Nov. 26, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Domenic Maiani scored a pair of goals and Ohio State got single goals from Dave Barton, Rod Pelley and Tom Fritsche to give the Buckeyes a 5-2 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night at the Joyce Center. The Buckeye win was their fifth straight and handed the Irish their third straight loss.
Matt Amado and T.J. Jindra had third-period power-play goals for Notre Dame’s only goals of the night.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 3-8-1 on the year and 2-5-1 in the CCHA while Ohio State improves to 7-5-1 overall and 6-4-1 in conference play. The Irish loss, their sixth straight to the Buckeyes, extends their futility versus OSU to 1-12-3 over the last 16 meetings dating back to the 2000-01 season.
For the second night in the two-game set, Notre Dame struggled to get its offense going, recording just three shots in the opening period. Ohio State had no such trouble as the Buckeyes fired 12 shots on starting goaltender David Brown and scored their first goal of the night in the first two minutes of the game.
Barton put the Buckeyes ahead to stay just 1:34 into the game when he found a loose puck in a scramble around the Notre Dame net and tucked it behind Brown for his second goal of the season.
Pelley would get his first of three points on the night when he scored on the power play with 8/10ths of a second left on the first period clock. The senior center took a pass from Maiani and beat Brown in close to send the Buckeyes to the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The second period belonged to Maiani as his two goals in the stanza gave Ohio State a 4-0 lead after two periods. He collected his first of the night and first of the season on a power play at 11:30 when he fired the rebound of Sean Collins’ shot behind Brown to make it 3-0.
Maiani made it 4-0 at 19:38 when he took a pass from Andrew Schembri at the bottom of the left wing circle and tucked a shot over Brown’s blocker and under the cross bar for his second of the night and the season.
Irish head coach Jeff Jackson replaced Brown in goal with freshman Jordan Pearce to start the third period. Ohio State would make it 5-0 when Fritsche scored from in front of the goal at 5:10 for his fifth of the season.
Notre Dame finally broke through on Buckeye goaltender Dave Caruso with a pair of late power-play goals. Amado snapped the shutout bid at 14:33 when he blasted a shot past Caruso from the left-wing circle for his second goal of the weekend and seventh of the season with the man advantage. Noah Babin and Brock Sheahan recorded assists on the play.
Jindra’s goal at 17:49 was his second of the season and came as the Irish forced a turnover deep in the Ohio State zone. The Irish captain fought off one check and got a shot on Caruso that was stopped. He followed his shot and stuffed the rebound through Caruso’s pads for the final score of 5-2.
For the game, Ohio State out shot Notre Dame by a 31-20 margin. Brown made 19 saves in his 40 minutes of playing time while Pearce had seven saves in the third period. Caruso, who picked up both wins for the Buckeyes made 18 saves in the Ohio State goal.
The Buckeyes would go 2-for-9 on the night via the power play while the Irish converted on two of 10 chances.
Notre Dame returns to action next weekend, Dec. 2-3, with a home-and-home series with Western Michigan. On Dec. 2, the Irish travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., for a 7:35 p.m. game while Saturday’s contest will be played at the Joyce Center at 7:05 p.m. Ohio State returns home to host Alabama-Huntsville in a weekend series in Columbus, Ohio.
Summary: 1 2 3 FOhio State (7-5-1/6-4-1) 2 2 1 5Notre Dame (3-8-1/2-5-1) 0 0 2 2
First Period: OSU: Dave Barton 2 (Sam Campbell, Kyle Hood), 1:34; OSU: Rod Pelley 3 (Domenic Maiani, Matt McIlvane), PPG, 19:59.Penalties: OSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: OSU: Maiani 1 (Sean Collins, Pelley), PPG, 11:30; OSU: Maiani 2 (Andrew Schembri, Tom Fritsche), PPG, 19:38.Penalties: OSU: 5 for 10 minutes; ND: 5 for 10 minutes.
Third Period: OSU: Fritsche 5 (McIlvane, Pelley), 5:10; ND: Matt Amado 7 (Noah Babin, Brock Sheahan), PPG, 14:33; ND: T.J. Jindra 2 (unassisted), PPG, 17:49.Penalties: OSU: 4 for 8 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Shots on Goal:Ohio State: 12 - 11 - 8 - 31Notre Dame: 3 - 7 - 10 - 20
Saves:Ohio State: Dave Caruso (59:11) 3 - 7 - 8 - 18Notre Dame: David Brown (40:00) 10 - 9 - x - 19 Jordan Pearce (20:00) x - x - 7 - 7
Power Plays:Ohio State: 2 for 9Notre Dame: 2 for 10
Attendance: 1,648