Nov. 14, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame hockey fans were treated to their first home hockey game in three weeks and also had the chance to experience a CCHA shootout victory as the Irish handed Lake Superior State a 4-3 shootout loss at the Joyce Center Friday night.
The two teams combined in a wild first 65 minutes with plenty of end-to-end action with the Irish rallying from a pair of one-goal deficits to tie the game 3-3 at the end of regulation play. Christiaan Minella, Ben Ryan and Ryan Guentzel scored for Notre Dame to offset Laker goals by Simon Gysbers, Nathan Perkovich and Josh Sim after 60 minutes.
Irish goaltender Jordan Pearce made a career-high 40 saves against the Lakers in the regular game and then three-of-four in the shootout to help Notre Dame pick up its first-ever shootout win. Brian Mahoney-Wilson made 35 saves on the night and two-of-four in the shootout.
In the shootout, Notre Dame started with Ben Ryan missing on his shot while the Lakers’ Steven Kaunisto beat Pearce on his shot for a 1-0 lead. Round two saw Dan Kissel miss for the Irish and Lake Superior’s Rick Schofield stopped by Pearce. Billy Maday tied the score for Notre Dame when he beat Mahoney-Wilson in close to make it 1-1. Troy Schwab had a chance to win it for the Lakers but was denied by Pearce.
In the first sudden death round, Calle Ridderwall got the call and made an unbelievable move on Mahoney-Wilson, lifting the puck over the Laker goaltender. Lake Superior’s last chance came on Perkovich’s scoring bid that rolled off his stick as he tried to make a move on Pearce. That gave Notre Dame a 2-1 edge in the shootout and an extra point in the CCHA standings.
The tie/shootout win improves the Irish to 6-3-1 overall and moves them to 2-2-1-1 (for six points) in CCHA action. Lake Superior goes to 3-3-3 on the national scene and 3-2-2-1 in conference action, good for nine points.
Notre Dame got off to a strong early start and had four power-play chances but did not capitalize. The lone goal of the opening period came off the stick of Minella at 7:25 for his second goal of the season.
Strong forechecking by Justin White helped set up the goal as he intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and fed Garrett Regan at the Lake Superior blue line. Regan ripped a shot at Mahoney-Wilson who made the save with the rebound going to the right wing circle. Minella was there to one-time the puck past the Laker goaltender to give Notre Dame the 1-0 lead.
The Lakers would take advantage of a pair of Irish penalties early in the second period to take a 2-1 lead in a span of 2:08. Gysbers would tie the game just 55 seconds into the period when he ripped a shot past Pearce from the center point for his second goal of the season.
Perkovich would put the Lakers ahead 2-1 at 3:03 of the middle period when he was able to convert a pass from Kaunisto in the slot for his third goal of the season.
The score would stay 2-1 for a short time, as Ryan would tie the game at 2-2 at the 5:36 mark with his first goal of the season. The sophomore center took a lead pass from Brett Blatchford and carried the puck down the right wing side before blasting a shot past Mahoney-Wilson from the top of the right circle.
The game would remain tied 2-2 until the Lakers would take their second one-goal lead of the game at 9:17 when Sim took a centering pass from Fred Cassiani out of the left wing corner and redirected it past Pearce for his second goal of the season.
The Irish got the equalizer at 10:22 from an unlikely source as Guentzel picked up the first goal of his collegiate career, pouncing on the rebound of a shot by White to make it 3-3.
The score would stay that way through the remainder of regulation and five minutes of overtime, setting up the first-ever shootout for the Irish.
On the night, the Irish gave up a season-high 43 shots on goal while getting 38 of their own. Notre Dame is now 4-0-1 in its last five games.
The two teams close out the two-game series on Saturday night at the Joyce Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 OT SO - FLake Superior State (3-3-3/3-2-2-1) 0 2 1 0 0 - 3#9/#9 Notre Dame (6-3-1/2-2-1-1) 1 1 1 0 1 - 4
Scoring First Period: ND: Christiaan Minella 2 (Garrett Regan, Justin White), 7:25.
Penalties: LSSU: 5 for 10 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: LSSU: Simon Gysbers 2 (Zac MacVoy, Matt Cowie), PPG, 00:55; LSSU: Nathan Perkovich 3 (Steven Kaunisto), PPG, 3:03; ND: Ben Ryan 1 (Brett Blatchford), 5:36.
Penalties: LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: LSSU: Josh Sim 2 (Fred Cassiani, Troy Schwab), 9:17; ND: Ryan Guentzel 1 (Justin White, Kyle Lawson), 10:22.
Penalties: LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Overtime: No Scoring.
Penalties: LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shootout: Notre Dame wins shootout, 2-1. ND: Ben Ryan (miss); LSSU: Steven Kaunisto (goal). ND: Dan Kissel (miss); LSSU: Rick Schofield (miss). ND: Billy Maday (goal); LSSU: Troy Schwab (miss). ND: Calle Ridderwall (goal); LSSU: Nathan Perkovich (miss).
Shots On Goal:Lake Superior 13 - 15 - 11 - 4 - 43Notre Dame 14 - 10 - 11 - 3 - 38
Goaltender Saves:LSSU - Brian Mahoney-Wilson (64:58) 13 - 9 - 10 - 3 - 35ND - Jordan Pearce (65:00) 13 - 13 - 10 - 4 - 40
Power Plays:LSSU: 2 for 5ND: 0 for 5
Attendance: 2,733 (sellout)