Notre Dame hockey: New Hampshire handles Irish

DURHAM, N.H. -- Junior goaltender Casey DeSmith stopped 38 of 40 shots and Jeff Silengo scored twice to lead New Hampshire to a 4-2 win over Notre Dame Friday night in front of 5,679 at the Whittemore Center.

Brett Pesce and Kevin Goumas scored single goals for the Wildcats while Mario Lucia and Bryan Rust scored Notre Dame's goals.

Playing on New Hampshire's Olympic-sized rink, the Irish out-shot the Wildcats, 40-28. Notre Dame goaltender Steven Summerhays finished with 24 saves.

The 14th-ranked Irish are 15-10-1 overall and 4-7-1 in Hockey East. New Hampshire is 15-13-1 and 7-6-0.

The two teams will meet Saturday at 4 p.m.

The Irish broke through DeSmith early in the second period, taking a 1-0 lead at 2:21. Defenseman Eric Johnson fired a shot from the left point through a screen in front and Lucia was able to deflect it past goaltender Casey DeSmith for his team and career-best 14th goal of the season.

Notre Dame evened the score at 2 with 4:32 left in the game on a short-handed effort by Rust, his ninth goal of the season. Notre Dame has seven short-handed goals this season.

New Hampshire scored just 29 seconds later at 15:57.

1st Period: No Scoring.

Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UNH: 1 for 2 minutes.

2nd Period: ND: Mario Lucia 14 (Eric Johnson), 2:21; UNH: Brett Pesce 3 (Kevin Goumas, Eric Knodel), PPG, 5:18; UNH: Jeff Silengo 7 (Knodel, Pesce), 12:03.

Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; UNH: 2 for 4 minutes.

3rd Period: ND: Bryan Rust 9 (Andy Ryan), SHG, 15:28; UNH: Goumas 11 (Matt Willows, Dalton Speelman), PPG, 15:57: UNH: Silengo 8 (Casey Thrush, Pesce), ENG, 17:39.

Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UNH: 0 for 0 minutes.

Shots On Goal: Notre Dame 11 - 11 - 18 - 40; New Hampshire 2 - 14 - 12 - 28

Goaltender Saves: ND: Steven Summerhays (59:42) 2 - 12 - 10 - 24; UNH: Casey DeSmith (60:00) 11 - 10 - 17 - 38

Power Plays: ND: 0 for 3; UNH: 2 for 4

Attendance: 5,679