Huskies Fall to Irish 7-3 in Series Finale

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — With a combined 32 penalties for 113 minutes, today's Michigan Tech-Notre Dame non-conference game had more of a special teams flavor than even Friday's (Oct. 18) affair. The host Fighting Irish came away with a 7-3 victory at Compton Family Ice Arena.

The Irish scored four of their seven goals on the man advantage including a pair during a major in the second frame. Those two broke open a game that stood at 2-all following a strong period up to that point for the Huskies.

Trailing 1-0 after the first 20 minutes, UND's Shayne Taker threaded a shot through traffic from the left point for a 2-0 lead. Immediately, the Huskies responded. Tyler Heinonen scored his first career goal on a wrist shot inside the left post at the 2:12 mark of the second. Blake Hietala and Chris Leibinger drew assists.

Little more than a minute later, Blake Pietila fed a pass across the front of the goal to Alex Petan, who buried it. Petan's first goal of the season tied the score at 2-all.

Tech, which was called for 10 penalties in the first period, had just two in the second as Mike Neville received a major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct at the 10:28 mark.

Notre Dame scored two goals on the ensuing major within 18 seconds of each other to grab a 4-2 advantage. The hosts added a fifth goal during 4-on-4 play with 12:57 gone in the stanza.

Into the third period, UND made it 6-2 before Heinonen and Hietala teamed up again—Heinonen chipping a puck past Steven Summerhayes on well-placed pass from Hietala at 15:34.

Petan was called for a major for contact to the head elbowing with 2:50 to play. Notre Dame scored their final goal during the extended power play for the 7-3 final.

"I was really disappointed in the refereeing today," said head coach Mel Pearson. "I feel bad for the players, the fans, everyone.

"We had a lot of guys play well, and I thought we were the better team when it was five-on-five and we'd tied the score. But when your top guys are killing penalties all night, it's tough to get anything going offensively."

Tech was called for 18 penalties for 85 minutes in the contest while UND served 28 minutes on 14 calls.

Jamie Phillips got the start in goal and played all 60 minutes. He made 26 saves on 33 UND shots. Summerhayes had 22 saves of 25 Huskies shots.

Michigan Tech, now 0-3-1, will begin WCHA play on Friday (Oct. 25) with the first of a home-and-home series against Northern Michigan. The teams square off in Marquette before playing in Houghton Saturday (Oct. 26).