Buckeye sophomore Domenic Maiani had two goals and an assist to lead the Ohio State men’s hockey team to a 5-2 win and series sweep of Notre Dame Saturday in the Joyce Center.
Senior Rod Pelley chipped in a goal and an assist in the victory, which extended the Buckeyes’ winning streak to a season-best five games. In all, 10 Buckeyes had a point in the game.
The Buckeyes improve to 7-5-1 on the year and 6-4-1 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The Irish drop to 3-8-1 overall and 2-5-1 in the league. It was the Buckeyes’ second consecutive CCHA series sweep.
The Buckeyes ended the first period ahead 2-0. Dave Barton scored 1:34 into the game, scoring on a pass across the goal mouth from Sam Campbell with Kyle Hood picking up the second assist. Pelley scored a power-play goal with 0.8 left on the clock, one-timing a Maiani pass. The Buckeyes had 12 shots on goal in the period and held the Irish to just three shots for the second game in a row.
Maiani scored twice in the second period to send the Buckeyes into intermission with a 4-0 lead. His first goal came at 11:30 as he put a loose puck over ND goalie David Brown from the side of the net, with Sean Collins and Pelley assisting. His second goal was scored with 22 seconds remaining in the period, spinning and scoring off a pass from Andrew Schembri, who had just come out of the penalty box. There were 10 power plays in the period, with OSU converting 1-of-4 and stopping the Irish on six chances. OSU outshot the Irish in the period 11-7.
Tom Fritsche completed a passing play with Matt McIlvane and Zach Pelletier at 5:10 of the third period for his fifth goal of the season. Notre Dame’s Matt Amado broke up the shutout with a power-play goal at 14:33, and T.J. Jindra scored an unassisted power-play goal at 17:49. The Buckeyes were outshot in the period 10-8.
The Buckeyes outshot the Irish in the game 31-20. Buckeye goalie Dave Caruso had 18 saves in all 60 minutes in net. Brown played the first two periods for the Irish, stopping 19 shots and allowing four goals. Jordan Pearce played the final 20 minutes with seven saves on eight shots.
Ohio State was 2-for-9 on the power play. Notre Dame was 2-for-10.
