Tag: irish in the nhl

Former Notre Dame players score for Islanders in Stanley Cup playoffs

Sadly, they weren’t enough for a win.

The Stanley Cup playoffs have been underway for a few days now. One team competing for the grandest trophy in sports is the New York Islanders, who happen to have two former Notre Dame players on their roster. Both scored in Game 2 of their best-of-7 first-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes.

[autotag]Kyle Palmieri[/autotag] drew first blood in the game on a four-on-four late in the first period:

Early in the second period, [autotag]Anders Lee[/autotag] extended the Islanders’ lead further by scoring on a power play:

As nice as it would be to say they made the difference in this game, it proved to be the high mark for the Islanders. The Carolina Hurricanes proceeded to score five unanswered goals to win, 5-3, and take a 2-0 lead in the series.

The good news for the Islanders is that they’re going home for two straight games. However, they surely didn’t want to be in this hole, and a loss like this can be devastating to a team. Stranger things have happened in the playoffs though, so the chance always is there.

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Watch: Jake Evans’ game-winning goal in 2018 Frozen Four

Remember this?

Not long ago, Notre Dame was a regular contender for national championships. Perhaps that’s why quite a few NHL players today once played in South Bend. Among those is [autotag]Jake Evans[/autotag], who has done pretty well for himself with the Montreal Canadiens. But whatever he does the rest of his career, few feelings will compare to the game-winning goal in the 2018 Frozen Four against Michigan:

As of this writing, it’s been six years and one day since Evans etched himself into Irish lore forever. The Irish ended up losing to Minnesota-Duluth in the national championship game, but Evans contributed to the Irish’s cause in that game with the secondary assist on their lone goal by [autotag]Andrew Oglevie[/autotag].

Perhaps someday, there will be a moment that surpasses this one and ends with the Irish as the last team standing. For the moment though, there is an established precedent that they can get as close as possible without actually winning it all. Most programs would take that in a heartbeat.

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Chicago Blackhawks sign Notre Dame captain Landon Slaggert to contract

Good luck, Landon!

With Notre Dame’s season officially over, captain [autotag]Landon Slaggert[/autotag] finally can turn professional. He wasted no time as one day after the Irish’s season ended, he signed a two-year entry-level deal with the Chicago Blackhawks, who drafted him in the third round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

This past season, Slaggert set collegiate career highs of 31 points and 20 goals as he played 36 games. Over 136 games with the Irish, he scored 92 points, including 47 goals.

[autotag]Carter Slaggert[/autotag], Landon’s brother, just finished his first season with the Irish, scoring seven points over 32 games. He’ll be the second of his brothers to turn pro after former Irish captain [autotag]Graham Slaggert[/autotag], who has played this season with the Rochester Americans of the AHL.

Thanks to Landon for his years of service to the Irish, and it’s great that the Slaggert family will continue to be part of the program for a little longer. In the meantime, good luck to Landon in the pros.

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Watch: Former Notre Dame forward Jake Evans scores on breakaway

Nothing was going to stop him on this.

Former Notre Dame forward [autotag]Jake Evans[/autotag] had a rough 2022-23 season, missing over two months with an injury. He didn’t score after coming back, meaning his last goal of the season came Jan. 12. The new season already appears promising though.

Evans’ Montreal Canadiens played their first game of the year against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Early in the first period, he pounced on a turnover by TJ Brodie and had an easy breakaway. Despite the Leafs’ attempts to stop him, it was too little too late as he finished in front of the crease:

As exciting as the moment was for Evans, it proved to be a footnote in the game. Auston Matthews scored a hat trick, which included his 300th career goal to make him the fastest U.S.-born player to achieve that milestone. However, it took a shootout for the Leafs to defeat the Habs, 6-5.

While surely a disappointing outcome for Evans and his teammates, he at least has to be encouraged by this particular play. Here’s hoping he has many more of those over the next several months.

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Former Notre Dame players on NHL rosters to begin 2023-24 season

Know where to check out the former Irish who have made it to the highest level.

We understand that most of you come here for football, but Notre Dame has a devoted fan base for its hockey program. A lot of NHL players have come through the program, and many of them even have found great success at hockey’s highest level. And it’s unlikely any of them forget that they once donned the Gold and Blue.

