Feb. 16, 2008
Fairbanks, Alaska – Ryan Thang’s goal at 14:49 of the third period snapped a 1-1 tie to give Notre Dame a 2-1 road win over the Alaska Nanooks for a big CCHA win in front of 3,104 fans at the Carlson Center on Friday night.
Thang took a backhand pass from defenseman Kyle Lawson in the slot and one-timed a shot past goaltender Wylie Rogers for his 15th goal of the season and his fifth game winner this year. From there, goaltender Jordan Pearce made the one-goal lead stand up as he finished with 32 saves in the game.
Garrett Regan scored the first goal of the night for the Irish while Nathan Lawrence had Alaska’s only goal of the game.
The win improves Notre Dame to 21-10-2 overall and 14-7-2 in CCHA play. Alaska falls to 8-17-4 on the season and 8-14-3 in conference play. The Irish have now won seven straight versus the Nanooks over the last two seasons and eight of the last 11 meetings.
Friday night’s game can be seen on tape-delay at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16 on WHME-TV 46 in South Bend.
Notre Dame would score the only goal of the first period and it came off Regan’s stick at 15:19 on the power play.
With time running out on a penalty to Alaska’s Aaron Lee, Christian Hanson controlled the puck, moving it to Evan Rankin in the left corner. Rankin slid the puck to Regan at the bottom of the left circle and he fired a shot low to the ice that beat Rogers just inside the far post to give the Irish the 1-0 lead.
Scoring against Alaska is nothing new for Regan as he now has six goals and six assists for 12 points in 11 career games against the Nanooks.
The goaltenders took over in the second period as Pearce and Rogers kept both teams off the scoreboard with the Irish having a 14-8 edge in shots on goal.
The score would remain 1-0 until the 10:19 mark of the third period when Lawrence tied the game with his sixth goal of the season.
Braden Walls started the scoring play with a shot from the left side that Pearce stopped with the rebound heading to the right side of the goal. Lawrence came hard from his right wing spot and got his stick on the puck pushing it past Pearce to make it a 1-1 game.
The score would remain that way until Thang got the game winning goal at 14:49 to give the Irish the 2-1 win. For Thang, the game winner was his fifth of the season and for his career, he has already scored 11 game-winning goals in just 75 career games. That moves him into sixth on Notre Dame’s all-time game-winning goal list.
On the night, Alaska out shot Notre Dame by a 33-30 margin. Rogers finished with 28 saves in the game.
The two teams close out the series on Saturday night at the Carlson Center. Game time is set for 11:05 p.m. Eastern time. IRISH NOTES:
** The one-goal game was the 11th this season for the Irish. They are now 8-3 in one-goal games. The win was the 10th of the season for Notre Dame on the road. The Irish are now 10-5-0 away from the Joyce Center.
** Garrett Regan’s first period goal snapped a 12-game goal less drought for the junior left wing. His previous goal had come on December 8 in the 7-0 win at Princeton.
** Notre Dame is now 19-0-0 when they take a lead into the third period.
** With the win, Irish goaltender Jordan Pearce picked up his 17th win of the year. The win was also the second of his career in his home state of Alaska. The Anchorage native won a 3-2 decision at the Carlson Center last year.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#9/#9 Notre Dame (21-10-2/14-7-2) 1 0 1 - 2Alaska (8-17-4/8-14-3) 0 0 1 - 1
Scoring
First Period: ND: Garrett Regan 7 (Evan Rankin, Christian Hanson), PPG, 15:19.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; Alaska: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; Alaska: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: Alaska: Nathan Lawrence 6 (Braden Wells, Steve Vanoosten), 10:19; ND: Ryan Thang 15 (Kyle Lawson, Kevin Deeth), 14:49.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; Alaska: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 7 - 14 - 9 - 30Alaska 11 - 8 - 14 - 33Goaltender Saves:ND - Jordan Pearce (59:52) 11 - 8 - 13 - 32Alaska - Wylie Rogers (59:33) 6 - 14 - 8 - 28Power Plays:ND: 1 for 3Alaska: 0 for 3
Attendance: 3,104