NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame hockey team opened the 2026 calendar year as they hosted No. 7/7 Western Michigan University in game one of a home-and-home series, ultimately falling to the visiting Broncos 4-0 in front of a sold out crowd.
The Broncos opened the scoring Friday night when a shot wide bounced off the glass behind the Irish net and hit the back of Jack Williams’ mask, bouncing into the net, to make it a 1-0 contest at 5:22 of the first period shortly after successfully killing off a tripping infraction in the early minutes of play. The two teams skated even a side for the remainder of the frame with Williams making a few key saves in the final 120 seconds of the frame to keep it a one-goal game through the first 20 minutes.
Notre Dame had a chance to even it up after Jack Larrigan’s shot off the pads of Hampton Slukynsky in the WMU net bounced free and out onto the stick of Pano Fimis who had a wide open net to shoot at but a Bronco got his leg out to keep the puck in the paint and the Irish off the board.
The Broncos further extended their lead just moments later when the puck reached the Irish defensive zone and a series of passes beat. The Irish defenders for the 2-0 score.
The score remained stagnant through the second intermission, with the Irish looking for a pair in the third to knot things up.
The team came out strong in the opening shift of the third stanza, nearly capitalizing on a rebound when Carter Slaggert crashed in on net but could not convert.
WMU extended their lead to three goals at 4:04 of the third frame after a shot from the point beat Williams in the ND net. The Broncos would get one more before the end of the contest for the 4-0 final as the Irish were unable to find the answer to the visitors Friday night inside Compton Family Ice Arena.
KEY STATS
- Senior netminder Jack Williams made his first collegiate start Friday night against the Broncos. He stopped 26 of 30 shots faced in the contest.
- Freshman Charlie Pardue made his collegiate debut in the contest as well, contributing to the Irish offense with a handful of chances, including creating an odd-man rush with linemate Niko Jovanovic halfway through the contest.
- The Irish registered seven blocked shots in the contest.
- With just one penalty on the home team Friday night, the Irish special teams unit was perfect on the penalty kill. Dating back to the second period at Merrimack in November, the Irish PK unit has successfully killed off 10 consecutive penalties.
UP NEXT
The two teams close out the home-and-home series tomorrow night at Lawson Arena when the Irish and the Broncos face off at 6pm.