The Notre Dame Fighting Irish got goals from Tom Galvin, Brett Lebda, Tim Wallace and Mike Walsh and freshman goaltender David Brown made 28 saves in a 4-0 exhibition win over the U.S. Under-18 squad.
The Under-18 team, fresh off a silver medal at the Four Nations Cup in Switzerland, features the top under-18 prospects in the nation and is based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
On a night that saw the Irish break out their new “Notre Dame gold” third jerseys, the two teams started slowly before the Irish broke on top first at 19:09 on Galvin’s power-play goal.
Senior right wing Rob Globke set the play up with a pretty feed to freshman Mike Bartlett in the slot. The pass deflected off Bartlett’s stick to Galvin as he closed in from the right point. Galvin lifted the puck over goaltender Jordan Pearce for the 1-0 lead.
The Irish scored twice in the second period. Defenseman Brett Lebda scored just 41 seconds into the period off a pass from Matt Amado. Globke picked up his second assist on the night.
“I thought that Rob (Globke) played outstanding tonight,” said head coach Dave Poulin. “He really set the tone for the game. He kept it simple and played smart. I was really pleased with the way he controlled the tempo of the game early.”
Lebda did the work on Notre Dame’s third goal as he carried the puck into the U.S. zone and fed it from the left circle to sophomore Tim Wallace alone in front. Wallace wasted little time depositing the puck behind Pearce for the 3-0 lead at 9:55.
Notre Dame’s final goal came at 12:25 of the third period, off a faceoff in the left circle. Aaron Gill controlled the draw back to defenseman Noah Babin. The freshman defender found Mike Walsh on the right side of the goal and he directed it past Pearce for the 4-0 lead.
Brown, who has already recorded three shutouts in the regular season, and the Notre Dame penalty-killing unit had a strong night, stopping all nine USA power-play chances.
For the night, the Irish outshot the Under-18 team, 39-28. Pearce finished the game with 35 saves. The Irish were 1-for-6 on the power play while the U.S. was 0-for-9.
“This was a good game for us,” said Poulin. “We’re 10 games into the season. We’ve watched guys and are starting to fit them into various roles. This would have been an off week, but we had the chance to play a pretty talented team and see what players could do in different roles.”
Notre Dame returns to regular-season action next weekend at home when the Irish play host to Lake Superior at the Joyce Center. Game time on Friday, November 21 is 7:35 p.m.
Notre Dame will go into that game with a 5-3-1 overall record and a 4-3-1 mark in CCHA play. The loss drops the U.S. Under-18 team’s record to 9-9-0.
