Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Split Weekend Series With Penn State

Coming off a weekend sweep of the RPI Engineers, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team traveled to State College, PA for a Big Ten conference matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions.

The Irish and the Nittany Lions split the series, winning a game each, in what turned out to be an offensive outburst. In two games the teams combined for 19 goals. After the weekend split the Irish now sit at 11-5-1 overall and 5-3-0 in Big Ten conference play.

Game 1

Penn State opened the scoring on Friday night when a turnover led to a two-on-one goal from Aarne Talvitie. Notre Dame answered 2:45 later when Matt Hellickson tied the game at 1.

In the second period, the Irish scored three more goals and took a 4-2 lead into the third period. Penn State scored twice in the third, first making it a 4-3 game, before Matt Steeves score for the Irish to restore the two goal lead. Penn State pulled within one with 5 minutes left in the game but the Irish defense was able to hold them off for the 5-4 win.

With the victory, Notre Dame extended their winning streak to seven games.

Scoring

PSU - Aarne Talvitie (5) at 1:10 in the 1st, unassisted.

ND - Matt Hellickson (2) at 3:55 in the 1st, assisted by Cam Morrison and Dylan Malmquist.

ND - Cam Morrison (5) at 2:24 in the 2nd, assisted by Dylan Malmquist and Cal Burke.

ND - Mike O’Leary (2) at 3:49 in the 2nd, assisted by Michael Graham and Matt Hellickson.

PSU - Cole Hults (3) at 13:58 in the 2nd, assisted by Paul DeNaples and Brandon Biro.

ND - Andrew Peeke (2) on the PP at 17:39 in the 2nd, assisted by Colin Theisen and Matt Hellickson.

PSU - Denis Smirnov (4) at 6:30 in the 3rd, assisted by Ludvig Larsson and Cole Hults.

ND - Matt Steeves (1) at 7:59 in the 3rd, assisted by Colin Theisen and Matt Hellickson.

PSU - Nate Sucese (7) at 14:58 in the 3rd, assisted by Ludvig Larsson and Paul DeNaples.

Goalies

ND - Cale Morris saved 44 of 48 shots and earned the win.

PSU - Chris Funkey allowed 3 goals on 6 shots in the loss.

PSU - Oskar Autio allowed 2 goals on 18 shots.

Penalties

ND - Paul Stastney, 2 for cross-checking at 4:30 in the 1st.

PSU - Alec Marsh, 2 for high-sticking at 10:37 in the 1st.

ND - Tory Dello, 2 for hooking at 14:05 in the 1st.

ND - Matt Steeves, 2 for kneeing at 15:13 in the 2nd.

PSU - BENCH, 2 for too many players at 16:16 in the 2nd.

ND - Jake Pivonka, 2 for holding at 00:45 in the 3rd.

PSU - Evan Barratt, 2 for roughing at 10:12 in the 3rd.

Game 2

Notre Dame jumped on the board early on Saturday when Cam Morrison scored just over 3 minutes into the first period. Penn State ran away with the game from there, and dominated their way to a 9-1 win.

Scoring

ND - Cam Morrison (6) at 3:35 in the 1st, assisted by Cal Burke.

PSU - Alex Limoges (9) SH at 5:18 in the 1st, assisted by Evan Barratt.

PSU - Alex Limoges (10) at 12:23 in the 1st, assisted by Evan Barratt.

PSU - Liam Folkes (9) at 16:21 in the 1st, assisted by Kevin Kerr and Evan Barratt.

PSU - Sam Sternschein (6) on the PP at 5:05 in the 2nd, assisted by Chase Berger and Brandon Biro.

PSU - Alec Marsh (2) at 12:47 in the 2nd, assisted by Brandon Biro and Chase Berger.

PSU - Chase Berger (5) on the PP at 16:38 in the 2nd, assisted by Nate Sucese and Kris Myllari.

PSU - Nikita Pavlychev (10) on the PP at 10:59 in the 3rd, assisted by Aarne Talvitie and Denis Smirnov.

PSU - Alec Marsh (3) at 16:42 in the 3rd, assisted by Chase Berger and Brandon Biro.

PSU - Evan Barratt (13) at 18:35 in the 3rd, assisted by Liam Folkes and Alex Limoges.

Goalies

ND - Cale Morris allowed 5 goals on 20 shots in the loss.

ND - Dylan St. Cyr allowed 4 goals on 23 shots.

PSU - Peyton Jones allowed 1 goal on 27 shots for the win.

Penalties

PSU - Nikita Pavlychev, 2 for interference at 3:58 in the 1st.

PSU - Alex Stevens, 2 for hooking at 14:06 in the 1st.

ND - BENCH, 2 for too many players at 4:30 in the 2nd.

ND - Alex Steevs, 2 for hooking at 14:49 in the 2nd.

ND - Andrew Peeke, 2 for cross-checking at 10:17 in the 3rd.

ND - Andrew Peeke, 2 for interference at 14:10 in the 3rd.

PSU - Chase Berger, 2 for hooking at 14:33 in the 3rd.

Up Next

Notre Dame has a break in the schedule over the next three weeks for finals and holidays. Their next game is at home against the Boston College Eagles on December 31.