Notre Dame Hockey Beats Mercyhurst 4-3 in Overtime

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team played game one against the Mercyhurst Lakers on Thursday night in a back and forth affair that finally saw the Irish come out on top in overtime. Notre Dame took the early lead in the first period before the Lakers scored the next three goals unanswered. Notre Dame fought back and tied the game in the final period before scoring the game winner in overtime.

Game Summary: Notre Dame 4 - Mercyhurst 3 (OT)

First Period

Landon Slaggert continued his strong start to the season for Notre Dame when he opened the scoring 7 minutes into the game. It was another power play goal for Notre Dame who is starting to see an uptick in production on the man advantage. Maddox Fleming had the puck near the corner and centered a pass right in front of the net that found Slaggert for a tap in goal and the lead. Mercyhurst tied the game later though and after one period the scored was 1-1 even though Notre Dame dominated the shots 20-9.

Second Period

Notre Dame once again controlled for large parts of the second period, although it wasn’t as lopsided as the first. It didn’t show on the scoreboard though as Mercyhurst scored twice including a power play goal only two minutes in. The Lakers held a 3-1 lead going into the final period but Notre Dame was playing like a team that had a chance to win.

Third Period

Less than three minutes into the final period Notre Dame drew within one goal. Maddox Fleming was again the one creating a chance, and this time it was Tyler Carpenter that was the beneficiary. Fleming carried the puck into the offensive zone along the left side boards before dropping a pass back and centering to the trailing Carpenter who wasted no movement and one timed the goal into the top corner.

Less than two minutes later the Irish found the tying goal with some nifty passing around the offensive zone. Paul Fischer at the right faceoff circle sent the puck to Drew Bavaro at the top of the zone. Bavaro barely controlled the puck before continuing it to the left faceoff circle where he found an open Trevor Janicke for another on time goal and a tie game. Notre Dame once again dominated shots in the third period 18-9 but they couldn’t find the winner and this game went into overtime.

Overtime

The extra period only lasted three minutes before Notre Dame ended things and it was once again the captain, Landon Slaggert, playing the hero. Ryan Siedem took control of the puck for the Irish in the defensive zone and immediately threaded a pass up ice that found Slaggert at the opposite blue line and behind the defense. Slaggert was in on a breakaway and he wasn’t going to miss using a quick fake to open up the space for the game winning goal.

Scoring

ND: Landon Slaggert (4) on the PP at 7:04 in the 1st assisted by Maddox Fleming and Danny Nelson

MU: Mickey Burns (2) at 14:15 in the 1st assisted by Garrett Dahm and Tommy Bannister

MU: Dustin Geregach (2) on the PP at 2:06 in the 2nd assisted by Boris Skalos and Steven Agriogianis

MU: Philip Waugh (3) at 8:02 in the 2nd assisted by Spencer Smith and Connor Pelc

ND: Tyler Carpenter (2) at 2:45 in the 3rd assisted by Maddox Fleming and Carter Slaggert

ND: Trevor Janicke (1) at 5:07 in the 3rd assisted by Drew Bavaro and Paul Fischer

ND: Landon Slaggert (5) at 3:03 in OT assisted by Ryan Siedem and Justin Janicke

Penalties

MU: Ryan Coughlin 2 for tripping at 6:22 in the 1st

MU: Jake Beaune 2 for tripping at 16:59 in the 1st

ND: Trevor Janicke 2 for hooking at 2:00 in the 2nd

Goalies

ND: Ryan Bischel saved 24 of 27 shots faced for the win.

MU: Owen Say made 50 saves on 54 shots faced in the loss.

Up Next

Game two between these two teams takes place Friday night. Notre Dame will be looking for their first series sweep of the season.