Nov. 11, 2007
Oxford, Ohio – After falling to Notre Dame on Friday night by a 2-1 it would figure that the No. 1 ranked Miami RedHawks would come into Saturday night’s game looking to extract some revenge on the Irish.
The RedHawks showed off their top-ranked offense (averaging five goals per game) through the first two periods of the game, building a 3-0 lead on goals by Nino Musitelli, Tommy Wingels and Pat Cannone. When it came down to it though, it was the goaltending of junior Jeff Zatkoff (27 saves) that delivered the 3-1 win in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Steve Cady Arena.
Notre Dame goaltender Jordan Pearce turned in his second strong performance of the weekend as he made 32 saves, holding the Irish in the game through the first two periods. Evan Rankin had the lone goal for the Irish early in the third period.
The loss gave Notre Dame a split with the top-ranked RedHawks and saw its record go to 7-4-0 overall and 5-2-0 in the CCHA. Miami improved to 9-1-0 on the year and 7-1-0 in conference play.
The opening period was all Miami as the RedHawks blitzed the Irish with 16 shots, getting a pair of goals while Notre Dame could get just four on Zatkoff.
Miami took a 1-0 lead at 6:28 on the power play when Musitelli deflected Mitch Ganzak’s slap shot from the center slot over Pearce’s stick and under the crossbar. The goal was Musitelli’s fifth of the season.
Miami would take a 2-0 lead at 17:44. With Wingels was parked on the left side of the Notre Dame goal, Justin Mercier’s fired a shot that Wingels deflected past Pearce for his fifth goal of the season.
The RedHawks continued to pour on the pressure in the second period but could only get one more past Pearce with the help of a nice bounce of the goal post.
Defenseman Alec Martinez fired a shot from the right point that eluded Pearce but hit the right post. The rebound rolled through the crease to the left side of the goal where Cannone flipped the puck into an open net at 4:47 for his first collegiate goal that gave Miami a 3-0 lead.
Notre Dame was able to get its offense on track in the second period, getting 13 shots on goal but could not get the puck past Zatkoff in the Miami goal. After two periods, the RedHawks owned a 32-17 edge in the shots on goal.
In the third period, Rankin was able to exact some revenge of his own when he scored at 2:13, jamming the rebound of an Ian Cole shot past Zatkoff to break up the Miami goaltender’s shutout bid. In the second period, Rankin took a hit at center ice that knocked him out of the game briefly for stitches. The senior right wing returned before the end of the period.
The Irish out shot Miami by an 11-3 margin in the third period, but could only get Rankin’s goal past Zatkoff.
On the night, Miami out shot Notre Dame by a 35-28 margin. The RedHawks were 1-for-4 on the power play while the Irish were 0-for-4.
Notre Dame returns to action next weekend, Nov. 16-17 with a home-and-home series versus Western Michigan. Friday night’s game will be played at the Joyce Center with face off set for 7:35 p.m.
IRISH NOTES:
* The Irish were 0-for-7 on the power play in the weekend series versus Miami.
* With his third-period goal, Evan Rankin has equaled his goal output for all of last season – four. He reached that total in 11 games this season.
* Notre Dame and Miami own two of the top penalty-killing units in the country. Between the two schools, they have given up just seven power-play goals in 21 games and 114 chances. Notre Dame has killed 50-of-54 chances (.925) while Miami has killed 57-of-60 (.950).
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#12/#12 Notre Dame (7-4-0/5-2-0) 0 0 1 - 1#1/#1 Miami (9-1-0/7-1-0) 2 1 0 - 3
ScoringFirst Period: MU: Nino Musitelli 5 (Mitch Ganzak, Nathan Davis), PPG, 6:28; MU: Tommy Wingels 5 (Justin Mercier, Charlie Fetzer), 17:44.Penalties: ND: 4 for 8 minutes; MU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: MU: Pat Cannone 1 (Alec Martinez, Brian Kaufman), 4:47.Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; MU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Evan Rankin 4 (Ian Cole), 2:13.Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; MU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 4 - 13 - 11 - 28Miami 16 - 16 - 3 - 35
Goaltender Saves:ND - Jordan Pearce (58:40) 14 - 15 - 3 - 32MU - Jeff Zatkoff (60:00) 4 - 13 - 10 - 27
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 4MU: 1 for 4
Attendance: 3,642 (sellout)