By JOHN FINERAN
Notre Dame’s hockey team needed a little luck to end a seven-game losing streak Friday, and faith and begorrah, the Irish skaters got it in their first trip ever to their “native land.”
Thanks to two goals and assist from graduate right wing Blake Biondi and a 29-save performance from junior goaltender Owen Say, Notre Dame held off Harvard 5-2 in its opening game of the Friendship Four tournament before an estimated crowd of 9,000 watching at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak which began with a 2-1 loss to visiting Wisconsin on Nov. 2 that was followed by sweeps by the Big Ten’s three powerhouses according to the latest USCHO.com media poll – No. 6 Michigan (2-1 and 4-2), No. 1 Michigan State (8-3 and 4-3) and No. 3 Minnesota (6-3 and 5-3).
Coach Jeff Jackson’s Notre Dame team left South Bend last Sunday, arrived in Dublin Monday morning and toured the city then bused across the border to Belfast for more off-ice history lessons and on-ice preparation for coach Ted Donato’s ECAC-affiliated Harvard team, which is now 0-3-1 in its last four games and 2-4-1 overall.
“It was a matter of getting a little confidence right now,” Jackson said after the win. “We’ve had a tough run in the last month, so this is a big, big win for us.”
Next ahead for the Irish is Saturday’s championship game against Hockey East power Boston University, ranked No. 13 this week. The Terriers opened the Friendship Four tourney Friday with a 6-2 league win over Merrimack. Faceoff between the Irish and Terriers is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (7 p.m. in Belfast) and the game can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on WZOC-FM (94.3). Harvard and Merrimack meet for third place at 10 a.m.
Besides their 1-7-0 start in the Big Ten race, the Irish (6-9-0) have been limited during the stretch by injuries to several key performances, some of whom have been able to play through their aches and pains. Defensemen Henry Nelson and Zach Plucinski, however, have missed the last five and three games, respectively, with upper-body injuries. Sophomore forward Cole Knuble, normally a center but moved to right wing because of his lower-body injury, had sat out three of the last four games before playing Saturday and contributing an empty-net goal and an assist on Biondi’s opening score.
Senior alternate captain Justin Janicke, who sat out last Saturday’s loss to Minnesota because of a team-imposed penalty for taking a major penalty for kneeing in the Friday loss, returned and also contributed a goal and assist for Notre Dame. Freshman Jaedon Kerr, meanwhile, scored his first collegiate goal during the first period which ended with Notre Dame up 3-0 and seemingly in control.
“It was the tale of three periods,” added Jackson, whose team got off to a quick start thanks to a 22-7 edge in total shots, including 10-4 on goal. But in the second period, Harvard flipped the ice, officially getting off the first 16 shots on goal and scoring twice against Say, a transfer from Mercyhurst. Both teams had 11 shots on goal in the third period.
“We’ve been in a bit of a slump, so it was huge for us to come out here and start really hot,” said Biondi, a former Mr. Hockey in Minnesota (at Hermantown High School) who scored 30 goals in an injury-plagued four seasons at Minnesota Duluth before opting to use his COVID-19 fifth season to play at Notre Dame.
Biondi, who now has four goals and nine points over his last four games, got the Irish started when he took a feed from Knuble just to the left of starting Harvard goalie Aku Koskenvuo and beat him at 8:25 on the power play. Janicke had started the play by nudging the puck over to Knuble, who had won the initial faceoff.
The Irish then scored twice within 38 seconds late in the period to increase the lead to 3-0. The Irish, who were 15-7 on first-period faceoffs (the teams ended up tied 31-31), made it 2-0 by winning another, this one by center Jayden Davis, who has been among the skating wounded. Senior left wing Tyler Carpenter quickly nudged the puck back to Kerr, whose shot from the point beat Koskenvuo for a 2-0 lead at 16:30.
Then at 17:08, Biondi added his second goal of the game when he deflected Michael Mastrodomenico’s shot from the mid-point into the net with defenseman Paul Fischer also receiving an assist.
But the Crimson came out for the second period, replaced Koskenvuo with Ben Charette, and then scored at 1:13. Forward Joe Miller skated untouched behind the net to retrieve the puck and then retraced his path back to deposit the puck behind a stunned Say to make it 3-1. Harvard then made it 3-2 when Cam Johnson intercepted an errant clearing pass by Notre Dame defenseman Jimmy Jurcev and beat Say at 6:39.
But the Irish goalie stood his ground with help from his teammates. Notre Dame killed off its only penalty of the night, a tripping call against junior defenseman Axel Kumlin at 9:25, and Say made five saves before Harvard’s Ryan Healey went to the box for interference at 17:40. At that point, the Crimson had a 16-0 lead in shots on goal before Charette stopped Danny Nelson at 17:57. The Harvard netminder would make five more saves and get a break when a Biondi shot hit the pipe before the penalty expired at 19:40.
It was still 3-2 past the midway point of the third period when Harvard’s Justin Solovey was sent off for hitting from behind at 12:22. Late in the penalty, Charette turned aside a shot by Danny Nelson, but Biondi redirected the rebound over to Janicke, who put it behind the Harvard goalie for a 4-2 lead at 14:21.
Say would make three more saves before Donato pulled Charette for the first time at 16:25. The Harvard coach called a timeout at 18:34 with the puck in the Irish defensive zone. When play resumed, Danny Nelson won the draw and got the puck to Knuble, who skated from blue line to blue line before sending a shot into the vacated net at 18:39.
