Nov. 11, 2013
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame freshman center Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill.) has been selected as the Hockey East/Pro Ambitions rookie of the week for the week ending Nov. 10.
The 5-9, 175-pound speedster recorded four assists with four shots on goal and was +2 in a 4-1 win against Minnesota and a 5-4 loss to the Gophers. His weekend gives him the team lead in points as he now has three goals and nine assists for 12 points.
The award marks the second time this season (Oct. 21) that Hinostroza has been honored as rookie of the week. He was selected as the Hockey East/Pro Ambitions rookie of the month for October.
Hinostroza opened the weekend with one assist in the 4-1 upset win of the top-ranked Gophers. His assist led to sophomore Sam Herr’s (Hinsdale, Ill.) game-winning, power-play goal at 16:54 of the second period. He had no shots and was -1 for the game.
On Saturday, in the 5-4 loss to Minnesota, the Irish center had a career-best three assists in the game with four shots on goal and was +3 for the contest. Hinostroza’s three helpers helped the Irish overcome a pair of two-goal deficits, as they were able to tie the game at 4-4 after two periods after trailing 3-1 and 4-2 in the game.
His first assist helped set up Shayne Taker’s (Sr., Surrey, B.C.) second goal of the season at 12:35 of the first period that cut Minnesota’s lead to 2-1 in the game. With time running out in the first and the Irish trailing, 3-1, Hinostroza stole an errant clearing pass in the slot and got a shot on goal that was stopped by goaltender Adam Wilcox. Mario Lucia (So., Plymouth, Minn.) was there to score on the rebound at 19:43 to make it 3-2 after one period of play.
In the second period, Hinostroza and Lucia teamed up again at 13:38 with Lucia banging home the rebound of a Hinostroza shot for his fourth goal of the season to make it, 4-3.
The Irish lost Hinostroza for the game with three minutes left in the second period when he caught the knee of Minnesota’s Tom Serratore in the neutral zone and went down with an injury. Serratore was assessed a five-minute major that Notre Dame was able to capitalize on with two seconds left in the middle period as Stephen Johns (Sr., Wampum, Pa.) scored from in front on a five-on-three power play to make it 4-4.
Minnesota’s Jake Bischoff ruined the comeback attempt as he scored the lone goal of the third period in the 5-4 win.
Notre Dame returns to action this weekend, Nov. 15-16, when the Irish play host to their first Hockey East home series when the Merrimack College Warriors visit the Compton Family Ice Arena. Game time on Friday is set for 7:35 p.m. while Saturday has a 7:05 p.m. start time.