Jan. 1, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – Sophomore left wing Anders Lee scored a pair of goals while Garrett Peterson, Jeff Costello and Billy Maday added single goals to lead fifth-ranked Notre Dame to a 5-2 win over ninth-ranked Boston University on Saturday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Sophomore goaltender Steven Summerhays, making his second consecutive start, turned away 30-of- 32 Boston University shots in the game. Justin Courtnall and Wade Megan had the lone Terrier goals on the night.
The win gives the Irish two straight and improves their record to 12-6-3 overall while Boston University falls to 10-6-1 on the season. The game was the first for both teams since Dec. 10 as they returned from taking finals and the Christmas holidays.
The 21-day break was evident in the first period as the teams shook off the rust, trading just 14 shots in the period. The only goal of the stanza came on a face off and was scored by Boston University’s Courtnall.
With a face off in the right circle, center Cason Hohmann won the draw and pushed the puck right on goal at Summerhays. The Notre Dame goaltender kicked the puck out in the slot right to Courtnall who jumped on the rebound at 18:27 and fired it past Summerhays for his second goal of the season.
The Irish would get the equalizer on the power play just 1:12 into the second period with Lee getting his first of the night and first since Nov. 12 versus Alaska, snapping a nine-game goal-scoring drought.
Sam Calabrese picked up a puck in his own end and fed it ahead to Bryan Rust. Rust carried the puck over the blue line and left it for Lee coming down the left wing. The sophomore wasted little time drilling a shot from the top of the left circle past BU goaltender Kieran Millan for his 13th goal of the season.
Just over two minutes later, Notre Dame struck again. This time it was Peterson who did the honors at 3:31 to put the Irish ahead to stay at 2-1.
Freshman right wing Peter Schneider forced a turnover in the neutral zone and fed it down the left wing to Patrick Gaul who flipped a pass over a Terrier defenseman’s stick to Peterson driving on the goal. Peterson tucked a shot from the slot inside the right post for his second goal of the season.
The lead would go to 3-1 at 7:09 as the duo of Schneider and Peterson were at it again as they set up Costello for his second of the year. Schneider directed a shot from inside the BU blue line towards the goal where Peterson took it and slid it across the crease to Costello who tucked a backhander past Millan to give the Irish three goals in a span of 5:57.
Summerhays held the Terriers off the scoreboard in the second, stopping all 15 shots he faced in the period.
Lee scored his second of the night and 14th of the season at the 3:30 mark as he was set up by Maday for the goal. Defenseman Robbie Russo hit Maday in stride at the Boston University blue line and Maday hammered a shot on Millan from the top of the right circle. Millan made the stop but kicked the rebound to the left side where Lee had a wide-open net and fired it home for his third multiple-goal game of the season to give Notre Dame the 4-1 lead.
The lead would go to 5-1 with Maday capping the Irish scoring with a power-play goal at 6:23 of the final period.Russo made a nice play at the BU blue line to keep the puck in the zone and fed it to Sean Lorenz off the left point. Lorenz let a shot go that Millan stopped but Maday was able to grab the rebound and push it to the left post where he picked it up and tucked it behind the Terrier goaltender for his sixth goal of the season.
Boston University came into the game tied for the national lead in short-handed goals and moved into the lead at 14:52 of the third as Megan blocked a shot at the point and while killing a penalty and scored on Summerhays on a breakaway for his eighth goal of the game and BU’s eighth short-handed tally of the year for the final score of 5-2.
On the night, the Irish out shot the Terriers, 34-32. Millan finished with 29 saves in the game. Notre Dame was 2-for-9 on the power play while Boston University was 0-for-6.
The Irish return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 3 when they play host to the Russian Red Stars, an all-star team of 18-20 year olds from the Minor Hockey League (MHL) that serves as a feeder league to the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Russia’s pro league. The Red Stars are on an eight-game tour of the United States and are 2-4 in their first six games. Game time at the Compton Family Ice Arena is 7:05 p.m.
** IRISH NOTES**
** Notre Dame played without sophomore defenseman Stephen Johns and sophomore center T.J. Tynan as both are playing for the U.S. Junior National team at the World Junior Championships. Boston University was without the services of defenseman Adam Clendening and center Charlie Coyle as those two were also members of the Junior National Team.
** Notre Dame goaltender Steven Summerhays made his first career start on Oct. 10, 2010, versus Boston University in the championship game of the Warrior Ice Breaker Tournament in St. Louis, Mo. The Irish lost that game, 5-4.
** The game with Boston University was televised nationally by VERSUS and the NBC Sports Network. It was the first collegiate game to be televised by NBC as part of its national schedule for the rest of the season. Notre Dame’s Jan. 20 game with Michigan will also be televised on the NBC Sports Network.
#9/#9 Boston University (10-6-1) 1 0 1 - 2#6/#5 Notre Dame (12-6-3) 0 3 2 - 5
Scoring
First Period: BU: Justin Courtnall 2 (Cason Hohmann), 18:27.
Penalties: BU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Anders Lee 13 (Bryan Rust, Sam Calabrese), PPG, 1:12; ND: Garrett Peterson 2 (Patrick Gaul, Peter Schneider), 3:31; ND: Jeff Costello 2 (Peterson, Schneider), 7:09.
Penalties: BU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Lee 14 (Billy Maday, Robbie Russo), 3:30; ND: Maday 6 (Sean Lorenz, Russo), PPG, 6:23; BU: Wade Megan 8 (unassisted), SHG, 14:52.
Penalties: BU: 5 for 10 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Boston University 8 - 15 - 9 - 32Notre Dame 6 - 9 - 19 - 34
Goaltender Saves:BU: Kieran Millan (57:36) 6 – 6 – 17 – 29ND: Steven Summerhays (60:00) 7 – 15 – 8 – 30
Power Plays:BU: 0 for 6ND: 2 for 9
Attendance: 4,829