Nov. 3, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame got single goals from Christian Hanson (shg), Kyle Lawson (ppg), Erik Condra and Evan Rankin (ppg) plus solid goaltending from freshman Brad Phillips to lead the Irish to a 4-1 win over Lake Superior State in front of a sellout crowd of 2,857 at the Joyce Center Friday night.
The Lakers scored one five-on-three power-play goal in the game as they dropped a pair of CCHA games to the Irish in a Thurs.-Fri. series.
The Irish got a strong performance from their special teams as they went 2-for-5 on the power play and killed off six-of-seven Laker power-play chances, including a five-minute major in the second period. Phillips made 16 saves in his collegiate debut, making eight of them in the middle period.
The 4-1 win improved Notre Dame to 6-3-0 on the season and 4-1-0 in CCHA play while Lake Superior falls to 1-4-1 on the season and 0-2-0 in the conference. The weekend sweep for the Irish sets up next weekend’s series at top-ranked Miami (OH) in Oxford, Ohio. The RedHawks improved to 7-0-0 on Friday night with a 9-2 win at Northern Michigan.
Notre Dame scored the lone goal of the first period, scoring short-handed at the 19:19 mark. With Kevin Deeth off for holding, Hanson took a pass off the boards from Dan Kissel inside the Lakers’ blue line and moved to the right side. Hanson fired from the right circle with his shot beating Lake Superior goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson to the far post for his first goal of the season and the first short-handed goal of his career.
The Irish used the power play to build a 2-0 lead at 4:54 of the middle stanza. Mark Van Guilder moved the puck from the left boards to Deeth at the left point. Deeth slid the puck to Lawson at the right point where the sophomore defenseman fired a slap shot at the Lake Superior goal. The puck deflected off a Lakers’ defenseman past Mahoney-Wilson for Lawson’s second goal of the season.
Lake Superior cut the lead to 2-1 at 16:24 of the second period, taking advantage of a five-minute major to Hanson for hitting from behind. A subsequent penalty to defenseman Brock Sheahan gave the Lakers a five-on-three and Perkovich scored on a deflection in front for his fifth of the season and second of the weekend.
Troy Schwab moved the puck to the left point to defenseman Matt Cowie. Cowie’s fired a low shot on goal and Perkovich, parked on the doorstep managed to deflect it over Phillips for the goal.
Phillips and the Notre Dame defense held the Lakers at bay until 9:35 of the third period when Condra scored his third goal of the weekend and fourth of the season for some insurance. Freshman Robin Bergman stepped in front of a Lake Superior clearing attempt at the Lakers’ blue line, made a nice move to get by one defender and then slid the puck to Condra coming down the right side. Condra ripped a shot from the right circle that beat Mahoney-Wilson to give Notre Dame a 3-1 lead.
Rankin closed out the scoring at 12:22 when he scored his third goal of the season off the power play. Freshman Ben Ryan moved the puck along the left-wing boards to defenseman Brett Blatchford at the left point. Blatchford wristed a shot through a screen on goal and Rankin was able to deflect it past Mahoney-Wilson to give Notre Dame the final of 4-1.
The Irish out shot Lake Superior, 36-17, in the game, firing 18 shots in the third period. Mahoney-Wilson, making just the second start of his career, finished with 32 saves on the night.
In the two-game series, Notre Dame was five-for-10 on the power play after going 1-for-24 in the previous three games.
** IRISH NOTES **
• The sellout crowd of 2,857 was the largest crowd to see a Notre Dame hockey game since March 3, 1995, when a crowd of 3,310 saw the Irish beat Illinois-Chicago, 5-2. After that season, new seating was installed, adjusting the seating to 2,713 for a sellout. This season, Notre Dame has added a section of seats behind the penalty box area to increase seating to 2,857.
• With his third-period goal, junior Erik Condra finished the two-game series with six points on three goals and three assists.
• Christian Hanson’s five-minute major for hitting from behind was assessed a game misconduct and he will not miss any games.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FLake Superior (1-4-1/0-2-0) 0 1 0 - 1#13/#14 Notre Dame (6-3-0/4-1-0) 1 1 2 - 4
ScoringFirst Period: ND: Christian Hanson 1 (Dan Kissel), SHG, 19:19.Penalties: LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Kyle Lawson 2 (Kevin Deeth, Mark Van Guilder), PPG, 4:54; LSSU: Nathan Perkovich 5 (Matt Cowie, Troy Schwab), PPG, 16:24.Penalties: LSSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 5 for 21 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Erik Condra 4 (Robin Bergman), 9:35; ND: Evan Rankin 3 (Brett Blatchford, Ben Ryan), PPG, 12:22.Penalties: LSSU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Lake Superior 4 - 9 - 4 - 17Notre Dame 8 - 10 - 18 - 36
Goaltender Saves:LSSU - Brian Mahoney-Wilson (60:00) 7 - 9 - 16 - 32ND - Brad Phillips (60:00) 4 - 8 - 4 - 16
Power Plays:LSSU: 1 for 7ND: 2 for 5
Attendance: 2,857 (sellout)