Senior captain Billy Maday scored a pair of goals while Anders Lee and Garrett Peterson added single tallies as Notre Dame shut out Western Ontario, 4-0, Sunday night in exhibition action at the Joyce Center.
Notre Dame goaltenders Mike Johnson and Steven Summerhays combined to make 21 saves in the shutout, while Mike Voran had a pair of assists in the win.
Western Ontario netminder and one-time Bowling Green recruit Josh Unice stopped 32 shots for the Mustangs.
Notre Dame dominated Sunday’s contest from the start, outshooting Western Ontario, 12-2, in the opening period while being the recipient of five power-play chances.
The Irish finally broke through on Unice in the second period on their sixth power-play chance of the evening. The duo of Lee and T.J. Tynan worked their magic like they did last season with Tynan finding Lee all alone in the slot where he ripped a one-timer past Unice for the 1-0 lead. Defenseman Sean Lorenz also assisted on the play.
The lead would go to 2-0 with just 25 seconds left in the second when Peterson beat Unice on a breakaway, making a couple of nice moves before sliding the puck through the five-hole for his first goal with the Irish. David Gerths started the play in his own end, winning a face-off and pushing it ahead to Peterson, who outraced the Mustang defense.
In the third, Notre Dame extended the lead as Maday combined with Voran on a nice passing play for the second power-play goal of the night for the Irish at 14:13. Defenseman Shayne Taker moved the puck from the middle point to Maday on the left boards. Maday moved it to Voran along the goal line and he returned it to Maday, who snapped a shot from in front of the goal past Unice to make it 3-0.
Maday showed off his baseball skills on the final goal of the night as he scored at the 18:46 mark. Jared Beers fired a shot from the right point on goal that Maday redirected off Unice. The puck hit the Western goaltender and bounced in the air. Maday took a baseball swing at the puck and knocked it into the goal for his second of the night.
Notre Dame outshot the Mustangs, 36-21. The Irish also killed off all seven UWO power plays.
The Irish return to action on Friday at Minnesota-Duluth in a rematch of a 2011 NCAA Frozen Four semifinal. The Bulldogs won that game, 4-3, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
