Feb. 23, 2018
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By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — An explosive five-goal second period propelled the No. 3/5 Notre Dame hockey team to a 6-3 victory over Michigan State on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
The Irish jumped out to a 2-0 lead, with Mike O’Leary scoring the only goal of the first period (from Bobby Nardella and Jack Jenkins), before Jake Evans notched a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 just 37 seconds into the second. After MSU’s Zach Osburn cut it to 2-1, Andrew Peeke responded, scoring from Cal Burke and Andrew Oglevie, to make it 3-1 at 6:54 of the second.
Just 16 seconds later, Cam Morrison found the back of the net on a pass from Evans to make it 4-1. It was a power play goal by Joe Wegwerth at 11:22 that broke it open before Morrison scored to complete the five-goal second period. Brennan Sanford scored a short-handed goal for MSU in the third, before Osburn notched his second to provide the final margin.
In addition to the short-handed goals, Notre Dame was 1-for-3 on the power play while Michigan State failed to score on a pair of power play attempts. Notre Dame won the battle at the faceoff circle, winning 33 draws to MSU’s 23.
COACH JACKSON’S THOUGHTS
On the game…
“It’s nice to score a few goals so it was good to see. Especially in the second period when we started resembling our team in the first half (of the season). We started doing some good things and the goals were a result of good effort and back pressure and leading to transition. Defense led the offense. Getting traffic to the net is something that we have been lacking the last three weeks. We have worked on it in practice, we have talked about it while showing video all while trying to be as positive as we can through this process. It’s important that we get back to feeling comfortable offensively and that’s where it starts. I think we saw a sigh of relief going into the third period.”
On Cale Morris…
“We have a bye week coming up here so I’m not so much worried concerned about his fatigue. For him it’s a matter of staying focused in these situations. He does a good job of holding the fort until we get going because we have been a notorious slow starting team. I thought we were a little on our heels in the first period and he made the difference.”
NOTRE DAME GOAL DESCRIPTIONS
1-0 | Mike O’Leary got the Irish on the board at 15:32 of the first period when he beat Michigan State goaltender John Lethemon high to the stick side for his third goal of the season. Jack Jenkins started the play in the neutral zone, connecting a chip pass to Bobby Nardella. Nardella skated into the offensive zone and took a hit along the far boards in order to find O’Leary in the slot.
2-0 | Jake Evans skated up the center to beat Michigan State goaltender scoring Notre Dame’s second goal at 37 seconds. It was his tenth goal of the season for the Irish. He was unassisted.
3-1 | Cal Burke found Andrew Peeke cutting towards the goal from the point and dished the puck to the Parkland, Florida native, who rang one off the post and in for his fourth goal of the season at 6:54 of the second period. Andrew Oglevie also earned an assist on the play.
4-1 | Jake Evans picked up a loose puck and fed Cam Morrison through the middle of the ice. Morrison skated onto the pass, cut towards the goal and beat John Lethemon to the far side for his first goal of the night, scored at 7:10 of the second, just 16 seconds after Peeke’s tally.
5-1 | Joe Wegwerth picked up his own rebound at the net and poked it in for the Irish’s fifth goal of the night at a time of 11:22 during the second period. It is Wegwerth’s fifth goal of the season for the Irish. Andrew Oglevie began the play in the at the goal line, connecting a pass to Bobby Nardella near the blue line. Nardella found Wegwerth in the attack zone.
6-1 | Cam Morrison scored his second goal of the night unassisted at 15:47 in the second period. It was Morrison’s seventh goal of the season. Morrison picked up the puck just after crossing the blue line where he skated the puck in.
NOTES
- Jordan Gross skated in the 152nd consecutive game of his Irish career (dating back to the first game of his freshman season).
- Jake Evans skated in his 124th consecutive game dating back to his freshman season.
- Evans scored his second shorthanded goal of the season and the third of his career.
- Andrew Oglevie skated in his 100th career game (126th overall).
- Notre Dame’s five-goal second period marked its highest scoring period of the season.
- With a goal and an assist, Jake Evans posted his 11th multi-point game of the season and the 31st of his career.
- With a pair of assists, Andrew Oglevie posted his eighth multi-point game of the season and the 18th of his career.
- With a pair of assists, Bobby Nardella posted his sixth multi-point game of the season and the 13th of his Irish career.
- With a pair of goals, Cam Morrison posted his third multi-point game of the season and the ninth of his career.
- Morrison’s two goals matched his career high (vs. UMass Lowell on March 26, 2017).
- Cam Morrison scored his second goal of the night and it was his seventh goal of the season.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will close out the regular season on Saturday night at Compton Family Ice Arena when puck drops at 7:05 p.m. against Michigan State. The Irish will honor their senior players prior to the contest.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, Director of Athletics Communications at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).