Feb. 24, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – Second-period goals by Erik Condra and Dan Kissel offset Ohio State goals by Todd Rudasill and Sergio Somma as the Irish and Buckeyes battled to a 2-2 overtime tie in front of a sellout crowd of 2,857 at the Joyce Center on Saturday night.
With the tie, Notre Dame settled for one point on the weekend, but all was not lost as Bowling Green handed Ferris State a 2-1 loss to eliminate the Bulldogs from any chance of catching the Irish for fourth place in the CCHA. The Irish clinched fourth place and will now get a bye in the first round of the playoffs and home ice in the second round, the weekend of March 14-16.
Notre Dame is now 21-11-4 overall and 14-8-4 in the CCHA while Ohio State falls to 11-22-4 and 7-16-3 in conference play. The tie also ran the Buckeyes’ unbeaten streak at the Joyce Center to 10 games (7-0-3). They have not lost there since October 23, 1998.
While looking for more than a tie on the weekend, Irish head coach Jeff Jackson knows his team accomplished one of its goals this season.
“If you had asked me at the beginning of the year if we finished in the top four, I would have been pleased,” said Jackson.
“The big thing now is that we have three weeks to get ready for the playoffs and to me that’s the most important thing. There are parts of our game that we have to get better at. For whatever reason, we haven’t been the same team in the second half. We’ve had good signs at times, other times it’s been rough. We are still doing a good job on the penalty kill, we’re getting good goaltending and our power play has been closer that it was a month ago. So there are some positive signs.”
Ohio State got on the scoreboard first, taking advantage of a bouncing puck at 16:23. Rudasill carried the puck through center as the Buckeyes went for a line change.
The freshman left wing fired a shot that Irish defenseman Stewart Carlin got his stick on. The puck came back off the glass behind the goal and hopped over Carlin’s stick and ended up in the slot back on Rudasill’s stick. He quickly deposited it behind Jordan Pearce for his third goal of the year and a 1-0 lead at the intermission.
“That was an unfortunate break on that first goal,” said Jackson.
“We got a bad bounce and mishandled the puck and all of a sudden it’s in the net.”
Notre Dame wasted little time tying the score just 12 seconds into the second period on the power play. Defenseman Ian Cole fired a shot from the right point that went off the backboards on an angle to Condra in the left circle. The junior forward snapped a shot past Palmer for his 13th goal of the season. For Cole it was the first of two assists on the night.
“I was just trying to make simple plays and get the puck to guys who can score,” said Cole. “On the power-play goal, I shot and it went off the goaltender and then the back boards right to Condra. He took care of it from there.”
The tie would not last long as the Buckeyes would take a 2-1 lead at 4:04 of the middle stanza. Off a face off in the left circle, Matt McIlvane won the draw back to the inside edge of the circle. Somma one-timed a shot through a screen, beating Pearce for his eighth goal of the season.
The Irish would get the final goal of the night at 14:56 as Kissel picked up his seventh of the year for the 2-2 tie.
Again it was Cole who started the play. The freshman defenseman picked up a loose puck in front of his own goal and moved it to center ice to Ryan Guentzel. The freshman center broke into the Ohio State zone where he floated a soft pass to Kissel, racing down the left side. Kissel ripped a shot from the face off dot with the puck beating Palmer inside the left post.
“We’ve been struggling to score goals,” said Kissel. “You have to keep a positive attitude and keep working hard. On my goal, the puck tipped off the defenseman’s stick and beat the goalie short side. When you struggle to score, you take them anyway that you can get them. The tie is better than a loss.”
From there, the goaltenders took over. Notre Dame finished the night out shooting Ohio State by a 38-25 advantage, including 30-17 over the final two periods and overtime.
Palmer finished the night with 36 saves while Pearce had 23 in the game.
On the weekend, Notre Dame killed 13 consecutive Ohio State power-play chances while the Irish were 1-for-12 in the two games.
Notre Dame now closes out the 2007-08 regular season with a home-and-home series with Western Michigan. The Irish play in Kalamazoo on Friday, Feb. 29 and then will play host to the Broncos on Sat., March 1 at the Joyce Center.
IRISH NOTES:
** Since the start of the second half of the season (since, Dec. 29), the Irish are now 5-7-4 in the 16 games.
** In Jeff Jackson’s three seasons as Notre Dame’s head coach, the Irish are 3-1-11 in overtime games.
** Senior captain Mark Van Guilder has now played in 152 consecutive games in his career. He is one behind Tim Wallace `06 for the Notre Dame record of 153 consecutive games played.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 OT - FOhio State (11-21-4/7-16-3) 1 1 0 0 - 2#9/#9 Notre Dame (21-11-4/14-8-4) 0 2 0 0 - 2
ScoringFirst Period: OSU: Todd Rudasill 3 (C.J. Severyn), 16:23.Penalties: OSU: 6 for 12 minutes; ND: 6 for 12 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Erik Condra 13 (Ian Cole, Brett Blatchford), PPG, 00:12; OSU: Sergio Somma 8 (Matt McIlvane), 4:04; ND: Dan Kissel 7 (Ryan Guentzel, Cole), 14:56.Penalties: OSU: 5 for 10 minutes; ND: 5 for 10 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.Penalties: OSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Overtime: No Scoring.Penalties: OSU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Ohio State 8 - 8 - 7 - 2 - 25Notre Dame 8 - 11 - 15 - 4 - 38
Goaltender Saves:OSU - Joseph Palmer (65:00) 9 - 9 - 15 - 4 - 36ND - Jordan Pearce (64:53) 7 - 7 - 7 - 2 - 23
Power Plays:OSU: 0 for 7ND: 1 for 6
Attendance: 2,857 (sellout)