Dec. 30, 2000
Troy, N.Y. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish participated in the 50th Annual Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament and its safe to say that they had anything but a holiday.
The Irish fell for the second day in a row, losing the third place game to the host – 11th-ranked R.P.I. Engineers, 6-2, Saturday afternoon at the Houston Field House.
The loss, ND’s seventh in its last eight games, drops the Irish to 4-14-3 on the season. The loss was also the sixth this season to a ranked opponent as the Irish are now 0-6-0 against ranked teams. R.P.I. improves to 9-4-1 on the season.
R.P.I. got things rolling late in the first period, getting the game’s first goal at 17:40.
Defenseman Hamish Cunning caught the Irish defense napping and found center Jim Henkel streaking through center ice and hit him with a long lead pass. Henkel picked up his thirid goal of the season when he fired a hard wrist shot past ND’s Tony Zasowski (So., Darien, Ill.) for the 1-0 lead.
Both teams defenses let down early in the second period as they combined for three goals in the first 3:50 of the period.
RPI’s Matt Murley put the Engineers ahead 2-0 just 16 seconds into the period as he split the Irish defense, deked Zasowski to the ice and lifted a backhander over the ND goaltender for his 13th goal of the season and R.P.I.’s first power play goal of the night.
Notre Dame answered back with a power play goal of its own at 2:59. Senior left wing Dan Carlson (Edina, Minn.) carried the puck behind the R.P.I. net and found defenseman Brett Lebda (Fr., Buffalo Grove, Ill.) coming late on the play. Lebda fired his third goal of the season past R.P.I.’s Kevin Kurk to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Engineers’ Ben Barr closed out the scoring run with his first collegiate goal at 3:50 as he rammed a rebound past Zasowski.
R.P.I. blew the game open late in the second period. Sophomore right wing Carson Butterwick picked up Rensselaer’s second power play goal of the night to make it 4-1 with a picture-perfect deflection of Dan Eberly’s shot from the left point at 15:20.
Andrew McPherson closed out the second period scoring just 33 seconds later with his fourth goal of the season at 15:53.
Notre Dame cut the lead to 5-2 early in the third period when Ryan Dolder outmuscled the R.P.I. defense in front of the net to tuck home his eighth goal of the season at 4:31.
R.P.I. closed out the scoring less than two minutes later when Scott Basiuk blocked an Irish shot and raced down the left wing blasting a slap shot that Zasowski stopped only to see the puck break through his pads and slide into the goal at 6:03.
The Irish were outshot 43-29 on the night. Zasowski equalled a career high by making 37 saves. Rensselaer’s Kurk made 27 stops on the night.
Notre Dame returns to CCHA action on Jan., 5-6 at the Joyce Center when the Irish play host to Ferris State. Both games start at 7:05 p.m.
Game Summary:
1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (4-14-3) 0 1 1 2
R.P.I. (9-4-1) 1 4 1 6
Scoring
First Period: RPI: Jim Henkel – 3 (Hamish Cunning), 17:40.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes, RPI: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: RPI: Matt Murley – 13 (Nolan Graham), PPG, :16, ND: Brett Lebda – 3 (Dan Carlson, Ryan Dolder), PPG, 2:59, RPI: Ben Barr – 1 (Conrad Barnes, Andrew McPherson), 3:50, RPI: Carson Butterwick – 8 (Dan Eberly, Graham), PPG, 15:20, RPI: McPherson – 4 (Barr, Barnes), 15:53.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes, RPI: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Dolder – 8 (Carlson, Paul Harris), 4:31, RPI: Scott Basiuk – 2 (unassisted), 6:03,
Penalties: ND: 5 for 10 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 12 – 5 – 12 – 29
R.P.I. 12 -18 – 13 – 43
Goaltender Saves:
Notre Dame – Tony Zasowski (60:00) 11 – 14 – 12 – 37
R.P.I. – Kevin Kurk (60:00 ) 12 – 4 – 11 – 27
Power Plays:
Notre Dame: 1 for 9
St. Lawrence: 2 for 6
Attendance: N/A