Jan. 2, 2011
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – On the heels of one of its most fruitful offensive outputs in recent memory, the 12th-ranked Notre Dame hockey team stumbled out of the gate but regained its balance to force a 3-3 draw with Minnesota State entering the third period of Saturday evening’s game contest. However, the Mavericks used a long-range bullet from Michael Dorr with 22.9 ticks left on the clock to hand Notre Dame a 4-3 defeat in front of 3,580 fans at the Sears Centre Arena.
The Irish (12-7-2) were looking to overcome a 2-0 first-period deficit for the second time in the last six contests by netting three unanswered scores in the second frame of their opening game of the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament. Notre Dame last found itself behind by a pair and came back to win in the lid lifter of a two-game series at No. 6 Miami (Ohio) in the first week of December, bettering the Redhawks with a 5-4 decision.
Now in its third season of hosting the event to open the New Year, Notre Dame is 3-1-1 in the Shillelagh Tournament.
Notre Dame will face No. 10 Boston at 5:05 p.m. (CT) on Sunday (Jan. 2) in the third-place game of the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament. Minnesota State and Brown will battle in the championship at 3:05 p.m.
After reaching the double-digit plateau with a 10-2 win over Canisius just three days ago, the Irish sticks were held relatively silent by Minnesota State goalie Phil Cook, who blanked Notre Dame through the first 20 minutes of action.
The Mavericks (7-8-4) seized momentum in the early stages when Cameron Cooper took advantage of a deflated Irish unit that was hindered by consecutive penalties to Mike Voran with a power play goal at 11:16 in the opener.
Under the four-minute mark, Minnesota State stretched its lead to 2-0 when Evan Mosey rifled the puck through traffic from just inside the blue line.
While the Mavericks out-shot Notre Dame in the first period, 15-11, the Irish answered by peppering Cook (6-7-2) with 17 shots in the penultimate frame compared to just five Minnesota State attempts in the direction of Notre Dame pipe patroller Mike Johnson (9-5-2).
Cook finished the evening with 34 saves and Johnson stopped 23 shots.
Notre Dame out-shot the Mavericks in the contest, 37-27, and 8-7 during power plays.
The Irish offense looked much more in sync to start the penultimate frame and controlled the ice in front of the Minnesota State net. Ben Ryan found the back of the net 4:12 into the period and the score was knotted at 2-2 with Jeff Costello’s power play goal at the 13:14 mark. It was Costello’s first goal in nearly a month.
Notre Dame took its first lead later in the period when Calle Ridderwall received a Billy Maday dish and beat the defense to notch his 10th goal of the campaign at the 10:21 mark. The goal marked Ridderwall’s third stretch of scoring a point in three straight games on the season.
Minnesota State scored the final two goals on the evening, one of which came with less than a minute remaining in the second stanza. Rylan Galiardi deposited Minnesota State’s third goal when Johnson slid out of the crease and left the net open for a brief second.
Dorr fired home his game-winner from a few feet inside the blue line to silence the favorable neutral-site Notre Dame crowd.