Feb. 19, 2012
Oxford, Ohio – For the second night in a row, Miami got strong goaltending from senior Connor Knapp and a strong all-around offensive effort as the RedHawks handed the Irish a 4-1 loss at Steve Cady Arena.
Reilly Smith, Trent Vogelhuber, Cody Murphy and Patrick Tiesling took care of the scoring and Knapp stopped 27 of 28 Irish shots for his second win of the weekend. Notre Dame broke a long scoreless drought on a Billy Maday power-play goal to start the third period.
Notre Dame out shot the RedHawks, 28-26, on the night. Mike Johnson made 22 saves for the Irish on the night.
The loss was the fifth straight for the Irish and drops Notre Dame to 16-15-3 on the season and 11-12-3-0 in the CCHA. The Irish remain tied for eighth place in the conference with Northern Michigan as each school has 36 points on the season.
Miami improves to 19-13-2 on the season and 13-11-2-1 in conference play, good for 42 points in the standings. The RedHawks, who started the weekend tied for seventh with the Irish, could finish the weekend in fourth place.
For the second night in a row, the RedHawks got on the scoreboard first as Smith picked up his 23rd goal of the season on the power play at 5:12.
With Austin Wuthrich off for boarding, Jimmy Mullin fed the puck to Tyler Biggs at the bottom of the left circle. Biggs spun and directed a shot on goal that Mike Johnson stopped. The rebound bounced out in the crease and Smith, the CCHA’s top sniper tucked it inside the right post to give Miami the 1-0 lead.
The RedHawks made it 2-0 at 16:48 on one-man effort by Vogelhuber. The senior center blocked a Notre Dame shot in the right circle and raced down the ice. With Biggs driving down the left side, Vogelhuber held the puck before rifling a wrist shot over Johnson’s glove for his third of the season to give Miami the 2-0 lead.
The second period belonged to the goaltenders as Knapp and Johnson each made 12 saves in the middle period.
Notre Dame had plenty of good chances, getting four power-play chances in the second period but failed to capitalize on them.
The Irish opened the third period with a 5-on-3 power play and finally broke through on Knapp in the Miami goal as Maday picked up his ninth goal of the season just 58 seconds into the third.
With the two-man advantage, the Irish worked the puck around the perimeter with T.J. Tynan firing a shot on goal from the high slot. The puck went through a screen in front by David Gerths but Knapp was there to make the stop. Gerths tried to jam the rebound in but it bounced to the left where Maday got his stick on the puck and lifted it over Knapp’s pads for the goal to make it 2-1.
The marker was the first for the Irish since a Riley Sheahan power-play goal at 19:54 of the first period of the Feb. 11 game at Ferris State, a span of 141:04 without a goal.
Soon after the Irish score, Miami was able to take advantage of a 5-on-3 of its own as the Irish were whistled for three consecutive minor penalties over a three-minute span.
Murphy restored the two-goal lead at 4:28 when he snapped a wrist shot past Johnson from the bottom of the right circle off assists from Cameron Schilling and Alden Hirschfeld.
The RedHawk lead would go to 4-1 at 13:32 when Tiesling deflected a shot past Johnson off a shot from the point by Murphy for his third goal of the season.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 2-11-1 at Miami since the 2003-04 season.
Despite breaking the goal-scoring drought in the third period, Notre Dame has now gone 314:15 since the Irish last scored an even strength goal dating back to Feb. 3.
The Irish return home to close out the 2011-12 regular season on Feb. 24-25 when they play host to Michigan State at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Game time on Friday is 8:35 p.m. with Saturday’s Senior Night game starting at 7:35 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#13/#13 Notre Dame (16-15-3/11-12-3-0) 0 0 1 - 1rv/#19 Miami (19-13-2/13-11-2-1) 2 0 2 - 4
Scoring First Period: MU: Reilly Smith 23 (Tyler Biggs, Jimmy Mullin), PPG, 5:12; MU: Trent Vogelhuber 3 (unassisted), 16:48.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; MU: 2 for 4 minutes
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; MU: 4 for 8 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Billy Maday 9 (David Gerths, T.J. Tynan), PPG, 00:58; MU: Cody Murphy 1 (Cameron Schilling, Alden Hirschfeld), PPG, 4:28; MU: Patrick Tiesling 3 (Murphy, Matt Tomassoni), 13:32
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; MU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 4 - 12 - 12 - 28Miami 8 - 12 - 6 - 26
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 6 - 12 - 4 - 22MU: Connor Knapp (60:00) 4 - 12 -11 - 27
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 8MU: 2 for 5
Attendance: 3,054