Jan. 21, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – Two first-period power-play goals and a 38-save performance by Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick was the difference on Saturday night as Notre Dame dropped a 2-1 decision the Wolverines in front of a sellout crowd at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Alex Guptill and AJ Treais scored with the man advantage, as Michigan was 2-for-4 on the power play in the game. The Irish were 0-for-4 on their power-play chances with Austin Wuthrich scoring Notre Dame’s only goal of the night.
The Irish outshot the Wolverines in the game, 39-24, but had problems solving Michigan’s senior goaltender Hunwick. Steven Summerhays, making his second start of the weekend, finished with 22 saves in the game.
The loss drops the #6/#7 Irish to 14-9-4 overall and 9-6-3-0 in the CCHA as they fall into a sixth-place tie with Lake Superior State with 30 points, just three points behind second-place Miami and Western Michigan. The 10th-ranked Wolverines are now 15-9-4 for the season and 9-7-4-1 for 32 points in conference play, good for fourth-place in the league standings.
Michigan took the lead at 11:36 of the first period on Guptill’s power-play deflection. With Anders Lee off for tripping, the Wolverines’ Chris Brown took a bad-angle shot from the left boards at Summerhays. The Irish goaltender kicked the shot out to the right boards were Guptill grabbed it. He moved the puck back to the left point to defenseman Greg Pateryn who fired a low shot at Summerhays. Guptill moved to the front of the net where he deflected the shot over the sophomore goaltender for his 14th goal of the year.
The power-play deflection was Guptill’s second of the weekend versus the Irish.
Jeff Costello picked up a minor penalty for slashing at 19:26 of the first period and it came back to haunt Notre Dame. Off a face off in the left-wing circle, T.J. Tynan tried to move the puck up the boards and out of the zone. Michigan forward Phil Di Giuseppe kept the puck in at the blue line and pushed it ahead to Treais who moved from the left boards across the top of the slot before firing a wrist shot over Summerhays’ stick hand at 19:37 for his ninth goal of the season and a 2-0 Wolverine lead.
In the second period, the Irish peppered Hunwick with 17 shots but could score just once, cutting the lead in half just 1:24 into the middle stanza.
Defenseman Sam Calabrese moved the puck down the right boards to Lee behind the Michigan net. The sophomore left wing saw Wuthrich coming back door and passed across the front of the crease to the freshman right wing who fired beat Hunwick from the bottom of the left circle for his sixth goal of the season.
From there it was a goaltending clinic as Hunwick and Summerhays stopped everything that was thrown at them. Hunwick stopped 28-of-29 shots over the final two periods and Summerhays stopped all 14 he faced as Michigan held on for the 2-1 win.
The win was the first for the Wolverines at Notre Dame since a 2-1 win on Jan. 30, 2009 at the Joyce Center. The Irish had won three straight at home against Michigan since that defeat.
Notre Dame now takes to the road as the Irish travel to Fairbanks, Alaska, on Jan. 27-28 for a two-game series with the Alaska Nanooks at the Carlson Center. Game time both nights is 11:05 Eastern time.
** IRISH NOTES **
– Notre Dame played without the services of junior center Riley Sheahan who was suspended for one game by the CCHA after the league reviewed a hit on a Western Michigan player on Jan. 13. Sheahan was supposed to sit out Friday night’s game, but Notre Dame appealed the ruling to the conference’s executive committee and the appeal was denied so Sheahan served the suspension on Saturday. He will return to the lineup on Jan. 27 at Alaska.
– Michigan held the Irish to 0-for-4 on the power play in both games of the series. That marked the first time this season that Notre Dame was held without a power-play goal in a series this season. The Irish entered the weekend having scored at least one power-play goal in 19 of 24 games.
– The Irish fell to 6-5-0 on the season in one-goal games.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#10/#10 Michigan (15-9-3/9-7-4-1) 2 0 0 - 2#6/#7 Notre Dame (14-9-3/9-6-3-0) 0 1 0 - 1
Scoring
First Period: UM: Alex Guptill 14 (Greg Pateryn, Chris Brown), PPG, 11:36; UM: AJ Treais 9 (Phil Di Giuseppe), PPG, 19:37.
Penalties: UM: 2 for 12 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Austin Wuthrich 6 (Anders Lee, Sam Calabrese), 1:24.
Penalties: UM: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: UM: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Michigan 10 - 8 - 6 - 24Notre Dame 12 - 17 - 12 - 39
Goaltender Saves:UM: Shawn Hunwick (60:00) 10 - 16 - 12 - 38ND: Steven Summerhays (59:18) 8 - 8 - 6 - 22
Power Plays:UM: 2 for 4ND: 0 for 4
Attendance: 5,022 (sellout)