Saturday, September 14, 2024
By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE—The Notre Dame Tritons scored three goals in the second period in defeating the De Pere Voyageurs by a final of 5-0, Jan. 5, at the De Pere Ice Center.
Brendan Poshak netted two goals, and Max McNeil, Josh DeLange, and Spencer Allen each had one.
The Tritons Bo Buckley stopped all 20 shots sent in on him, while Brody Van Den Heuvel made 39 saves in goal for De Pere.
The Tritons struck first just three minutes in after Allen notched a power-play goal that he jammed past Van Den Heuvel.
Gabe Andrews had a golden chance for De Pere midway through the first when he had a point-blank slap shot go off the pipe and the Tritons took a one goal lead through to the second period.
“We hung in there out of the gates,” said John Coppo, De Pere coach. “Against a great team, you have to take advantage of your limited opportunities and we couldn’t sneak one past Buckley early.”
The Tritons added goals at the 15:08 and 7:55 mark of the middle period, and then for all intent purposes put the game out of reach with over a minute left in the second.
With the Voyageurs on the power play, Notre Dame's Callan Budinger came up with a loose puck at center ice and raced to the back boards. While being defended by three Voyageurs he somehow flipped the puck to a cutting Poshak who put home the short-handed goal and give the Tritons a 4-0 lead.
The Voyageurs and Tritons combined for six penalties in the final 17 minutes and the Tritons added a late third period goal to get the road victory.
“We didn’t come out with the energy we needed in those final periods,” added Coppo. “We got loose with some turnovers and they (Notre Dame) made us pay.”
Note: The Voyageurs wore throwback Cavaliers jerseys to recognize the history that built the De Pere hockey family. One member, Mike Vandelist, who lost his battle with cancer in 2018, was one of those cherished members. Mike played youth and high school hockey in De Pere and was a two-year captain.
Box Score:
Notre Dame: 1, 3, 1—5
De Pere: 0, 0, 0—0
Shots on Goal:
Tritons: 10, 8, 26—44
Voyageurs: 4, 10, 6—20
