Box Score | Press Conference | Highlights
ALBANY, New York – The No. 3 seed Notre Dame Hockey team fell to top-seeded Minnesota State in a hard-fought battle at the NCAA Albany Regional Final on Saturday night at MVP Arena (3,449).
The 1-0 defeat was marked only the second time this season the Irish had been held scoreless, the only other instance coming on a December 11 loss against Michigan State.
Graduate student Matthew Galajda made 32 saves on the night.
Notre Dame would put 23 shots on goal, but was unable to convert as Dryden McKay posted the shutout.
The Fighting Irish were 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Mavericks were 0-for-1.
How It Happened
Notre Dame went on the game’s first power play three and a half minutes into the first period but couldn’t capitalize despite chances by Ryder Rolston and Max Ellis.
Just after the power-play chance expired, Nick Leivermann had a great look after a feed from Jack Adams, but his one timer was blocked and deflected out of play.
Trevor Janicke sent a wrister from the slot just over the crossbar with 5:40 remaining in the first.
Silianoff then tested Dryden McKay with four minutes left in the first but he didn’t quite get all of the one-timer as the Maverick goaltender turned it aside.
With 54 seconds left in the opening frame Landon Slaggert found Graham Slaggert across the top of the offensive zone and the senior forced McKay into a save. After the ensuing faceoff Jake Pivonka had a chance down low but McKay gloved it aside.
With 16 seconds left in the first, the Mavericks opened the scoring when Nathan Smith converted off an offensive zone faceoff play that saw Matthew Galajda make the original save but the rebound fell to Smith, who scored his 19th goal of the year for a 1-0 scoreline after the first 20 minutes of play.
Just 1:47 into the second period the Irish went back on the power play after Solag Bakich was hooked down. Jesse Lansdell nearly forced one in down low but the Mavericks again killed off the power play.
Galajda made 13 saves in the middle frame to keep it a 1-0 game after two periods of play.
The Irish opened the third with 22 seconds of power-play time left and Spencer Stastney was able to get the puck to the netfront but Notre Dame couldn’t find the tying goal.
Midway through the third, the Irish were able to put some good pressure on Minnesota State as Landon Slaggert fired off a shot, but it sailed just right of the goal.
At the 6:19 mark of the third period, the Irish created their best chance of the night, a Graham Slaggert shot that was caught in traffic and hit the left post.
The Irish pulled their goaltender with just over two minutes left in regulation, but even with a sixth skater, the Irish were unable to convert to tie the game.
Notes
- Notre Dame was shutout for just the second time this season (lost 1-0 in overtime to Michigan State on Dec. 11).
- Grant Silianoff returned to the lineup after missing seven games with an injury.
- The Fighting Irish are now 14-12-0 in NCAA Tournament play (14-11-0 under head coach Jeff Jackson).
- With 28 wins (28-12-0), Notre Dame has its highest win total since going 28-10-2 in 2017-18 en route to the NCAA title game.
— ND —