June 10, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame hockey goaltender Jordan Pearce (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska) has been named a Second Team Academic All-American on the Men’s At-Large Team by ESPN The Magazine in voting done by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Pearce becomes the sixth Irish hockey player to take national Academic All-American honors and the 200th Academic All-American in Notre Dame history.
The at-large program includes women’s bowling, women’s crew, men’s and women’s fencing, women’s field hockey, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s rifle, men’s and women’s skiing, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo and men’s wrestling. The women’s at-large team will be announced later this week.
Pearce turned in one of the best years ever by an Irish goaltender as he led Notre Dame to the NCAA Frozen Four and the national championship game against Boston College. For the year, Pearce played in 43 of the team’s 47 games, going 23-15-4 overall with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage and two shutouts. He won the CCHA’s top goaltender award with a 1.80 goals-against average in league games. Notre Dame’s CCHA scholar-athlete award winner, Pearce also won the school’s Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award and was the team’s Most Valuable Player. For the year, he set school records for games (43) and minutes played (2,557:46). He is Notre Dame’s all-time leader in goals-against average (2.21), third in save percentage (.908) and third in shutouts (4).
Off the ice, Pearce is an anthropology/Pre-Med major with a 3.80 grade-point average and is a member of Notre Dame’s Academic Honors Program. He joins Dan Carlson `01 (third team in 2001), Andy Jurkowski `00 (third team in 2000), Forrest Karr `99 (second team in 1999) and Steve Noble `98 (first team in 1998 and second team in 1997) as Irish players to make the national At-Large team during their careers.
Pearce was one of three Notre Dame hockey players selected to the 2008 District Five At-Large team as teammates Erik Condra (Jr., Livonia, Mich.) and Mark Van Guilder (Sr., Roseville, Minn.) were second team all-District selections.