#4/5 Irish Earn Second Straight Weekend Sweep

Notre Dame tops Lake Superior State, 6-4

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Six different players posted multi-point nights as the #4/5 Irish earned a 6-4 victory over Lake Superior State on Saturday night inside Compton Family Ice Arena.

Mike O’Leary (2G, 1A), Cal Burke (1G, 2A) and Spencer Stastney (1G, 2A) each collected three-point nights to lead the Irish. 

How It Happened

The Irish nearly struck first with an early power-play goal, but Colin Theisen’s point-blank attempt was stopped by Mareks Mitens. The Lakers then opened the scoring on a goal by Collin Saccoman 9:42 into the opening frame.

Cal Burke tied the contest with a power-play marker with 1:28 left in the period. The captain buried a cross-crease pass from O’Leary to collect his fifth point of the weekend. Matt Hellickson also had an assist on the goal.

Just 18 seconds after Burke’s goal, freshman Trevor Janicke put the Irish up 2-1 with his first collegiate goal. Stastney’s shot from the slot bounced right to Janicke, who put home the rebound attempt. Jake Pivonka, who put a shot on goal before Stastney, picked up the second assist.

The Lakers responded with a tally by Yuki Miura in the final minute of period to make it a 2-2 contest after 20 minutes.

The Irish reclaimed the lead just 58 seconds into the middle frame on Stastney’s first goal of the season. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Stastney one-timed a feed by Nate Clurman from the right circle into the back of the net. Alex Steeves was also credited with an assist.

Saccoman netted his second goal of the night on the power play to even the score at 3-3 with 12:04 remaining in the stanza.

Notre Dame climbed in front again when Pivonka netted his second of the season at 11:21 of the frame. The play began when Stastney fed a puck behind the net to Janicke, who tried to stuff the puck past Mitens. Pivonka crashed the net and buried the rebound.

The Irish held the 4-3 lead at the second intermission.

O’Leary doubled the Irish lead with 11:30 to play when he corralled a blocked shot by Colin Theisen and put the puck past a sprawling Mitens.

O’Leary then converted a one-timer from Theisen with 5:29 left to extend Notre Dame’s lead to 6-3.

Will Riedell brought the Lakers within two with 4:09 to play, but the Irish held on to earn the 6-4 victory. 

Cale Morris finished with 29 saves to earn his first victory of the season.

Special Teams 

The Irish finished 2-for-6 on the man advantage while going 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Up Next

  • The Irish open Big Ten play when they hit the road for the first time this season with a two-game series at Minnesota (Nov. 1-2).
  • Game one (8:30 p.m. ET) will be televised by BTN, while game two (5 p.m. ET) will be televised by Fox Sports North. 

Notes

  • Saturday marked the first career multi-point game for both Trevor Janicke (1G, 1A) and Spencer Stastney (1G, 2A).
  • Cal Burke closed the weekend with seven points (2G, 5A) and has scored in each of the first four games of the season. He has also earned at least two points in all four Irish victories.
  • With two goals and an assist on Saturday, Mike O’Leary has now collected 27 points (8-19-27) in his last 23 games played.
  • Overall, the Irish now lead the series 38-26-7, including a 24-9-4 mark at home (8-0-0 at the Compton Family Ice Arena).
  • Notre Dame has an active nine-game home winning streak against the Lakers and is 10-2-0 in the last 12 meetings dating back to the 2010-11 season.
  • Jackson is 22-4-4 all-time against the Lakers (and at Notre Dame).
  • Freshman forward Solag Bakich made his Notre Dame debut.

—ND—