Jan. 7, 2011
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish got goals from eight different players, scoring three power-play goals and two short-handed markers as they rolled to an 8-1 win over Northern Michigan on Friday night in front of 2,179 fans on a snowy night at the Berry Events Center.
Sean Lorenz, Anders Lee, Sam Calabrese, Mike Voran, Riley Sheahan, Calle Ridderwall, Ben Ryan and Joe Lavin scored for the Irish while Mike Maltese had the lone Northern Michigan goal. Calabrese and Sheahan scored short-handed goals while Ridderwall, Ryan and Lavin had power-play goals in the win. Billy Maday had three assists for the Irish, setting up both short-handed goals in the game while Sheahan collected the first four-point game of his career with a three-assist night to go along with his short-handed marker.
The win improves the 12th-ranked Irish to 13-7-3 overall and 10-4-1-1 in the CCHA, good for 32 points. The Irish have a four-point lead on second-place Michigan who lost to Michigan State (4-3 in overtime) on Friday and a five-point lead on third-place Miami as the RedHawks fell to Ohio State, 1-0. Northern Michigan is now 9-10-4 overall and 7-6-2-0 in conference play. The 13 wins for Notre Dame equals their total output from last season.
Despite the eight-goal outburst, the Irish trailed in the game, 1-0, as they surrendered the first goal of the game for the eighth time in the last 10 games.
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard first, taking advantage of an Irish turnover at the 7:24 mark. Maltese picked up a loose puck on the left side of the Notre Dame goal and walked in front alone before tucking it under Mike Johnson for his second goal of the year.
The Irish answered back at 10:13 with Lorenz banging his third of the season past starter Jared Coreau from the slot. Mike Voran drove to the goal from the left side and got a shot on the Northern Michigan goaltender who kicked the rebound out in the slot where Lorenz pounced on it to even the score at 1-1.
Notre Dame made it 2-1 at 16:04 of the opening period with goaltender Mike Johnson on the bench due to a delayed penalty to the Wildcats’ C.J. Ludwig. T.J. Tynan set Bryan Rust up to the left of Coreau. His shot was stopped but Lee was on the doorstep to tuck it past the freshman goaltender for his 13th of the season.
The Irish opened the second period having to kill off the final 1:01 of a penalty to Voran and it took just 26 seconds before the Notre Dame penalty killers struck again, for the 10th time this season.
Maday forced a turnover at the Irish blue line and broke through center ice with Calabrese joining the rush for a two-on-one. Maday carried the puck deep, pulling the defender and the goaltender to him and slid the puck to the sophomore defenseman racing down the left side. Calabrese fired it into a yawning net from the bottom of the left circle for his fourth goal of the year and his second short-handed goal in the last two games.
Just 1:44 later the Notre Dame lead would go to 4-1 as Voran scored his third of the season at 2:10, chasing Coreau in favor of Reid Ellingson in the Wildcat goal.
Tynan picked up his second assist of the night for his 10th-multiple point game of the season as he slid a pass to Voran from the left side of the net to the freshman from Livonia, Mich., in the slot where he snapped it home for the 4-1 lead.
For Coreau it was a different night than his first game versus the Irish on Dec. 11 when he stopped 51-of-53 Irish shots in a 3-2 win over Notre Dame.
In the third period, the Irish broke the game open, scoring four times. Sheahan broke through for his first of the season, getting his first shorty of the year as Maday set up his second of the night while skating short-handed at the 10:40 mark to make it 5-1.
Ridderwall got his 11th of the season, scoring a power-play goal at 11:59 to make it 6-1. The goal was his fourth on the power play this season and the 26th power-play goal of his career.
The final two Irish goals came skating five-on-three as the Wildcats were whistled for two major penalties in the final six minutes of the game.
Ben Ryan scored his fourth of the year from a bad angle at 18:23 with a two-man advantage and Lavin got his fourth of the year at 19:46 to round out the scoring at 8-1.
The Irish fired 39 shots on the Northern goal with Coreau making 10 saves in 22:10 minutes with Ellingson stopping 21 in his 37:50 of playing time. Johnson finished with 16 saves while getting his 10th win of the season.
Notre Dame finished 3-for-6 on the power play while the Wildcats were 0-for-3.
The two teams close out the series at 7:35 p.m. at the Berry Events Center on Saturday night.
** IRISH NOTES **
* Notre Dame is now 3-6-2 on the season when giving up the first goal of the game. The Irish are 10-1-1 when they score the first goal of the game.
* Notre Dame’s 11 short-handed goals this season have been scored by eight different players. Joe Lavin, Sam Calabrese and T.J. Tynan have two each.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#12/#11 Notre Dame (13-7-3/10-4-1-1) 2 2 4 - 8Northern Michigan (9-10-4/7-6-2-0) 1 0 0 - 1
Scoring First Period: NMU: Mike Maltese 2 (unassisted), 7:24; ND: Sean Lorenz 3 (Mike Voran, David Gerths), 10:13; ND: Anders Lee 13 (Bryan Rust, T.J. Tynan), EX, 16:04.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; NMU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Sam Calabrese 4 (Billy Maday, Riley Sheahan), SHG, 00:26; ND: Voran 3 (Tynan, Nick Larson), 2:10.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; NMU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Sheahan 1 (Maday), SHG, 10:40; ND: Calle Ridderwall 11 (Sheahan, Maday), PPG, 11:59; ND: Ben Ryan 4 (Calabrese, Ryan Guentzel), PPG, 18:23; ND: Joe Lavin 4 (Sheahan, Ridderwall), PPG, 19:46.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; NMU: 7 for 36 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 11 - 18 - 10 - 39Northern Michigan 8 - 6 - 3 - 17
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 7 - 6 - x - 10NMU: Jared Coreau (22:10) 9 - 1 - x - 10 Reid Ellingson (37:50) x - 15 - 6 - 21
Power Plays:ND: 3 for 6NMU: 0 for 3
Attendance: 2,179
— ND —