Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Drop Series Opener to Buckeyes

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team opened their series against the Ohio State Buckeyes today, with new head football coach Marcus Freeman in attendance to see the Irish face his alma mater. Unfortunately, Notre Dame struggled on both sides of the puck, dropping the series opener on home ice by a score of 4-2.

First Period

The game started slow, with both teams having limited chances early in the first period. With just over twelve minutes left in the period though, Graham Slaggert carried the puck through the neutral zone before finding Ryder Rolston open with a cross ice pass. Rolston carried into the offensive zone and let a shot go from the right point that went off the glove of Ohio State goalie Jakub Dobes and into the net.

A few minutes later though Irish goalie Matthew Galajda was caught out of the net after the puck took an unfortunate bounce off of the end boards, allowing Kamil Sadlocha to tie the game. Ohio State added another goal on the power play and held a 2-1 lead after the first despite Notre Dame holding a 14-8 shot advantage.

Second Period

The second period is where things went really wrong for Notre Dame. Ohio State controlled the shots in the second period and Notre Dame found themselves in the penalty box three times, allowing the Buckeyes to score two more goals, including their second power play goal of the game.

Third Period

Most of the third period passed relatively uneventfully until under two minutes left. With Notre Dame pressing for goals, a scramble in front of the net allowed Max Ellis to put the puck past Dobes to cut the lead to two. Unfortunately, despite having a 6-on-4 advantage at one point, Notre Dame was unable to find another goal and the game ended 4-2 in favor of the Buckeyes.

Game Summary

Scoring

Notre Dame: Ryder Rolston at 7:41 in the 1st with assists from Graham Slaggert and Nick Leivermann

Ohio State: Kamil Sadlocha at 12:34 in the 1st with assists from Cam Thiesing and QuinnPreston

Ohio State: Travis Treloar at 15:27 in the 1st with assists from Jake Wise and Mason Lohrei

Ohio State: Georgii Merkulov at 12:16 in the 2nd with assists from Cam Thiesing and Mason Lohrei

Ohio State: Will Riedell at 15:54 in the 2nd with assists from Gustaf Westlund and Grant Gabriele

Notre Dame: Max Ellis at 18:42 in the 3rd with assists from Landon Slaggert and Nick Leivermann

Penalties

Notre Dame: Jake Boltmann 2:00 for holding at 14:43 in the 1st

Notre Dame: Jesse Lansdell 2:00 for cross-checking at 1:21 in the 2nd

Ohio State: Joe Dunlap 2:00 for high sticking at 8:42 in the 2nd

Notre Dame: Jake Boltmann 2:00 for interference at 14:01 in the 2nd

Notre Dame: Ryan Helliwell 2:00 for roughing at 15:54 in the 2nd

Notre Dame: Jesse Lansdell 2:00 for roughing at 1:08 in the 3rd

Ohio State: Georgii Merkulov 2:00 for hooking at 15:40 in the 3rd

Goalies

Notre Dame: Matthew Galajda, 24 saves on 28 shots against

Ohio State: Jakub Dobes, 34 saves on 36 shots against

Up Next

Notre Dame and Ohio State are back in action in South Bend tomorrow night to close out their two game series. The game is streaming on the NBC App at 6pm ET.