Jan. 22, 2010
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Calle Ridderwall recorded his second hat trick of the season, getting three goals in the second period, while Ryan Thang, Ben Ryan and Patrick Gaul scored single goals to help Notre Dame defeat Lake Superior State, 6-1, at Taffy Abel Arena. Steven Kaunisto had the lone Laker goal on the night.
The six-goal offensive explosion for the Irish was a season high and the five second-period goals marked a season-best for one period.
Ridderwall, who recorded a hat trick on Nov. 28 versus Bowling Green, becomes the first Irish player to get two hat tricks in a season since Tim Kuehl did it in 1987-88.
Freshman goaltender Mike Johnson stopped 24-of-25 shots to record the win while Brian Mahoney-Wilson and Pat Inglis combined for 22 saves on the night.
The win improves the Irish to 11-10-6 overall and 7-7-5-2 in the CCHA, good for 28 points. The victory also extended Notre Dame’s unbeaten streak versus Lake Superior to 11 games (9-0-2) since December of 2005. The Lakers are now 14-9-4 on the year and 9-8-2-1 in conference play for 30 points, just two ahead of the Irish in fourth place.
The game started slow for Notre Dame as the Irish were out shot 6-1 in the first half of the opening period with one of those chances ending up in the net.
Lake Superior got on the scoreboard first, taking advantage of an Irish turnover just 2:01 into the game. Kaunisto picked off an errant pass at the Notre Dame blue line and fired a slapshot on goal that deflected off Johnson’s blocker for his third goal of the season.
After being out shot in the first portion of the opening stanza, Notre Dame turned the tables in the latter half, getting six of the final seven of the period.
The Irish capitalized on one of those chances, getting the tying goal at 13:41 with Thang scoring off a face off. The goal was the senior captain’s fifth in the last three games and his eighth of the year.
Center Kevin Deeth won the draw back to Joe Lavin at the left point. Lavin moved it down the boards to Thang who moved out to the top of the left circle and snapped a wrist shot through a screen past Mahoney-Wilson to make it a 1-1 game.
The Irish offense exploded in the second period, scoring five times to snap the tie and take a 6-1 lead.
Ryan started the goal-scoring explosion just 1:52 into the period. Ryan Guentzel centered the puck from the right boards to the slot where Blatchford redirected the shot towards the goal. The shot fooled Mahoney-Wilson and dribbled through the crease where Ryan swatted it home for his sixth goal of the season.
Gaul made it 3-1 at 6:34 as he notched his first goal in 34 career games, snapping a wrist shot over Mahoney-Wilson’s blocker. Lavin picked up his second assist of the night while Kevin Nugent recorded his first career assist.
Gaul’s goal set off three consecutive Irish goals in a span of 2:59 with Ridderwall getting the next two on the way to his natural hat trick.
The junior left wing made it 4-1 at 7:58 when he redirected a Thang centering pass from the left point behind Mahoney-Wilson for his 14th goal of the year. That signaled the end for the Lakers’ goaltender who was replaced by Pat Inglis following the goal.
His second goal of the night came of strong Irish forechecking as Lawson threw a shot at the net and Thang kept the play alive until Ridderwall could grab the puck to the right of Inglis and tuck it inside the right post at 9:33. That made it 5-1 and was his 15th of the year.
Ridderwall closed out the hat trick at 14:45 when he deflected a Blatchford shot past Inglis. The goal came on the power play and was Ridderwall’s team-best 16th of the season and his second hat trick of the year and closed out the scoring in a 6-1 win.
Notre Dame’s defensemen again had another strong game in contributing to the offense as Lawson, Blatchford and Lavin each had a pair of assists on the night.
For the game, Notre Dame out shot Lake Superior by a 28-25 margin. Mahoney-Wilson gave up five goals in 27:58, making eight saves. Inglis played the final 32:02 and had 14 saves in the game. The Irish were 1-for-6 on the power play while the Lakers were 0-for-3.
The Irish will meet the Lakers again on Saturday night in game two of the series at Taffy Abel Arena. Face off is set for 7:05 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FNotre Dame (11-10-6/7-7-5-2) 1 5 0 - 6#18 Lake Superior State (14-9-4/9-8-2-1) 1 0 0 - 1
Scoring
First Period: LSSU: Steven Kaunisto 3 (unassisted), 2:01; ND: Ryan Thang 8 (Joe Lavin, Kevin Deeth), 13:44.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Ben Ryan 5 (Brett Blatchford, Ryan Guentzel), 1:52; ND: Patrick Gaul 1 (Kevin Nugent, Lavin), 6:34; ND: Calle Ridderwall 14 (Thang, Kyle Lawson), 7:58; ND: Ridderwall 15 (Thang, Lawson), 9:53; ND: Ridderwall 16 (Blatchford, Kyle Palmieri), PPG, 14:45.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; LSSU: 4 for 11 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; LSSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 7 - 17 - 4 - 28Lake Superior State 7 - 8 - 10 - 25
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 6 - 8 - 10 - 24LSSU: Brian Mahoney-Wilson (27:58) 6 - 2 - x - 8 Pat Inglis (32:08) x - 10 - 4 - 14`
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 6LSSU: 0 for 3
Attendance: 2,317