For the 2023-24 NHL season, there are seven former Irish on rosters at the start. That’s three fewer than the start of each of the past two seasons. But be on the lookout for the 24 players with Notre Dame connections currently in the AHL or even the four in the ECHL. For now, here’s who you can watch in NHL uniforms:

Former Notre Dame players on NHL rosters to begin 2022-23 season

Which familiar name is your favorite?

The weather has gotten cooler, which means it soon will be cold. That means it’s time for the 2022-23 NHL season to begin. As usual, Notre Dame has plenty of representation in the league. Amazingly, not only do the Irish have the same number of former players from the beginning of last season (10), but the same players themselves.

Maybe it’s boring to some people to not see any new Irish players begin the season in the NHL, but 17 will start in the AHL, so you have that to possibly look forward to. Until then, here are the familiar 10 names:

Detroit Red Wings select Notre Dame’s Brennan Ali in NHL draft

Here’s a player to watch for the Irish during the upcoming season.

Notre Dame’s streak of having at least one player taken in the NHL draft will live for another year. When the Detroit Red Wings selected incoming freshman center [autotag]Brennan Ali[/autotag] with the 212th overall pick in the seventh round, it marked the latest in an Irish tradition that goes back to 2004 and 23 of the past 24 drafts. There now have been 92 draftees from Notre Dame, including 45 under [autotag]Jeff Jackson[/autotag].

Ali, who hails from Glencoe, Illinois, most recently played for the Lincoln Stars of the USHL, tallying two assists in nine games. What might have caught the Red Wings’ attention more was his season for Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. In 27 games, he scored 34 points, including 15 goals. He also had an assist in two games for the U.S. National U18 Team.

Best of luck to Ali as he prepares for his time in South Bend. Here’s hoping he’ll be an Irish legend when that time concludes.

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Notre Dame’s Hunter Strand waits for name to be called in NHL draft

Will Strand be picked?

Notre Dame is ripe with NHL draftees. Going into the draft, which begins Thursday, the Irish have eight players who were selected in previous years. That includes incoming transfer defenseman [autotag]Ben Brinkman[/autotag]. One player is hoping to join that group in this year’s draft is forward [autotag]Hunter Strand[/autotag].

Strand is listed among the 2022 draft prospects on the NHL’s website, so he most definitely is in the running to have a team select him. In his lone season with the Irish so far, the Anchorage, Alaska native tallied 15 points over 40 games. Here’s how Elite Prospects sees him:

“Unlike off-puck players who engage defenders around the slot, Strand’s constantly standing between them. He perfectly manages the distance between defenders to maximize his shooting window, simultaneously adjusting his positioning to decrease the difficulty of the pass required to connect with him. He’s patient, waiting for lanes to open before connecting with a spin around or backhand pass through pressure.”

Best of luck to Strand over the next couple of days.

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Watch: Ian Cole scores overtime playoff goal for Carolina Hurricanes

No greater feeling for a hockey player.

Former Notre Dame defenseman [autotag]Ian Cole[/autotag] is in his ninth Stanley Cup playoffs. His name is etched on the Cup twice from his days with the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, he never has had the thrill of scoring a game-winning goal, let alone an overtime goal, in the playoffs. That just changed in Game 1 of his Carolina Hurricanes’ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Rangers:

The goal looks less like one you’d see from an NHL player than one that’s scored in pick-up street hockey. But what else are you supposed to do when you scored only twice during the regular season and have 29 goals over 12 seasons? It really doesn’t matter though because whatever the Hurricanes do for the rest of the playoffs, Cole will have this memory forever. There’s no greater feeling than to find the back of the net when the stakes are raised and three periods weren’t enough to decide a winner.

Game 2 between the Hurricanes and Rangers will be played Friday.

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Notre Dame alumnus Andrew Peeke heading to world championships

Best of luck to the former Irish captain.

Former Notre Dame defenseman Andrew Peeke’s Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t close to qualifying for this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. However, all is not lost for him as far as acquiring hardware in 2022. That’s because he will head to Finland and play for the U.S. in this year’s world championships. He last represented the U.S. in the 2018 world junior championships, during which he won a bronze medal.

Peeke just completed his first full season and third overall with the Blue Jackets. He played in all 82 games, and 13 of his 15 points came from assists.

Peeke will be the 17th Notre Dame alumnus to take part in the event. Most recently, Cal Petersen and Matt Hellickson won a bronze with the U.S. in Latvia in 2021.

Peeke played for the Irish from 2016 to 2019 and was their captain during his final year in South Bend. Over three seasons and 119 games, he scored 52 points, 12 of them coming on goals.

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