Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS several good chances to win in the first few minutes of overtime. Irish goalie Mike Johnson, who finished the best game of his year so far with 32 saves, smothered most of those chances and got some help from a post on a narrow miss in overtime. "I saw that shot at the last second when it was already over my shoul- der," Johnson said. "That kind of made my heart stop for a second, but then it was back in the corner so I could breathe a sigh of relief." The entire team got to enjoy a deep breath after capping off an eight-day, four-game stretch of nail-biting wins with the victory over Boston College. Johnson said the hardest part of the chaotic week was staying focused through the hoopla and celebration leading up to Friday's game. Plenty of cameras were on hand to capture the morning blessing ceremony, the afternoon celebratory mass and the evening's dinner and reception at one of the campus' dining halls. The new building's namesake — Kevin Compton, his wife, Gayla, and their three children — concluded the pre- game festivities by dropping the cer- emonial first puck minutes before the start of the game. Compton, a Silicon Valley ven- ture capitalist, is a co-owner of the NHL's San Jose Sharks and a long- time hockey supporter. His oldest son, Cameron, graduated from Notre Dame in 2010, and Compton said he donated the money for the much- needed upgrade because he was im- pressed with his son's four years on campus. "I'm grateful that we won with so many instrumental people in the building watching us play, because we wouldn't be in this building if it wasn't for a lot of those people," Irish coach Jeff Jackson said. "Tonight was what we hoped this building would be. … It reminded me of [Michigan's] Yost Arena which is something I've always aspired to have that kind of an environment in a college hockey game." The state-of-the-art arena puts Notre Dame on par with most of the other elite college programs in the country just in time for the team's jump to the Hockey East conference in 2013. Boston College head coach Jerry York, who has coached college hockey for 39 years and has seen just about every arena in the country, said the Compton was not just a big step up from the Joyce Center but a "large ladder" of a leap. "It's a great building to play in," he said. "It's loud, its exciting, cer- tainly a real plus not just for the Irish but for all of college hockey that we take that step from the Joyce up to a building like this." Notre Dame climbed to No. 2 and No. 3 in the two major hockey polls a couple days after win. If the Comp- ton's home ice advantage continues to be as effective as it has been, it won't be long before the Irish are back where they started this season as the top team in the country. ✦ Roundup CROSS COUNTRY The men's and women's cross country teams both finished the season ranked in the top 25. The women, led by sophomore Kelly Curran and freshman Gabby Gonzales, took 22nd place at the NCAA Championships Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind. Curran ran her best race of the year to finish the six-kilometer course in 114th place with a time of 21:09.8. Junior Jeremy Rae led the men's side on a 10-kilometer course, crossing the line af- ter 30:49 in 105th place. He and sophomore Martin Grady paced the team to a 24th-place finish overall. Wisconsin and Georgetown were crowned champions for the men's and women's races, respectively. VOLLEYBALL Notre Dame's volleyball season ended Nov. 20 with a loss to Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament championship match. The Bearcats won three straight sets (25-22, 25-21, 27-25) to end Notre Dame's Cinderella run. The Irish (17-12, 8-6 Big East) upset Syra- cuse and No. 1 seed Louisville by identical 3-1 scores in their first two tournament contests to make their way to the title match. Senior Kristen Dealy and freshman Jeni Houser both played well enough to earn a spot on the Big East all-tournament team. Dealy has made the tourney team all four years of her college career. FENCING The defending national champion Irish started their collegiate season Nov. 19-20 at the Garret Open on Penn State's campus. Se- niors Enzo Castellani and Frederick Bentley faced off against one another in the champi- onship foil match. Castellani won the bout, and the Irish finished one-two in the event. Sophomore Kevin Hassett finished sixth in the sabre event. Maddy Ziess led the way on the women's Sophomore Bryan Rust slipped a desperation shot past Boston College goalie Parker Milner with less than two seconds remaining in overtime to win the game 3-2. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND www.BLUEANDGOLD.com side with a third-place finish in the foil, and Lian Osier had the only other top-10 finish, grabbing fifth in the sabre. DECEMBER 2011 39