March 1, 2014
Chestnut Hill, Mass. – Notre Dame traveled to No. 1 ranked Boston College to close out the 2013-14 regular season on Saturday afternoon. It would take extra playing time, but the Irish pulled off the upset as they ended the Eagles’ 19-game unbeaten streak (17-0-2) with a 2-1 overtime win in front of a sellout crowd of 7,884 at Conte Forum.
Freshman center Vince Hinostroza notched the game-winning goal just 1:56 into overtime as his shot from the high slot deflected off a Boston College forward’s stick up in the air and over goaltender Thatcher Demko’s shoulder for the victory. Defenseman Kevin Lind scored Notre Dame’s first goal of the night.
Boston College got its lone goal from Hobey Baker candidate Johnny Gaudreau who scored a power-play goal in the second period, his 30th of the season.
The win gives Notre Dame a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) since Feb. 8. The Irish improve to 20-12-2 on the season and 9-9-2 in Hockey East . They finish the season with 20 points in conference play and tied for seventh with Vermont. The Catamounts won on Saturday, 3-2 versus UMass-Lowell and they take seventh due to the second tiebreaker – conference wins – as they have 10 (10-10-0) to Notre Dame’s nine. The Irish will open the first round of the Hockey East playoffs – a single-elimination game – versus ninth-place finisher Boston University.
Boston College sees its record go to 25-5-4 overall and 16-2-2 in league play. The Eagles finish first in the conference and will have a first round bye in the playoffs. The last time BC lost a game was on Nov. 29, a 5-4 loss to Holy Cross.
“We are definitely playing better,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
“The guys who are on the ice have done a good job. We are playing more composed now. I wish we were a little better on the power play and a few other situations offensively, but we are playing with more composure, bending but not breaking.”
The win over the top-ranked Eagles marks the second time this season that Notre Dame has defeated a No. 1 team. The Irish defeated then No. 1 Minnesota on Nov. 8th by a 4-1 score. They have now beaten a No. 1 ranked team 14 times in the history of the program, including defeating Boston College when the Eagles were No. 1 on five different occasions.
The two teams struggled to get many scoring chances in the first period as Notre Dame outshot BC by a 6-3 margin. By holding the Eagles off the scoreboard, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays extended his school-record shutout streak to 210:19. The previous mark of 193:27 was held by David Brown `07 and set in the 2003-04 season.
Kevin Lind’s second period goal against Boston College gave Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.
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The Irish would finally break through against Demko early in the second period as Lind scored his second of the season, whipping a wrist shot off of the freshman goaltender’s right shoulder just 32 seconds into the middle stanza.
The goal came in transition for Notre Dame as center Steven Fogarty moved the puck ahead to Jeff Costello at the BC blue line. Costello carried over the line and pulled up on the right side and found Lind coming late as the fourth attacker. Lind drilled his shot from the rim of the left circle to make it 1-0.
Again Summerhays stopped all eight shots he faced in the second to increase his shutout streak to 230:19.
The Eagles would get the equalizer at 1:31 of the third on a power play as Gaudreau worked his way down the left side before cutting to the slot and firing a shot at Summerhays. The Irish netminder got a piece of it with his left elbow, but it deflected off him and in.
That goal snapped his scoring streak at 231:50 and is the longest in Irish hockey history.
Neither team would score in regulation to set up the overtime and Hinostroza’s game winner, which came on the only shot of the extra stanza.
Mike Voran dug the puck out of the corner and moved it to Hinostroza moving near the left circle. The freshman appeared to throw the puck towards the Boston College goal where it went off a forward’s stick and went high in the air. The puck made its way over Demko’s shoulder and into the goal as two Irish forwards drove to the front of the goal. The officials reviewed the play and ruled it a good goal to give the Irish the 2-1 win.
On the night, Notre Dame out shot Boston College by a 21-20 margin. Summerhays and Demko each made 19 saves. The Irish were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Eagles were 1-for-2.
“Steven (Summerhays) has the capability of playing like that every night,” said Jackson.
“That’s probably the most important thing going into the playoffs. He’s back to where he is capable. He had some inconsistencies to start the second half. The goaltender has to be the difference maker in games like this. It’s like a playoff game. We have confidence in him and everything builds from there.”
Notre Dame has now won 20 or more games 13 times in the program’s history, including six of the last eight seasons.
The Irish will return to action at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, March 8 when they open the first round of the Hockey East playoffs against Boston University at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Tickets are on sale now at the Murnane Family Ticket Office, at UND.com/tickets or by calling 574-631-7356.
IRISH NOTES:
** The last time Steven Summerhays was scored on came on Friday, Feb. 14 at 13:49 of the third period of the 2-2 tie at Providence College.
** The last time Notre Dame won at Boston College was on Nov. 7, 2008, a 4-1 Irish win.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 OT - F#rv/#14 Notre Dame (20-12-2/9-9-2) 0 1 0 1 - 2#1/#1 Boston College (25-5-4/16-2-2) 0 0 1 0 - 1
Scoring
1st Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BC: 2 for 4 minutes.
2nd Period: ND: Kevin Lind 2 (Jeff Costello, Steven Fogarty), 00:32.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; BC: 0 for 0 minutes.
3rd Period: BC:Johnny Gaudreau 30 (Mike Matheson), PPG, 1:31
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BC: 1 for 2 minutes.
Overime: ND: Vince Hinostroza 7 (Mike Voran, Mario Lucia), 1:56
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BC: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 6 - 6 - 8 - 1 - 21Boston College 3 - 8 - 9 - 0 - 20
Goaltender Saves:ND: Steven Summerhays (61:56) 3 - 8 - 8 - 0 - 19BC: Thatcher Demko (61:56) 6 - 5 - 8 - 0 - 19
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 3BC: 1 for 2
Attendance: 7,884 (sellout)