Notre Dame hockey: River Hawks handle Irish

LOWELL, Mass. -- UMass.-Lowell scored three power-play goals to one for Notre Dame on the way to a 3-1 victory over the Irish in front of 6,405 at the Tsongas Center Saturday afternoon.

The River Hawks’ two man-advantage resulted in goals in the first period with defensemen Zack Kamrass and Michael Kapla scoring off screen shots against Steven Summerhays. Notre Dame cut the lead to 2-1 in the second period on a power-play goal by Bryan Rust and UML’s Joe Pendenza scored into an open net on the power play in the final minute of play.

The loss, dropped Notre Dame to 8-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 in Hockey East play while UMass.-Lowell won its fifth straight and ninth of the last 10 to go to 10-4-0 and 4-1-0 in conference play.

The Irish had a 35-34 shot margin. Summerhays finished with 31 saves while Connor Hellebucyk had 34 stops. The Irish were 1-for-5 on the power play while UMass.-Lowell was 3-for-6.

The River Hawks took a 2-0 lead with a pair of power-play goals in the first period following a goal that was called off on the Irish.

After Notre Dame killed off a penalty to Kevin Lind, the Irish broke back on the UMass.-Lowell goal with Sam Herr beating a defenseman and scoring on Hellebucyk to give the Irish what looked like a 1-0 lead. On the play, Herr was bumped into the River Hawks goaltender before the shot and was called for goaltender interference at 16:53 of the opening period.

Less than a minute later, Kamrass fired a shot from the top of the left circle through a screen to beat Summerhays for the power-play goal at 17:48 and the River Hawks had the 1-0 lead.

The Irish bench then was given a minor penalty following the goal for protesting the call on Herr and the goal that followed.

FIRST PERIOD

UML: Zack Kamrass 1 (Christian Folin, Joseph Pendenza), PPG, 17:48; UML: Michael Kapla 1 (Chris Maniccia, Derek Arnold), PPG, 18:41.

Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; UML: 2 for 4 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

ND: Bryan Rust 3 (T.J. Tynan), PPG, 11:36.

Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UML: 3 for 6 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

UML: Joseph Pendenza 5 (Josh Holmstrom), PPG, ENG, 19:13.

Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; UML: 0 for 0 minutes. Shots On Goal: Notre Dame10-14-11 — 35; UMass.-Lowell 11-16-7 — 34. Goaltender Saves: ND: Steven Summerhays (59:23) 9-16-6 — 31; UML: Connor Hellebucyk (60:00) 10-13-11 — 34. Power Plays: ND: 1-for-5; UML: 3-for-6

Attendance: 6,405