Freshman center Riley Sheahan had a goal and an assist in Notre Dame's 2-2 tie with Ohio State on Saturday night.

Irish And Ohio State Battle To A 2-2 Tie; Buckeyes Win Shoot Out, 2-1.

Oct. 31, 2009

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Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame and Ohio State battled to a 2-2 tie after 65 minutes of play on Saturday night at the Joyce Center before the Buckeyes went on to pick up an extra point in the CCHA standings by beating the Irish, 2-1, in a shoot out.

Freshman Riley Sheahan and senior Kyle Lawson scored power-play goals in the first and third period respectively to offset Ohio State power-play markers by Hunter Bishop and Zac Dalpe for the 2-2 score after overtime.

In the shoot out stanza, the Buckeyes shot first with John Albert beating Notre Dame goaltender Brad Phillips for a 1-0 edge. The Irish quickly knotted the score when Billy Maday beat OSU goaltender Cal Heeter to make it 1-1. The second round of the shootout saw the Buckeye’s Zac Dalpe and Irish forward Calle Ridderwall have their shots stopped. In the third round, Bishop would beat Phillips with a quick wrist shot from the slot that snuck through the junior goaltender’s pads. Ben Ryan saw his shot stopped by Heeter to give Ohio State the win in the shootout.

With the CCHA’s new scoring system, Notre Dame received one point in the standings while the Buckeyes picked up a point for the tie and a point for winning in the shootout for a two-point game. On the national level, the game is recognized as a 2-2 tie to make the Irish 4-3-1 overall and 1-0-1-0 for four points in the CCHA standings. Ohio State is 2-5-1 on the year and 1-2-1-1 in the conference, good for five points in the league standings.

“I thought that we played well early in the game then were stagnant in the middle part,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.

“They picked up there energy in the third and we held on a little bit. You have to give Ohio State credit though. Once they scored what I thought was a weak power-play goal, the momentum of the game changed. We were playing well after we scored our power-play goal in the third, but the game changed back when they scored theirs.”

Notre Dame got on the scoreboard first, capitalizing on its first power-play chance as the Irish scored just 10 seconds after a penalty to defenseman Shane Sims at 14:56. The Irish controlled a face off in the left wing circle and moved the puck back to defenseman Ian Cole. The junior fed it across to the right point to Lawson who found Sheahan in the slot. The freshman center got a shot off that appeared to deflect off an Ohio State defender and up under the cross bar past Heeter for a 1-0 Notre Dame lead. The goal was Sheahan’s second of the season.

The Buckeyes took advantage of their first power-play chance as Bishop knotted the score at 1-1 with just 37 seconds left in the opening period.

Defenseman Devon Knight moved the puck to John Albert at the right wing circle. Albert’s shot was stopped by Phillips but Bishop was camped at the top of the crease where he tucked it home for his first goal of the season at 19:23.

After a scoreless second period that saw Ohio State out shoot Notre Dame by a 15-7 margin, the Irish retook the lead via the power play with Lawson scoring at 2:31 of the third stanza.

Sheahan and Ben Ryan worked the puck along the boards behind Heeter before Ryan moved it back to the right point to Lawson. The senior defender looked like he was just trying to get a shot through in front for a rebound chance but the puck somehow made it past Heeter’s pads to give the Irish a 2-1 lead.

“I knew it was near the end of the penalty and I just threw it in front of the net,” explained Lawson with a laugh.

“I was as surprised as anyone that it went in. That was all luck. I just put it on the net and hoped for the best. Maybe that’s what we have to do more of – get shots on the net and have guys crashing the net and scoring especially five-on-five.”

The Buckeyes were able to answer less than three minutes later when Dalpe picked up Ohio State’s second power-play goal of the night.

The sophomore center picked up a loose puck along the boards in the neutral zone and flew into the offensive zone, gunning a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that beat Phillips for his second goal of the year that tied the game at 2-2 at the 5:02 mark.

“Dalpe’s goal gave Ohio State momentum in the third period,” said Jackson.

“I didn’t think that his power-play goal was a good goal. It was a wrist shot from the top of the right circle. We need Brad to make that save. Other than that goal, he played well the remainder of the game. He just needs to learn how to close out games.”

From there, the two defenses stiffened and neither team could score the rest of the way in regulation and through the five-minute overtime for the 2-2 tie.

In the first 65 minutes, Ohio State out shot the Irish, 32-26. Heeter finished the night with 24 saves while Phillips had 30 saves in the game.

That set up the shootout where the Irish came up short after not losing a shootout at all last season.

“To be honest after watching in practice, I was pretty optimistic and felt confident on the bench,” said Lawson.

“Sometimes it goes you way, other times it doesn’t. Scoring in a shootout is not my job. My job is to keep the puck out of the net and let those guys do their thing.”

This time, the Irish came up a little short. Notre Dame returns to action next weekend with a pair of games at Fairbanks, Alaska against the Alaska Nanooks on Nov. 6-7. Those games will begin at 11:05 p.m. Eastern time and can be heard on Cat Country 99.9 FM or on the Internet at Notre Dame’s website – und.com.

GAME SUMMARY                            1     2     3    OT  -  FOhio State (2-5-1/1-2-1-1)              1     0     1     0  -  2#11/#8 Notre Dame (4-3-1/1-0-1-0)       1     0     1     0  -  2

Scoring

First Period: ND: Riley Sheahan 2 (Kyle Lawson, Ian Cole), PPG, 14:56; OSU: Hunter Bishop 1 (John Albert, Devon Krogh), PPG, 19:23.

Penalties: OSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.

Second Period: No Scoring.

Penalties: OSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.

Third Period: ND: Lawson 2 (Ben Ryan, Sheahan), PPG, 2:31; OSU: Zac Dalpe 2 (unassisted), PPG, 5:02.

Penalties: OSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.

Overtime: No Scoring.

Penalties: OSU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.

Shootout: Ohio State wins shootout, 2-1.              OSU:  John Albert (goal); ND: Billy Maday (goal).              OSU:  Zac Dalpe (save); ND: Calle Ridderwall (save).              OSU:  Hunter Bishop (goal); ND: Ben Ryan (save)
Shots On Goal:Ohio State 7 - 15 - 8 - 2 - 32Notre Dame 9 - 7 - 8 - 2 - 26Goaltender Saves:OSU - Cal Heeter (65:00) 8 - 7 - 7 - 2 - 24ND - Brad Phillips (65:00) 6 - 15 - 7 - 2 - 30Power Plays:OSU: 2 for 3ND: 2 for 3
Attendance: 2,208