“We weathered their storm in the second period,” Biondi added. “Then we found a way to get a win.”
One that was badly needed, for sure.
NOTRE DAME 5, HARVARD 2
Friendship Four Tournament at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Notre Dame 3 0 2—5
Harvard 0 2 0—2
First Period—Scoring: 1. Notre Dame, Blake Biondi 5 (Cole Knuble, Justin Janicke) PP 8:25; 2. Notre Dame, Jaedon Kerr 1 (Tyler Carpenter, Jayden Davis) EV 16:30; 3. Notre Dame, Blake Biondi 6 (Michael Mastrodomenico, Paul Fischer) EV 17:08. Penalties: Notre Dame 0-0, Harvard 1-2.
Second Period—Scoring: 4. Harvard, Joe Miller 3 (Ben MacDonald, Casey Severo) EV 1:13; 5. Harvard, Cam Johnson 1 (unassisted) EV 6:39. Penalties: Notre Dame 1-2 (1-2), Harvard 1-2 (2-4).
Third Period—Scoring: 6. Notre Dame, Justin Janicke 4 (Blake Biondi, Danny Nelson) PP 14:21; 7. Notre Dame, Cole Knuble 7 (unassisted) EN 18:39. Penalties: Notre Dame 0-0 (1-2), Harvard 1-2 (3-6).
Shots on goal: Notre Dame 27 (10-6-11), Harvard 31 (4-16-11).
Goalie saves: Notre Dame (29), Owen Say 29 (4-14-11); Harvard (22), Aku Koskenvuo 7 (7-0-0-0) and Ben Charette 15 (0-6-9).
Faceoffs won: Notre Dame 31 (15-10-6), Harvard 31 (7-10-14).
Power-play opportunities: Notre Dame 2 of 3, Harvard 0 of 1.
Blocked shots: Notre Dame 11 (1-7-3), Harvard 19 (6-6-7).
Referees: William Brennan and CJ Hanafin. Linesmen: John Rey and Ryan Knap. Attendance: 9,000 (10,800).
Records: Notre Dame 6-9-0 (1-7-0 Big Ten), Harvard 2-4-1 (2-2-1 ECAC).
Boston University 6, Merrimack 2: The Terriers moved into Saturday’s championship game and improved to 4-2-1 in the Hockey East Association by scoring three unanswered goals in the first period.
Aiden Celebrini opened the scoring for Boston University at 7:10 and then Tristan Amonte scored the first of his two goals 66 seconds later. Gave McCarthy’s shorthanded goal at 15:05 proved to be the eventual game-winner and helped to chase Merrimack starting goaltender Nils Wallastrom who was replaced by Max Lundgren for the start of the second period.
Merrimack closed the gap to 3-2 on a second-period goal by Antonio Venuto at 13:57 and a score by David Sacco just 21 seconds into the third period. But Boston University regained a two-goal lead on Quinn Hutson’s goal at 8:15. Amonte scored into an empty net at 18:46 to make it 5-2 before Shane Lachance scored on a power play at 19:31 to close out the scoring.
Mathieu Caron made 31 saves to pick up the win for the Terriers, who improved to 7-5-1 overall. Wallstrom had four saves and Lundgren 19 for the Warriors, who fell to 3-8-1 overall and 2-5-1 in Hockey East play.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 6, MERRIMACK 2
Friendship Four Tournament at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Boston University 3 0 3—6
Merrimack 0 1 1—2
First Period—Scoring: 1. Boston University, Aiden Celebrini 1 (Devin Kaplan, Ryan Greene) EV 7:10; 2. Boston University, Tristan Amonte 2 (Cole Hutson, Sascha Boumedienne) EV 8:16; 3. Boston University, Gavin McCarthy 1 (Kamil Bednarik, Matt Copponi) SH 15:05. Penalties: Merrimack 3-14, Boston University 2-4.
Second Period—Scoring: 4. Merrimack, Antonio Venuto 4 (Zach Bookman, Seamus Powell) PP 13:57. Penalties: Merrimack 1-2 (4-16), Boston University 2-4 (4-8).
Third Period—Scoring: 5. Merrimack, David Sacco 3 (Seamus Powell) EV 0:21; 6. Boston University, Quinn Hutson 4 (Aiden Celebrini, Jack Hughes) EV 8:15; 7. Boston University, Tristan Amonte 3 (unassisted) EN 18:46; 8. Boston University, Shane Lachance 6 (Cole Hutson, Ryan Greene) PP 19:31. Penalties: Merrimack 1-2 (5-18), Boston University 2-4 (6-12).
Shots on goal: Boston University 29 (7-10-12), Merrimack 33 (6-11-16).
Goalie saves: Boston University (31), Mathieu Caron 31 (6-10-15); Merrimack (23), Nils Wallstrom 4 (4-0-0) and Max Lundgren 19 (0-10-9).
Faceoffs won: Boston University 42, Merrimack 28.
Power-play opportunities: Boston University 0 of 2, Merrimack 1 of 6.
Blocked shots: Boston University 11, Merrimack 17.
Referees: Bobby Esposito and Jeremy Tufts. Linesmen: Jeff McCorkle and Steven Murray.
Records: Merrimack 3-8-1 (2-5-1 Hockey East), Boston University 7-5-1 (4-2-1 Hockey East).
