Oct. 14, 2012
Kansas City, Mo. – Junior goaltender Steven Summerhays capped a strong weekend by making 28 saves and got all the offense he needed from Peter Schneider, Anders Lee and Thomas DiPauli as the Irish knocked off Nebraska-Omaha, 3-2, to win the 2012 Ice Breaker Tournament Saturday night at the Sprint Center.
The Mavericks got their goals from defensemen Michael Young and Andrej Sustr while highly touted freshman goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 23 saves in his first collegiate outing.
The win lifts the Irish to 2-0-0 on the young season and marks the first time since 1998-99 that Notre Dame has won two in a row to start the season. That year, the Irish started with a 6-0-0 mark. The loss drops Nebraska-Omaha to 1-1-0 on the year.
Notre Dame wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Schneider got his first of the year just 1:14 into the game. Stephen Johns moved the puck down the right boards to Lee who fired a shot off the backboards with the rebound bouncing in front. As Schneider drove the net, the puck went off his elbow and past Stolarz to make it 1-0.
The Mavericks answered back at 11:30, scoring off a face-off play. Center Brock Montpetit won a draw in the left circle back to Young who moved across the blue line before firing a low shot through a screen in front of Summerhays. The shot beat the junior goaltender inside the right post for Young’s first goal of the season to make it 1-1. The marker was the first goal surrendered by Summerhays this season and snapped a scoreless streak of 91:30 to start the year.
The Irish retook the lead at 15:56 with Lee and Schneider teaming up again. Right wing Austin Wuthrich kept a puck in along the right boards inside the blue line and flipped it in the air towards the goal. Schneider was in front of the goal and twisted around to get his stick on the biscuit but it went off him towards the bottom of the left circle. Lee jumped on the puck and whipped a quick wrist shot low to the ice, beating Stolarz under his pads for a 2-1 lead for Notre Dame.
The two teams traded goals in the second stanza with DiPauli getting his first collegiate goal at 12:45 before Nebraska-Omaha’s Andrej Sustri cut the Irish lead to 3-2 at the 17:18 mark.
DiPauli got his goal, following up a great hustle play by T.J. Tynan. The junior center picked up a loose puck on the right boards and drove to the goal, putting a move on Stolarz who stopped the scoring bid. DiPauli was right there to jam the rebound through the freshman goaltender’s pads to give the Irish a 3-1 lead.
Sustr cut the Notre Dame lead to 3-2 at 17:18 as he came late from his defensive spot and took a pass from Ryan Walter. His shot went off an Irish player in front, deflecting past Summerhays to make it 3-2.
The defenses tightened and the goaltenders took over in the third period as neither team could score. Summerhays stopped all seven shots he faced on the way to his 28-save game.
The in-season tournament win was the first for Notre Dame since winning the 2010 Shillelagh Tournament. This was the third time that the Irish have played in the Ice Breaker as they finished third in 1999 and second in 2010.
Four members of the Notre Dame roster were selected to the All-Tournament team with Summerhays, defenseman Stephen Johns and forwards Bryan Rust and Tynan representing the Irish. Sustr and forward Brock Montpetit were chosen from the Mavericks. Tynan was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Irish will open the home schedule on Thursday, Oct. 18 when they play host to Minnesota Duluth at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Game time is 7:35 p.m. The two teams will then wrap up the series on Friday night, Oct. 19 at 7:35 p.m.
** IRISH NOTES**
** With the win over Nebraska-Omaha, Notre Dame improves to 18-10-4 against the Mavericks who were members of the CCHA from 1999-2010. The Irish are 9-1-1 against UNO since the 2006-07 season.
** In his last seven games, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays is 5-2-0 with a 1.22 goals-against average and a .959 save percentage with three shutouts. That includes five games played at the end of last season.
** The Ice Breaker Tournament was the 35th in-season tournament that the Irish have played in during the program’s 45-year history. The tournament win was the ninth all-time.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#13/#14 Notre Dame (2-0-0) 2 1 0 - 3Nebraska-Omaha (1-1-0) 1 1 0 - 2
Scoring
First Period: ND: Peter Schneider 1 (Anders Lee, Stephen Johns), 1:14; UNO: Michael Young 1 (Brock Montpetit), 11:30; ND: Anders Lee 1 (Schneider, Austin Wuthrich), 15:56.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UNO: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Thomas DiPauli 1 (T.J. Tynan), 12:45; UNO: Andrej Sustri 1 (Ryan Walter, Jaycob Megna), 17:18.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; UNO: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; UNO: 3 for 6 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 13 - 7 - 6 - 26Nebraska-Omaha 11 - 12- 7 - 30
Goaltender Saves:ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 10 - 11 - 7 - 28UNO: Anthony Stolarz (60:00) 11 - 6 - 6 - 23
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 1UNO: 0 for 4
Attendance: 2,254