NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame hockey program fell in game three to the Spartans of Michigan State Sunday night, 4-2, to conclude their Big Ten Conference tournament run in the best-of-three quarterfinals inside Compton Family Ice Arena.
Michigan State was whistled for interference early in the opening frame and the Irish capitalized on the man-advantage to take a quick 1-0 lead off the stick of Justin Janicke.
MSU answered with a goal of their own just over halfway through the first period to even the tally with 8:33 to go in the frame.
The Spartans took a second interference call after an attacker collided with Ryan Bischel in the crease but the Irish were unable to take advantage of their second powerplay opportunity of the night as the score remained locked.
Through the first 20 minutes played, the Irish held the edge in shots, 12-7, with the score even at 1-1.
The Irish continued to pepper the MSU net with shots, firing eight on goal in the first seven minutes of the second period but could not find twine halfway through Sunday’s game, with both teams looking to snap the 1-1 stalemate.
MSU eventually broke the tie at 11:01 of the second stanza with a goal off the faceoff to make it 2-1.
Despite outshooting the Spartans 25-14 through two periods of play, MSU held the 2-1 lead at the second intermission.
Michigan State was called for a hook partway through the third period and the Irish powerplay unit dominated the offensive end but MSU’s netminder stood on his head to keep all Irish shots out as ND fought for the game-tying tally.
The Spartans returned to full strength and the Irish continued to hold their own in the offensive end but a lucky bounce for the visitors wound up in the ND net and the Irish faced a two-goal deficit with 13:18 left in the third period.
The Irish went back to the powerplay with 4:09 to go in regulation after an interference call on MSU as ND skated into the offensive zone. Following the break in action, the Irish pulled Bischel in favor of the two-man advantage.
Hunter Strand banked a shot off the post to draw the Irish within a goal at 16:37 of the third period. After MSU challenged the play for offsides the goal was confirmed on video replay and the Irish trailed 3-2 late in regulation.
At the next stoppage of play, the Irish pulled their senior netminder once more with 3:04 to play. The Spartans took advantage of the empty net with less than two minutes to play to seal the Irish fate with a 4-2 score.
The Irish finished the night with 39 shots on goal and remained disciplined late in the contest to record their first game of the year without a penalty against.
On the opposite side of the special teams battle, the Irish powerplay was successful on half of their opportunities, with both ND goals coming on the man-advantage Sunday night.
GOALS
- Justin Janicke opened the scoring with a powerplay goal at 4:55 of the first period to give ND the 1-0 lead. The sophomore forward fired a shot off from just inside the near circle, beating a Spartan defender as he tried to knock J. Janicke off the puck. A pair of graduate seniors, Chayse Primeau and Nick Leivermann, each recorded an assist on the goal.
- With the extra attacker on the ice and the Irish net empty for a six-on-four chance, Hunter Strand scored off Solag Bakich’s rebound to pull the Irish within one at 16:37 of the third. Leivermann, in his 146th and final game with the Irish, scored the secondary assist on the tally for a two-point night.
KEY STATS
- The Irish skaters drew four penalties in Sunday’s loss, capitalizing on two of their chances as Justin Janicke and Hunter Strand each net goals on the man-advantage.
- ND outshot MSU, 39-28, Sunday night while the Irish jumped in front of an additional 20 pucks to keep them off net. Jesse Lansdell led the team with four blocked shots, including two on a single shift midway through the second period to keep Irish hopes alive.
- Ben Brinkman closed out his collegiate career skating in his 175th game Sunday night. The Minnesota native recorded 27 points in his career, off five goals and 23 assists.