Schneider's goals boost Notre Dame hockey late
AMHERST, Mass. — Senior right wing Peter Schneider scored twice in a five-goal third period to lead Notre Dame to a 7-5 win over Massachusetts Friday night at the Mullins Center.
Schneider finished the night with three points, adding an assist to his two lamp lighters and the Irish got single goals from Connor Hurley, Austin Wuthrich, Mario Lucia, Jordan Gross and Luke Ripley. Frank Vatrano led the Minutemen with two goals, while Shane Walsh, Anthony Petrella and Troy Power added single goals in the game.
The win snapped Notre Dame’s five-game winless skid (0-4-1) and moves the overall record to 7-8-2 and 3-2-2 in Hockey East. Massachusetts falls to 4-10-0 and 1-8-0 in conference play.
The Irish trailed 3-2 after 40 minutes before scoring four times in a 6:26 span early in the third period to go in front 6-3.
Lucia tied the game at 3-3 just 1:13 into the final stanza off a nice set up by Vince Hinostroza who had a pair of assists. The goal was Lucia’s 10th of the season.
Gross put the Irish ahead at 5:41 when he hammered a slap shot from the center point through a screen and past Minuteman goaltender Henry Dill to make it 4-3.
Less than two minutes later, Schneider got his first of two goals in the game when he came off the left wing boards and whipped a wrist shot past Dill for his second of the year and a 5-3 lead.
Ripley closed out the four-goal run at 7:39 when his shot from the left point deflected off a Massachusetts’ player past Dill for his first collegiate goal and the Irish had a 6-3 advantage.
Ripley’s goal chased Dill in favor of Mastalerz as Dill gave up six goals on 23 shots.
The Minutemen made their run at the lead in the final three minutes. Petrella jammed a loose puck inside the right post and goaltender Chad Katunar’s pad at 17:11 to cut the Notre Dame lead to 6-4.
With 1:50 left in the game, UMass pulled its goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker and got within a goal when Power scored his third of the season at 18:28 to make it 6-5.
After the ensuing face off, the Minutemen pulled the goaltender but this time, the Irish capitalized. Defenseman Justin Wade carried the puck up the left side of the Irish zone and banked it high off the boards. Schneider got behind the defense and tracked down the puck and sealed the win by firing it into an empty net with 26 seconds left in the game. The goal was his third of the season.
Notre Dame out-shot Massachusetts 29-25. Katunar picked up the win, making 20 saves. Mastalerz made five saves in 11:32 minutes. Dill played 47:39 of the game.
Notre Dame and Massachusetts meet in game two of the series at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at the Mullins Center.