Oct. 26, 2017 | Box Score 

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Jordan Gross scored on a power play early in the third period to cut the Omaha lead down to 5-4 but the University of Notre Dame hockey team was unable to complete the comeback on Thursday night as the Mavericks went on to post a 6-4 victory at the Compton Family Ice Arena (3,834).

Omaha (3-1-1) built a 5-1 lead, including two goals and an assist by David Pope, with just under three minutes to play in the second period.

But Notre Dame (3-3-1) rallied with goals by Cal Burke and Andrew Peeke late in the middle stanza to make it a 5-3 game after 40 minutes of play.

Just 1:09 into the third, Gross tallied a power-play goal for his 99th career point to cut the Omaha lead to one goal. But that was as close as the Irish could get and the Mavericks added an empty net tally just after killing off a Notre Dame power play at 19:54 of the third for the final 6-4 scoreline.

Dylan St. Cyr played the first two periods in the Notre Dame net and made 25 saves, while Cale Morris stopped all five shots on goal he faced in the third.

Omaha goaltender Evan Weninger finished with 31 saves, including 13 in the third period as the Irish looked for a game-tying goal.

COACH JACKSON’S THOUGHTS

On the third period and consistency...

“We shot ourselves in the foot several times early in the game. It was primarily the play of our defenseman not reading situations well, making bad decisions defensively, especially off the rush. Somewhat uncharismatic, but that’s where it started. Obviously the first shift of the game, getting scored on by a puck that bounces twice off the shin pad and off the ice, scoring on that first shift definitely set the tone for how that game went for us.”

On the how the team played overall...

“We did some good things, but we didn’t do them soon enough. We didn’t play with that urgency in the early stages of the game, and that’s something we have to resolve.  We have to get guys thinking that, especially at home, you want to be the team pushing the pace, not the visiting team. So, in that regard, especially against a team with a lot of quality forwards out there, if you don’t pay attention to detail in your game then you’re going to give up scoring chances and goals.”

On the takeaway from this game...

“The biggest thing is just shooting ourselves in the foot. They’re going to make plays. They’re a good team offensively. They’re going to make plays, but you have to minimize what they’re going to do. You can’t give them odd man rushes and expect to not get scored on, and we gave them several odd man rushes. That’s the direct result of some bad puck plays and bad decisions by our defensemen trying to take a chance and gapping up on a guy and then they blow by them. They had at least two two-on-ones because of that tonight.”

NOTRE DAME GOAL DESCRIPTIONS

3-1| Four minutes into the second period the Irish scored their first goal of the night. Bobby Nardella scored from the high slot, capitalizing on a crisp pass from Jake Evans. Luke Novak had the second assist, his first career assist and point.

2-5 | Cal Burke retaliated with his second goal of the season at 18:36, less than a minute after Omaha’s fifth goal. He was assisted by Colin Theisen and Jake Evans.

3-5 | With less than a minute left in the second period, Andrew Peeke scored his first goal of the season at 19:38 with a shot from the point that went through heavy traffic in front. He was assisted by Matt Hellickson and Jake Evans

4-5 | The Irish carried their momentum into the start of the third period with a powerplay goal by Jordan Gross. Gross scored with a hard wrist shot from the blue line at 1:09, assisted by Jake Evans and Bobby Nardella.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Irish were 1-for-4 on the power play, while holding the Mavericks to an 0-for-3 effort. Notre Dame’s penalty kill has gone 9-for-9 over the last four games.

NOTES

Jake Evans posted a career-high four assists (also a career-high for points in a game), which marked his 25th career multi-point game and his fourth of the season.

Evans posted the first four-assist game by a Notre Dame player since Stephen Johns did so on Dec. 29, 2010 versus Canisius.

Jordan Gross’ power-play goal in the third period was his 99th career point (29-70-99) and was his 10th career power-play goal.

Gross skated in the 126th consecutive game of his Irish career (dating back to the first game of his freshman season).

With a goal and an assist, Bobby Nardella has now notched at least one point in six of Notre Dame’s first seven games of the season.

It marked Nardella’s second multi-point game of the season and the 10th of his career.

Skating in his second career game, sophomore forward Luke Novak notched his first career point with an assist on Nardella’s goal.

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Oct. 27, 2017 | Box Score 

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Trailing 2-1 after the first 20 minutes of play, the eighth-ranked University of Notre Dame hockey team put together a four-goal second period to ultimately defeat Omaha, 5-4, on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena (4,743).

With two goals, freshman forward Colin Theisen helped lead Notre Dame (4-3-1, 0-0-0 B1G) to the win and a series split with the Mavericks (3-2-1, 0-0-0 NCHC).

