SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A three-goal second period surged the Irish hockey program to a 7-4 win over No. 9/9 Michigan Saturday night, in their highest offensive output of the season to date.
As part of the statement win, Justin Janicke posted a career-best five points, including his first career hat trick and multi-goal game. Five individuals posted multi-point nights in the victory while Danny Nelson’s plus-six outing was a team best.
Between the pipes, Owen Say picked up 37 saves in the contest en route to the victory.
The Irish defense came out strong in the opening minutes of play inside Compton Family Ice Arena with Owen Say making a series of key saves early in play, including one against a two-on-Say chance by the Wolverines. Michigan would however, break the netminding at 11:48 of the opening period to take the 1-0 lead.
Moments after the Wolverine goal, the Irish were whistled for the first penalty of the night and were tasked with two minutes on the penalty kill. It took the team’s top penalty kill unit just 13 seconds to even the tally though as Justin Janicke picked off a Wolverine near the blueline and raced up ice uncontested.
Notre Dame took the lead at 17:10 of the first period off a shot from Paul Fischer to make it a 2-1 game at the first intermission.
The Irish powerplay unit saw its first chance of the night at 1:01 of the second period after Danny Nelson drew a tripping call in the offensive end. On the powerplay, Blake Biondi rang a shot off the far corner but the Irish could not capitalize and the two teams returned to even strength with the Irish still up by one.
Shortly after the teams returned to full strength, the Irish offense sparked with Jimmy Jurcev ripping a shot towards net where Hunter Strand deflected it into the back of the net to extend the Irish lead, 3-1.
Just 15 seconds after Strand’s goal, Janicke scored his second of the night to make it a 4-1 game and force the Wolverines to make a change in net.
With Logan Stein now in the crease for Michigan, the Irish top line went back on the ice to take the ensuing faceoff where Danny Nelson won the draw. The centerman and the rest of the Irish reset in the offensive zone where Janicke fed a pass over to Brennan Ali who spun the puck back in the slot to Nelson who buried it on Stein’s first shot faced to mark the team’s third goal in the span of 32 seconds.
Michigan would answer though with a pair of goals of their own to slice the Irish lead to two, with all five second period goals coming within 3:58 of game action.
The Irish would carry the 5-3 lead into the third frame with the two teams trading looks early in the final period of regulation.
It was Strand once again finding the back of the net, at 7:57 of the third period to reclaim the three-goal lead but Michigan would answer once more to draw back within two.
With the Wolverines trailing by two in the final minutes, they opted for the extra attacker but it was Janicke who would send the final dagger as the senior recorded his hat trick goal with 0.1 seconds left on the clock for the 7-4 final.
KEY STATS
- Saturday’s contest marked Justin Janicke’s first career multi-goal game and the team’s first hat trick performance since Cole Knuble against Augustana on Dec. 30, 2023.
- Janicke also boasted two assists on the night, tying his career-best assist count and shattering his previous career-high points with five Saturday against Michigan.
- Five individuals boasted multiple points in the contest, led by Janicke. Danny Nelson had a goal and two assists while Hunter Strand notched two goals for his first career multi-goal game.
- Paul Fischer net his first goal of the season while adding an assist for his fourth career multi-point game and Brennan Ali’s two assists tied his career-best.
- With the primary assist on Notre Dame’s third goal of the night, Jimmy Jurcev recorded his first collegiate point.
- Owen Say recorded 37 saves between the pipes for the Irish in Saturday night’s win.
- At a plus-six on-ice rating, Danny Nelson led the team in the category, being on the ice for all but Strand’s second goal of the contest.
UP NEXT
The Irish return to the road next weekend for a two-game series at Minnesota, Jan. 17-18. Both games will stream on B1G+ with Friday’s game starting at 8pm ET followed by a 6pm ET puck drop to close out the weekend on Saturday.