LIU puts a scare into Irish Big Ten hopes with spooky 5-2 pre-Halloween victory
By JOHN FINERAN
SOUTH BEND – With the opening of the Big Ten hockey season a day after Halloween, No. 17 Notre Dame certainly shouldn’t like what it sees in the mirror.
For the third straight Saturday, coach Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish got off to a slow start, and for the second straight Saturday they lost a game to an opponent which played more inspired hockey.
Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to visiting Long Island University’s Sharks came seven days after the Irish fell 1-0 to Alaska Fairbanks, a pair of losses which likely will drop the 4-2-0 Irish out of the Top 20.
For the second straight night, the five-year-old Sharks, now 2-3-1 for coach Brett Riley, outskated, outshot and outfought Notre Dame from start to finish, this time in victory after suffering the loss of freshman goaltender Daniel Duris for the season with a lower left leg injury in Notre Dame’s 4-1 Friday victory.
Clearly, the Irish have a severe Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex as they await a visit from the Wisconsin Badgers next Friday and Saturday nights, and Jackson, who announced last June that this season would be his 20th and last behind the Irish bench, is as mystified as anyone which Irish team will show up when the Big Ten doorbell rings Friday night.
“That’s three games in a row that we haven’t been nearly as good as we should be,” Jackson said. “When that happens, I have to take responsibility. I don’t think we were ready to play yesterday (Friday), and I’m not sure we were much better prepared to play today.”
The Irish, who dressed up for their final pre-Halloween game in cream-colored jerseys, gold pants and using gold gloves, allowed the Sharks to dominate the game from the start to finish. Irish freshman netminder Nicholas Kempf turned aside the first six LIU shots he faced before teammate Cole Knuble, who factored in all four Irish goals Friday night, had Notre Dame’s first shot turned aside by Sharks sophomore goaltender Noah Rupprecht 6:36 into the scoreless first period.
Kempf finished with 15 saves in the first period, turned aside 17 more in the second and finished with 37 saves for the game, 12 more than Rupprecht, whose teammates blocked another 18 shots as LIU outshot Notre Dame 42-27. On Friday, the Sharks outshot the Irish by a 39-24 margin.
“I don’t think our respect level for Alaska or Long Island was where it needed to be,” Jackson continued. “I’ve discussed this with our leadership group and the team. Give Long Island credit – they played hard and they play physical. And I’m not sure we were willing to pay the price for the physicality.”
Notre Dame never led in the game as Long Island defenseman Cade Mason’s 30-foot blast deflected past Kempf at 2:42. The Irish would tie it up a little over three minutes later when senior center Hunter Strand took a nice cross-ice feed from Maddox Fleming and buried a shot over Rupprecht’s stick side at 5:45 on the power play.
The Irish had another power-play opportunity at 11:36, but the Sharks ended up scoring after Anthony Lucarelli blocked Paul Fischer’s shot from the point and started up ice on a breakaway. Kempf made the save but LIU penalty-killer Riley Wallack outskated the Irish to knock home the rebound at 12:24 for the shorthanded killer that made it 2-1.
“Some of our top players assumed (Kempf) was going to make the save and coasted in from the back end,” Jackson said, “and that’s just not acceptable.”
Austin Brimmer then made it 3-1 LIU with his power-play goal at 17:16 of the second period, and defenseman John Gormley’s slapper got through Kempf’s pads and trickled into the net at 6:18 of the third period to put the Sharks on cruise control.
Notre Dame senior associate captain and left wing Justin Janicke would score his third goal of the season at 14:08 to give the Irish, trailing 4-2, some hope. The Irish then got a late power play and pulled Kempf for a sixth attacker, but Brennan Ali’s shot hit off the post at 18:22 of the third period. LIU’s Isaac Lambert found the empty net a minute later at the other end to complete the scoring.
