March 23, 2013
Detroit, Mich. – Junior center T.J. Tynan scored on the power play at 3:50 of the third period to snap a 1-1 tie to help lead Notre Dame to a 3-1 win over Ohio State in the first CCHA semifinal game on Saturday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.
The win advances the Irish to the CCHA title game on Sunday afternoon at “The Joe” for the first time since the 2008-09 season. Notre Dame will face Michigan in the championship game as the fourth-seeded Wolverines defeated Miami, 6-2, in the second semifinal contest on Saturday.
Sophomore Peter Schneider and junior Jeff Costello joined Tynan on the scoresheet for the Irish while Ryan Dzingel scored the lone goal for the Buckeyes. The Irish peppered Ohio State goaltender Brady Hjelle with 44 shots in the victory and the CCHA first team all-star made 41 saves.
The win was the fifth straight for Notre Dame and gives the Irish a 6-0-2 mark since Feb. 17. They are now 24-12-3 on the season while Ohio State’s season comes to an end with a 16-17-7 record. The win pretty much assures Notre Dame a bid in the 2013 NCAA Championship. Those bids will come out at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday night.
“I thought we did a great job tonight, staying the course, playing our game,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
“We’ve emphasized shooting the puck and tonight we took advantage of getting pucks to the net. It’s a mindset, we have to shoot the puck and get it to the net. At times this year, when we’ve struggled we overpass and try to make plays that aren’t there.”
The Buckeyes opened the scoring at 9:56 of the first period as Dzingel scored off a two-on-one with Anthony Greco. The Oho State goal came just moments after Costello whipped a shot off the post in the OSU end.
The Buckeyes broke back with Dzingel carrying the puck into the Irish zone. He left it for Greco who carried it down the right wing pulling a defender towards him before dropping it to Dzingel in the slot where he beat Irish netminder Steven Summerhays with a shot low to his glove side and inside the right post. The goal was Dzingel’s 16th of the year.
Notre Dame answered back less than one minute later when Schneider snapped a wrist shot past Hjelle’s glove at 10:52 for his fifth of the season. Freshman Thomas DiPauli took the puck away from an Ohio State player and fed Schneider in the neutral zone. The sophomore right wing broke into the Buckeyes’ zone on a three-on-one and used his teammates as a decoy before snapping his shot under Hjelle’s glove to make it a 1-1 game.
“Thomas DiPauli made a great play on the wall, got the puck out and we had a 3-on-1,” said Schneider.
“I looked to T.J. Tynan but the defense was sagging towards him, so I took the shot and it went in. I thought we played very well today as a team and had a great effort today, cycling the puck and getting the puck out off the walls.”
The Irish controlled the play in the second period, outshooting Ohio State, 17-7, but could not solve Hjelle who held the Irish at bay.
The Buckeyes had the best scoring chance early in the period when Alex Lippincott slipped behind the Irish defense and got a backhander off on Summerhays who made the pad save. The rebound went of the left post and rolled back across the goal line. As Summerhays slid back, his pads caught the puck and kicked it out. The play went to replay and was ruled no goal as the puck never crossed the goal line.
The Irish finally figured out Hjelle in the third period but needed a power play to do it. With Darik Angeli off for interference, Tynan whipped a shot from the edge of the left circle past a screened goaltender just inside the left post for his 10th goal of the season at 3:50. Sam Calabrese and David Gerths picked up the assists on the play.
“We wanted to get pucks to the net and today we did a pretty good job of it,” said Tynan.
“On the goal, I saw an opening and thought maybe (David) Gerths could get a deflection in front so I shot it and it went into the net.”
“(Brady) Hjelle is an unbelievable goaltender. He’s been that way all season and he was again tonight,” said Tynan.
“We got a lot of shots on net which is what we wanted to do. Obviously he stopped a lot of them. We were lucky that a few went in and we got the win.”
From there, Notre Dame protected the lead as the Irish held the Buckeyes to just five shots in the third period. With 1:33 left, Ohio State pulled Hjelle in favor of a sixth attacker. OSU never got a shot on Summerhays and with the play in the right corner, Bryan Rust chipped the puck up the boards to Tynan who hit Costello with a pass in the neutral zone. He fired the puck into the empty net for his 10th of the season at 18:55 to seal the win with a 3-1 final score.
Notre Dame outshot the Buckeyes by a 44-17 margin in the game. Summerhays finished with 16 saves on the night as he picked up his 20th win on the season. The Irish were 1-for-3 on the power play while Ohio State was 0-for-2.
When Notre Dame and Michigan meet on Sunday afternoon, it will be the fifth meeting this season between the two schools. The Irish are 4-0 versus the Wolverines on the year. All-time, the two schools have met 133 times with Michigan leading the all-time series, 73-55-5. In the CCHA tournament, Notre Dame is 5-9 versus Michigan.
IRISH HOCKEY NOTES:
** This marks the third time in 10 trips to the CCHA Championship that Notre Dame has advanced to the title game. The Irish did it in 2007 and 2009 and won both championships that season. The opponent each year was Michigan.
** With the empty net goal, Jeff Costello extended his point streak to four games (2g, 3a) while Bryan Rust has now scored a point in eight straight games (5g, 4a).
** With the win in goal, junior Steven Summerhays is now 20-11-2. He becomes the seventh goaltender in the program’s history to win 20 or more games in a season. Teammate Mike Johnson was the last as he won 20 in the 2010-11 season.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FOhio State (16-17-7) 1 0 0 - 1#9/#9 Notre Dame (24-12-3) 1 0 2 - 3
ScoringFirst Period: OSU: Ryan Dzingel 16 (Anthony Greco), 9:56; ND: Peter Schneider 5 (Thomas DiPauli), 10:52.
Penalties: OSU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: OSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: T.J. Tynan 10 (David Gerths, Sam Calabrese), PPG, 3:50; ND: Jeff Costello 10 (Tynan, Bryan Rust), ENG, 18:55.
Penalties: OSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Ohio State 5 - 7 - 5 - 17Notre Dame 11 - 17 - 16 - 44
Goaltender Saves:OSU: Brady Hjelle (58:31) 10 - 17 - 14 - 41ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 4 - 7 - 5 - 16
Power Plays:OSU: 0 for 2ND: 1 for 3
Attendance: N/A