BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The University of Notre Dame hockey team concluded its trip to the 2024 Friendship Four with a second-place finish in the tournament after falling 4-3 to No. 13/13 Boston University Saturday night.
The Irish found themselves down early in the contest, conceding a shorthanded tally less than halfway through the opening period to trail 1-0.
Hunter Strand evened the tally at 12:24 of the first period to make it a 1-1 game 15 seconds before Justin Janicke swept the puck out of midair to give the Irish their first lead of the night.
It was Blake Biondi who extended the Irish lead early in the second period, scoring his second of the weekend, and third point, to give Notre Dame the 3-1 advantage through two periods played.
BU would answer with three goals in the third period to snatch the Belpot Trophy from the grasps of the Irish in the 4-3 final.
GOALS
- Hunter Strand found the equalizer glove side after Michael Mastrodomenico found him on the breakaway halfway through the first. Carter Slaggert, who found Mastrodomenico in the neutral zone, was credited with the second assist on the play.
- Moments after the Strand goal, fellow senior Justin Janicke swept the puck out of midair to give the Irish the 2-1 lead at 12:39 of the first period. Brennan Ali fought to keep the puck onside, feeding a pass along the boards to Danny Nelson along the halfwall who centered a floating puck to Janicke who batted it into the net.
- Blake Biondi kept his scoring streak alive with a second period tally to make it a 3-1 game just 4:01 into the second stanza. The graduate forward picked up the puck at the blueline and danced into the Terrier zone before firing a shot into the back of the net. Ryan Helliwell and Jaedon Kerr were each credited with assists on the goal.
KEY STATS
- The Irish held the narrow edge in shots on goal, outshooting the Terriers 31-30 Saturday evening.
- In addition to their 31 shots, the visitors jumped in front of 10 blocked shots, led by Carter Slaggert and Jimmy Jurcev who each ate two shots Saturday.
- With six shots on goal in the Friendship Four championship game, Paul Fischer led the team in the category.
- The Irish were perfect once again on the penalty kill Saturday night, killing off all four penalties in Belfast over the two game tournament.
UP NEXT
The Irish return stateside and will have a week hiatus before closing out the 2024 calendar year with a weekend series at Ohio State, Dec. 13-14.