Jan. 21, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame defense came up with a big effort on Friday night as the Irish ended Michigan’s nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2) with a 3-1 win in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,022 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Not only did the Notre Dame defense – led by goaltender Steven Summerhays’ 30-save game – slam the door on the Wolverines high-octane offense, the defense got in on the scoring as Sam Calabrese and Sean Lorenz each scored goals to stake the Irish to a 2-0 lead after two periods. Billy Maday added the insurance goal, scoring into an empty net after blocking a shot after Michigan pulled its goaltender.
The lone Michigan goal to get past Summerhays was scored by Alex Guptill on a power-play deflection early in the third period.
The win improved the #6/#7 Irish to 14-8-3 overall and 9-5-3-0 in the CCHA, good for 30 points and a third-place tie with Miami. Notre Dame has two games in hand on the RedHawks. The #10/#10 Wolverines, who hadn’t lost since Dec. 2 at Alaska, fall to 14-9-4 on the season and 8-7-4-1 in the conference. Michigan has 29 points and is just one point behind the Irish in third place.
The two teams played end-to-end hockey in the first period as the Irish out shot Michigan, 12-7, scoring the lone goal of the period at 15:39.
Calabrese and T.J Tynan played give-and-go coming up the ice with Calabrese hitting the speedy center at the Michigan blue line as he came down the right side. Tynan drove towards the goal pulling Wolverine goaltender Shawn Hunwick out of the cage. Tynan then went behind the net and centered the puck to Calabrese as he crashed the net. The junior defenseman fired a low shot that beat Hunwick low to his glove side for Calabrese’s third goal of the season and the Irish had a 1-0 lead.
Tynan and Calabrese would combine to set up Notre Dame’s second goal of the night at 10:19 of the second period as Lorenz crashed the net to cash in his third of the season.
After Summerhays stopped a Michigan scoring attempt Calabrese moved the puck ahead to Tynan who carried it down the right boards into the Michigan zone. He left the puck for Calabrese who carried towards through the right circle before throwing a shot on net that Hunwick stopped. Lorenz came from his spot on the blue line and was able to beat the defense to the puck and jam it past Hunwick for his third goal of the season and the Irish led 2-0.
Tynan’s two-point game extended his current point streak to five games as he has three goals and five assists for eight points in those games since Dec. 10.
Summerhays was brilliant in the middle stanza as he stopped all 18 shots that Michigan fired at him.
The Wolverines finally broke through early in the third period as Guptill, their leading goal scorer, beat Summerhays with a power-play deflection at 4:30.
With Michigan applying pressure, David Wohlberg controlled the puck on the right boards and passed it across to the left point where defenseman Greg Pateryn hammered a slap shot at the Notre Dame goal. With traffic in front of Summerhays, Guptill appeared to get his stick on the puck to deflect it over the Irish goaltender for his 13th goal of the season to cut the lead to 2-1.
From there, the Irish nursed the lead with Summerhays making the stops when needed and the defense clearing any rebounds that appeared.
Michigan pulled Hunwick with just over a minute left in regulation in favor of a sixth attacker but the Irish were able to keep the puck out of the net. In the final 40 seconds, Maday blocked a shot from the left point and was able to beat the Wolverines to the loose puck firing it into the empty net at 19:35 to seal the win for Notre Dame. The goal was Maday’s seventh of the season. In the game, Notre Dame out shot Michigan by a 35-31 margin. Hunwick finished the night with 32 saves. The Irish were 0-for-4 on the power play while the Wolverines were 1-for-4.
The two teams will be back at it on Saturday evening at the Compton Family Ice Arena at 7:35 p.m. in game two of the series.
** IRISH NOTES **
– The win over Michigan was the third in a row at home for the Irish. They won a pair of games in 2009-10 in the Wolverines’ last appearance in Michiana. The teams played three times last season with Michigan holding a 2-1-0 advantage.
– With his two assists in the game, T.J. Tynan now has 10 games this season with two or more points. In less than two seasons with the Irish, Tynan now has 26 multiple-point games.
– With the win, Notre Dame is now 8-5-3 this season against ranked teams. The Irish are 6-2-1 at home in games versus ranked teams.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#10/#10 Michigan (14-9-3/8-7-4-1) 0 0 1 - 1#6/#7 Notre Dame (14-8-3/9-5-3-0) 1 1 1 - 3
Scoring
First Period: ND: Sam Calabrese 3 (TJ. Tynan, Bryan Rust), 15:39.
Penalties: UM: 6 for 12 minutes; ND: 5 for 19 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Sean Lorenz 3 (Calabrese, Tynan), 10:19.
Penalties: UM: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: UM: Alex Guptill 13 (Greg Pateryn, David Wohlberg), PPG, 4:30; ND: Billy Maday 7 (unassisted), ENG, 19:35.
Penalties: UM: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Michigan 7 - 18 - 6 - 31Notre Dame 12 - 14 - 9 - 35
Goaltender Saves:UM: Shawn Hunwick (58:30) 11 - 13 - 8 - 32ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 7 - 18 - 5 - 30
Power Plays:UM: 1 for 4ND: 0 for 4
Attendance: 5,022