NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame skaters downed Michigan State University, 1-0, Friday night to take game one of the Big Ten Conference quarterfinals as they opened postseason play.
In front of a sold-out crowd, Grant Silianoff scored the lone goal as the Irish defeated the Spartans while Ryan Bischel added a fifth shutout in 2022-23 and 36 saves to his resume.
The Irish won the opening faceoff but the puck spent most of the first five minutes in the defensive end, with Ryan Bischel picking up five saves early in Friday’s contest.
Hunter Strand nearly broke the stalemate at 7:37 of the period but his shot ricocheted off the crossbar and back into play.
The Irish spent the next three minutes peppering the Spartan net but were unable to break MSU netminder Dylan St. Cyr as the game remained scoreless at the first media timeout.
After a successful clear into the neutral zone, Justin Janicke and Ben Brinkman both raced up ice where a MSU defender interfered with Brinkman along the visitors’ bench and the Irish powerplay unit went out on the ice.
Notre Dame posted three shots on the man-advantage in the first but were unable to capitalize on the powerplay opportunity and skated to the locker room in a 0-0 tie with the Spartans.
The second period saw lots of back-and-forth action but the Irish held the shots on goal edge halfway through despite no score.
Grant Silianoff broke the stalemate at 16:12 of the middle frame with a tap in shot on the doorstep to give the Irish the 1-0 lead.
Through 40 minutes of action, the Irish led shots on goal by a narrow 19-18 margin while Silianoff’s goal late in the period would be the only tally on the board heading into the third.
The second period goal proved to be the eventual game-winner as the puck spent much of the final period of regulation in the Irish end. The Spartans fired 18 shots on goal in the third frame with Bischel turning each aside.
Late in the third period MSU thought they had scored the equalizer but after a quick review it was confirmed the puck hit the crossbar and play continued with the Irish up 1-0.
GOALS
- Grant Silianoff got the Irish on the board late in the second period as he batted a shot off Trevor Janicke’s attempt on net. The junior’s third of the season came after a strong shift in the offensive zone with multiple shots on net. Silianoff fed the puck down to Jack Adams behind the net before the graduate forward sent it over to the elder Janicke for the initial shot, each earning assists on the goal.
KEY STATS
- With the primary assist on the game-winning goal, Trevor Janicke extended his point-streak to three games (0-3-3).
- Ryan Bischel registered 36 saves between the pipes in Friday night’s win to pick up his fifth shutout of the season. The senior netminder doubled his save total in the third and final period, stopping 18 total shots in the final 20 minutes of play.
- The Irish fired 21 shots on goal in the contest, with Drew Bavaro’s four leading the team.
- Solag Bakich laid out for the block of the night in the waning seconds of regulation to keep the shutout bid. In total, Notre Dame defenders registered 15 blocked shots in the contest, led by Ben Brinkman with three.
UP NEXT
The Irish and Spartans return to Compton Family Ice Arena Saturday afternoon for a 4:30 p.m. puck drop with ND looking to close out the best-of-three series and advance to the Big Ten Semifinals.