KANSAS CITY, Mo. — University of Notre Dame junior center T.J. Tynan’s goal early in the third period gave the Fighting Irish a 1-0 win over the University of Maine men’s hockey team in their Ice Breaker Tournament semifinal at the Sprint Center Friday night.
Fourteenth-ranked Notre Dame, 1-0, faces off against the winner of the Nebraska-Omaha/Army game in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. championship game.
Twentieth-ranked Maine, 0-2, takes on the loser in the 4:30 consolation game.
Notre Dame was picked to win the CCHA title in the coaches’ preseason poll.
Tynan, Notre Dame’s leading scorer in his first two seasons, scored 2:59 into third period off a scramble in front.
Bryan Rust circled the Maine net and tried to stuff home a backhander that Maine goalie Dan Sullivan kicked out with his pad.
Tynan flipped the rebound on net and Sullivan also made that save with his right skate before Tynan gained custody of his own rebound and swatted the puck through Sullivan’s pads.
“It was a good play,” said Sullivan. “They did a great job crashing the net. There was a one-timer and I got my right toe on it. Then the puck went back to my left and (Tynan) stuffed it in. It trickled in somehow.”
Steven Summerhays finished with 22 saves for the Irish including a phenomenal stick save off Maine’s Joey Diamond in the second period.
A shot from the point was saved by Summerhays but the rebound glanced across the net front to Diamond.
Diamond had the exposed net facing him but the desperate Summerhays flashed out his goal stick and made the save.
“The puck rolled on me. There was nothing I could do about it. He made a great save,” said Diamond.
Sullivan was the busier of the two goalies and finished with 33 saves, including a number of gems.
Sullivan scrambled from the near post to the far post to rob Mike Voran, who was set up perfectly by David Gerths off a two-on-one in the second period.
“(Sullivan) stood on his head. He’s the main reason we only lost 1-0,” said senior right wing and tri-captain Diamond. “We didn’t play hard enough in front of him. He deserved a better fate.
“We were tentative in the first period and that’s one of the reasons we didn’t score tonight,” added Diamond.
Notre Dame dominated the first two periods and had a decided edge in offensive-zone possession.
But Sullivan kept them off the scoreboard, saving all 22 shots he faced.
Maine mustered just 12 shots through two periods.
The Black Bears played better in the third period but Summerhays came up with 10 saves including one on Mark Anthoine’s wrister from the left circle and a couple off Adam Shemansky’s tight-angle shots on the power play.
“We lacked assertiveness and confidence with the puck,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “We have to develop more offense. We lost some key players but there’s no excuse. Sullivan was great. He kept us in it.”
Whitehead thought freshmen all played well and that the team played better as the game went along.
Sullivan concurred.
“That’s a good sign,” said Sullivan. “We were able to sustain some pressure in their end (in the third period).”
Whitehead and Sullivan also thought the penalty-killing was exceptional.
Sullivan felt he played pretty well but credited his teammates for their defensive effort.
“What I really like about this team is they’re even more focused on defense and getting back to help out (than previous teams). They really work hard and put in the effort. We just have to come back tomorrow and play with more urgency and confidence in ourselves,” added Sullivan.
He called Notre Dame a great team and said he thought Summerhays “played extremely well. He got the shutout he deserved. He made some huge saves and the played squeaky clean on defense.”
Maine went 0-for-4 on the power play while Notre Dame went 0-for-5.
Whitehead said senior center Kyle Beattie suffered a mild concussion and sophomore right wing Andrew Cerretani re-sprained his ankle and both will be sidelined Saturday.
Billy Norman, who played defense on Friday, and freshman Will Merchant will take their spots up front and sophomore Jake Rutt will be inserted on defense. Freshman Matt Morris may start in place of Sullivan in goal said Whitehead.
Could the offense get any more pathetic?
Particularly in the light of all the goals Notre Dame scored.
What does that have to do with Maine offense? Maine had some chances but you can’t sit there and tell me their offense looked good. No one could finish and they turned the puck over and got out muscled to the puck.
