The No. 5 Massachusets-Lowell River Hawks and No. 15 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame met for game one of their weekend series on Friday night at Tsongas Arena, where the Irish rallied from 0-2 down to savor a tie and gain a point in the Hockey East standings.
Lowell thought it had an early lead at 11:40 of the first period when Ryan McGrath whacked the puck out of the air and behind Notre Dame goaltender Cal Petersen. The goal, however, was immediately waived off by the referee, and following a short review the call on the ice stood, as the game remained scoreless.
At 14:50, Joe Gambardella flew into the zone and drew a hooking penalty on Irish defenseman Luke Ripley. The River Hawks capitalized on their ensuing power play at 15:27 when A.J. White broke in on a breakaway after receiving a pass from Adam Chapie. White was stopped by the left pad of Petersen, but Nick Master drove the net and slammed home the rebound under the glove of Peterson for the 1-0 River Hawks lead.
Following the goal, there was a short 10-minute delay in the game due to a lighting malfunction at Tsongas Arena. The game resumed at 17:43 without further issue, and the incident did not have a lasting affect on the game. The first period ended with Lowell ahead 1-0.
At 9:22 of the second, after thwarting the Irish from breaking out of their zone, Lowell defenseman Chris Forney took a shot from the point that was kicked aside by Petersen. Gambardella was there to slap home the rebound, making it a 2-0 River Hawks lead.
Gambardella praised his teammates for setting him up on his goal.
“It was a good transition play from our defensemen and it was a good shot. I drove the net and was lucky enough to get a rebound and lucky enough to get a stick on it.”
Notre Dame’s Anders Bjork fired a wrist shot from the slot at 16:48 as the puck deflected off of Kevin Boyle’s shoulder and rang off the cross-bar, keeping the game 2-0 in favor of Lowell.
The Irish were finally able to break through at 19:18 on a five-on-three advantage after Tyler Mueller and John Edwardh each went off for tripping. Jake Evans fed a pass to Joe Wegwerth, who then sauced a pass back to the point where Dennis Gilbert fired a mammoth one timing slap shot over the shoulder of Kevin Boyle for his first career college hockey goal. More importantly however, Gilbert’s goal was able to cut the Irish deficit to one heading into the third period.
In the third frame, Ryan Dmowski went off for a double minor of tripping and indirect contact to the head elbowing at 9:23. Notre Dame capitalized on the ensuing power play at 9:55, as Anders Bjork poked home the rebound of a Steven Fogarty shot between the legs of Kevin Boyle to knot the game at two.
At 13:56, Notre Dame’s Thomas DiPauli turned and fired a loose puck in the slot, which found its way through the legs of Kevin Boyle and into the back of the net. However, the goal was immediately waived off due to goaltender interference and the game remained tied at two.
Lowell coach Norm Bazin said that his team’s penalty troubles were what inevitably cost them the two points.
“I thought both goalies played well; we got the start we were looking for but penalty trouble ripped the momentum from us,” Bazin said. “We need to watch some film and see where we can get better on both the power play and penalty kill. But I was glad we were able to take a point.”
Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson was pleased with the way his team fought back in the second half of the game:
“Being down 2-0 and tying it at two, that showed a lot of heart,” said Jackson. “We scored two (goals) that were disallowed, which was disappointing. Our goaltender kept us in this game, so let’s just face the facts. We have a lot improve on, but grabbing a point tonight is what’s really important. ”
The teams will play part two of this weekend series Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Lowell.