The Irish took an early lead on a perfect passing play from Cal Burke and Theisen, but Omaha did not let that to last as it capitalized on a power play and led 2-1 by the end of the first period.

The Irish came out flying in the second period and scored four goals. Jordan Gross reached 100 career points with an assist on Theisen’s second goal of the night, and Jack Jenkins and Cam Morrison had back-to-back goals just 11 seconds apart to put Notre Dame up 4-2. Gross closed out the period with a goal to increase Notre Dame’s lead to 5-3.

Omaha scored midway through the third period, but the Irish went on to win 5-4.

Cale Morris had 27 saves on the night and Omaha goaltender Evan Weninger had 30 saves, including 16 from the second period.

COACH JACKSON’S THOUGHTS

On improvement since game one against Omaha the night before …

“I thought we competed harder. We had a really good spell there in the second period and changed the game. We played the way we want to play. We just have to be able to find a way to play that way for 60 minutes. But we competed hard. I thought we had a lot of guys who were getting an opportunity to play more minutes and play in more important situations and tonight they handled it pretty well.”

On the adjustment heading into the second period …

“The biggest thing was trying to come out of our own end with speed. They do a good job on their forecheck. The key was getting our center underneath our wing just to give him some support, that allowed us to come out with some speed, especially that ten-minute span where we scored two or three goals.”

On the performances of Jake Evans and Jordan Gross …

“Obviously, they are captains and leaders of the team. They take it upon themselves to do what is necessary to help our team win, and sometimes they have to give up a little bit offensively to defend. They are both out there against the other team’s top lines. They have to go head-to-head with really good players and really good lines. Jake did a great job, and the two guys on his flanks tonight, a freshman and a sophomore, both made that line a little bit more effective for us.”

On the play of goaltender Cale Morris …

“He made some big saves at the most important time of the game. Timeliness of saves is really important. I thought he made some key saves in the third period. A couple of the goals -- a lot of traffic, point shots that get through -- that happens to pretty much any goalie. For me, the most important thing is that he locked down the third period. He didn’t have much chance on the one goal. I thought that he did a really good job in the third period, and with a lead that’s really important.”

NOTRE DAME GOAL DESCRIPTIONS

1-0| Notre Dame started off strong with a goal from Colin Theisen three minutes into the first period. Cal Burke rushed hard into the right side of the offensive zone from the neutral zone, drawing in one of Omaha’s defenseman. Theisen came down with speed into the slot and received a pass from Burke that allowed him to bury the puck into the back of the net before the goalie could react. It was Theisen’s second goal of the season. Evans had the second assist off a faceoff win.

2-2| Theisen scored his second goal of the game just 32 seconds into the second period on a power play. Jordan Gross assisted the goal for his 100th career point. Bobby Nardella had the second assist.

3-2 | Jack Jenkins picked up a shot from Gross that had bounced off the boards and fired it into the net from in front of the right post at 4:25 in the second period. Dawson Cook had the second assist.

4-2 | Eleven seconds later, the Irish scored another goal. They won the faceoff and broke into the offensive zone with speed. Cam Morrison cut diagonally across the slot to receive a pass, deked the goaltender and tucked the puck into the net off of his backhand. Evans and Bobby Nardella assisted.

5-3 | Gross picked up his fourth goal of the season with a one-timer from just inside the blue line at 14:01 in the third period. He was assisted by Burke and Evans.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Irish were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Mavericks were 2-for-4.

NOTES

With an assist on Colin Theisen’s second period power-play goal, Jordan Gross became the 53rd player in program history and just the sixth defenseman to reach 100 career points. He finished the game with 102 points (30-72-102).

He is the first defenseman to reach 100 career points since Bob Thebeau did so during the 1985-86 season.

Gross skated in the 127th consecutive game of his Irish career (dating back to the first game of his freshman season).

Jake Evans finished with seven assists in the series and now has 26 career multi-point games (five this season).

Colin Theisen had his first career two-goal game.

With a goal and two assists, Bobby Nardella has now notched at least one point in seven of Notre Dame’s first eight games of the season.

It marked Nardella’s third multi-point game of the season and the 11th of his career.

The 11 seconds between goals for Jack Jenkins and Cam Morrison in the second period was just three seconds over the Notre Dame record of eight seconds, set by Erik Condra and Tom Sawatske in the third period of Notre Dame’s game at Northern Michigan on Jan. 21, 2006.

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UP NEXT

The Irish will officially open Big Ten conference play with their first road games of the season against Ohio State (Nov. 3-4) at Value City Arena. Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET and game one of the series will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

-- ND --