“These teams (Alaska and LIU) when they play us it’s like the Super Bowl for them,” Janicke said. “Yeah, I just think we’re just not ready to go. We’re not doing the little things, taking care of the details. Even like yesterday, we’re getting outworked. We all have to do some soul searching in the next couple of days. And we know going into the Big Ten it’s going to get harder.”
LONG ISLAND U. 5, NOTRE DAME 2
At Lefty Smith Rink in Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, Ind.
Long Island U. 0 3 2—5
Notre Dame 0 1 1—2
First Period—Scoring: None. Penalties: Long Island 1-2, Notre Dame 0-0.
Second Period—Scoring: 1. Long Island, Cade Mason 1 (Garrett Valk) EV 2:42; 2. Notre Dame, Hunter Strand 2 (Maddox Fleming, Axel Kumlin) PP 5:45; 3. Long Island, Riley Wallack (Anthony Lucarelli) SH 12:24; 4. Long Island, Austin Brimmer 1 (Chris Pappas, Connor Gregga) PP 17:16. Penalties: Long Island 2-4 (3-6), Notre Dame 2-4 (2-4).
Third Period—Scoring: 5. Long Island, John Gormley 1 (Connor Gregga, Luca Leighton) EV 6:18; 6. Notre Dame, Justin Janicke 3 (Michael Mastrodomenico, Ryan Helliwell) EV 14:08’ 7. Long Island, Isaac Lambert 2 (Carter Rapalje) EN 19:22. Penalties: Long Island 3-17 (6-23), Notre Dame 0-0 (2-4).
Shots on goal: Long Island 42 (15-20-7), Notre Dame 27 (5-8-14). Goalie saves: Long Island, Noah Rupprecht 25 (5-7-13), Notre Dame, Nicholas Kempf 37 (15-17-5).
Power-play opportunities: Long Island 1 of 2, Notre Dame 1 of 4. Faceoffs won: Long Island 22 (6-10-6), Notre Dame 39 (12-16-11). Blocked shots: Long Island 18 (6-4-8), Notre Dame 6 (0-4-2).
Referees: Jonathon Sitarski, Barry Pochmara. Linesmen: Riley Bowles, Justin Cornell. Records: Long Island University 2-3-1, Notre Dame 4-2-0. Attendance: 4,125 (4,852).
BIG TEN STANDINGS: 1. Ohio State 2-0-0, 5 points (5-0-1 overall); 2. Wisconsin 0-2-0, 1 point (1-5-0 overall); 3. TIE, Notre Dame 0-0-0, 0 points (4-2-0 overall); Michigan State 0-0-0, 0 points (5-1-0 overall); Minnesota 0-0-0, 0 points (5-1-0 overall); Penn State 0-0-0, 0 points (4-1-0 overall); Michigan 0-0-0, 0 points (3-2-1 overall).
Saturday’s schedule: Long Island University 5, Notre Dame 2; Penn State 3, St. Lawrence 1; Michigan State 4, Canisius 1; Ohio State 2, Bowling Green 0; Denver 6, Wisconsin 1; Minnesota 6, St. Thomas 2 (at Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center).
Friday’s results: Notre Dame 4, Long Island U. 1; Minnesota 7, St. Thomas 1; Penn State 3, St. Lawrence 2; Michigan State 3, Canisius 0; Ohio State 3, Bowling Green 1; Denver 4, Wisconsin 2; Michigan 5, U.S. Under-18 Team 4 (OT) (exhibition).
