Dec. 30, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – Senior right wing Ryan Guentzel recorded his first collegiate hat trick and four-point game while teammates T.J. Tynan (2g, 2a), Calle Ridderwall (1g, 3a) and Stephen Johns (0g, 4a) added four-point nights as Notre Dame scored early and often in a 10-2 win over Canisius in front of a sellout crowd at the Joyce Center on Wednesday night.
Sam Calabrese, Anders Lee, Billy Maday and Bryan Rust added single goals in the Irish scoring barrage as Notre Dame recorded 10 goals in a game for the first time since Oct. 14, 1994, when the Irish defeated St. Francis Xavier, 10-2. Pat Kenney and Steven Shafer scored the lone goals for the Golden Griffins, who trailed 6-0 in the second period before breaking through on freshman goaltender Steven Summerhays.
The win closes out the 2010 portion of the schedule for Notre Dame with a 12-6-2 overall record. The Irish are in first place in the CCHA at this point in the season with a 9-4-1-1 league record and are one point ahead of Michigan and two ahead of Miami in the race for the top spot. Canisius falls to 6-8-4 on the year and the Griffs are now 0-7-0 versus the Irish in the all-time series. The last time the two teams met was during the 1990-91 season.
Notre Dame will next be in action in the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament that will be held at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Jan. 1-2. The Irish will play host to 11th-ranked Boston University, Brown University and Minnesota State in the tournament. They will face Minnesota State in a first-round game at 6:05 p.m. (CT) on Jan. 1. Boston University faces Brown in the opener at 3:05 p.m. (CT).
Notre Dame picked up where they left off before the break for finals and the Christmas holiday. Versus Northern Michigan on Dec. 11-12, the Irish combined for 96 shots in the two games and added 48 shots again on Wednesday night against Canisius goaltenders Dan Morrison and Tony Capobianco.
Guentzel led the first period charge when the Irish peppered Morrison with 20 shots on goal, scoring four times. The senior from Woodbury, Minn., scored twice in the stanza and opened the scoring with a short-handed goal just 3:31 into the game when he ripped a shot from the slot past Morrison for his fourth goal of the season. Johns, the freshman defenseman, picked up his first of four assists on the goal.
Maday built the lead to 2-0 at 9:56 of the first when he scored from in front, tucking a shot over Morrison for his fourth of the year with linemates Ridderwall and Rust helping set up the goal.
Guentzel made it 3-0 with his second at 10:37 after center Ben Ryan put him in all alone with a pass through the neutral zone. The goal was Guentzel’s career-best fifth of the season.
Rust closed the scoring at 19:25 of the opening period when he stuffed the rebound of a Johns’ slapper from the right point under Morrison for his fourth of the season. The Canisius goaltender made the initial stop but couldn’t control the rebound and the Irish led 4-0 at the first intermission.
Guentzel closed out his hat trick at 10:38 of the second period as Johns notched his fourth assist of the night to make it 5-0.
Calabrese made it 6-0 at 12:44 when he snuck in from the point and Tynan found him all alone on the left post where the sophomore defenseman tucked it inside the post for his second goal of the year. That sent Morrison to the bench in favor of Capobianco, who is in his freshman season with the Golden Griffins.
The Golden Griffins broke through on Summerhays in the Irish goal at 13:50 of the second period when Kenney put the rebound of Kyle Gibbons shot past the Notre Dame goaltender for his first of the season to make it a 6-1 game.
The Irish answered that with a power-play goal at 16:49 with Tynan scoring on a slap shot from the point through a screen in front. Guentzel and Ben Ryan assisted on the goal to make it 7-1.
Ridderwall scored his ninth goal of the season just 47 seconds later when he combined with Maday on a two-on-one. Maday won a face off in the Notre Dame zone and pushed it ahead to Ridderwall who raced past the Canisius defense with Maday following the play. The senior left wing whipped a wrist shot past Capobianco to make it an 8-1 game.
Tynan capped the five-goal second period with his second goal of the stanza and 13th of the season at 18:54. Defenseman Shayne Taker moved the puck behind the net to Lee who found Tynan alone on the left post where he flipped it in for a 9-1 score.
In the third period, Irish head coach Jeff Jackson pulled Summerhays in goal to give fellow freshman Joe Rogers his first collegiate action and all the rookie from Marysville, Mich., had to do was help kill off five Canisius power-play chances in the period as he stopped eight of nine shots in the frame.
Shafer got his second goal of the year for Canisius at 10:42 of the third period when he directed an Eric Rex pass behind Rogers to cut the lead to 9-2.
Lee then closed out the scoring at 16:56 when he scored his 11th of the year off a Tynan assist for the final of 10-2.
Morrison played 30:38 for the Golden Griffins and made 22 saves while Capobianco had 16 saves in 29:22 as both goaltenders gave up five goals apiece.
Summerhays made 14 saves in his 40 minutes while Rogers made eight in the final 20 minutes of play.
The Irish were 1-for-4 on the power play while Canisius was 0-for-5.
IRISH NOTES:
** Ryan Guentzel’s first-period short-handed goal gives Notre Dame eight short-handed tallies on the season. That total is tops in the nation.
** Guentzel now has career highs in goals (6), assists (17) and points (23) on the year. His previous best totals were 4-7-11, all marks he reached in the 2008-09 campaign.
** The last time that a Notre Dame player had four points in a game was on Nov. 28, 2009, when Billy Maday had four assists versus Bowling Green. On Wednesday night, the Irish had four players get four points – Guentzel (3g-1a), Tynan (2g, 2a), Ridderwall (1g-3a) and Johns (0g-4a). For Ridderwall, the four-point night was the third of his career.
** The Irish have out shot the opposition in 17 of their first 20 games this season. They are 12-5 when they out shoot an opponent and 0-1-2 when they are out shot.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FCanisius (6-8-4) 0 1 1 - 2#12/#12 Notre Dame (12-6-2) 4 5 1 - 10
Scoring First Period: ND: Ryan Guentzel 4 (Stephen Johns, Joe Lavin), SHG, 3:31; ND: Billy Maday 4 (Calle Ridderwall, Bryan Rust), 9:56; ND: Guentzel 5 (Ben Ryan, Johns), 10:37; ND: Rust 4 (Johns, Ridderwall), 19:25.
Penalties: CAN: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Guentzel 6 (Johns, Nick Larson), 10:38; ND: Sam Calabrese 2 (T.J. Tynan, Ridderwall), 10:38; CAN: Pat Kenney 1 (Kyle Gibbons, Ryan Bohrer), 13:50; ND: T.J. Tynan 12 (B. Ryan, Guentzel), PPG, 16:49; ND: Ridderwall 9 (Maday), 17:36; ND: Tynan 13 (Anders Lee, Shayne Taker), 18:54.
Penalties: CAN: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Third Period: CAN: Steven Shafer 2 (Eric Rex, Scott Moser), 10:42; ND: Lee 11 (Tynan), 16:56.
Penalties: CAN: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 5 for 10 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Canisius 7 - 8 - 9 - 24Notre Dame 20 - 14 - 14 - 48
Goaltender Saves:CAN: Dan Morrison (30:38) 16 - 6 - x - 22 Tony Capobianco (29:22) x - 3 - 13 - 16ND: Steven Summerhays (40:00) 7 - 8 - x - 15 Joe Rogers (20:00) x - x - 8 - 8
Power Plays:CAN: 0 for 5ND: 1 for 4
Attendance: 2,857 (sellout)