Jan. 1, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Senior left wing Vic Periera snapped a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the season just 1:49 into the third period and junior right wing Kirk McDonald scored into an open net to give the Rensselaer Engineers a 3-1 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday night at the Joyce Center.
Freshman goaltender Jordan Alford held the Irish to just a second-period goal by Josh Sciba as he stopped 30 of 31 shots on the night. Notre Dame’s Morgan Cey made 33 saves while surrendering two goals in the loss.
The loss drops the Irish to 4-10-4 on the season while Rensselaer evens its record at 9-9-2 for the year.
Both teams came into the game off a 20-day break for finals and the Christmas holidays and were playing their first games in the 2005 portion of the schedule.
The Engineers carried the play early, out shooting the Irish 11-3 before Notre Dame found its legs on a late five-on-three power-play chance.
Rensselaer broke the scoreless tie just as an Irish penalty was expiring. Defenseman Matt McNeely moved the puck from the right point to the left side where Kevin Broad fired a shot at the Irish goal. Freshman left wing Jonathan Ornelas was parked in front of the goal and managed to redirect the puck behind Cey at 18:10 of the opening stanza. The goal was his second of the season.
Notre Dame evened the score just 2:58 into the second period when Sciba cashed in with his fifth of the season on a play that started deep in the Irish defensive zone. Tim Wallace controlled the draw to the right of Cey to Michael Bartlett who banked the puck of the boards to beat the RPI defense and give the Irish a two-on-one break through center ice. Bartlett fed the puck to Sciba on the left side and the sophomore left wing whipped a shot past Alford to tie the game at 1-1.
The score would stay that way until the third period when Andrew Lord set up Periera with a shot from in close that got between Cey’s pads and the left post for a 2-1 Engineer lead.
Cey was pulled for a sixth attacker with 1:22 left in the game. With the Irish pressing the attack in the final minute, Lord held Notre Dame off the scoreboard as time wound down. McDonald intercepted a pass along the right wing boards and banked it to center ice where he picked it up and slid it into the empty net with just one second left in the game for the 3-1 final score.
Rensselaer out shot Notre Dame, 36-31, in the game. The Engineers were 0-for-7 on the power play while the Irish were 0-for-9.
The two teams close out the weekend series on Sunday afternoon in a game that will start at 5:05 p.m. at the Joyce Center.
IRISH NOTES:
** Rensselaer has won all three games played in the series with Notre Dame. This was the first time the Engineers have ever played in South Bend.
** Josh Sciba is now tied for the team lead in goals with five on the season.
** Notre Dame has now scored just 31 goals in its first 18 games (1.72 per game).
** Saturday’s New Year’s Day contest marked just the second game that Notre Dame has ever played on Jan. 1. The Irish played Colorado College on Jan. 1, 2000, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Tigers.
** Freshmen defensemen Dan VeNard (separated shoulder) and Brock Sheahan (concussion) returned to the Irish lineup after missing time due to injuries. VeNard missed six games after separating his shoulder on Nov. 13 at Western Michigan. Sheahan missed two games after suffering a concussion on Dec. 4 versus Michigan.
SCORING SUMMARY
Rensselaer (9-9-2) 1 0 2 – 3
Notre Dame (4-10-4) 0 1 0 – 1
Scoring
First Period: RPI: Jonathan Ornelas 2 (Kevin Broad, Matt McNeely), 18:10.
Penalties: RPI: 5 for 10 minutes; ND: 4 for 8 minutes.
Second Period: : ND: Josh Sciba 5 (Michael Bartlett, Tim Wallace), 2:58.
Penalties: RPI: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: RPI: Vic Pereira 2 (Andrew Lord, Cody Wojdyla), 1:49; RPI: Kirk McDonald 11 (unassisted), ENG, 19:59.
Penalties: RPI: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Rensselaer 12 – 14 -10 – 36
Notre Dame 8 – 12- 11 – 31
Goaltender Saves:
RPI – Jordan Alford (60:00) 8 – 11 – 11 – 30
Notre Dame – Morgan Cey (58:38) 11 – 14 – 8 – 33
Power Plays: RPI: 0 for 7; ND: 0 for 9
Attendance: 1,780