Nov. 23, 2007
Troy, N.Y. – Notre Dame got single goals from Ian Cole, Ryan Thang, Ben Ryan and Kevin Deeth and freshman goaltender Brad Phillips made 13 saves to lead the Irish to a 4-1 win over Alabama-Huntsville at the Houston Field House. The contest was the opening game of the 57th Rensselaer Hockey Tournament.
The win was the first for Notre Dame in the R.P.I. Tournament as the Irish make their third-ever appearance, having played here in 1988-89 and 2000-01. They will face the host school, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.) in the championship game on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. R.P.I. advanced to the title game after defeating American International College (A.I.C.), 2-1, in an overtime shootout.
For two periods, the game had quite a resemblance to last season’s NCAA first round game, when the Chargers extended Notre Dame to double overtime in a 3-2 Irish win. On Friday night, the Irish out shot UAH by a 27-10 margin but led just 1-0.
This time the culprit was freshman goaltender Cameron Talbot who held the Irish at bay until the 17:36 mark of the second period when Ian Cole found the back of the net with his first goal of the season.
On the night, the Irish would out shoot Alabama-Huntsville by a 41-14 margin to improve their record to 11-4-0 overall and advance to the championship game of the tournament on Saturday. The Chargers fell to 1-7-1 on the year and will play for third place on Saturday.
“When you run into a really good goaltender, you just can’t lose your patience,” said Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson. “That’s what I stressed between periods, to be patient and just play our game. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your ego and just go win the hockey game.”
Jackson also didn’t believe the game resembled last year’s tournament game. “It’s two different teams; Danton Cole is a new coach. That really wasn’t a point of emphasis,” said Jackson.
Notre Dame dominated play in the first, out shooting the Chargers by a 16-3 margin. The second saw UAH take more of the play to the Irish , getting seven shots in the period only to be stopped by Phillips who was making his second career start.
“We’ve worked hard on protecting the puck and supporting play in the neutral zone and we did that well in the first period,” commented Jackson. “I thought we showed good patience with the puck.”
Cole would be the first to find a dent in Talbot’s armor when he got his first collegiate goal late in the second period. He benefited from some strong work behind the net by Mark Van Guilder and Ben Ryan to control the puck.
Van Guilder would find Cole coming down the slot and the freshmen defenseman unleashed a slap shot form the hash marks that found its way through Talbot’s pads for the 1-0 lead after two periods.
“I think last year was in the back of our minds a little bit before Ian (Cole) scored,” said sophomore center Kevin Deeth. “Credit their goalie, he really played well. Coach just kept telling us to be patient.
The offense got rolling in the third period as the Irish scored twice in a 2:06 span.
Thang got his eighth of the season as he followed Erik Condra on a shot at 2:13, tapping a rebound past Talbot in the crease. Condra carried the puck around the Charger defense and slid a shot on goal that Talbot lost control of and Thang banged it home for a 2-0 lead.
Ryan got his second point of the night and fourth goal of the season at 4:19 when Van Guilder found him at the bottom of the left wing circle and he tucked it under the cross bar for the 3-0 lead.
Phillips, making his second career start, saw his shutout bid snapped just 31 seconds after Ryan’s goal when the Chargers’ Joe Federoff fired a shot from the right boards that Notre Dame’s freshman goaltender appeared to stop. The puck squeezed between Phillips pads and the right post for Federoff’s third goal of the season.
The Irish closed out the scoring on a Deeth power-play goal at 14:47, his first goal of the season. Defenseman Kyle Lawson kept the puck in at the right point and moved it to Thang in the right corner. Thang found Deeth in the slot and he one-timed a shot past Talbot for the 4-1 final score.
“It was nice to finally get the monkey off my back,” said Deeth who scored his first goal of the season and first in 19 games dating back to last year’s CCHA playoffs. “I’ve hit the post, missed open nets and finally got one. I don’t think I’ve played bad, the puck just hasn’t gone in.”
Talbot finished the game with 37 saves while Phillips had 13 on the night.
Alabama-Huntsville will face off against A.I.C. on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the third-place game of the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FAlabama-Huntsville (1-7-1) 0 0 1 - 1#9/#9 Notre Dame (11-4-0) 0 1 3 - 4
ScoringFirst Period: No Scoring.Penalties: UAH: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Ian Cole 1 (Mark Van Guilder, Ben Ryan), 17:36.Penalties: UAH: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Ryan Thang 8 (Erik Condra), 2:13; ND: Ryan 4 (Van Guilder, Dan Kissel), 4:19; UAH: Joe Federoff 3 (Andrew Coburn, Brandon Roshko), 4:50: ND: Kevin Deeth 1 (Thang, Kyle Lawson), PPG, 14:47Penalties: UAH: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Alabama-Huntsville 3 - 7 - 4 - 14Notre Dame 16 - 11 - 14 - 41
Goaltender Saves:ND - Brad Phillips (59:27) 3 - 7 - 3 - 13UAH - Cameron Talbot¬ (60:00) 16 - 10 - 11 - 27
Power Plays:UAH: 0 for 3ND: 1 for 3
Attendance: N/A