DU Hockey and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish skated to a 2-2 tie in the Compton Family Ice Arena on Oct. 13 in South Bend, Ind.
Sophomore, Henrik Borgestrom (Helsinki, Finland) scored twice for the Pioneers and freshman Kohen Olischefski (Abbotsford, B.C.) scored the shootout winner in a game that will be officially recorded as a tie.
Despite Denver controlling the majority of the first period, Notre Dame was first on the scoreboard at 14:01 of the opening frame. The Pioneers responded to Notre Dame’s goal a mere 15 seconds later when Borgestrom rushed along the right-wing boards, played a pass to senior Adam Plant (Penticton, B.C.), then set up for a one-timer from the right circle to tie the game, 1-1, until midway through the third period. Freshman, Ryan Barrow (Banff, Atla.) had a secondary assist on the play for his first career point.
Less than two minutes after Denver took its second lead of the game, Notre Dame went on its first power play of the night. Pioneers senior goalie Tanner Jaillet (Red Deer, Alberta) made a point-blank stop on Andrew Oglevie early in the power play, but the Irish forward was able to notch a power-play goal later on the same shift to make it 2-2 at 16:11 of the third.
“I was really happy. I thought that was by far the best first game, in my five years here, that this Denver team has played. I thought we played fast and possessed pucks,” head coach Jim Montgomery said. “The exciting part is that hopefully we can grow from this and get better. There’s a couple areas we weren’t great at, but overall I was really happy with our effort and our execution.”
The following night, the Crimson and Gold responded to a late-game push from the Fighting Irish to win, 4-2. Junior Troy Terry (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and junior Logan O’Connor (Calgary, Alberta) each logged multi-point games and Jaillet made 31 saves in the Pioneers’ first victory of the season.
“I thought all four lines played really well and all six defensemen,” Montgomery said. “Tanner (Jaillet) was fantastic. We generated a lot of scoring chances, did a lot of good stuff in the offensive zone, our puck protection was better and we got inside the middle ice.”
Crimson and Gold Hockey host Lake Superior on their home ice Oct. 20 and 21 for DU’s homecoming weekend. They head to Boston the following weekend to play Boston University on Oct. 27 and Boston College on Oct. 28.
