The Notre Dame Fighting Irish officially kicked off their season this weekend in a road trip to upstate New York. Notre Dame was able to secure two solid road wins against formidable foes, St. Lawrence and Clarkson University. Let’s recap the New York weekend sweep:
Photo by The Irish Tribune
Notre Dame at St. Lawrence (4-1, Win)
The Irish kicked off their season with a convincing win at Appleton Arena in Canton, New York, home of the St. Lawrence Saints. St. Lawrence entered the matchup 2-0 with home wins against RIT and Canisius.
Junior transfer goaltender Owen Say earned the starting nod on Friday night for the Irish and he did not disappoint. Say finished the contest with 32 saves, including 18 in the third period. The Saints’ lone goal came on a power play about nine minutes into the first frame, but Say was a brick wall after that.
The Irish opened the scoring about seven minutes into the game when forward Blake Biondi netted a backhander while on his knees for his first goal of the season. Defensemen Michael Mastrodomenico and Ryan Helliwell were credited with assists on the goal.
Following the Saints' game-tying power-play goal in the first, no one was able to find the net for nearly 20 minutes. With about eight minutes left in the second period, forward Cole Knuble put the Irish back on top with an unassisted goal that was produced by great defense from the forward.
Notre Dame never looked back after taking the lead about midway through the game. With under three minutes left in the second, forward Danny Nelson found the back of the net on the power play off of a rebounded shot by defenseman Paul Fischer. Fischer and forward Justin Janicke were awarded assists on this power-play goal.
Finally, the Irish scored their fourth and final goal of the night with under four minutes to play. Knuble notched his second goal of the night off a sweet assist from Janicke.
In a fairly competitive game, Owen Say earned them this win. The Irish outshot the Saints 38 to 33 while playing a clean game, only committing three penalties for six minutes. Center Danny Nelson was elite in the faceoff circle, winning 65% of his chances. Knuble struggled at the dot, only winning four of 15 chances but this can be overlooked if he continues scoring key goals. The Irish carried this momentum to Saturday night when they visited Clarkson University.
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Notre Dame at Clarkson (5-2, Win)
The Irish escaped Potsdam, New York with a win thanks to a huge third period featuring four goals. The Clarkson Golden Knights, 2-1-0 before Saturday's matchup, had the advantage early after taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. However, despite maintaining a solid offensive attack the Irish were able to find their way and outscore the Golden Knights 5-0 after the first.
Freshman goalie Nick Kempf had a couple of key mistakes in the first period that cost the Irish any chance at gaining early momentum. The second Golden Knights goal came off a rebound by Kempf in a chaotic situation. After that Kempf had a clean game featuring 23 straight saves, which was a part of 30 total saves made during his Irish debut.
Cole Knuble got the Irish scoring going when he tallied his third goal of this season on a power-play top-shelf wrist shot that was assisted by Janicke (3) and Fischer (2). This late second-period goal gave the Irish all the strength they needed heading into the third.
Just 1:12 into the third period, Mastrodomenico netted his first goal of the season off a nice assist from Knuble (1) to tie the game 2-2. Forward Ian Murphy was also credited with an assist, marking the transfer’s first point of the year.
Seven minutes later, forward Hunter Strand scored the eventual game-winning goal on another successful powerplay chance. The senior’s first goal of the season came off assists from forward Maddox Fleming (1) and defenseman Axel Kumlin (1).
About midway through the third and just two minutes after Strand’s goal, Nelson added insurance when he found the back of the net for his second of the season. This score that put the Irish up by two came off an assist by forward Brennan Ali (1).
Finally, Janicke (1-3-4) was awarded a score after a blocked shot off his leg ended up in the Golden Knights’ empty net in one of the crazier goals in recent memory.
A third-period offensive outburst like the one the Irish experienced on Saturday night is not sustainable to winning games, especially against more talented Big Ten opponents. However, the Irish will not apologize for escaping New York with two solid wins against competent competition.
The Irish dominated faceoffs on Saturday, winning over 62% of their chances. They will need to turn these faceoff wins into more offensive opportunities as they were outshot 32 to 27 despite winning-handedly. It was also another clean game in the penalty box, only allowing three penalties, two of which were offset due to roughing minors by both teams.
Notre Dame hockey will be back in action on Friday and Saturday when they host the University of Alaska at Compton Family Ice Arena.
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