Feb. 11, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. –
The Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks scored twice in the final four minutes and 12 seconds of regulation time to wipe out Notre Dame’s 2-0 lead on the way to a 2-2 overtime tie in front of a sold-out Joyce Center on Saturday night.
Dan Charleston snapped Irish goaltender David Brown’s shutout bid on a deflection at 15:48 and Bryan Marshall got the tying goal at 18:17 to pull out even the game at 2-2. In overtime, Brown helped Notre Dame salvage a point, stopping all six Maverick shots while the Irish failed to get one on the Nebraska-Omaha net. Defenseman Noah Babin and right wing Erik Condra scored Notre Dame’s goals to help build a 2-0 lead.
The tie gives the Irish a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) and a 24-5-3 overall record and an 18-3-3 mark in the CCHA. Nebraska-Omaha goes to 13-13-8 on the year and 10-10-4 in conference play.
Notre Dame leads Miami by five points in the standings with Michigan six points behind in third and Michigan State eight points behind in fourth with a game in hand. The Irish need just three points to clinch their first-ever CCHA regular-season title.
“It was a fluky goal that changed the momentum, but that’s the way the game is. That’s college hockey,” said head coach Jeff Jackson. “We didn’t lose. We had a three-point weekend and that’s good in my opinion.
The Irish came out strong in the first period out shooting the Mavericks by a 10-1 margin with UNO getting its only shot with one second left in the period.
Notre Dame was able to get one of those 10 shots past goaltender Jeremie Dupont at 4:23 of the first period. Freshman Christiaan Minella carried the puck into the UNO zone and whistled a shot that went wide of the goal. The puck came off the boards to the right of Dupont. Jason Paige got his stick on it and directed the puck to Babin who crashed in from the right point. Babin fired a wrist shot past Dupont for his second goal of the season.
The score would stay that way until the third period when Condra gave the Irish a 2-0 lead at 4:44. Ryan Thang centered a pass to Kevin Deeth coming off the right circle. Deeth fired a shot that Dupont stopped but Condra was there to score his 12th of the season.
Notre Dame controlled play for most of the period until the Mavericks broke through at 15:48. Defenseman Phil Angell flipped a shot on the Irish goal where Charleston got his stick on it to deflect the puck in the air and over Brown for his 11th goal of the season.
“They (Angell) threw the puck on the net from the point and it got deflected up and over me,” said Brown. “I didn’t know where it went because it went over me. That was a frustrating way to have them score and give them the momentum.”
The Mavericks would get the game-tying goal with 1:43 left in the game. Mick Lawrence had the puck below the goal line and found Marshall cutting toward the goal. Lawrence’s pass found Marshall in front and he tucked a wrist shot past Brown for his ninth goal of the season.
“You have to give them credit,” said Jackson. “They played hard right to the end. We didn’t respond well in the last 10 minutes. The encouraging thing for me is that I saw signs of us coming out of the funk we’ve been in the last month in the first part of that game. We were moving our feet better, moving the puck better, coming out of our zone a lot better. That’s a good sign.
In overtime, the Irish were forced to kill a penalty and Brown stopped all six shots he faced to preserve the tie. He finished with 20 saves on the night while Dupont had 28 as Notre Dame out shot the Mavs by a 30-22 margin.
The Irish have four games left on the regular-season schedule and take to the road next weekend (Feb. 16-17) when they travel to Fairbanks, Alaska for a pair against the Alaska Nanooks. Game time both nights is 11:00 p.m. in South Bend. Friday’s game can be seen on tape delay Saturday, Feb. 17 at 9:30 a.m. on WHME-TV 46.
IRISH NOTES:
** The tie gives Notre Dame a 1-1-3 record in overtime this season. The Irish are now 10-1-2 at the Joyce Center.
** Notre Dame’s sellout crowd of 2,763 was the fourth in a row and the sixth in the last seven games for the Irish.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 OT - FNebraska-Omaha (13-13-8/10-10-4) 0 0 2 0 - 2#1/#1 Notre Dame (24-5-3/18-3-3) 1 0 1 0 - 2
Scoring First Period: ND: Noah Babin 2 (Christiaan Minella, Jason Paige), 4:23.
Penalties: UNO: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: UNO: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Erik Condra 12 (Kevin Deeth, Ryan Thang), 4:44; UNO: Dan Charleston 11 (Phil Angell, Jeric Agosta), 15:48; UNO: Bryan Marshall 9 (Mick Lawrence, Nick Fanto), 18:17.
Penalties: UNO: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Overtime: No Scoring.
Penalties: UNO: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Nebraska-Omaha 1 - 7 - 6 - 6 - 20Notre Dame 10 - 12 - 8 - 0 - 30
Goaltender Saves:UNO - Jeremie Dupont (64:57) 9 - 12 - 7 - 0 - 28ND - David Brown (65:00) 1 - 7 - 4 - 6 - 18
Power Plays: UNO: 0 for 4 ND: 0 for 2
Attendance: 2,763 (sellout)