A good demonstration of mental resolve this weekend enabled Notre Dame to overcome a devastating 5-overtime loss on Friday night in the longest college hockey game in history (151:42) to advance to the quarterfinals of the Hockey East playoffs and continue their season.
In the best-of-three series, Notre Dame came back to win 5-3 on Saturday night and then won the rubber match 7-0 on Sunday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena. The 7-goal win ties ND's most lopsided shutout win since beating Villanova on Feb. 12, 1988. It is also the 8th straight time the Irish won a series by winning the decisive third game.
The victory advances the 17-17-5 Irish into action next weekend in the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series at UMass Lowell, which eliminated the Irish last year in the league semifinals. The two teams met the weekend of Nov. 20 at Notre Dame, with the Irish losing 3-1 in the first game before salvaging a 2-2 overtime tie in the second.
Freshman goalie Cal Petersen made 23 saves to earn his fourth shutout win of the season, matching David Brown's freshman record set in 2003-04. He played 261:17 of hockey this weekend and saved 132 of 139 shots, all 23 in the finale. Junior center Thomas DiPauli scored 48 seconds into the game to give the Irish a 1-0 lead after one period, and tallied again 6:42 into the second period to make it 2-0. When UMass' starting goalie was injured on a hard collision, the backup allowed goals on the first two Irish shots he faced - 14 seconds apart - to open the floodgates. The goals came from junior Steven Fogarty and freshman Connor Hurley.
Before the second period ended, Notre Dame scored two more goals in a span of 21 seconds. The first was by freshman Luke Ripley and the second by senior Robbie Russo, his 13th of the year, the most nationally by a defenseman. The final tally came from senior Austin Wuthrich with 25.7 seconds left in the contest.
This post was edited on 3/9 4:57 AM by Lou Somogyi
In the best-of-three series, Notre Dame came back to win 5-3 on Saturday night and then won the rubber match 7-0 on Sunday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena. The 7-goal win ties ND's most lopsided shutout win since beating Villanova on Feb. 12, 1988. It is also the 8th straight time the Irish won a series by winning the decisive third game.
The victory advances the 17-17-5 Irish into action next weekend in the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series at UMass Lowell, which eliminated the Irish last year in the league semifinals. The two teams met the weekend of Nov. 20 at Notre Dame, with the Irish losing 3-1 in the first game before salvaging a 2-2 overtime tie in the second.
Freshman goalie Cal Petersen made 23 saves to earn his fourth shutout win of the season, matching David Brown's freshman record set in 2003-04. He played 261:17 of hockey this weekend and saved 132 of 139 shots, all 23 in the finale. Junior center Thomas DiPauli scored 48 seconds into the game to give the Irish a 1-0 lead after one period, and tallied again 6:42 into the second period to make it 2-0. When UMass' starting goalie was injured on a hard collision, the backup allowed goals on the first two Irish shots he faced - 14 seconds apart - to open the floodgates. The goals came from junior Steven Fogarty and freshman Connor Hurley.
Before the second period ended, Notre Dame scored two more goals in a span of 21 seconds. The first was by freshman Luke Ripley and the second by senior Robbie Russo, his 13th of the year, the most nationally by a defenseman. The final tally came from senior Austin Wuthrich with 25.7 seconds left in the contest.
This post was edited on 3/9 4:57 AM by Lou Somogyi
