Dec. 29, 2000
Troy, N.Y. – Junior left wing Russ Bartlett scored a goal and added two assists while senior goaltender Jeremy Symington made 34 saves to lead the St. Lawrence Saints to a 6-3 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the opening game of the 50th annual Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament Friday night.
Freshmen forwards Ziga Petac and Rich Peverley also added a goal an assist in the Saints’ three-goal first period. That duo came into the night with just a goal and an assist between them on the season.
Notre Dame will play the loser of the R.P.I./Northeastern game at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon for third place in the tournament. The loss drops the Irish to 4-13-3 overall while St. Lawrence improves to 4-7-3 on the season. The Irish are now 0-3 in games played at the R.P.I. Tournament in this their second appearance all-time. In 1989, Notre Dame dropped games to R.P.I. and Air Force.
“This was an extremely frustrating game,” said Irish head coach Dave Poulin. “We played well in spurts throughout the game, but we have to play a full game if we want to win hockey games. Defensive breakdowns by our older players really hurt us tonight.”
The St. Lawrence power play gave the Saints a 1-0 lead at 7:27 of the first period. Senior left wing Mike Gellard got his eighth goal of the season when he lifted the rebound of linemate Eric Anderson’s shot over ND’s Jeremiah Kimento (Jr., Palos Hills, Ill.). The power play goal was the first given up by the Irish since December 9th versus Miami.
Notre Dame came right back though as Ryan Dolder (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) and David Inman (Jr., Toronto, Ont.) combined to tie the game just 1:45 later. Inman fired a wrist shot from ten-feet out that SLU’s Jeremy Symington got a pad on. Dolder jammed his second rebound attempt under the senior goaltender at 9:12 for his seventh goal of the season.
From there, Petac and Peverly took over, taking advantage of Notre Dame turnovers in the defensive zone.
Petac got his second goal of the year when he fired Peverly’s rebound past Kimento at 10:59 of the first period. The freshman from Slovakia repaid the favor on the next shift as put Peverly in alone on Kimento. Peverly made a nice move to beat the Irish goaltender for the first goal of his collegiate career at 14:13.
After a scoreless second period, St. Lawrence moved out to a 5-1 lead, scoring twice in the first 1:28 of the third period.
Barlett stole an ND clearing pass and fed Erik Anderson in front where he beat Kimento from 10-feet out through the pads just 42 seconds into the period.
Junior left wing Charlie Daniels scored 46 seconds later at 1:28 when he whipped a wrister past Kimento from the high slot for his first goal of the season.
Notre Dame’s offense came to life then as they peppered Symington with shots from point blank range.
“We played our best hockey of the night when we were down 5-1,” commented Poulin. “Why did we decide to play then? That’s the frustrating part. I thought we took over for a good portion in the period. Our guys have to realize that you have to play a full 60-minutes if they expect to win. Playing in spurts is totally unacceptable to me.”
Senior center Jay Kopischke (Alexandria, Minn.) scored on a power play deflection at 3:48 for his second goal of the season and when sophomore defenseman Paul Harris (Ridgefield, Conn.) got his first collegiate goal at 7:09, the Irish were back in the game at 5-3.
But Symington held off the Irish surge to hand them their sixth loss in the last seven games.
Bartlett closed out his night with his sixth goal of the year at 16:45 for the final verdict of 6-3. On the night, Notre Dame outshot St. Lawrence, 37-25. Kimento made 19 saves in his fourth consecutive start.
Notre Dame was 1-for-5 on the power play while St. Lawrence was just 1-for-3.
Game Summary: 1 2 3 F
St. Lawrence (3-7-3) 3 0 3 6
Notre Dame (4-12-3) 1 0 2 3
Scoring
First Period: SLU: Mike Gellard – 8 (Erik Anderson, Russ Bartlett), PPG, 7:27, ND: Ryan Dolder – 7 (David Inman), 9:12, SLU: Ziga Petac – 2 (Rich Peverly, Jim Lorentz), 10:59, SLU: Peverly – 1 (Petac, Matt Desrosiers), 14:13.
Penalties: SLU: 1 for 2 minutes, ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: SLU: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: SLU: Anderson – 9 (Bartlett, Desrosiers), :42, SLU: Charlie Daniels – 1 (Robin Carruthers, Blair Clarance), 1:28, ND: Jay Kopischke – 2 (Brett Lebda, Aaron Gill), PPG, 3:48, ND: Paul Harris -1 (Evan Nielsen), 7:09, SLU: Bartlett – 6 (Carruthers, Kevin Veneruzzo), 16:45.
Penalties: SLU: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
St. Lawrence 11 – 8 – 6 – 25
Notre Dame 11 – 8 – 18 – 37
Goaltender Saves:
St. Lawrence – Jeremy Symington (60:00 ) 10 – 8 – 16 – 34
Notre Dame – Jeremiah Kimento (60:00) 8 – 8 – 3 – 19
Power Plays:
St. Lawrence: 1 for 3
Notre Dame: 1 for 5
Attendance: 4,196