NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Freshman Vince Hinostroza and sophomore Sam Herr scored two goals each to lead Notre Dame to a 7-3 win over Michigan Tech on Sunday afternoon in front of 4,248 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Shayne Taker, Jeff Costello and Mario Lucia also scored for the Irish as Notre Dame scored four power-play goals in a penalty-filled game. Tyler Heinonen scored twice for the Huskies and Alex Petan had a solo goal. The two teams combined for 32 penalties resulting in 113 minutes on the afternoon.
Michigan Tech set a record for a Notre Dame opponent as the Huskies were whistled for 18 penalties and 85 minutes. The previous record against the Irish was 73 minutes and set in a game on Jan. 11, 1969 against Detroit.
The win improves the fourth-ranked Irish to 4-0-0, the best start for a Jeff Jackson-coached team in his nine seasons behind the Notre Dame bench. Michigan Tech falls to 0-3-1 to start the young season. The Irish have now won 10 straight games at home since Jan. 26 of last season.
The last time Notre Dame swept the Huskies was during the 1979-80 season when the Irish won twice (8-5, 7-5) in Houghton, Mich. The last time they took a series at home was during the 1976-77 season when Notre Dame had a pair of 6-2 wins at the Joyce Center on Nov. 19-20, 1976.
"This kind of game is challenging to coach," said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
"Not only do you have to worry about match-ups, who's one the ice against certain players, but you get so many special teams involved. You worry about not getting guys tired. I was using eight different penalty killers most of the night. The power play is really tough. We only practice two power-play units and at the end of the game we were just rolling lines. You have guys on the bench sitting for long periods of time, good hockey players that are just sitting there and that bothers me."
Notre Dame opened the scoring with the first of four power-play goals at 16:48 of the first period. The goal came after Max Vallis was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct penalty at 13:38 for a kneeing penalty against Mike Voran near center ice. That resulted in a scrum as center ice that saw two players from each side sent off for roughing.
With the first of three five-minute power plays in the game, Hinostroza picked up his first of the game at 16:48 when he slapped a one-timer past sophomore goaltender Jamie Phillips with T.J. Tynan setting up the goal along with Robbie Russo for a 1-0 lead after one period.
"It's still early in the year, but if we can get off to a good start in every game, it bodes well for our chances," said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
"Scoring the first goal of the game is a big thing in hockey and it usually as an impact on the outcome of the game."
The Irish scored at even strength to open the second period and take a 2-0 lead as Taker notched his first of the season at 1:43.
Notre Dame controlled the puck deep in the Tech zone and Herr moved the puck around the boards to Voran. The senior right wing moved it back to the left point to Taker who launched a wrist shot that found its way over Phillips' glove hand and into the goal.
The two-goal lead didn't last long as the Huskies answered back on the next shift just 29 seconds later when Heinonen got his first of the afternoon, whipping a shot from the left circle past Steven Summerhays to cut the led to 2-1.
Just 1:14 later, Michigan Tech evened the score at two when Petan converted a feed from Blake Pietila, firing a shot from the right circle past Summerhays to get tie the game at 3:16.
At 10:28 of the middle stanza, the Huskies' Mike Neville was given a five-minute major for hitting Tynan from behind and this time the Irish made Michigan Tech pay, scoring twice on the power play in an 18-second span and once for-on-four for three goals in 1:46 to take a 5-2 lead.
Costello made it 3-2 when he scored at 11:11, digging the rebound of a Steven Fogarty shot loose in the crease and pushing it past Phillips for his second of the year.
Lucia found the back of the net for the first time this season when he one-timed a pass from Hinostroza from the bottom of the right circle at 11:29 to make it 4-2.
After an Irish penalty evened things up, Hinostroza notched his second of the game and third of the season at 12:57 when he picked up a loose puck at center and carried it into the Huskies' zone before firing a wrist shot from between the circles that beat Phillips to make it a 5-2 game. The goal gave the freshman center the first three-point game (2g, 1a) of his young career.
"That penalty was definitely the turning point of the game," said Jackson.
"Again, we got a little sleepy with the two-goal lead in the second period and they were playing well enough to tie the game. We were able to capitalize once to get a little momentum there and then to score again was huge for us."
In the third period, Notre Dame increased the lead to 6-3 off of some hard work by the trio of Voran, David Gerths and Herr.
Russo controlled the puck at the right point and fired a shot on goal that Gerths deflected but Phillips stopped. The rebound popped in the air and Voran got his stick on it, pushing it back to Herr who was alone in the slot. The sophomore settled the puck down and fired it just inside the left post for his second goal of the season at 5:06 of the third to make it a 6-2 game.
Heinonen cut that lead in half at 15:34 when he beat the Irish defense to the left post to deflect a centering pass by Blake Hietala past Summerhays for his second goal of the game and the season to make it 6-3.
Herr then closed out his first-ever three-point game (2g, 1a) at 18:00 as the Irish were working on their third five-minute power-play of the night after Petan was sent off with a major penalty for contact to the head elbowing at 17:10.
The sophomore took a feed from Austin Wuthrich as he came down the right side and beat Phillips with a shot low to the ice and just inside the left post for the final score of 7-3.
On the night, the Irish outshot Michigan Tech by a 33-25 margin. Phillips had 26 saves in the game while Summerhays had his fourth straight game with 22 saves.
With the win, his fourth straight, Summerhays now has a career record of 40-24-3 and becomes the eighth goaltender in the program's history to win 40 or more games in his career.
Notre Dame finished the night with 12 power-play chances while the Huskies were 0-for-8 in their man-advantage chances.
Notre Dame now takes to the road for the next two weekends as they travel to Minnesota Duluth and Vermont. The Irish will be in action at 7:07 p.m. (CT) on Friday, Oct. 25 when they face the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
** IRISH NOTES **
** Notre Dame has not trailed in a game at all this season. The Irish have had the lead for 157:11 of 240 minutes played this season. They have been tied the other 82:49.
** The last time that Notre Dame had four power-play goals in a game came on Nov. 28, 2008 in a 4-1 win over Western Michigan.
** The 4-0-0 start is the best for Notre Dame since starting the 1998-99 season with a 6-0-0 record. The best start the Irish have ever had was a 15-0-0 record in 1983-84 when the program was a club program for one season.