SATURDAY’S RESULTS FOR USCHO.COM MEDIA POLL TEAMS
1. Denver (NCHC) (6-0-0) beat visiting No. 20 Wisconsin, 6-1.
2. Boston College (Hockey East) (3-1-0) beat visiting No. 14 Western Michigan, 4-2.
3. Boston University (Hockey East) (4-1-0) won at No. 7 North Dakota, 4-3.
4. Michigan State (Big Ten) (5-1-0) won at Canisius, 4-1.
5. Minnesota (Big Ten) (5-1-0) beat St. Thomas, 6-2, at Saint Paul, Minn.
6. Maine (Hockey East) (4-0-1) tied at Northeastern, 2-2 (OT) (Maine won shootout 2-0).
7. North Dakota (NCHC) (3-2-0) lost to visiting No. 3 Boston University, 4-3.
8. Cornell (ECAC) (0-0-0) beat visiting Toronto, 6-2 (exhibition).
9. Colorado College (NCHC) (4-0-0) won at Alaska-Anchorage, 2-0.
10. Michigan (Big Ten) (3-2-1) was idle.
11. Quinnipiac (ECAC) (2-3-0) lost to visiting New Hampshire, 3-2.
12. St. Cloud State (NCHC) (6-1-0) beat visiting Augustana, 2-1.
13. Providence (Hockey East) (3-1-1) tied at Vermont, 4-4 (Providence won shootout, 1-0).
14. Western Michigan (NCHC) (3-1-0) lost at No. 2 Boston College, 4-2.
15. Massachusetts (Hockey East) (3-3-1) lost at Connecticut, 3-2.
16. Omaha (NCHC) (2-4-0) lost at No. 18 Minnesota State, 1-0.
17. Notre Dame (Big Ten) (4-2-0) lost to visiting Long Island University, 5-2.
18. Minnesota State (CCHA) beat visiting No. 16 Omaha, 1-0.
19. Ohio State (Big Ten) (5-0-1) won at Bowling Green, 2-0.
20. Wisconsin (Big Ten) (1-5-0) lost at No. 1 Denver, 6-1.
Others receiving votes:
Augustana (CCHA) (3-3-0) lost at St. Cloud State, 2-1
UMass Lowell (Hockey East) (4-1-0) won at Merrimack, 6-3.
Penn State (Big Ten) (4-1-0) beat visiting St. Lawrence, 3-1.
Northeastern (Hockey East) (1-3-1) tied visiting No. 6 Maine, 2-2 (OT) (Maine won shootout, 2-0).
Harvard (ECAC) (0-0-0) was idle.
Michigan Tech (CCHA) (2-2-0) lost to visiting Clarkson, 2-1 (OT).
New Hampshire (Hockey East) (2-1-1) won at No. 11 Quinnipiac, 3-2.
Minnesota Duluth (NCHC) (3-4-0) beat visiting Stonehill, 2-1.
Dartmouth (ECAC) (0-0-0) was idle.
Arizona State (NCHC) (3-4-1) won at Northern Michigan, 2-0.
Connecticut (Hockey East) (3-2-1) beat visiting No. 15 Massachusetts, 3-2.
RIT (Atlantic Hockey) (2-5-0) lost to visiting Colgate, 4-3.
Clarkson (ECAC) (5-2-0) won at Michigan Tech, 2-1 (OT).
Sacred Heart (Atlantic Hockey) (2-3-1) beat visiting Holy Cross, 2-1.
St. Thomas (CCHA) (1-3-1) lost to No. 5 Minnesota, 6-2, at Saint Paul, Minn.
Bemidji State (CCHA) (2-3-0) won at Ferris State, 3-0.
Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey) (3-4-0) lost at Sacred Heart, 2-1.
Union (ECAC) (6-1-0) beat visiting Rensselaer, 4-3.
Bowling Green (CCHA) (3-3-0) lost to visiting No. 19 Ohio State, 2-0.
Brown (ECAC) (0-0-0) was idle.
Robert Morris (Atlantic Hockey) (2-1-1) tied at Niagara, 2-2 (OT) (Robert Morris wins shootout, 1-0).
St. Lawrence (ECAC) (4-4-0) lost at Penn State, 3-1.
Other Saturday games
American International 4, Air Force 2 (Atlantic Hockey)
Army 4, Bentley 1 (Atlantic Hockey)
Miami 4, Lindenwood 1
Princeton 6, Waterloo 0 (exhibition)