Didn’t look good, didn’t look bad. I thought it was a good game. Too bad you missed it. Then again, your entire life is centered around ragging on Maine hockey.
I don’t rag on the team. I hope for the best but I’m also a realist. I may want Tim to not be the coach anymore but I still root for the team all the time. Just because I don’t blindly follow everything Tim says doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. I still support the team. I was a season ticket holder until I moved and if I was still nearby I’d still have tickets. I cheer for them every chance I get – I will point out the good (Sully and the PK) and the bad (the offense and the powerplay) and sorry if it offends you I’m not “rah rah rah there’s nothing wrong this team can do.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I would love Tim to prove me wrong for doubting his coaching abilities. Last season he came close and did some good things but still has a ways to go..
Sorry. I have to go by what you do, not what you say. And what you say in no way supports the team.
Sorry that not being a believer in the coach is “not supporting” the team. I gave the program a lot of my money and cheered loud for them over the years and continue to follow these players long after graduation. But you are right. That’s not supporting because I don’t love all aspects of the program. I’ll leave you and your high horse alone.
“…after Diamond failed to bury that goal he was a different player.”
he was. I didn’t see him as involved – again I prefaced above I wasn’t there and could have missed things but that is how it looked on tv.
You say your problem is with the coach and you say “I don’t rag on the team. ” Joey’s not the coach and last time I looked, he was on the team, which, I guess has to be top notch, A#1 every play, every game.
didn’t say that – just pointed out that i didn’t think he was great. Wasn’t ragging on him. We all know he is probably the best goal scorer Maine has. Was hoping for more and we all know he is capable of more and he will definitely have better games. It is a simple as that. I may not have been positive about it – but it wasn’t meant to be taken negative either just that it wasn’t a great game for him. That is all I was saying. I don’t expect him to be A1 everytime and I will be the first to point out when he plays great too – I do it both ways.
That’s not a question you want an answer to… But, if we don’t win tomorrow it’s going to be a long season.
Joey Diamond is a liability to this team. Pathetic excuse for a Captain. About as lazy as I have ever seen. Does not work hard . Puts forth minimal effort. With that kind of leadership, this team is going Nowhere. and fast.
You could say a lot of things about last night — they were physically over-matched, they couldn’t finish, they didn’t transition well..on and on. BUT, you can’t say Diamond was lazy. He battled on every shift, took much larger guys along the wall, tried to generate traffic in front of the net. He played hard start to finish.
watching the game on tv I don’t agree – i wasn’t there so I may miss some little things but after Diamond failed to bury that goal he was a different player. I wouldn’t say he was a liability but he wasn’t moving around as fast and doing all the things he usually does to help the team.
Is this Whitehead’s final year?
ONLY if they Buy-out next Years Contract(has 2 yrs left on sweet-heart deal brokered by Kennedy/James)
Here we go with the excuses
“We lacked assertiveness and confidence with the puck,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “We have to develop more offense. We lost some key players but there’s no excuse.
Still blaming Teddy Purcell for leaving early….
WoW!!!!! 3 goals total in 3 games..and i thought last year was a long season…….
Watching this game on TV, I could see all 5 Maine players in almost every play. They were like those 5 year-old soccer kids all scrumming for the ball. Good grief this team is horrible.
On another note, future UMO head coach Jim Montgomery’s Dubuque team won impressively last night, raising their recor to 4-0.
MONTGOMERY”2013-14″…???………….!
Morris might start? We need a win. Sully is probably your best player. Certainly he has been good. Morris might be very good – but I don’t think tonight is the best time to start him.
Interesting that Morris is going before Marty. High hopes for Morris but then I had high hopes for Marty . One thing in Morris’s favor, he had Grant helping him at Jimmys request.
Offense looks awful, see many(if any) nice passes last night. behind skaters, in the skates and not even close is what I saw for the most part.
Sully looked good, anyone else?
Shore looks like the real deal to me as well
Yeah Shore is the real deal, I think Hutton is also.