Oct. 20, 2009
Boston, Mass. – Junior goaltender Brad Phillips made a career-high 34 saves to record his first win and shutout of the season as Notre Dame blanked defending national champion Boston University, 3-0, at Agganis Arena on Tuesday night.
The shutout marked the first time that Boston University was blanked since Dec. 2, 2006, a span of 99 games.
Phillips got all the offensive support he needed in the second period as Billy Maday and Ben Ryan scored 12 seconds apart for a 2-0 lead. Calle Ridderwall added a third-period power-play goal for the final margin of 3-0.
The win improved 10th-ranked Notre Dame to 3-2-0 on the season while third-ranked Boston University falls to 0-2-0 on the season. The Irish return to action on Friday, Oct. 23 at the Joyce Center when they face 15th-ranked Boston College in a 7:35 p.m. game.
“I thought both teams were really good defensively,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
“Managing anything offensively was a challenge out there for both teams and maybe that’s because both teams played well defensively.”
Phillips, making just his eighth career start, came up big for Notre Dame in the first and third periods, making 27 of his 34 saves on the night. The shutout was the second of his career.
“I really have to credit the defense they did a great job blocking shots and played great in front of me,” said Phillips.
“I worked hard in practice and really just tried to focus on this game. I worked on the little things and just tried to get ready for this game.”
The teams battled to a scoreless tie after one period with BU out shooting the Irish by a 10-4 margin. The Terriers enjoyed five power-play chances in the opening stanza to just two for Notre Dame.
It would take the Irish almost 12 minutes to get their first shot on goal when Ridderwall directed a shot from the left circle on Kieran Millam on the first Irish power-play chance of the night.
The second period saw the Notre Dame offense come to life with the Irish getting a pair of goals just 12 seconds apart at 15:27 and 15:39 of the middle stanza.
Maday scored his first of the season off some strong work along the boards by Ridderwall and defenseman Sean Lorenz.
Ridderwall moved the puck along the right wing boards to Lorenz at the right point. The sophomore blue liner moved toward the goal before finding Maday all alone at the left circle. Maday spun and fired a shot inside the right post past Millam at 15:27 to put Notre Dame ahead, 1-0.
The public address announcer hadn’t even announced the first goal when Ben Ryan struck just 12 seconds later.
The Irish moved the puck into the left corner where Christiaan Minella dug it out and centered a pass to Dan Kissel in the slot. Millam stopped a Kissel backhander but the rebound came loose in front and Ryan tucked it between Millam’s pads for his second of the year and a 2-0 lead.
Notre Dame would get its sixth power-play chance early in the third period and capitalized when Ridderwall snapped a shot past Millam between the circles for his second goal of the year.
Ryan started the play in the neutral zone, sliding a pass to Maday who found Ridderwall cutting between the BU defense.
From there, it was all up to Phillips who stopped all 17 shots he faced in the third period to preserve the shutout, the second consecutive whitewashing for the Irish. They have not given up a goal in 123:46 dating back to Oct. 15 versus Providence.
“We played with much more urgency tonight. We haven’t played with that kind of urgency this season, maybe a little bit on the second nights of the first two series,” said Jackson.
“It was good to see. I was hoping that BU might get the best out of us in that regard. We were much more attentive and we battled a lot harder.”
Boston University would out shoot the Irish, 34-16, in the game. Millam finished with 13 saves in the game.
Notre Dame was 1-for-6 on the power play while the Terriers were 0-for-8. The Irish have now killed 20 consecutive opponent penalties, dating back to the Oct. 9 season opener.
1 2 3 F#10/#9 Notre Dame (3-2-0) 0 2 1 - 3#3/#3 Boston University (0-2-0) 0 0 0 - 0
Scoring:
First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 5 for 10 minutes; BU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Billy Maday 1 (Sean Lorenz, Calle Ridderwall), 15:27; ND: Ben Ryan 2
(Dan Kissel, Christiaan Minella), 15:39.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Calle Ridderwall 2 (Billy Maday, B. Ryan), PPG, 2:53.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; BU: 2 for 12 minutes.Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 4 - 9 - 3 - 16Boston University 10 - 7 - 17 - 34Goaltender Saves:ND - Brad Phillips (60:00) 10 - 7 - 17 - 34BU - Kieran Millan (56:17) 4 - 7 - 2 - 13Power Plays:ND: 1 for 6BU: 0 for 8
Attendance: 5,648