Oct. 15, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior center Mark Van Guilder (Roseville, Minn.) has been selected as the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s (CCHA) offensive player of the week for his play in a pair of Irish games for the week ending Oct. 14.
Van Guilder scored three goals in the two games at the Lefty McFadden Invitational in Dayton, Ohio, scoring a power-play goal in the 4-1 loss to Wisconsin on Oct. 12 and then following with a two-goal game in the 4-0 win over Mercyhurst to lead the Irish to a third-place tournament finish.
The three goals give Van Guilder a share of the national lead in goals as he is tied with four others after two games and is also tops in the CCHA.
Van Guilder’s first goal of the season came at 2:20 of the second period on the power play to tie the game with Wisconsin, 1-1. Notre Dame’s team captain, Van Guilder took a centering feed from freshman Ben Ryan (Brighton, Mich.) at the bottom of the left-wing circle and whipped a shot past Badger goaltender Shane Connelly for the lone Irish goal of the game.
On Saturday, versus Mercyhurst, Van Guilder scored Notre Dame’s first and last goals of the game while taking a career-high 12 shots on goal in the 4-0 win.
His first goal was a carbon copy of his goal on Friday as he took a feed from Ryan in the left wing circle and snapped a wrist shot past Ryan Zapolski’s glove for a power-play goal at 2:46 of the second period to make it 1-0. Defenseman Brett Blatchford (So., Temperance, Mich.) also assisted on both power-play goals on the weekend.
He then closed the scoring 20 seconds into the third period when he charged down the right side and managed to jam the buck between the right post and Zapolski’s pads for a 4-0 led in the game.
In the two games, Van Guilder scored three goals on 16 shots and was even for the weekend.
Van Guilder and his Notre Dame teammates return to action this week when the 11th-ranked Irish play host to fifth-ranked Denver. Both games are set for 7:35 p.m. at the Joyce Center.