Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Thursday Night Watch Party: Boston College vs. Notre Dame (2011)

Join us on Thursday night as we relive the 2011 Compton Family Ice Arena Dedication Game between #4 Notre Dame and #3 Boston College. Head over to the Fighting Irish Youtube channel to watch the game and chat with fans. The broadcast will also feature interviews by former Irish forwards and current NHLers T.J. Tynan and Bryan Rust. You can also comment on Twitter by using the hashtag #NDWatchParty.

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website
Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

WHAT HAPPENED?

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Sophomore right wing Bryan Rust ripped a shot off Boston College goaltender Parker Milner’s glove with 1.1 seconds left and it trickled over the goal line to give Notre Dame a 3-2 overtime win over Boston College at a sold out Compton Family Ice Arena on Friday night.

For almost 65 minutes the two nationally ranked teams – third-ranked Boston College and fourth-ranked Notre Dame – traded shot for shot and goal for goal before Rust would take heroes honors on the night as time was running out.

T.J. Tynan and Shayne Taker scored for the Irish in regulation while Chris Kreider scored on a first-period penalty shot and Johnny Gaudreau got the equalizer with 2:10 left in the third to send the game to overtime.

The win runs Notre Dame’s current unbeaten streak to nine games (7-0-2) since Oct. 21 and improves the Irish to 9-2-2 on the year. Boston College has now lost two in a row and is 9-4-0 overall for the 2011-12 season.

The overtime game was the fourth for the Irish in their last six games and they are 2-0-2 on the year. Since March 21, 2008, Notre Dame is unbeaten in its last 25 overtime games, going 7-0-18 in extra action.

On the night that the Compton Family Ice Arena was officially dedicated and with many of the donors and benefactors for the magnificent on-campus arena watching, the Irish and the Eagles put on an exciting show for the sellout crowd of 5,022 with Rust’s goal sending them home happy.

“That’s as good a team (Boston College) as we have played all year,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson.

“I expected that kind of game from them. They played with a lot of passion tonight and they played well.”

As time ran down in the five-minute overtime defenseman Sam Calabrese broke up a Boston College rush at the Notre Dame blue line and moved it to his defensive partner Sean Lorenz on the left side. Lorenz caught Rust speeding through the middle and put a perfect pass on his stick near the Eagles’ blue line.

“I got the pass flying through the neutral zone and went up the left wing,” explained Rust following the game.

“I knew there wasn’t much time left as I cut to the middle. I just ripped one and I got lucky and it found its way to trickle into the net. Two great teams, two great rivals. It can’t get much better than this to score with 1.1 seconds left. This game was a thrill ride.”

Prior to Rust’s late heroics, the two teams got off to a fast start in the first period with Boston College having a 15-11 edge in the shots as time ran down in the opening 20 minutes. Off a scramble around the goal, Notre Dame defenseman Stephen Johns covered a puck in the crease with his glove and the Eagles’ Chris Kreider was awarded a penalty shot with 13 seconds left in the first.

The junior moved down the right side on Notre Dame goaltender Mike Johnson and angled in on the goal near the right circle, firing a shot that beat the Irish netminder to his stick side. The goal was Kreider’s ninth of the season and the penalty shot was the first against Notre Dame since the 2009 season. The Eagles led 1-0 at 19:47 of the first.

Notre Dame would score twice in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Tynan evened the score at 6:54 of the middle stanza when he beat BC’s Parker Milner from the bottom of the left circle for his fourth goal of the season.

Defenseman Stephen Johns moved the puck out of Notre Dame zone to Austin Wuthrich who carried it to the left circle before leaving for Tynan near the left boards. Tynan carried to the bottom of the circle and fired through a screen to beat Milner and tie the game.

The Irish built the lead to 2-1 at 11:37 on Taker’s second goal of the season and in as many games as he converted a Riley Sheahan centering pass, flipping a backhander from the top of the crease past Milner to give the Irish the lead. Wuthrich picked up his second assist of the night on the play.

From there, Johnson nursed the lead into the third period before Boston College got the game-tying goal with 2:10 left in the game. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin came up with a loose puck in the right corner and was able to move out into the slot and get a good shot on goal. Johnson made the save with the rebound coming out to his left. Gaudreau slid between a pair of defenders to tap the loose puck into the goal for his sixth of the season to make it 2-2.

That set up Rust’s last-minute dash and game-winning goal. For the night, Notre Dame out shot Boston College by a 35-34 margin. Johnson finished with 32 saves while Milner also had 32 stops on the night.

The Irish have now won two in a row against Boston College and six of the last eight meetings between the two schools.