Hot goaltender, penalty issues by Irish factor into Alaska’s 1-0 series-ending win
By John Fineran
SOUTH BEND – At the conclusion of Saturday night’s 1-0 hockey victory by visiting Alaska over No. 18 Notre Dame at the Compton Family Ice Arena, there was no post-game handshake line between the two teams as is usually the case after most hockey series.
That’s because the on-ice officials spent most of their time breaking up a couple of post-game scrums, keeping the teams separated and then spent time in the officials’ box viewing video of the melee in order to hand out 13 penalties totaling 58 minutes.
If there’s one thing Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson is not going to tolerate as he coaches through his 20th and last season behind the Irish bench, it’s a lack of discipline by his team. Last year, the Irish finished 14th nationally averaging 12.58 penalty minutes a game, one of the reasons why the team finished 15-19-2 and missed the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. When the Irish last made the NCAA tournament field during their 28-12-0 season in 2021-22, they were 36th with their 10.00 penalty minutes a game.
Saturday, Notre Dame was whistled 11 times for 49 minutes in penalties – one of the penalties being a five-minute major against senior defenseman Ryan Helliwell for cross checking in the first period – after they had committed just eight minor penalties totaling 16 minutes in their opening three victories.
“I was disappointed in the discipline more than anything because that started us off on our heels,” Jackson said. “Starting off with that major in the first period … this year I’m not going to tolerate it because discipline was a factor in our demise last year. I’m not going to allow that to happen this year.”
Coach Erik Largen’s Nanooks (1-5-0) outhustled the Irish (3-1-0) from the start though they were outshot by a 37-23 margin and got the victory thanks to a 37-save performance from goaltender Nicholas Grabko. The grad-transfer from Bentley made 20 saves in the second period when Alaska also got its only goal for the second straight night from sophomore defenseman Broten Sabo, this time after a mad scramble in front of Irish freshman netminder Nicholas Kempf at 8:10. Kempf finished with 22 saves in the game while taking the loss.
“We didn’t play our game tonight,” said graduate left wing Grant Silianoff, who is one of four captains for the Irish this season (along with fellow graduate Ian Murphy and senior left wings Tyler Carpenter and Justin Janicke). “We took too many penalties; we didn’t make the right plays with the puck. We have to do the right things if we want to win at the end of the day. You’re going to lose some games, but we know we’re better than that.”
Carpenter, who was called for a five-minute kneeing major in Notre Dame’s 5-2 come-from-behind exhibition victory over the U.S. Under-18 team on Oct. 4, knows what Jackson expects from him and his teammates going forward when it comes to taking penalties.
“We know that certain penalties in certain situations are tough, and we’ve been pretty good for the most part,” Carpenter said. “There are going to be five-minute majors throughout the year, and we’ve got to limit them. Yes, he’s been harping on discipline and he’s going to continue to harp on it because it’s a key to the game and how you win in this league (Big Ten).”
Before the Irish entertain Wisconsin in their opening Big Ten series Nov. 1 and 2, they will play independent Long Island next Friday night at 7 and Saturday night at 6 on the Lefty Smith Rink.
Alaska had the first seven shots on goal to start the game until Silianoff tested Grabko at the 7:03 mark. The Nanooks would outshoot the Irish 11-7 in large part because of a minor penalty and then Helliwell’s major at 7:50. Alaska’s last shot on goal came with 4:32 remaining in the period but Grabko kept the game scoreless with five saves to end the period.
The Alaska goalie made four saves – and got help from his goal post – in the first 3:58 of the second period. Then after Grabko and the Nanooks killed off a penalty at the midway point of the period, Alaska took advantage of some errant clearing efforts by the Irish to keep pressure on Kempf before Sabo beat him at 11:50.
The Irish and the crowd of 4,396 thought they had tied the game on a Blake Biondi close-in shot at 14:10, but a review of the play showed that the puck didn’t cross the goal line before the net came off its post.
Late in the third period, Jackson twice pulled Kempf for an extra attacker. But the closest either team came to scoring was when Alaska’s William Lawson-Body’s clearing effort hit the left pipe of the vacated Irish net at 17:58.
“Last weekend we picked it up in the third period and found a way to win,” Jackson said. “In many ways, we’re still a young team with the key guys on our team being young. We weren’t sharp coming out of our zone and we weren’t playing fast. We have to play fast to be effective. They did a good job – they were more aggressive on the forecheck which made it hard for us to get out of our zone.
“Our goaltending (Owen Say and Kempf) hasn’t been an issue,” Jackson continued while knocking on the table. “It’s a matter of us playing well in front of them.”
ALASKA 1, NOTRE DAME 0
At Lefty Smith Rink/Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend
Alaska 0 1 0—1
Notre Dame 0 0 0—0
First Period—Scoring: None. Penalties: Alaska 0-0, Notre Dame 3-17.
Second Period—Scoring: 1. Alaska, Broten Sabo 2 (Noah Barlage) EV 8:10. Penalties: Alaska 4-8 (4-8), Notre Dame 2-4 (5-21).
Third Period—Scoring: None. Penalties: Alaska 7-30 (11-38), Notre Dame 6-28 (11-49).
Shots on goal: Alaska 23 (11-9-3), Notre Dame 37 (7-20-10). Goalie saves: Alaska, Nicholas Grabko 37 (7-20-10), Notre Dame, Nicholas Kempf 19 (11-6-2).
