By: Connor Toomey
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie after a hard fought overtime battle against Bowling Green State University in front of a sold out crowd inside Compton Family Ice Arena on the annual Next Gen Night.
Notre Dame struck first on Friday night as they controlled the offensive zone early. Junior defenseman Henry Nelson, received a pass from Jimmy Jurcev and buried the puck into the back of the net off a wrist shot just 4:22 into the first period.
A few minutes later, the Irish would see another grade-A scoring chance from fellow junior, Cole Knuble, but the chance was thwarted by a broken stick as play carried on. Both teams would go back-and-forth on the ice exchanging hard hits with one another.
Crossing over the halfway mark of the first period at 12:35, Nicholas Kempf saved a breakaway shot that came off of an Irish turnover to keep the lead at 1-0 in favor of Notre Dame.
At the 17:44 mark in the first frame, the Falcons went to the penalty box for a five minute major, sending the Irish powerplay unit onto the ice for the first time in the contest. Despite some strong chances, the man-advantage was unable to extend the lead further. Notre Dame finished the period with seven shots on goal and went to the locker room holding onto the 1-0.
Early in the second stanza, Evan Werner and Pano Fimis had scoring opportunities on the powerplay, but neither could find the net as the Irish would not convert on the five-on-four chance.
Nicholas Kempf was tested again for the Irish as the sophomore goaltender stopped a Falcon breakaway chance 3:01 into the second period, keeping the Irish ahead on the scoreboard.
Play would go back-and-forth between the Notre Dame and Bowling Green zones until 11:34 into the period when the Falcons evened the score at 1-1 off an Irish turnover in the neutral zone.
Just under two minutes later the Notre Dame powerplay unit was back to work for the second time in the bout. This time, the special teams would be successful on the man-advantage as Cole Knuble was left wide open after heavy Irish pressure and launched the puck top shelf as the Irish reclaimed the lead, 2-1.
In the final two minutes of the second period the Irish penalty kill unit was tasked with defending the 2-1 lead. Things got more difficult as Notre Dame took another penalty for hooking, but Nicholas Kempf was up for the task, denying the Falcons’ chances on the five-on-three to close out the second period up 2-1.
As play resumed for the final frame, the Irish were able to kill off the remainder of the five-on-three but the Falcons capitalized with three ticks left on the second Irish penalty to tie it back up. However, Notre Dame answered quickly as less than 50 seconds later, graduate defenseman, Sutter Muzzatti ripped a one-timer from the right face-off circle into the BGSU net off of a strong set-up from linemate Evan Werner to make it a 3-2 contest.
The Falcons would tie it up 3-3 after Nicholas Kempf made a valiant effort to stop a backhanded wrister, but was just out of reach.
For the next 10 minutes the Irish would have a handful of opportunities to take the lead back, but were unable to get the puck back across the goal line. Late in the final period, Bowling Green went back to the penalty box for interference, giving the Irish powerplay another opportunity to score on the man advantage. Despite a strong chance from forwards Cole Brown and Brennan Ali with 30 seconds left on the powerplay, Brown’s shot sailed just wide of the net to keep things tied at 3-3.
The score would hold stagnant through the end of regulation and overtime loomed.
In overtime Notre Dame registered six shots, including a shot from Ali that rang off the crossbar and allowed just one chance on net for the visitors.
The game would officially end in a tie per NCAA rules, but the Falcons got the best of the shootout, converting on their first shot to win 1-0 in three rounds.
GOALS
- As the Irish set up in the BGSU zone 4:22 into the first period, Henry Nelson gained the puck on a pass from the corner of the zone to the top of the face off circle. On a wrist shot from Nelson, the puck cut through traffic and met the top corner of the Falcon net. It is Nelson’s third of the season. Sutter Muzzatti’s assist on the goal improved him to 12 on the season which leads the team.
- Notching his fifth tally of the year, Cole Knuble scored on the second Irish powerplay opportunity of the night. Knuble was left open next to the BGSU net and buried a pass from Muzzatti, who was in a scrum in front of the net battling for the puck.
- After picking up assists on the first two Irish goals Friday night, Muzzatti recorded one of his own, his team-best 11th on the season. Axel Kumlin pushed the puck forward to find Evan Werner who skated through the neutral zone before entering BG’s end and passing it over to Muzzatti at the bottom of the face-off circle on the rush to put the Irish back in front, 3-2.
KEY STATS
- Henry Nelson’s goal in the first period came on the first shot-on-goal of the night for the Irish.
- Sutter Muzzatti recorded another multi-point night with three (one goal & two assists). He now leads the team with 24 points (11-13-24) and has seven points in his last two appearances. His three-point night was his fifth in an Irish sweater.
- Notre Dame outshot Bowling Green 5-1 in the overtime frame with Brennan Ali ringing an additional shot off the crossbar.
- Nicholas Kempf made 28 saves in the crease for Notre Dame Friday night.
- At the dot, the Irish boasted a 58.1-percent faceoff rate led by Muzzatti and Danny Nelson who were both over 60-percent at center.
- Evan Werner had two assists in the contest for his second consecutive multi-point night and extends his point-streak to three games (1-5-6).
UP NEXT
The Irish and Falcons now head to Slater Family Ice Arena for a 6:00 pm tilt on Saturday, January 31st to close out their final non-conference home-and-home series of the 2025-26 season with BGSU.