Hockey is back at Notre Dame, as the Irish kicked off the new season with a pair of exhibition games over the weekend.
The Irish welcomed the University of Guelph to Compton Family Ice Arena and came away with a sloppy 7-5 victory on Friday night.
Six different players scored in the game for the Irish, including two from freshman defenseman Dennis Gilbert.
The Irish started the season strong, as sophomores defenseman Luke Ripley and left wing Anders Bjork both scored in the first 1:44 of the contest.
Monica Villagomez Mendez | The Observer
The Gryphons and the Irish traded goals throughout the first two periods until the Irish scored four in a row to stretch their lead to 7-3. Guelph scored two late goals to make the final score 7-5.
Irish senior center and captain Steven Fogarty, sophomore center/right wing Jake Evans and freshman center Andrew Oglevie all scored for Notre Dame, as well.
The teams combined for more than 40 penalty minutes in the game, and seven of the 12 total goals came courtesy of the power play.
Two goaltenders, junior Chad Katunar and sophomore Cal Peterson, split time in net for the Irish, with each playing roughly half the game. Katunar stopped a total of six shots in the opening 30 minutes, but Petersen got credit for the win after coming in and making nine saves over the final 30 minutes.
Then on Sunday, Notre Dame traveled to Plymouth, Michigan, where they tied, 2-2, with the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
Junior defenseman Justin Wade and senior left wing Mario Lucia scored for the Irish. Wade evened the game late in the second period while Lucia gave the Irish a temporary lead with a power-play goal early in the third.
Peterson was in net for all 65 minutes of the contest, recording 33 saves on 35 shots for a .943 save percentage.
According to head coach Jeff Jackson, both Peterson and Katunar were given an equal chance in net this weekend.
“I think it was just like the last game,” Jackson said. “I thought Cal was playing really well today. If Chad had a really good start [on Friday], we probably would’ve let him finish. I told both of them before these games, I’m gonna start each of you and then play it by ear. Cal was playing really well today, so we let him finish it.”
These were the only two exhibition games for the Irish this year.
“I think that both games probably helped us,” Jackson said. “The first game was slower, sloppy, a little more chippy. [Sunday] was a little quicker, faster-paced. For the most part I was fairly pleased with it. I thought we did a good job in the first and third [periods] and then the end of the second as well.
“They’re a young team, but they’re talented. They’ll make you move, and they did that today.”
Monica Villagomez Mendez | The Observer
With the exhibition schedule now in the books for Notre Dame, the Irish will begin the regular season next weekend with a pair of road games at Penn State. Friday night’s game will begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday’s is set to start at 3 p.m. Both games will be played at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania.
The Irish will play their first regular season games of the season at Compton Family Ice Arena the following weekend with a home stand against No. 2 Minnesota Duluth.
As the Irish look forward to the regular season, Jackson said this is only the beginning of the development he wants to see in his team as the season progresses.
“It’s the first week of the season, so we got a lot to work on,” Jackson said.
