Jan. 2, 2010
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The 20th-ranked Irish hockey squad scored five goals, its highest output of the season, and cruised past Colgate (7-7-4), 5-2, Saturday at the Shillelagh Tournament at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Notre Dame (9-8-4) will defend its Shillelagh Tournament title against North Dakota (10-6-3) at 6:05 p.m. (CT) Sunday in the championship match. Colgate and Niagara will play for third place at 3:05.
The Irish were led by sophomore Billy Maday with two goals. Freshman Riley Sheahan, sophomore Sean Lorenz and junior Calle Ridderwall added one goal each, while seniors Brett Blatchford and Kevin Deeth notched two assists. Freshman Mike Johnson recorded 23 saves in goal for Notre Dame.
Francois Brisebois and David McIntyre both scored for the Raiders, while Charles Long totaled 16 saves in the net.
The Irish got on the board first after a goal from Ridderwall off assists from senior Deeth and Blatchford at the 16:22 mark in the first period.
Notre Dame opened the second period with two quick goals, the first coming just 19 seconds into the stanza. Maday increased the Irish lead to 2-0 with assists from senior Kyle Lawson and Deeth, before Lorenz added Notre Dame’s third goal of the night at the 11:24 mark off an assist from Blatchford.
The Irish went up 4-0 after Sheahan scored on an assist from junior Ian Cole with 7:28 left in the second period. Colgate’s McIntyre found the back of the net off an assist from Austin Smith with 3:47 left in the second period to get the Raiders on the board.
Colgate quickly cut the Irish lead to two after Brisebois scored from Brian Day just 1:15 into the third period. Notre Dame sealed the win with an open-net goal with 30 seconds left by Maday.
Fans can follow the Shillelagh Tournament Championship on Cat Country 99.9 FM in South Bend or via live stats at www.und.com.
–ND–