A Great Season and a Bright Future

The Notre Dame Hockey team has come a long way since finishing 5-27-6 just two short years ago. A new coach, some new players, and a new attitude have brought a seemingly hopeless program into one of the most dominant programs in college hockey this year…and for the foreseeable future.

When Jeff Jackson was named head coach before the 2005-2006 season, the Irish knew they were getting a proven winner. In the early 90s, when he was head coach at Lake Superior State, he led them to three straight national championship games, while taking home two crowns. And after coming to Notre Dame, he made an immediate impact by guiding the Irish to 13 wins and giving the team the belief that not only could they compete on the highest level, but that they could WIN on that level.

This year, Jackson really got to show the Notre Dame community why he was the best choice to take over the helm as the head coach. The Irish quickly showed that this was going to be a special season by trouncing the then #1 ranked Golden Eagles of Boston College. The hot start wasn’t a fluke and by the beginning of February, the Irish were ranked #1 for the first time in school history. They maintained that #1 ranking the rest of the season while capturing two more program firsts; the CCHA regular season and tournament crowns.

The Irish went into the NCAA tournament as the hottest team in the country, earning them the #1 overall ranking. In their first round game, they won a thriller in double-overtime, defeating Alabama-Huntsville by a score of 3-2; with freshman Ryan Thang lighting the lamp for the game winner. Then on Saturday night, they faced off against rival Michigan State and dropped a heartbreaker 2-1, eliminating them from the tournament and giving them a final record of 32-7-3 (25 more wins than the 2004-2005 season).

Although they didn’t reach their ultimate goal of a national championship this year, the future of the program is as bright as ever. Their three top scorers (Erik Condra, Ryan Thang and Kevin Deeth) are all underclassmen and will be back together for a couple more seasons. The Irish do lose Hobey Baker finalist David Brown, but there are high hopes for sophomore goaltender Jordan Pearce.

I want to congratulate the Irish on their great season and amazing two-year turnaround and I look forward to more great seasons in the years to come.

(Note: The Hobey Baker award will be announced on April 6^th, 2007 @ 7:00pm EST)