Notre Dame hockey: Summerhays special in win

After his performance this weekend, Notre Dame’s Steven Summerhays may very well be the hottest goaltender in the nation.

Summerhays was perfect for the school-record third straight game with 22 saves Saturday night to shut out Boston and sweep the Terriers with a 2-0 win.

But in an act of selflessness at the end, it didn’t go down as a personal shutout for Summerhays. With 51 seconds left and a penalty coming up on Boston, Summerhays skated to the bench to remind Irish coach Jeff Jackson of a plan they had put in place earlier in the week.

And so, with a potential single season record-tying eighth shutout on the line, Summerhays instead gave way so fellow senior, third-string goalie Joe Rogers, could get in the game on senior night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

“That was big of him to give up that chance at another shutout,” Jackson said. “I think that tells you something about the type of kid he is, and that senior class.”

For Summerhays, it was an easy decision to give way to Rogers, who is a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian national award for his extensive community work.

“Once we scored that second goal, I wanted to give Joe a chance, so I skated over to (Jackson) and said I wanted Joe to finish the game,” Summerhays said. “I think Rogers had 45 family members here. It was just awesome for everyone to put in that kind of effort, defensively.”

Jeff Costello and Austin Wuthrich each scored goals to push Notre Dame’s unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) and improve its season record to 19-12-2 and 8-9-2 in Hockey East.

Sean Maguire made 38 saves for Boston (8-20-4, 3-12-3) which saw its winless streak grow to nine games (0-7-2).

Notre Dame’s shutout streak is now at 190:19, which is closing in on the school record of 193:27 set in 2003-04. This also marked the first time in 72 years that Boston was shut out in back-to-back games, going all the way back to the 1941-42 season.

After looking lost on their power play chances most of the night, the Irish finally got the man advantage working when Costello fired in a one-timer from Sam Herr, 19 seconds into the third period for the first goal of the game.

“I think we knew that it was coming,” Costello said. “We were getting good looks and not giving them too much, so we were pretty confident.”

Wuthrich added a top-shelf blast from the top of the slot with 2:31 to play to seal the win.

And as he did in Friday’s 2-0 win, once he got a lead, Summerhays made it hold up.

Summerhays also had to make a huge kick save midway through the third period to help kill off a five-minute major penalty on Stephen Johns, who was sent off with a game misconduct for checking from behind.

“He made big saves again,” Jackson said. “As a goalie guy, I don’t bring (the shutout streak) up to him, I just tell him to keep it going. And leave him alone, not screw him up.”

The Irish wore green jerseys and socks for senior night and honored all 11 seniors before the start of the game. That long progression, along with a 10-minute delay due to a lighting issue right before the opening faceoff, pushed the game’s scheduled start time back nearly 40 minutes.

FIRST PERIOD

No scoring. Shots on goal: ND 11, BU 7; Penalties: BU 1-2, ND 0-0.

SECOND PERIOD

No scoring. Shots: ND 12, BU 8; Penalties: ND 2-4, BU 2-4.

THIRD PERIOD

ND - Jeff Costello, 11 (Sam Herr, Bryan Rust) PP, 0:19; ND - Austin Wuthrich, 6 (unassisted) 17:29. Shots: ND 17, BU 7; Penalties: ND 4-19, BU 3-6.

Shots: ND 40, BU 22; Saves: BU 38 (Sean Maguire), ND 22 (Steven Summerhays, Joe Rogers); Power plays: ND 1-5, ND 0-4; Penalties: ND 6-23, ND 6-12; Records: ND 19-12-2 (8-9-2 HEA), BU 8-20-4 (3-12-3); Attendance: 5,022.