Power-play opportunities: Alaska 0 of 3, Notre Dame 0 of 3. Faceoffs won: Alaska 22 (8-4-10), Notre Dame 27 (8-10-9). Blocked shots: Alaska 11 (2-4-5), Notre Dame 6 (2-3-6).
Referees: Nicholas Bet and Jake Rekucki. Linesmen: Pat Richardson and Jonathan Sladek. Records: Alaska 1-5-0, Notre Dame 3-1-0.
Attendance: 4,396 (4,852c).
Big Ten standings: 1. Ohio State 2-0-0, 5 points (3-0-1 overall); 2. Wisconsin 0-2-0, 1 point (1-3-0); 3. TIE, Notre Dame 0-0-0, 0 points (3-1-0 overall); Michigan State (0-0-0, 0 points (3-1-0 overall); Minnesota 0-0-0, 0 points (3-1-0 overall); Penn State 0-0-0, 0 points (2-1-0 overall); Michigan 0-0-0, 0 points (3-2-1 overall).
Saturday, Oct. 19 results: Alaska 1, Notre Dame 0; Ohio State 2, Wisconsin 1; St. Cloud State 4, Michigan 0; Minnesota 5, Minnesota-Duluth 1.
Friday, Oct. 18 results: Notre Dame 4, Alaska 1; Ohio State 2, Wisconsin 1 (OT); Michigan 3, St. Cloud State 0; Minnesota 7, Minnesota-Duluth 5; Michigan State 5, Windsor 0 (exhibition).
Friday-Saturday, Oct. 25-26 schedule: Long Island at Notre Dame; Michigan State at Canisius; St. Lawrence at Penn State; Wisconsin at Denver; Minnesota vs. St. Thomas; Ohio State vs. Bowling Green; U.S. Under-18 at Michigan (Saturday).
HOW USCHO.com MEDIA POLL TEAMS AND OTHERS FARED SATURDAY
- Denver (NCHC) (4-0-0) beat No. 19 Northeastern 5-2
- Boston College (Hockey East) (2-1-0) beat U.S. Under-18 (exhibition), 8-4
- Boston University (Hockey East) (3-0-0) tied Harvard (exhibition) 2-2 (OT) (Boston U. wins shootout, 1-0)
- Michigan State (Big Ten) (3-1-0) did not play
- North Dakota (NCHC) (2-1-0) lost at No. 20 Minnesota State, 3-0
- Minnesota (Big Ten) (3-1-0) won at Minnesota-Duluth, 5-1
- Quinnipiac (ECAC) (1-2-0) lost at No. 9 Maine, 6-5 (OT)
- Cornell (ECAC) (0-0-0) did not play
- Maine (Hockey East) (3-0-0) beat visiting No. 7 Quinnipiac, 6-5 (OT)
- Michigan (Big Ten) (3-2-1) lost to visiting No. 13 St. Cloud State, 4-0
- Colorado College (NCHC) (2-0-0) did not play
- Omaha (NCHC) (2-2-0) lost to visiting Augustana, 4-0
- St. Cloud State (NCHC) (4-1-0) won at No. 10 Michigan, 4-0
- Providence (Hockey East) (2-1-0) beat visiting Arizona State, 2-1
- Massachusetts (Hockey East) (3-2-0) won at Sacred Heart, 6-1
- Wisconsin (Big Ten) (1-3-0) lost to visiting Ohio State, 2-1
- Western Michigan (NCHC) (3-0-0) beat visiting York (exhibition), 8-0
- Notre Dame (Big Ten) (3-1-0) lost to visiting Alaska, 1-0
- Northeastern (Hockey East) (1-2-0) lost at No. 1 Denver, 5-2
- Minnesota State (CCHA) (3-3-0) beating visiting No. 5 North Dakota, 3-0
Also receiving votes
Arizona State (NCHC) (1-4-1) lost at No. 14 Providence, 2-1
Penn State (Big Ten) (2-1-0) did not play
Connecticut (Hockey East) (3-2-0) did not play
Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC) (1-4-0) lost to visiting No. 6 Minnesota, 5-1
Michigan Tech (CCHA) (2-0-0) did not play
New Hampshire (Hockey East) (1-0-1) did not play
Harvard (ECAC) (0-0-0) tied at No. 3 Boston University (exhibition), 2-2 (Boston U. won shootout, 1-0)
Dartmouth (ECAC) (0-0-0) did not play
Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey) (1-3-0) lost to visiting Army, 1-0
Ohio State (Big Ten) (3-0-1) won at No. 16 Wisconsin, 2-1
UMass Lowell (Hockey East) (3-1-0) beating visiting Colgate, 2-1
Bemidji State (CCHA) (1-2-0) did not play
Rensselaer (ECAC) (2-1-1) lost to visiting Niagara, 5-4
St. Lawrence (ECAC) (4-2-0) beat visiting Ferris State, 8-0
St. Thomas (CCHA) (1-1-1) did not play
RIT (Atlantic Hockey) (2-3-0) lost to visiting Bowling Green, 2-1 (OT)
Sacred Heart (Atlantic Hockey) (1-2-1) lost to visiting No. 15 Massachusetts, 6-1
Brown (ECAC) (0-0-0) did not play
Other Saturday games
Bentley 3, Long Island 1
Union 3, Mercyhurst 2
Alaska-Anchorage 5, Northern Michigan 3
Lake Superior State 3, Stonehill 0
Robert Morris 4, Miami 1
Clarkson 3, Vermont 1
Other Sunday games
Army (0-1-0) at Holy Cross (1-2-0)
Lindenwood (1-2-0) at Air Force (2-3-0)