Notre Dame Hockey: Irish End the Crusade

After opening their conference schedule last weekend, the no. 17 Notre Dame Fighting Irish returned to Compton Family Ice Arena to host the Holy Cross Crusaders in a non-conference series. The matchup was the first meeting against the two schools since 2016.

First

The Irish entered the contest as one of the top scoring teams in the nation, and continued to ride that momentum early on against the Crusaders. Just 31 seconds into the game, Max Ellis buried a rebound for his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Midway through the period, Jake Boltmann scored the first of his collegiate career, while Graham Slaggert later made it a three-goal game thanks to a beautiful pass from Chase Blackmun.

Second

Holy Cross refused to go down without a fight. Despite finding themselves in a huge hole the start the period, they out-shot Notre Dame 7-5 in the second. Mike Higgins’s second goal of the season put the Crusaders within two, but Matthew Galajda continued his great play between the pipes, which has led to the second best goals against average in the Big Ten.

Third

Any chance of a Holy Cross comeback was put to rest when Landon Slaggert picked up a loose puck in the slot and fed it to his brother Graham for his second goal of the night. Ryan Leibold answered to make it 4-2, but it was too little too late. Jesse Landsdell picked up his first goal of the season on an empty netter to make it a 5-2 final.

Game Summary

Scoring

Notre Dame: Max Ellis at 00:31 in the 1st, assisted by Jake Boltmann and Jesse Landsdell

Notre Dame: Jake Boltmann at 09:16 in the 1st, assisted by Spencer Stastney and Hunter Strand

Notre Dame: Graham Slaggert at 17:16 in the 1st, assisted by Chase Blackmun and Nick Leivermann

Holy Cross: Mike Higgins at 06:08 in the 2nd, assisted by Matt Shatsky and Alex Peterson

Notre Dame: Graham Slaggert at 01:15 in the 3rd, assisted by Landon Slaggert and Trevor Janicke

Holy Cross: Ryan Leibold at 11:43 in the 3rd, assisted by Alex Peterson

Notre Dame: Jesse Landsdell (ENG) at 17:23 in the 3rd, assisted by Max Ellis and Solag Bakich

Penalties

Holy Cross: Alec Cicero for interference at 06:01 in the 1st

Notre Dame: Team Penalty for too many players on the ice at 11:49 in the 1st

Notre Dame: Jesse Landsdell for high-sticking at 19:00 in the 1st

Notre Dame: Solag Bakich for interference at 04:08 in the 2nd

Holy Cross: Jack Ricketts for hooking at 09:42 in the 2nd

Holy Cross: Jack Ricketts for charging at 03:38 in the 3rd

Goalies

Notre Dame: Matthew Galajda, 20 saves

Holy Cross: Matt Radomsky, 22 saves

Moving Forward

The Irish will conclude their series with Holy Cross on Saturday, November 5, at 7:30 PM ET. The game can be seen on NBC Sports Chicago Plus, NBC Sports Philadelphia or streamed on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App.