Dec. 5, 2010
Oxford, Ohio – Junior left wing Alden Hirschfeld scored his first career hat trick to lead the Miami RedHawks to a 5-2 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena.
Hirschfeld’s hat trick came in a 7:05 span of the second period as the RedHawks stretched a 1-0 lead into a 5-2 advantage. Garrett Kennedy and Trevor Vogelhuber also scored for Miami. Billy Maday and Jeff Costello each scored a goal for Notre Dame.
The loss moved Miami back into first place in the CCHA as the RedHawks improved to 10-5-3 overall and 8-4-2-1 in the conference, good for 27 points and a one-point lead on the Irish. Notre Dame is now 10-5-2 on the year and 8-3-1-1 in the league for 26 points.
The game ended a four-game road swing for the Irish and a stretch of nine games in the last 11 away from home since Oct. 31. During that span, the Irish were 5-4-2.
The Irish controlled play in the opening period but the RedHawks scored the only goal. That came at 13:35 when Kennedy scored his first goal of the season, deflecting a Steven Spinell slapshot past Notre Dame goaltender Steven Summerhays to make it 1-0. For Summerhays, the freshmen puckstopper, it was his first start since a win at Bowling Green on Nov. 6.
The second period belonged to the RedHawks as they scored four times on 10 shots with Hirschfeld scoring all three of his goals with Vogelhuber adding a single goal to wrap up the Miami explosion.
Hirschfeld got his first of the night and sixth of the season at 8:33 when he fired a wrist shot from the right wing circle that Summerhays got a glove on but couldn’t control as the puck dribbled its way into the net to make it 2-0.
The Irish answered back to cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:40 when Maday scored his third of the season. Defenseman Sam Calabrese fired a shot from the right point that went wide of the goal. Riley Sheahan directed the rebound in front where Maday picked it up and snapped a shot under Connor Knapp’s glove for his third of the season.
From there, Hirschfeld scored the next two goals in a 1:57 span. His first came at 13:41 when he took a feed from Curtis McKenzie in the left circle and one-timed a wrist shot that found its way through Summerhays’ pads for his seventh goal of the year.
Hirschfeld closed his hat trick at 15:38 when he whipped a wrist shot from the right circle past Summerhays to make it a 4-1 game.
The RedHawk lead would go to 5-1 at 17:09 when Vogelhuber notched his fourth of the year, beating Summerhays with a shot from the right face-off dot.
Notre Dame finally broke through with a power-play goal (on their sixth chance) at 19:08 of the middle period, converting while skating five-on-three. Costello got the goal, his fifth of the season, when he jammed a rebound inside the right post past Knapp with assists on the play to Maday and defenseman Shayne Taker.
In the third period, Mike Johnson replaced Summerhays in goal for the final 20 minutes.
Things got ugly in the final stanza at the 6:24 mark when Miami’s Steve Mason ran Notre Dame defenseman Joe Lavin in the right corner of the Irish zone. The resulting scrums resulted in Mason getting a five-minute major and a game misconduct with the Irish getting a three-minute power play on which they failed to score.
Another checking from behind penalty by Miami defenseman Will Weber on Mike Voran with 30 seconds left in the game resulted in a second five-minute major and game misconduct.In all, the third period saw the RedHawks get six penalties for 34 minutes, including the two five-minute majors for hitting from behind. Notre Dame had six penalties for 20 minutes. The Irish were 1-for-9 on the power play in the game.
There was no scoring in the third period as the teams traded eight shots apiece. Summerhays finished with 10 saves in 40 minutes of action while Johnson had eight in the third period. Knapp stopped 27-of-29 shots on the night..
The Irish will return to action at home at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11 to face the Northern Michigan Wildcats as part of a two-game series. The second game will be played at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 12.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F #12/#12 Notre Dame (10-5-2/8-3-1-1) 0 2 0 - 2#6/#6 Miami (10-5-3/8-4-2-1) 1 4 0 - 5
Scoring
First Period: MU: Garrett Kennedy 1 (Steven Spinell), 13:35.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 14 minutes; MU: 5 for 10 minutes.
Second Period: MU: Alden Hirschfeld 5 (Carter Camper, Chris Wideman), 8:33; ND: Billy Maday 3 (Sam Calabrese, Riley Sheahan), 10:40; MU: Hirschfeld 6 (Curtis McKenzie, Andy Miele), 13:41; MU: Hirschfeld 7 (Reilly Smith, Pat Cannone), 15:38: MU: Trent Vogelhuber 4 (Miele), 17:09; ND: Jeff Costello 5 (Maday, Shayne Taker), PPG, 19:08.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; MU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 6 for 20 minutes; MU: 6 for 34 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 13 - 8 - 8 - 29Miami 5 - 10 - 8 - 23
Goaltender Saves:ND: Steven Summerhays (40:00) 4 - 6 - x - 10 Mike Johnson (20:00) x - x - 8 - 8MU: Connor Knapp (60:000) 13 - 6 - 8 - 27
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 9MU: 0 for 3
Attendance: 3,291