Nov. 6, 2010
Bowling Green, Ohio – Notre Dame got goals from six different players with Ryan Guentzel and T.J. Tynan having three point nights as the Irish got back on the winning track with a 6-3 win over Bowling Green on Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena.
David Gerths, Sean Lorenz, Calle Ridderwall and Anders Lee joined Guentzel and Tynan in the scoring column, as Notre Dame equaled a season high with six goals in the game. Senior center Ben Ryan and freshman defenseman Jared Beers each had two assists in the game.
David Solway, Ian Ruel and James McIntosh scored for the Falcons in the game.
The victory improves the Irish to 6-2-1 overall and 4-1-1-1 in the CCHA as they now have 14 points in the league standings and are no worse than tied for first depending on the outcome of the rest of Saturday’s league schedule. Bowling Green goes to 4-6-0 on the year and 1-5-0-0 in conference play. The win snapped a four-game (0-2-2) winless streak for the Irish against the Falcons.
“We played much better tonight. That was a team that was more familiar to me,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson.
“We played like we did a couple of weeks ago against Boston College. It’s hard to say why we haven’t been consistent. There’s no question it was a much better hockey team for us on the ice tonight.
Notre Dame jumped out to an early first-period lead, scoring first at 4:57 on Gerths’ fourth goal of the year. Defenseman Jared Beers of Mishawaka, Ind., took a shot from the right point that Falcons’ goaltender Andrew Hammond stopped. The rebound came to Gerths at the top of the crease and he tucked it in to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
The Falcons tied the game at 9:21 when Solway steered a centering pass from Marc Rodriguez behind Steven Summerhays for his fourth goal of the season to tie the game, 1-1. The shot was the first of the game for the Falcons as the Irish had the first nine of the game.
Bowling Green moved in front at 15:36 when defenseman Ian Ruel scored his first of the season on a long wrist shot from the center point. His shot went through a maze of skates and sticks in front and slid through Summerhays’ pads for a 2-1 lead.
“The first period was pretty frustrating,” said Jackson. “I thought we played really well in the first. BG was opportunistic and they got a couple fluky goals, one off a defenseman and the other off a shin pad. It’s important that we came out and got a goal early in the second period to get us back in the game.”
The Irish got their confidence back quickly as they broke the game open in the second period, scoring three times in a 5:36 span to make it 4-2.
Guentzel tied the game just 54 seconds into the second when he and Ben Ryan combined on a 2-on-1 for Guentzel’s first goal of the season. Defenseman Sam Calabrese sprung the duo at the Falcons’ blue line, hitting Ryan in stride. The senior broke down the right wing, pulling the defenseman over and feeding Guentzel at the bottom of the left circle. The senior one-timed a wrister past Hammond to make it 2-2.
The goal was Guentzel’s first since March 13, 2009, snapping a 47-game goal-less streak.
Lorenz put the Irish ahead to stay at 2:15 when his shot from the right point found its way through traffic and behind Hammond for his first goal of the season. Calle Ridderwall and Guentzel picked up the assists on the play.
Tynan gave the Irish a two-goal lead when he fired a change-up shot that fooled Hammond in goal at 6:30 for his fourth of the year.
Defenseman Joe Lavin kept the puck in at the blue line and moved it to Tynan on the left boards. He skated towards the net, firing a shot that snuck under Hammond’s pads. Beers collected his second assist of the night on the play.
Bowling Green cut the lead to one just two minutes into the third period when McIntosh took a centering pass from Andrew Wallace at the top of the crease and one-timed it past Summerhays for his second of the year to make it, 4-3.
Notre Dame’s power play came to life in the final stanza, scoring twice. Ridderwall scored on a 4-on-3 when he blasted a shot from the right circle off a Ben Ryan feed at 4:16 for his fifth goal of the season.
Lee then put the game out of reach with his team-high seventh goal of the year at 18:15 of the third on a five-minute power play with Guentzel and Tynan getting assists to close out their three-point nights.
For the game, Notre Dame out shot Bowling Green, 36-13. Hammond finished with 30 saves for the Falcons while Summerhays had 10 in goal for the Irish. Notre Dame was 2-for-10 on the power play while the Falcons were 0-for-2.
The Irish will next be in action on Nov. 12-13 when they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a pair of games with the Michigan Wolverines. Game time is 7:35 p.m. both nights at Yost Arena.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#11/#11 Notre Dame (6-2-1/4-1-1-1) 1 3 2 - 6Bowling Green (4-6-0/1-5-0-0) 2 0 1 - 3
Scoring
First Period: ND: David Gerths 4 (Jared Beers), 4:57; BGSU: David Solway 4 (Marc Rodriguez, Jordan Samuels-Thomas), 9:21; BGSU: Ian Ruel 1 (James McIntosh, Rodriguez), 4X4, 13:39.:
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; BGSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Ryan Guentzel 1 (Ben Ryan, Sam Calabrese), 00:54; ND: Sean Lorenz 1 (Guentzel, Calle Ridderwall), 2:15; ND: T.J. Tynan 4 (Anders Lee, Beers), 6:30.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; BGSU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: BGSU: James McIntosh 2 (Andrew Wallace, Brett Mohler), 2:00; ND: Ridderwall 5 (B. Ryan, Tynan), PPG, 4:46: ND: Anders Lee 7 (Guentzel, Tynan), PPG, 18:15
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; BGSU: 8 for 27 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 11 - 14 - 11 - 36Bowling Green 3 - 5 - 5 - 13
Goaltender Saves:ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 1 - 5 - 4 - 10BGSU: Andrew Hammond (60:00) 10 - 11 - 9 - 30
Power Plays:ND: 2 for 10BGSU: 0 for 2
Attendance: 2,563