Nov. 9, 2007
Oxford, Ohip – For the second season in a row, the Notre Dame hockey team went on the road to face the nation’s top-ranked team and came away with the upset road win.
On Friday night, the Irish handed No. 1-ranked Miami a 2-1 loss at brand new Steve Cady Arena in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 3,642.
Junior goaltender Jordan Pearce got first-period goals from junior center Christian Hanson and sophomore left wing Dan Kissel and made them stand up as he equaled a season high with 32 saves to give Notre Dame its second win over a ranked team this season.
The win, Notre Dame’s third straight gave the 12th-ranked Irish a 7-3-0 overall record and a 5-1-0 mark in the CCHA. Miami, winners of their first eight games of the season, falls to 8-1-0 on the year and 6-1-0 in conference play.
A year ago, the Irish traveled to top-ranked Boston College and handed the Eagle’s a 7-1 loss at Chestnut Hill. The win was the first for the Irish in Oxford, Ohio since March of 2003 and snapped a 0-5-1 streak winless streak for Notre Dame at Miami.
The RedHawks controlled play early in the game out shooting the Irish 5-1 over the first seven minutes. Pearce made his first big stop of the game with just less than seven minutes gone when he slid from the left post to the right post to get a pad on a Ryan Jones’s scoring bid off a 2-on-1 scoring chance.
Notre Dame would finally break through on the scoreboard at 9:50 when Hanson converted a centering feed from freshman Robin Bergman to beat Miami’s Jeff Zatkoff for his second goal of the season.
Defenseman Brock Sheahan set the play in motion as he picked up the puck in the Irish zone following a 3-on-1 RedHawk scoring bid and moved it ahead to Hanson who broke into the Miami zone with Bergman.
Hard work and determination set up Notre Dame’s second goal of the game at 16:11 of the first period. Kissel and linemate Evan Rankin would not be denied as they bottled up the Miami defense in the left wing corner.
Rankin finally poked the puck away from a RedHawk defender and Kissel walked the puck out in front of Zatkoff and snapped a shot over the Miami netminder’s glove for his first goal of the season.
The RedHawks dominated the second period and out shot Notre Dame by a 12-3 margin but would only get the puck past Pearce once.
Nathan Davis, playing his first game since being injured in the season opener, cut the Irish lead in half at 2:25 of second period with his first goal of the season.
Justin Vaive moved the puck up the right-wing boards and found Davis in the high slot. Davis one-timed a wrist shot past Pearce to make it 2-1.
That would be the final goal of the game as Pearce stopped 11 shots in the second period and 10 in the third on the way to a 32-save night. Miami out shot Notre Dame by a 33-20 margin. Zatkoff made 18 saves for the RedHawks.
The Irish were 0-for-3 on the power play while Miami was 0-for-5.
The two teams will meet in the second game of the series on Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 F#12/#12 Notre Dame (7-3-0/5-1-0) 2 0 0 - 2#1/#1 Miami (8-1-0/6-1-0) 0 1 0 - 1
ScoringFirst Period: ND: Christian Hanson 2 (Robin Bergman, Brock Sheahan), 9:50; ND: Dan Kissel 1 (Evan Rankin), 16:11.Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; MU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: MU: Nathan Davis 1 (Justin Vaive, Alexandre Lacombe), 2:25.Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; MU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; MU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 12 - 3 - 5 - 20Miami 11 - 12 - 10 - 33
Goaltender Saves:ND - Jordan Pearce (60:00) 11 - 11 - 10 - 32MU - Jeff Zatkoff (59:21) 10 - 3 - 5 - 18
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 3MU: 0 for 5
Attendance: 3,642 (sellout)