Notre Dame hockey: Voran, Hinostroza star as Irish shake off dust

SOUTH BEND -- Once the outcome was in hand Sunday night, Notre Dame’s hockey exhibition against the University of Guelph essentially turned into a practice session.

Head coach Jeff Jackson was able to try-out some line combinations, work on different special teams groupings, even get the backup goalie some work.

That’s the luxury of a four-goal lead through two periods, even more important considering the Irish, ranked No. 7 in the USA Today preseason poll, just started officially practicing on Saturday.

Notre Dame won its tuneup with Guelph, 5-2, behind two goals from senior Mike Voran and a dominating performance in the Gryphons’ zone. From the midway point of the first period through the end of the second, ND outshot Guelph, 36-7.

“I thought we found some good combinations,” Jackson said. “They gave us a good challenge, which is what we needed. It doesn’t take that much to get beat by a Canadian university.”

Just ask Michigan, which lost its exhibition game on Sunday, 2-1, to Waterloo. But no such drama played out at Compton Family Ice Arena.

Voran has not been a big goal scorer in his first three years at Notre Dame, with 14 goals in his career. But skating part of the night alongside playmakers such as Thomas DiPauli and freshman Vinnie Hinostroza suited Voran just fine.

“Scoring goals never gets old, no matter how old you are — in beer leagues or whatever,” Voran said. “It was nice because everyone was involved tonight and contributing.”

Hinostroza had a goal and an assist in his debut and saw a good deal of ice time, including on the power play and penalty kill — a good indication that he’ll play important minutes for the Irish this season.

“He was a little hyper in his first college game, and it will probably be even worse next week,” Jackson said. “But he does a lot of neat things with the puck. He’s very skilled and dynamic.”

Hinostroza picked up the assist on Voran’s first goal, feeding the senior as he broke into the Guelph zone on a 2-on-1 with DiPauli.

“I know he’s just a freshman, but just watching (Hinostroza), you can see the poise with the puck that he has,” Voran said. “I thought, overall, we looked pretty good.”

Notre Dame outshot Guelph, 52-27, and went 2-for-7 on the power play. Goalie Steven Summerhays stopped all 15 shots he faced, while freshman backup Chad Katunar stopped 10 of 12 shots.

Notre Dame opens the regular season Friday at home against Western Michigan.

At Compton Family Ice Arena

FIRST PERIOD

ND - Mike Voran (Vinnie Hinostroza) 8:28; ND - Mario Lucia (T.J. Tynan, Bryan Rust) PP, 13:12. Shots on goal: ND 20, UG 11; Penalties: UG 5-21, ND 1-2.

SECOND PERIOD

ND - Hinostroza (Austin Wuthrich, Steven Fogarty) PP, 8:00; Tynan (Stephen Johns) 10:40. Shots: ND 20, UG 6; Penalties: UG 4-19, ND 4-8.

THIRD PERIOD

UG - Jordan Mock (Nicholas Trecapelli, Robert DeFulviis) PP, 7:20; ND - Voran 2 (Sam Herr, David Gerths) 7:42; UG - Michael Charbonneau (Daniel Broussard) 18:27. Shots: ND 12, UG 10; Penalties: ND 2-4, UG 0-0.

Shots: ND 52, UG 27; Saves: UG 47 (Andrew Loverock), ND 25 (Steven Summerhays 15, Chad Katunar 10; Power plays: ND 2-7, UG 1-6; Penalties: UG 9-40, ND 7-14.