March 4, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. –
For the second night in a row, sophomore goaltender Steven Summerhays made 30-plus saves and four different players got on the scoresheet as Notre Dame defeated Ohio State, 4-2 on Saturday night in front of 4,202 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
The win gives the Irish a two-game sweep of the Buckeyes in the best-of-three first round CCHA playoff series and moves them to the second round of the CCHA playoffs on the road March 9-11. Notre Dame will play either Ferris State or Michigan depending on the outcome of the Bowling Green-Northern Michigan series that will go to a third game on Sunday night in Marquette, Mich.
Jeff Costello, Anders Lee, Mike Voran and Billy Maday scored for the Irish who rallied from a 2-1 first-period deficit with two goals in the second and one in the third on the way to the victory. Sean Duddy and Danny Dries scored the Ohio State goals.
The sweep of the Buckeyes was the first sweep for Notre Dame since knocking off Alaska November 11-12 at the Compton Family Ice Arena. The four-goal outburst by the Irish was the first game with three or more goals since a 4-2 win at Alaska on Jan. 28, a span of 10 games.
The Notre Dame win improves the Irish to 19-16-3 overall while Ohio State’s season comes to an end at 15-15-5 overall. The Buckeyes were 14-4-1 on Dec. 31 and went 1-11-4 over the last two-plus months of the season.
After blanking Ohio State on Friday night for his second straight shutout, Summerhays had his confidence tested early as the Buckeyes broke through at 4:35 of the first period with the game’s first goal as Duddy whipped a shot from the right face-off circle over his glove for his first goal of the season. Duddy was set up off the face off as center Alex Carlson won the draw right back to the senior defenseman.
Notre Dame answered back at 9:20 as defenseman Kevin Lind turned an errant Ohio State pass into a goal by Costello.
A Buckeye clearing attempt came up the left wing boards in the neutral zone where Lind picked it off. He went cross-rink to Costello at the Ohio State blue line where the sophomore left wing took the puck and snapped a shot from the right circle that beat OSU goaltender Cal Heeter over his glove hand to tie the game at 1-1. The goal was Costello’s fifth of the season.
Ohio State had an answer for that goal as they converted on the power play at 17:19, for their only power-play goal in 10 chances on the weekend. Dries picked up his 13th goal of the season of a nice set up from defenseman Curtis Gedig.
Off a face off in the left circle, center Max McCormick won the draw to Gedig at the left point. He skated towards the goal looking to shoot but found Dries all alone on the right side of the goal. He put a pass on Dries stick and the senior was able to beat Summerhays inside the right post to send the Buckeyes into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Whatever confidence OSU gained by getting that goal was wiped out just 2:08 into the second period when Bryan Rust set up Lee in the slot and the big left winger wasted no time burying the puck behind Heeter for his team-best 16th goal of the season.
T.J. Tynan started the play moving the puck behind the net to Rust. The sophomore right wing bulled his way out the left side and turned to shoot. Instead, he slid the puck to a wide-open Lee who tucked it home.
The Irish took the lead for good at 8:57 of the second stanza on Voran’s fifth goal of the season to make it 3-2.
Maday won a draw in the left circle to David Gerths. Gerths carried the puck to the slot and took a shot that was blocked. He grabbed the rebound and shot again with Heeter making the stop. Voran was at the top of the crease and the puck hit him in the hands and went past Heeter for the goal.
The officials reviewed the goal to make sure that Voran hadn’t batted it in with his glove and ruled it a good goal.
From there the Irish clamped down defensively, holding Ohio State at bay through the remainder of the second and all of the third as Summerhays made 20 of his 33 saves in the final two periods.
As time wound down, the Buckeyes were called for a boarding with 2:38 left in the game. They still pulled Heeter in goal for an extra attacker but Maday sealed the win when he grabbed a loose puck at center ice and fired it into the empty net at 19:09 for his 12th of the season and third of the weekend for the 4-2 final score. The goal came on the power play, as the Irish were 1-for-4 with the man advantage while OSU was 1-for-5.
For the second night in a row, the Irish were out shot as the Buckeyes had a 33-28 advantage. Heeter had 24 saves in the game.
IRISH NOTES:
** With the win, the Irish are now 27-33 all-time in the CCHA playoffs, including 17-8 at home. They are 2-0 in their first playoff season at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
** Senior Billy Maday showed why he is a team captain in the series with the Buckeyes. He scored twice in Friday’s 2-0 win and then helped set up Saturday’s game winner and added an insurance goal for a four-point weekend (3g, 1a).
** Steven Summerhays shutout streak of 124:35 that was snapped on Saturday is the longest of his Notre Dame career.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FOhio State (15-15-5) 2 0 0 - 2rv/#18 Notre Dame (19-16-3) 1 2 1 - 4
Scoring First Period: OSU: Sean Duddy 1 (Alex Carlson), 4:35; ND: Jeff Costello 5 (Kevin Lind), 9:20; OSU: Danny Dries 13 (Curtis Gedig, Max McCormick), PPG, 17:19.
Penalties: OSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Anders Lee 16 (Bryan Rust, T.J. Tynan), 2:08; ND: Mike Voran 5 (David Gerths, Billy Maday), 8:57.
Penalties: OSU: 4 for 16 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: Maday 12 (unassisted), ENG, PPG, 19:09.
Penalties: OSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Ohio State 13 - 12 - 8 - 33Notre Dame 7 - 15 - 6 - 28
Goaltender Saves:OSU: Cal Heeter (59:29) 6 - 13 - 5 - 24ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 11 - 12 - 8 - 31
Power Plays:OSU: 1 for 5ND: 1 for 4
Attendance: 4,202