Nov. 1, 2014
Notre Dame, Indiana –
Junior left wing Thomas DiPauli showed off his blazing speed on the way to a two-goal night and freshman Cal Petersen stopped 34 shots as the University of Notre Dame won its Hockey East opener with a 3-2 win over Vermont Friday night.
DiPauli and junior Mario Lucia staked the Irish to a 2-0 first-period lead only to see the Catamounts score two goals in the second period to even the score. DiPauli notched the game winner at 7:31 of the third for the multiple-goal game of his career. Jarrid Privitera and Kyle Reynolds scored the Vermont goals.
The Catamounts peppered Petersen with 36 shots on the night while Notre Dame fired 23 at Vermont goaltender Mike Santaguida who finished the night with 20 saves.
The win, the fifth in a row for Notre Dame, improves the Irish to 5-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in Hockey East. Vermont saw its four-game winning streak snapped as the Cats fall to 4-1-0 on the year and 2-1-0 in conference play.
“It was good to get off to a good start in the conference, especially at home,” said head coach Jeff Jackson.
“They gave us a lot of problems coming out of our zone which was challenging. Hopefully we can be better tomorrow. Vermont is a very aggressive team. They are strong on the walls. We have to try to match that, especially coming out of our own end.”
Vermont took the play to Notre Dame early in the first period with Petersen keeping the score even with several key saves. The Irish attack started to find its wheels late in the stanza, as they would score twice in a 1:10 span late in the period.
DiPauli gave Notre Dame the 1-0 lead at 17:17 with his second goal of the year. Junior defenseman Andy Ryan broke up a Vermont rush near the Irish blue line and moved the puck ahead to DiPauli who flew down the left side, before breaking in on the goal near the left face-off circle. Santaguida stopped his first shot but left a juicy rebound on the doorstep that DiPauli flipped in the goal to put Notre Dame ahead.
“Vermont plays their system to a T. That makes it kind of hard to get anything going,” said DiPauli.
“We eventually figured it out. We were able to put some speed on their defensemen. What helped a lot was our defensemen making simple plays with the puck. On my first goal, Andy (Ryan) made a nice play, just stepping up and making it easy for me. The defense made a nice play on my second goal made a nice rim play that got the puck out of our zone quick.”
At 18:27, the lead would go to 2-0 on Lucia’s seventh goal (in seven games). Again, Irish speed played a key role as Vince Hinostroza left the puck at the Notre Dame blue line for Peter Schneider who moved through the neutral zone and down the right side before firing a low-hard shot towards Santaguida who got a toe on the puck before Lucia redirected it inside the left post for the goal.
The assist capped a long day for Schneider whose day started in Vienna, Austria, where he attended a funeral for his grandmother on Thursday. Schneider traveled from Vienna to Frankfurt, Germany, to Chicago and then to South Bend, leaving Austria at 7 a.m. (1 a.m. Eastern time) and getting to the Compton Family Ice Arena over 16 hours later to get ready for the game.
Vermont turned up the heat in the second period as the Cats fired 15 shots at Petersen and finally broke through with five minutes left in the middle stanza. Privitera cut the Irish lead to 2-1 when he followed a shot by Jonathan Turk that bounced high in the air and came near the crease where he beat Petersen for his first collegiate goal.
The Catamounts would tie the game just over three minutes later at 18:09, when Reynolds scored his first goal of the season to send the game into the intermission tied at 2-2.
Notre Dame continues to struggle in the second period as the Irish have been out scored 9-4 in the first four games.
DiPauli would get the eventual game winner at 7:31 of the third off a play that started behind the Notre Dame goal.
Robbie Russo picked up the puck behind Petersen and wrapped it around the boards toward the right wing boards. Anders Bjork redirected the puck to DiPauli in the neutral zone and he did the rest. The junior from Caldaro, Italy flew down the right side before unleashing a wicked wrist shot that beat Santaguida over his glove and under the cross bar for his second of the night and third of the season to make it 3-2 in favor of the Irish.
“All our goals started in our d-zone. Bjorky (Anders Bjork) made a nice play coming out of our zone,” explained DiPauli.
“I just came down and shot it. Coach has told us that we have to use our speed to our advantage, trying to break down their defensemen. Go inside outside and release the puck against the motion. So, I listened to him and I scored, so that’s a good thing.
Petersen did the rest as he stopped all 12 shots that Vermont fired at him in the period on the way to a career-best 34-save night.
“I was happy with the way we played in the third period,” said Jackson.
“I thought we showed a lot of poise. We made good decisions with the puck. Obviously scoring that goal was huge. Cal (Petersen) played well. He made some big saves when we needed them tonight.”
Vermont finished the night zero for two on the power play while the Irish were zero for three.
Notre Dame is now 3-1-1 all-time against the Catamounts and 1-0-0 at home as Vermont is making its first visit to the Michiana area.
The two teams will close out the series at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1. The game closes out an eight-game, season-opening home stand for the Irish.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FVermont (4-1-0/2-1-0) 0 2 0 - 2Notre Dame (5-2-0/1-0-0) 2 0 1 - 3
Scoring 1st Period: ND: Thomas DiPauli 2 (Andy Ryan), 17:17; ND: Mario Lucia 7 (Peter Schneider, Vince Hinostroza), 18:27.
Penalties: UVM: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
2nd Period: UVM: Jarrid Privitera 1 (Jonathan Turk, Anthony Petruzzelli), 15:00; UVM: Kyle Reynolds 1 (Jake Fallon, Brady Shaw), 18:09.
Penalties: UVM: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
3rd Period: ND: DiPauli 3 (Anders Bjork, Robbie Russo), 7:31.
Penalties: UVM: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:University of Vermont 9 - 15 - 12 - 36Notre Dame 8 - 7 - 8 - 23
Goaltender Saves:UVM: Mike Santaguida (58:54) 6 - 7 - 7 - 20ND: Cal Petersen (60:00) 9 - 13 - 12 - 34
Power Plays:UVM: 0 for 2ND: 0 for 3
Attendance: 3,609