Three strikes and you’re out.
It’s not usually a concept associated with hockey, but Saturday night at AMSOIL Arena, the UMD men used a three-goal outburst to effectively take No. 2 Notre Dame out of the game and hand the Fighting Irish their first loss of the year.
Friday’s matchup featured plenty of physicality and special teams action. Aaron Crandall got the call at goaltender for UMD and was solid against the Irish offensive attack.
Notre Dame broke a scoreless tie halfway through the second period when forward Jeff Costello scored on a one-timer that slipped between Crandall’s pads. UMD sophomore Cal Decowski answered back three minutes later to make it 1-1.
The Irish then scored two straight goals to make it 3-1, including their lone power-play goal of the night on 11 total chances. UMD allowed two goals in 18 Notre Dame power plays on the weekend, improving its penalty kill this season to 92.3 percent.
“I thought our killers did a good job,” head coach Scott Sandelin said. “I thought (Aaron) Crandall was outstanding. Sometimes your goalie is your best penalty killer, and tonight he made three or four huge saves. Our goalie was a big part of it.”
Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for facemasking five minutes into the third, giving UMD a lengthy power play. Andy Welinski made good on that opportunity, making it 3-2 on a shot from the slot against freshman goaltender Chad Katunar on a 5-on-3.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” Sandelin said. “I thought our kids played hard. We’ve just got to play more than 40 minutes.”
The momentum from Friday’s third period carried over to Saturday, and UMD controlled play throughout the night.
UMD co-captain Joe Basaraba started UMD’s scoring run at 14:24 of first on a backhand shot that went top shelf on Katunar. It took only nine seconds for the Bulldogs to double their lead, as a shot by Kyle Osterberg ricocheted off Caleb Herbert’s shin and into the goal.
And UMD wasn’t satisfied. Freshman Dominic Toninato scored the third Bulldog goal of the first period three minutes later to give UMD a commanding three-goal lead. The Bulldogs outshot Notre Dame 14-3 in the first 20 minutes.
“When the No. 2 team comes in, you play a little harder,” Toninato said. “We wanted to make a statement to the rest of the league. We had a good game Friday, but we wanted to come out tonight with a little extra fire.”
Osterberg added a fourth goal midway through the second period, before Notre Dame scored a power-play goal in the third to make it a 4-1 final.
UMD (3-2-1, 1-1 NCHC) will travel to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend to take on Ohio State.
BY NICOLE BRODZIK brodz006@d.umn.edu