ’06) the Irish have faced a Boston College team that came into the game ranked number one in the nation and for the third consecutive time Notre Dame came away with a victory, winning this one, 7-1, at BC’s Kelley Rink.
The loss was the worst home loss for the Eagles since Nov. 19, 1994, when they lost an 11-1 decision to the University of New Hampshire
The Irish got outstanding goaltending from senior David Brown who beat Boston College for the second time in his career with 26 saves, including 13 in a penalty-filled second period. Mark Van Guilder paced the offense with three goals in the game while Ryan Thang added two goals and Kevin Deeth (1g, 2a) and Erik Condra (1g, 2a) each had three-point games.
Dan Bertram’s third-period power-play goal was the lone shot to elude Brown.
The win improves Notre Dame to 2-1-0 on the year while Boston College is now 1-1-0. The Irish face Providence College on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
The Irish got off to a fast start in this game with Van Guilder scoring his first of the night just 1:03 into the contest. Thang made it 2-0 at the 14:08 mark to send the Irish into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
“We got off to a fast start tonight and that really let us control the momentum early in the game,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson. “College hockey is a tough game to predict. Boston College is a fast, quick team but I though our guys did a great job in front of the net. They got good position and played a physical style, creating good scoring chances.
The second period featured plenty of penalties as the teams combined for 58 minutes and the Eagles got 13 shots off on Brown who held Boston College off the scoreboard.
Two Notre Dame goals in a 1:02 span mid-way through the second period put Notre Dame in command.
Deeth scored at 12:11 capping a great passing play with Condra as he scored from the doorstep in front of BC goaltender Cory Schneider.
Van Guilder would make it 4-0 at 13:13 when he beat Schneider on a solo effort, lifting a back-hander over the Eagle goaltender for his second of the night and fourth of the season.
Brown turned in several spectacular saves in the middle stanza as referee Tim Benedetto was calling 19 penalties for 54 minutes on both teams.
“David (Brown) stood tall when we needed him tonight,” said Jackson. “They really came at us in waves for most of the second period and he made some great saves, especially on some of the power-play chances.” Bertram finally broke through just 48 seconds into the third period with his first of the year on the power play to cut the lead to 4-1.
Van Guilder closed out his second career hat trick on a long power-play wrist shot from the left point at 4:50 to make it 5-1.
Condra added his first goal of the season at 13:53 and Thang closed the scoring with a late power-play goal at 16:12 for the final of 7-1.
“This wasn’t easy tonight,” said Van Guilder. “BC is one of the fastest teams that I’ve ever played against, but we finally played a complete game. We got up early and that really helped. We worked all week on getting position in front and all four lines were firing tonight. This is a huge win for our team.”
In the game, Notre Dame outshot Boston College, 32-27. Schneider finished with 24 saves and Joe Pearce played the final 6:07, making one save. The Irish were 2-for-11 on the power play while the Eagles were 1-for-10.
IRISH NOTES:
** In two career games at Kelley Rink, Irish goaltender David Brown has played 120 minutes, given up one goal and stopped 53 of 54 shots (98.1%). He is 2-0 with a 0.50 goals-against average in two games against Boston College
** Notre Dame’s 7-1 win over No. 1 Boston College marked the ninth time in the program’s history that the Irish have defeated the top-ranked team in the nation.
** Mark Van Guilder recorded his first career hat trick against Bowling Green on Feb. 17, 2006 in a 7-4 Notre Dame win over the Falcons.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F
Notre Dame (2-1-0) 2 2 3 - 7
#1/#1 Boston College (1-1-0) 0 0 1 - 1
Scoring
First Period: ND: Mark Van Guilder 3 (Kyle Lawson), 1:28; ND: Ryan Thang 2 (Evan Rankin), 14:08.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; BC: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Kevin Deeth 3 (Erik Condra, Wes O'Neill), 12:11; ND: Van Guilder 4 (unassisted), 13:13.
Penalties: ND: 13 for 30 minutes; BC: 11 for 28 minutes.
Third Period: BC: Dan Bertram 1 (Brock Bradford), PPG, 00:48; ND: Van Guilder 5 (Josh Sciba), PPG; ND: Erik Condra 1 (O'Neill, Deeth), PPG; ND: Thang 3 (Deeth, Condra), PPG, 16:12.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; BC: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 14 - 9 - 9 - 32
Boston College 3 - 13 - 11 - 27
Goaltender Saves:
ND - David Brown (60:00) 3 - 13 - 10 - 26
BC - Cory Schneider (53:53) 12 - 7 - 5 - 24
Joe Pearce (6:07) x - x - 1 - 1
Power Plays:
ND: 2 for 11
BC: 1 for 10
Attendance: 6,208