NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame hockey team completed their sweep over St. Lawrence with a dominant 3-0 victory Friday night to close out their opening weekend inside Compton Family Ice Arena. The win marked Nicholas Kempf’s first career shutout, making 26 stops between the pipes.
The two sides skated fairly even through the opening minutes, with the Irish killing off an early penalty before drawing a cross-checking call at 7:35 of the first to head to their first powerplay of the night.
Michael Mastrodomenico buried a rebound while the Irish were on the man-advantage as the Irish took the 1-0 lead halfway through the first frame.
With the Irish in the box for a cross-checking infraction, Kempf made a post-to-post split save to keep the Skating Saints off the board and hold the Irish lead through the end of the first period.
The Irish further extended their lead when Paul Fischer went end to end before tucking the puck past Mason Kucenski in the Saints’ net to make it a 2-0 game. Kempf set up the play, making a pad save at the other end of the ice to give the Irish possession back, earning credit for the second assist on the goal.
A late series of penalties had the two sides skating four-on-four at the end of the second stanza but both goaltenders were able to stifle their shots faced and Notre Dame carried the two-goal lead into the second intermission.
The Irish were called for a penalty early in the third period and the officials went to the box to review the hit for more than a minor on the play. After a lengthy review, it was determined to be a minor and the Irish were forced to kill off two minutes with a man down. The home squad managed to kill off 1:47 of penalty before drawing their own call off a Carter Slaggert breakaway chance.
Neither team was able to convert on their special teams opportunity though and play returned to even strength with the Irish holding the 2-0 lead.
The Irish finished the third period strong with Evan Werner finding the back of the net for his second of the weekend to close out the 3-0 win.
GOALS
- Sutter Muzzatti won the draw with the Irish on the powerplay, feeding it back to Axel Kumlin who passed it up to Cole Brown before Michael Mastrodomenico found the back of the net for the eventual game-winner.
- Fischer added to the Irish lead at 7:03 of the second period when he skated the length of the ice before during his shot over the glove of the Saints’ netminder. Kempf set up the rush after making a pad save between the pipes which found Fischer’s stick. The junior defenseman passed the puck over to Cole Brown who tallied the primary apple.
- Evan Werner’s second of the weekend came off an odd-man rush with Pano Fimis and Brown racing up ice and crashing in on net. Fimis fired a shot on net which ricocheted off the pads of the SLU netminder and onto the stick of Werner who buried the rebound.
KEY STATS
- With an assist on all three goals, Cole Brown lead the team in points and set a career best.
- Stopping all 26 shots faced Friday night, Nicholas Kempf improved his record in goal to 2-2 on the season and marked his first career shutout.
- The Irish were one of four on the powerplay Friday night with Mastrodomenico’s first period tally. On the other side of the special teams battle, the Irish successfully killed off all seven penalty kills in the game to finish the weekend a perfect 11-for-11 on the kill.
- Jayden Davis was named player of the game by his teammates Friday night after returning to the lineup for game two of the series and picking up a key block in the waning minutes with the SLU net empty and an extra attacker on the ice.
UP NEXT
The Irish continue their homestand next week when they host Robert Morris, Oct. 24-25. Puck drop for Friday’s game is set for 7pm, followed by a 6pm start Saturday.