Nov. 12, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. – Senior forward Billy Maday scored with 42 seconds left in overtime to give Notre Dame a 3-2 win on Saturday night and a weekend sweep of the Alaska Nanooks in front of 4,374 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Sophomore center T.J. Tynan set up Maday’s game winner, picking up his third point of the night as he had a hand in all three Irish goals on the night. Tynan and Anders Lee scored Notre Dame’s first two goals of the night to send the game to overtime. Carlo Finucci and Andy Taranto had Alaska’s two goals on the night.
The win extended Notre Dame’s current unbeaten streak to seven games (5-0-2) as the seventh-ranked Irish improved to 7-2-2 overall and 5-1-2-0 in the CCHA, good for 17 points in league action. Alaska saw its winless streak go to eight games (0-6-2), as the Nanooks are now 3-7-2 on the year and 0-6-2-0 in conference play.
“I thought we played a much better game tonight,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson. “We did a great job with the puck. We had real good third man all night long and those were our two biggest issues on Friday. That led to us playing better defensively.”
Saturday night’s game was much different that Friday night’s contest when the two teams combined for seven goals in the first 20 minutes of action.
On Saturday, neither team was able to get on the scoreboard as Notre Dame out shot Alaska, 10-5, in the first 20 minutes.
The Irish would score just once in the second period and it came on the power play at 16:27 with Lee getting his 12th goal of the season.
Tynan set the play in motion with a pass off the sideboards to Austin Wuthrich. The freshman right wing found Lee alone in the slot where he beat Alaska goaltender Steve Thompson high to his stick side for a 1-0 Notre Dame lead.
The score stayed that way until the third period when Alaska broke through on Irish netminder Steven Summerhays at 4:32.
With the Nanooks applying pressure around the Notre Dame goal, the Irish defense lost the puck to the right of Summerhays. Finucci picked up the loose puck and worked his way in front where he snapped a shot over the Summerhays for his second of the season.
Just 33 seconds later, Alaska had its first lead of the night as Taranto scored off a rush that caught the Irish in transition. Cody Kunyk, who had a hat trick on Friday night, carried the puck into the Irish zone and found Taranto coming down the right side. Taranto whipped a shot past Summerhays at 5:05 for his third goal of the season to give the Nanooks a 2-1 lead.
From there Thompson held Notre Dame at bay until the 15:41 mark when Tynan scored his third of the season off a great feed from Lee. Defenseman Stephen Johns moved the puck from the high slot to Lee who was on the left side of the goal. The sophomore left wing pulled Thompson out toward him and slid the puck toward the goal. Tynan was on the right post where he redirected the shot into the goal to tie the game at 2-2.
The game would go to overtime where each team had a pair of shots on goal as the clock moved under the one-minute mark. With a face off outside the Alaska zone on the right side, Nanook head coach Dallas Ferguson called a timeout to set his team for the final minute. Jackson used the break to juggle his lines a little putting Maday on the ice with Lee and Tynan.
“I thought our captain (Maday) played really well all weekend,” said Jackson. “When he (Alaska coach Dallas Ferguson) called the timeout, I was excited because I wanted to get Lee and Tynan back out there with Billy. They are smart players and Billy is playing some great hockey. It really was a fortunate timeout for us.”
Off the face off, Maday moved the puck forward along the right boards where Tynan picked it up and charged ahead. Maday drove to the goal and Tynan put the puck in front. Maday played the puck off his skate and onto his stick and tucked it between Thompson’s pads with 41.1 seconds left to give the Irish the 3-2 victory.
“Coach made a late adjustment, throwing me out there with Anders Lee and T.J. Tynan on the face off,” said Maday. “I kind of read the play and got my stick on the puck to poke it around the winger. From there it was a quick transition with T.J. and me on a quick give and go. As I went forward, I just wanted to get the shot on net and create a chance around the goal. Luckily for me it went in.”
The overtime win was the first of the season for Notre Dame and extended the Irish unbeaten streak in overtime games to 24 games (6-0-18) since losing to Miami, 2-1, on March 21, 2008, in the CCHA playoffs.
For the night, the Notre Dame outshot Alaska, 35-27. Summerhays, who won his second game on the weekend, made 25 saves in the victory while Thompson had 32 for the night.
The Irish have a short turnaround time as they return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 15 as they play host to Western Michigan in a 7:05 p.m. game at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
IRISH NOTES: The last time Notre Dame went more than seven games without a loss was from Feb. 13 to March 21, 2009 when they won 10 games in a row. The Irish have now scored at least one power-play goal in 10 of their 11 games this season.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 OT - FAlaska (3-7-2/0-6-2-0) 0 0 2 0 - 2#7/#7 Notre Dame (7-2-2/5-1-2-0) 0 1 1 1 - 3
ScoringFirst Period: No Scoring.Penalties: UAF: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Anders Lee 12 (Austin Wuthrich, T.J. Tynan), PPG, 16:27.Penalties: UAF: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 2 for 12 minutes.
Third Period: UAF: Carlo Finucci 2 (unassisted), 4:32; UAF: Andy Taranto 3 (Cody Kunyk), 5:05; ND: Tynan 3 (Lee, Stephen Johns), 15:41.Penalties: UAF: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Overtime: ND: Billy Maday 4 (Tynan), 4:18.Penalties: UAF: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Alaska 5 - 8 - 11 - 3 - 27Notre Dame 10 - 11 - 11 - 3 - 35
Goaltender Saves:UAF: Steve Thompson (64:18) 10 - 10 - 10 - 2 - 32ND: Steven Summerhays (64:18) 5 - 8 - 9 - 3 - 25
Power Plays:UAF: 0 for 0ND: 1 for 6
Attendance: 4,374