EAST LANSING, Mich. — Life might be repetitive right now for Notre Dame sophomore goaltender Cale Morris. With the way he’s playing right now, it’s doubtful he’d complain.
Morris backstopped the Fighting Irish to their fourth 1-0 victory in the last four weekends and 11th consecutive win overall by turning away 23 Michigan State shots to move his team to 8-0 in conference play. The sophomore goaltender earned his 12th win, continues to lead the NCAA in save percentage (.953), and has a .975 save percentage over the last eight contests.
“I was upset with how we started last night,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said. “Our team has been a little flat to start games and I got into them a little bit,” he added.
Notre Dame wasted little time in getting to work as forward Andrew Oglevie took advantage of a rebound created by Michigan State goaltender John Lethemon, saving a chance by Dylan Malmquist right post, and stuffed home a puck that sat on the top of the crease for his seventh goal of the season at 1:30 into the contest.
“I thought we were much better tonight,” said Jackson. “I thought we did a much better job coming out of our zone with speed. [Michigan State is] a hard team to play against. They compete hard.”
The Spartans certainly had their chances to equalize late in the first period as forward Taro Hirose saw a wide open net at 17:15, but his shot went high over the crossbar and a tip chance by linemate Mitchell Lewandowski at 17:20 went wide. Gianluca Esteves also saw a wide open net at 14:14 of the second, but was unable to get his stick on the rebound created by Morris’ save of teammate Carson Gatt.
“For the first time in a few years, we have a little bit more of a veteran team, so I think they know how they have to play to win a game,” said Jackson. “They did a good job of congesting the ice and not giving a lot of space.”
After being outshot 13-7 in the first period, shots were even the rest of the way. Michigan State gained plenty of steam in the final two periods, but it was unable to capitalize on solid chances in the third. Esteves and linemate Brennan Sanford were unable to convert a two-on-one rush at 2:57 into the third and Tommy Miller’s wrister at 8:53 only found Morris’ glove.
“I thought our guys worked extremely hard,” said Spartans first-year coach Danton Cole. “They battled in the trenches and they’re a tough team to get through.”
Despite the Spartans’ chances, Notre Dame regained the moxie it started the game with and held on for its NCAA-leading 14th win of the season. Senior defenseman Justin Wade made one of the more memorable plays of the night in using his body to cut off a pass across the slot at the hashes from Michigan State’s Patrick Khodorenko to Lewandowski 15:17 into the third.
Jackson, now in his 13th season, said his current roster reminds him of his early days in South Bend. “They’re young, energetic, and really know what they’re doing out there. They make it hard to play and are constantly on the puck.”
Michigan State brought Lethemon to the bench at 18:10 for the extra attacker, but Khodorenko was unable to convert a puck that sat just off the left corner of the crease at 19:35. Eleven seconds later, forward Cal Burke sealed it for the Fighting Irish with an empty netter just off the left side halfwall toward the blue line. Burke’s tally extended his current point and goal streak to three games.
Cole has plenty to be happy with after his team’s strong effort against the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish.
“We’ll take an awful lot of good out of tonight,” Cole said. “We’ll learn and move on. The only time you lose is when you lose the lesson. We just ran out of time tonight.”
Jackson, whose team has now won 12 of its last 13 contests, knows his team’s success needs to be kept in perspective.
“We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had some breaks and, frankly, we’ve won games based on our goaltending,” Jackson said. “I don’t want [us] to win games; I want to play a total game. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Notre Dame (14-3-1, 8-0 Big Ten) travels to No. 14 Wisconsin next weekend while Michigan State (7-8-1, 1-6-1-1 Big Ten) will play a home-and-home with in-state rival Michigan.
Big Ten Roundup
No. 14 Wisconsin 3, No. 7 Minnesota 2
Badgers goalie Jack Berry stopped 40 shots and Trent Frederic’s eighth goal of the season at 10:40 of the third on assists from Jake Linhart and Matthew Freytag broke a 2-2 stalemate and earned the split for Wisconsin. Minnesota’s Casey Mittelstadt scored on the power play just 3:01 into the game, but Wisconsin’s Freytag answered at 12:25 on a helper from Frederic. Jack Sadek put Minnesota back up, 2-1, only 2:26 into the second, but the Badgers responded in kind at 8:46 on a scoring tally by Seamus Malone to knot things up once more. The Gophers outshot Wisconsin 20-10 in the third period, but Berry stood tall to earn the win. The Badgers (10-7-2, 4-3-1-0 Big Ten) will host Notre Dame next weekend and Minnesota (10-7-1, 4-5-1-1 Big Ten) will travel to No. 11 Ohio State.
Penn State 4, No. 11 Ohio State 0
Penn State scored goals shortanded and with the man advantage against Ohio State en route to its ninth win of the season on Saturday at Value City Arena in Columbus. Peyton Jones turned away 33 shots for his eighth win as Andrew Sturtz, Denis Smirnov, Brandon Biro and Liam Folkes each found the back of the net Saturday. Penn State (9-7-4, 4-4-2-1 Big Ten) returns home next weekend to face Robert Morris in a non-conference series as the Buckeyes (8-4-4, 3-4-1-0 Big Ten) will remain home to face No. 7 Minnesota.
Michigan 7, US NTDP U-18 Team 3 (Exhibition)
Tony Calderone scored a hat trick to lead Michigan in a 7-3 exhibition win at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich. Hayden Lavigne stopped 27 of 30 shots as the Wolverines built a 4-0 lead that was cut to 4-3 by the NTDP’s Oliver Wahlstrom at 6:52 and Patrick Giles at 8:42 and 16:53 of the second before pulling away in the third with Calderone’s third at 4:26 and tallies by Will Lockwood at 4:38 and Nick Pastujov at 11:09.
Michigan improves to 6-6-2 overall and will reenter conference play next weekend via a home-and-home series with Michigan State.
