Oct. 9, 2011
Duluth, Minn. – Sean Lorenz, Anders Lee and T.J. Tynan each had a goal and an assist and Notre Dame got strong play from its special teams as the Irish rallied to overcome a 2-0 second-period deficit on the way to a 5-3 win over the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs Saturday night in front of 6,303 fans at AMSOIL Arena.
Nick Larson and Kevin Lind added the other two Irish goals while junior defenseman Sam Calabrese chipped in a pair of key assists for a two-point night on the score sheet. Sophomore netminder Steven Summerhays made 21 saves in helping Notre Dame to a split of the weekend series.
Mike Seidel scored twice with Travis Oleksuk adding a single goal for the Bulldogs in the loss while goaltender Aaron Crandall stopped 18-of-23 shots in the UMD goal.
The win improved the No. 2/No. 1 ranked Irish to 1-1-0 on the young season while No. 10/No.8 Minnesota-Duluth is also 1-1-0. Notre Dame opens the 2011-12 CCHA and home schedule this coming weekend versus Ohio State at the Joyce Center on Oct. 14-15. Both games are at 7:05 p.m.
“That was more the way we play tonight than we did last night,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson.
“We did a much better job with the puck. When you don’t turn the puck over, you control the tempo of the game. Tonight we controlled the puck and that was a big part of it.”
Things didn’t start out so great for the Irish in this one as they fell behind in the first period. Minnesota-Duluth got on the scoreboard first at 7:17 as Oleksuk scored his first of the night and second of the weekend.
The Bulldogs were able to keep a loose puck in at the Notre Dame blue line and it found its way to the senior center. He moved it down the slot and ripped a slap shot toward Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays. The shot caught Summerhays on the blocker and rolled across the blue line to give UMD the 1-0 lead.
That lead would quickly become 2-0 as the Bulldogs scored just 29 seconds into the middle period when Seidel got his first of the night on a wrap-around goal. The junior left wing swooped down the right side and went around the goal, tucking the puck between the left post and Summerhays’ pad to give UMD a two-goal lead.
Notre Dame finally got its offense going in the second with the help of a referee’s skate and a nice bounce off the backboards. Lorenz moved down the right boards and picked up a puck that had gone off an official’s skate. His shot towards the goal caromed off the boards and bounced in front to Larson who was all alone. The big left winger went from his backhand to the forehand to flip a shot over Crandall’s glove to cut the lead to 2-1.
That goal seemed to change the momentum a bit and the Irish began to control the play. The score would stay at 2-1 until Tynan had a chance to work his magic with a short-handed goal at 16:31 that evened things up at two apiece.
With Bryan Rust off for interference and the Bulldogs pressuring, Patrick Gaul and Calabrese chipped the puck off the left boards and Tynan was off to the races. He carried down the left side and into the Duluth zone, cutting across the middle and firing a shot back to his left as Crandall moved to his right. The shot beat him to his stick side and was Tynan’s first of the season and Notre Dame’s first short-hander of the year.
“We were playing well at the time but we hadn’t gotten any bounces in the game,” said Tynan.
“We got the nice bounce on my goal and that really changed the momentum our way. We played really well in the last 10 minutes of the second period and that’s the way we have to play all year long.”
The Irish would take the lead just 1:29 later at the 18-minute mark as Lee converted a great passing play from Sam Calabrese and Billy Maday. Maday fed Calabrese from the left boards as the junior defenseman drove on the goal. Lee was parked on the right post and redirected Calabrese’s pass behind Crandall for his second goal of the season and a 3-2 Notre Dame lead.
Notre Dame looked to add to the lead in the third period and Lind added an insurance marker at 2:46 when he floated a shot from the blue line to the front of the goal and it made its way through a maze of skates and sticks to slide past Crandall to make it a 4-2 game. The goal was Lind’s first of the year and he was set up by freshman Robbie Russo for the first point of his collegiate career.
The Irish made it a 5-2 game at 9:58 of the third when Lorenz scored on the power play, sneaking in from the right point to take a feed from Lee and tuck it inside the right post for his first goal of the season. Tynan also assisted on the goal.
At 14:40 of the third, Stephen Johns was given a five-minute major for a questionable hitting from behind penalty that gave UMD a power play for all but the last 20 seconds of the game.
The Bulldogs converted at 14:52 when Seidel scored from in front off a pass from Oleksuk for his second of the night and third of the season to make it 5-3.
From there, Notre Dame’s penalty killers killed off the remainder of the penalty with the help of a UMD penalty and Summerhays barred the door for his first win of the season.
“I thought it was a good series. I like to open with a tough opponent,” said Jackson.
“I want to see what I got. I’m sure Scott (Sandelin, UMD head coach) did it too. We’re still trying to evaluate our players and our teams. I would rather see them in a tough environment and in tough situations to evaluate them than to win big and not really know what I have.”
The Bulldogs out shot the Irish, 24-23, in the game. They also were 1-for-6 on the power play while Notre Dame was 1-for-4.
The Irish now return home to open the 2011-12 home and CCHA schedule next weekend when they play host to Ohio State on Fri.-Sat., Oct. 14-15. Both games have 7:05 p.m. start times. The series against the Buckeyes will be the final games played at the Joyce Center, the home of Notre Dame hockey for the last 43-plus seasons.
IRISH NOTES:
** T.J. Tynan’s short-handed goal was the third of his career. The shorty also was the first of the year for Notre Dame. Last year, the Irish tied for the national lead in short-handed goals with 13.
** This was the 35th all-time meeting between Notre Dame and Minnesota-Duluth. The Irish lead the series with a 19-12-4 record. In Duluth, Notre Dame is 12-4-2 against the Bulldogs and 1-1-0 at AMSOIL Arena.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#2/#1 Notre Dame (1-1-0) 0 3 2 - 5#10/#8 Minnesota-Duluth (1-1-0) 1 1 1 - 3
Scoring
First Period: UMD: Travis Oleksuk 2 (Dan DeLisle, Scott Kishel), 7:17.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UMD: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: UMD: Mike Seidel 2 (Wade Bergman), 00:29; ND: Nick Larson 1 (Sean Lorenz), 6:45; ND: T.J. Tynan 1 (Sam Calabrese, Patrick Gaul), SHG, 16:31; ND: Anders Lee 1 (Calabrese, Billy Maday), 18:00.
Penalties: ND: 4 for 8 minutes; UMD: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Kevin Lind 1 (Robbie Russo) 2:46; ND: Lorenz 1 (Anders Lee, T.J. Tynan), PPG, 9:58; UMD: Seidel 3 (Oleksuk, J.T. Brown), PPG, 14:52.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 17 minutes; UMD: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 7 - 11 - 5 - 23Minnesota-Duluth 6 - 10 - 8 - 24
Goaltender Saves:ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 5 - 9 - 7 - 21UMD: Aaron Crandall (60:00) 7 - 8 - 3 - 18
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 4UMD: 1 for 6
Attendance: 6,303