Oct. 20, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame hockey team rode the solid goaltending of junior Steven Summerhays and a balanced offensive attack to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 5,022 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Summerhays, making his fourth consecutive start in the new season, stopped a season-high 33 shots and got goals from T.J. Tynan, Robbie Russo, Jeff Costello and David Gerths in the victory. The lone goal surrendered by Summerhays was a second-period power-play goal by the Bulldogs’ Tony Cameranesi.
The win avenged a 3-1 loss to Minnesota Duluth on Thursday night and improved the #10/#9 Irish to 3-1-0 on the season. The Bulldogs fall to 2-2-0 on the year.
Notre Dame came out fast and furious in the first period with aggressive forechecking and some big hits from defenseman Stephen Johns and forward Anders Lee and Costello. The Irish would pepper UMD goaltender Aaron Crandall with 21 shots in the opening period.
“That’s the way we should be playing in this building,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
” We played much more consistent tonight. No one was happy with the way we played last night (Thursday). We shot ourselves in the foot and caused our own problems by the way we played. A lot of that had to do with emotion. They want to play so well here (at home) that they approach it the wrong way. Instead of making plays to score goals, we try to beat people one-on-one and take bad penalties because we get to emotional.”
The aggressive play led to the first goal of the night as Tynan did the honors at 15:04 when he stripped a Bulldog defender of the puck inside the UMD blue line and raced in to beat Crandall by snapping a shot over his glove and under the cross bar from between the hashmarks. The goal was his second of the season and gives him 99 points for his career in just 87 games.
A crosschecking penalty to Duluth’s Drew Olson at 16:58 of the first led to Notre Dame’s second goal of the night as Russo buried a slap shot from the left side at 17:28 for a power-play goal and a 2-0 Irish lead.
Anders Lee controlled the puck on the right boards and moved it back to defenseman Shayne Taker on the right point. He moved it across to the top of the left circle where the sophomore defender ripped a shot past Crandall for his first of the year.
The Irish took the two-goal lead into the first intermission and had a 21-8 advantage on shots. The 21 shots were the most for Notre Dame in one period since Dec. 11, 2010 when the Irish fired 22 shots at Northern Michigan in the second period of that game.
The lead would go to 3-0 at 3:03 of the second period when the aggressive forecheck again forced another Bulldog turnover deep in their zone. Junior right wing Mike Voran came up with the puck below the goal line to the right of Crandall and found Costello all alone in front. The junior left wing snapped a quick shot from the top of the crease past the Bulldog netminder for his first of the season.
Minnesota Duluth got on the scoreboard midway through the second period with the help of their talented power play that has already scored seven times this season. This time freshman Tony Cameranesi did the honors getting his first goal of the seasonat 12:13 to make it 3-1.
Right wing Mike Seidel kept the puck in at the blue line and dumped it down the left boards to Justin Crandall who fired a shot on goal that Summerhays stopped. Cameranesi was there to put the rebound past the Irish goaltender to cut the Notre Dame lead to two goals.
The Notre Dame lead would return to three goals at 4:39 of the third period as the Irish again forced the Bulldogs into a turnover. This time senior left wing Nick Larson came up with it on the right boards. His centering pass landed on the stick of Gerths who drilled a shot from the slot past Crandall for his first of the year to make it 4-1. The goal snapped a 49-game goal-less drought for Gerths who last scored on Feb. 19, 2011 versus Ferris State.
“When we start to see goals from Voran and Gerths, its a good sign for us,” said Jackson.
“Last year we didn’t get that and it hurt us. They are important players on this team and they play valuable minutes. It’s not their forte, but when they contribute, it makes us a much better team.
From there, the Irish defense shut things down the rest of the way as the Irish won in a total team effort. For the night, they out shot Minnesota Duluth, 40-34. Crandall finished with 30 saves for the Bulldogs. Both teams were 1-for-6 on the power play.
Notre Dame returns to CCHA action next week when the Irish travel to Marquette, Mich., to face Northern Michigan on Oct. 26-27. Game time both nights at the Berry Events Center is 7:35 p.m.
** IRISH NOTES **
** Notre Dame’s sellout crowd of 5,022 was the 12th sellout for the Irish in 21 regular-season home dates at the Compton Family Ice Arena since it opened on Oct. 18, 2011.
** With one more point, T.J. Tynan will become the 47th player in the history of the Irish hockey program to reach 100 points for his career. In 87 career games, Tynan has 38 goals and 61 assists for 99 career points.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#13/#13 Minnesota Duluth (2-2-0) 0 1 0 - 1#10/#9 Notre Dame (3-1-0) 2 1 1 - 4
Scoring
First Period: ND: T.J. Tynan 2 (unassisted), 15:04; ND: Robbie Russo 1 (Anders Lee, Shayne Taker), PPG, 17:28.
Penalties: UMD: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Jeff Costello 1 (Mike Voran), 3:03; UMD: Tony Cameranesi 1 (Justin Crandall, Mike Seidel), PPG, 12:13.
Penalties: UMD: 3 for 14 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: David Gerths 1 (Nick Larson), 4:39.
Penalties: UMD: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Minnesota Duluth 8 - 17 - 9 - 34Notre Dame 21 - 11- 8 - 40
Goaltender Saves:UMD: Aaron Crandall (57:48) 19 - 10 - 7 - 36ND: Steven Summerhays (59:46) 8 - 16 - 9 - 33
Power Plays:UMD: 1 for 6ND: 1 for 6
Attendance: 5,022 (sellout)