Notre Dame hockey team sweeps Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Senior center Jake Evans scored a goal and two assists and sophomore goaltender Cale Morris stopped 39 shots, including 22 in the third period, as 10th-ranked Notre Dame beat 16th-ranked Ohio State, 3-2, Saturday night to complete a sweep of its inaugural series as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

The Irish improved to 6-3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten and host Penn State Friday (7:35 p.m.) and Saturday (7:05).

“I thought Cale certainly stood tall this weekend,” Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson said. Morris, a backup to Cal Peterson last season, appears to have taken the early edge in the competition with freshman Dylan St. Cyr. Morris made 23 saves in Notre Dame’s 4-1 victory Friday.

“I can’t be any more pleased with the outcome of the weekend,” Jackson said. “I thought our defense played the way we expected them to when we started the year. We played smarter, only giving up a couple of odd-man rushes.”

After a scoreless first period, the Irish grabbed a 1-0 lead late in the second period on Cal Burke’s fourth goal of the season. Evans won a faceoff and got the puck back to Burke. Evans then screened Ohio State goalie Sean Romeo setting up the goal at 18:48.

Notre Dame then went up 3-0 with two goals 34 seconds apart in the third period. First Dylan Malmquist tipped home his second goal of the season off feeds from Evans and Andrew Peeke at 6:14. Then Evans benefited from the work of Malmquist and Peeke to beat Romero from a tight angle at 6:48.

Ohio State (5-3-2, 1-3-0-0 Big Ten) got goals from Mason Jobst (12:22) and Dakota Joshua (18:05) but Morris closed the door to record his fifth victory in six starts.