Notre Dame hockey: Irish knock off No. 1 BC

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Notre Dame closed out the regular season with a thriller Saturday afternoon, upending No. 1 Boston College, 2-1, in over time.

That ended the Eagles’ 19-game unbeaten streak (17-0-2)

In front of a sellout crowd of 7,884 at Conte Forum, freshman center Vince Hinostroza notched the game-winning goal 1:56 into overtime as his shot from the high slot deflected off a Boston College forward’s stick up in the air and over goaltender Thatcher Demko’s shoulder for the victory. Defenseman Kevin Lind scored Notre Dame’s first goal of the night.

Boston College got its goal from Hobey Baker candidate Johnny Gaudreau who scored a power-play goal in the second period, his 30th of the season.

The win improved Notre Dame to 20-12-2, 9-9-2 in Hockey East.

Notre Dame will open the Hockey East playoffs — a single-game, elimination first round — versus either Boston University or Massachusetts depending on Saturday’s games.

Boston College is 25-5-4 overall and 16-2-2 in league play. The Eagles have a first round bye in the playoffs. The last time BC lost a game was on Nov. 29, a 5-4 loss to Holy Cross.

The win over the top-ranked team was the second this year for Notre Dame, which defeated then No. 1 Minnesota on Nov. 8, 4-1.

They have now beaten a No. 1 ranked team 14 times in the history of the program, including defeating Boston College when the Eagles were No. 1 on five occasions.

By holding the Eagles off the scoreboard, Irish goaltender Steven Summerhays extended his school-record shutout streak to 210:19. The previous mark of 193:27 was held by David Brown and set in the 2003-04 season.

The Irish broke through against Demko early in the second period as Lind scored his second of the season, whipping a wrist shot off of the freshman goaltender’s right shoulder just 32 seconds into the middle stanza.

Summerhays stopped all eight shots he faced in the second to increase his shutout streak to 230:19.

The Eagles would get the equalizer at 1:31 of the third on a power play as Gaudreau worked his way down the left side before cutting to the slot and firing a shot at Summerhays. The Irish netminder got a piece of it with his left elbow, but it deflected off him and in.

1st Period: No Scoring.

Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BC: 2 for 4 minutes.

2nd Period: ND: Kevin Lind 2 (Jeff Costello, Steven Fogarty), 00:32.

Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; BC: 0 for 0 minutes.

3rd Period: BC:Johnny Gaudreau 30 (Mike Matheson), PPG, 1:31

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

Overime: ND: Vince Hinostroza 7 (Sam Herr, Mario Lucia), 1:56

Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; BC: 0 for 0 minutes.

Shots On Goal: Notre Dame 6 - 6 - 8 - 1 - 21; Boston College 3 - 8 - 9 - 0 - 20

Goaltender Saves: ND: Steven Summerhays (61:56) 3 - 8 - 8 - 0 - 19; BC: Thatcher Demko (61:56) 6 - 5 - 8 - 0 - 19

Power Plays: ND: 0 for 3; BC: 1 for 2

Attendance: 7,884 (sellout)