FINAL SCORE: No. 12 Vermont 4, No. 17 Notre Dame 4
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – 17th-ranked Notre Dame scored two goals in the final 3:10 on Friday night and came back to earn a 4-4 tie with No. 12 Vermont in Hockey East action at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
UVM pushed its record to 16-8-3 (8-5-2 HEA) and remains third in the league standings with 18 points. The Fighting Irish moved to 14-9-4 (7-5-3 HEA), one point back in a tie for fourth.
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Box Score
Notre Dame took the lead six minutes into the first period as Tory Dello lobbed a pass over the neutral zone to a streaking Andrew Olgevie for a partial breakaway. Oglevie deked forehand and chipped a shot over
Stefanos Lekkas' glove to give the Fighting Irish a 1-0 lead.
The Irish doubled the lead at 16:34 when rookie defenseman Andrew Peeke stretched a pass to Mike O'Leary cutting across the neutral zone. O'Leary entered the zone, spun around and found his open linemate Bo Brauer who beat Lekkas high on the glove side.
Vermont finally drew a goal back late in the second period as
Anthony Petruzzelli pressured the Irish on the forecheck, causing a turnover that was picked up by
Corey Moriarty. The freshman defenseman sent the puck back to Petruzzelli at the half-wall, and the forward found
Brian Bowen in the slot for a wrist shot to beat Cal Petersen glove side top shelf. The goal was Bowen's seventh of the year and fifth in his last seven games.
Mike Lee and
Ross Colton had a pair of quality shorthanded opportunities on one-timers in the closing seconds of the middle frame, but UND carried a 2-1 advantage into the third.
Dennis Gilbert was called for elbowing at the end of the second, giving the Catamounts an opportunity on the power play early in the third. A failed clearing attempt by the Irish was kept alive by
Rob Hamilton, who walked into the high slot and blasted a slap shot past Petersen to tie the game.
Less than 90 seconds later, UVM took its first lead as
Matt Alvaro fed a pass from below the goal line to Colton at the top of the left circle. Colton ripped a quick wrist shot that found the top right corner for his team-leading 10th of the year as
Mario Puskarich collected the second assist on the play.
Colton later dumped a puck into the right corner with
Brady Shaw pressuring the Fighting Irish defense. Shaw forced a turnover in front of Notre Dame's net and quickly turned a low shot under Peterson's pads at 7:43 for Vermont's fourth straight goal.
With just over three minutes left in regulation, Jake Evans finished past a sprawling Lekkas near the top left edge of the crease after a missed point shot came off the end boards.
The Catamounts were called for a penalty at 17:47, sending Notre Dame to its fifth power play. After pulling Peterson for an extra skater, Cam Morrison tied the game on a rebound during a 6-on-4 situation. Evans fired a shot from the point that was bobbling in front of the Catamounts goal, and Morrison took a swat with his backhand to trickle the puck over the goal line inside the right post.
UVM carried the play in overtime and out-shot the Irish 6-1. Peterson made a low kick save on a Bowen one-timer from the slot off a
Derek Lodermeier centering pass. Bowen later circled the Irish net with 1:30 left in overtime and fired a wrist shot that trickled past Petersen before ND cleared the scramble in the crease.
The Cats closed the night with a 47-34 edge in shots on goal. Lekkas stopped 30 shots while Peterson posted 43 saves.
The teams return to the Compton Family Ice Arena on Saturday (Feb. 4) for a 6:30 p.m. faceoff on NBC Sports Network to close the series. Pre-game radio coverage starts at 6 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM and UVMathletics.com/Listen with
Alastair Ingram on the call.
Handy Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 men's hockey season
