March 2, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – Senior center Billy Maday scored a pair of goals and sophomore goaltender Steven Summerhays stopped all 33 shots he faced as Notre Dame handed Ohio State a 2-0 shutout on Friday night in front of 3,936 at the Compton Family Ice Arena. The win gives the Irish a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three CCHA first round playoff series against the Buckeyes.
The shutout was the second consecutive shutout by Summerhays who blanked Michigan State, 2-0, a week ago on Feb. 24. He now has a shutout streak of 120 minutes. The playoff shutout is the first for the Irish since March 14, 2009 when Jordan Pearce `09, blanked Nebraska-Omaha, 1-0, in game two of a second round series. Pearce also shutout the Mavericks in game one of that series, 5-0, for the last time an Irish goaltender had back-to-back shutouts.
The last time the Irish as a team had back-to-back shutouts was Oct. 16 and Oct. 20, 2009 when then freshman, Mike Johnson stopped Providence College, 2-0, at the Joyce Center and Brad Phillips slammed the door at Boston University the following weekend, 3-0.
“The defense really made my job easy tonight,” said Summerhays. “They did a great job letting me see the puck into my chest or into my glove. I think that we blocked more shots tonight than we have all year.”
For Maday, the two-goal game was his first of the season and the fifth of his Notre Dame career.
The win improves the Irish to 18-16-3 overall while Ohio State falls to 15-14-5 on the year. Game two of the series is set for 7:35 p.m. on Saturday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Maday combined with linemate Mike Voran on the first goal of the night at 9:08 of the opening period. The senior from Burr Ridge, Ill., picked up the puck in the neutral zone and as he entered the Buckeye zone fired the puck past the defenseman into the left wing corner. The puck came off the boards to Voran who directed a shot on Ohio State goaltender Cal Heeter.
Heeter made the stop but the rebound came in front as Maday and defenseman Al McLean drove to the goal. The puck hit Maday in the shin and it bounced past Heeter for his 11th goal of the season.
“The defensemen stood up at the blue line as I was coming into the zone,” said Maday. “I just fired the puck towards the corner. Mike Voran got to it and put a shot on goal. I felt the rebound go off my shin pad and in.”
The Buckeyes out shot the Irish, 11-10, in the period but could not get the puck past Summerhays.
Early in the second, Ohio State forward Alex Szczechura was called for goaltender interference at 2:33 and it took the Notre Dame power play just 17 seconds to take a 2-0 lead on Maday’s second goal of the night at 2:50.
Defenseman Sam Calabrese moved the puck from the left circle back to fellow blue liner Robbie Russo at the right point. Russo snapped off a low, hard shot that Anders Lee deflected on Heeter who made the stop. The rebound came out to Maday standing alone at the top of the crease and he deposited it in the cage for his 11th goal of the season.
From there, Summerhays, the Irish defense and the penalty-killing unit took over. Notre Dame would have to kill off three more power plays in the game, including a five-minute major to Jeff Costello late in the second period with one minute carrying over into the third.
“Our penalty kill was unbelievable tonight,” said Summerhays. “I think they only had three or four shots on the power play all night. Our defense and forwards did a great job tracking pucks down low. We had good breakouts, chips and dinks to get the puck out. I didn’t have to do to much on the power play.”
Summerhays would finish with 11 saves in each period for a career-high 33 saves on the night as Ohio State out shot Notre Dame, 33-30, in the game. Heeter had 28 saves for the Buckeyes.
Game two of the series will be televised on Saturday night by Fox Sports Detroit Plus and can be seen on Directv Channels 664 and 664-1 (HD) and DISH Network at channel 442 and 9580 (HD).
IRISH NOTES:
** Notre Dame’s win over Ohio State marked the first Irish playoff victory versus the Buckeyes. The two teams had met three previous times in the CCHA playoffs with OSU winning all four games. Twice the Buckeyes won in the CCHA Super Six (a one-game playoff at Joe Louis Arena) and in 2009-10, they won a best-of-three series at Columbus, 2-0.
** With the win, the Irish are now 26-33 all-time in the CCHA playoffs, including 16-8 at home. Friday’s win was the first postseason win for Notre Dame at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F Ohio State (15-14-5) 0 0 0 - 0rv/#18 Notre Dame (18-16-3) 1 1 0 - 2
Scoring First Period: ND: Billy Maday 10 (Mike Voran), 9:08.
Penalties: OSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Maday 11 (Anders Lee, Robbie Russo), PPG, 2:50.
Penalties: OSU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 7 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: OSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Ohio State 11 - 11 - 11 - 33Notre Dame 10 - 13 - 7 - 30
Goaltender Saves:OSU: Cal Heeter (58:04) 9 - 12 - 7 - 28ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 11 - 11 -11 - 33
Power Plays:OSU: 0 for 5ND: 1 for 4
Attendance: 3,936