Both Denver and Notre Dame have come out of the locker room and are ready to compete for a spot in Monday’s Championship Game. Denver is in their away uniforms as Notre Dame is in their home whites.
1st Quarter – 15:00 Trevor Baptiste wins the first face off and Denver gets the first chance at offense with a successful clear into the Notre Dame zone.
Denver 1, Notre Dame 0 – Tyler Pace opens the scoring. Assisted by Wes Berg.
Notre Dame gets their first chance at offense, as a violation on Denver is called.
Denver with a great chance in transition after Notre Dame’s ride was relentless.
Denver 2, Notre Dame 0 – Jack Bobzien from Zach Miller on the emo.
7:32 – Notre Dame gets on the board with a goal, assisted by Ben Pridemore – First television timeout
The pace to the game has been high throughout and both teams have their chances…
Notre Dame 2, Denver 2 – Matt Kavanagh to Conor Doyle. Defense just couldn’t hold on long enough to get the turnover after a stall put in place.
End of the First and we are tied at 2. Both teams had chances, but bounces have kept the ball out of the net. Defenses are holding strong and offenses are moving fast.
2nd Quarter – Turnovers by both sides and now Denver gets a chance to clear. They fail and back to Notre Dame.
10:41 – Referee called time to warn both benches to step back into their bench areas. Corrigan takes the opportunity to take a defensive timeout. Very strange sequence and Tierney wasn’t appreciative of the liberal use of the whistle.
Denver 3, Notre Dame 2 – Defense held tough, but Miller gets he best of a defensive slide. Denver takes the lead.
Denver 3, Notre Dame 3 – Nick Osello answers. Unassisted goal.
Denver 4, Notre Dame 3 – Connor Cannizzaro gets the best of Matt Landis, who had been winning the battle so far. His unassisted goal gives Denver the lead again. His 56th of the season.
Denver 4, Notre Dame 3 – Heading into halftime. Defensive battle between these two.
Thoughts: Both teams are mirrors of each other. Offenses are patient, defenses won’t budge. The goalies are making the saves that they are supposed to. Face offs might be the deciding factor. Denver is in favor at a clip of 7:2 so if they start to capitalize on possessions, Denver could keep the ball out of the sticks of the Irish. Denver’s defense looks to be giving Notre Dame more chances than Notre Dame is allowing to Denver, but the opportunities are in favor of the Pioneers.
About to start the second half.
Notre Dame 4, Denver 4 – Notre Dame is relentless with their chances. Three times they get the ball back. Will Corrigan gets the goal to tie the game at 4.
The ground ball battle is largely in favor of Notre Dame. They are getting second and third chance opportunities.
Denver 5, Notre Dame 4 – Berg gets his first, bouncing it past ND’s Shane Doss. Assisted given to Bobzien. Berg has had a hard time finding room to shoot, but he got free for that one.
Last minute of the 3rd with ND having possession.
Denver 6, Notre Dame 4 – LSM Mike Riis goes coast to coast after a great save from LaPlante. Could not have been at a better time :00.9 left on the clock. Not a bad time to get your first of the season and 4th of your career.
Quarter ends Denver 6, Notre Dame 4
4th Quarter starts with Notre Dame possession after a good scrum off the face off in the Denver offensive zone.
13:27 – First penalty of the game with Garrett Holst getting a one-minute slashing penalty. Notre Dame EMO
Denver is buzzing. A couple of near misses and hit pipes on this possession, after the penalty time wound down.
Denver 7, Notre Dame 4 – A four minute possession ends with Erik Adamson’s goal. Tyler Pace found him open in the middle for a quick shot in close. Denver was not going to end that possession without a goal. They battled ever loose ball and came up with possession.
8:32 – Denver will go a man down as an unnecessary roughness foul is called against them. Notre Dame had called a timeout when he was hit late. Denver’s defense awaiting the timeout to end and Notre Dame’s offense to take the field.
8:00 – Sergio Perkovic gets on the stat sheet with a rocket from atop. Eddy Lubowicki gets the assist. Perkovic’s 30th of the season. Ends a drought of over 19 minutes for the Irish. Could this be the goal that starts a run to get them back in it?
Denver 8, Notre Dame 5 – Zach Miller thrilled the crowd with his last goal. Faking a pass, the two Notre Dame defenders moved away from him, he still had possession, and beat Doss high. Doss could not stop it, even though he knew it was going high.
Denver 9, Notre Dame 5 – Tyler Pace with his second. Great ball movement had the Notre Dame defense moving and Adamson’s shot hit the post. The rebound went directly into Pace’s stick and he deposited it for a four goal lead.
Denver 9, Notre Dame 6 – Perkovic gets his second of the quarter. Will Corrigan found him open and Perkovic beat LaPlante low.
Denver 10, Notre Dame 6 – Berg adds to the highlight reel with an around-the-world goal. Alone in front and in a bad angle, he was able to slip that by Doss. Denver wins the ensuing face off and time is running thin for ND.
Denver 10, Notre Dame 7 – Perkovic again. This is reminiscent of the NCAA Title Game in ’14 when he was the offense in the 4th for the Irish. Assist to Mikey Wynne.
Denver 10, Notre Dame 8 – Perkovic with his fourth of the quarter. Corrigan found him again. He is single handedly keeping the Irish within reach.
Denver 10, Notre Dame 9 – Perkovic with another five goals on Memorial Weekend. He wants the ball and the rest of the guys are getting it to him.
22.8 remaining with Notre Dame’s possession and Corrigan calls timeout.
Tied at 10…… Nick Osello ties it with :09 left on the clock.
Going to overtime
Denver wins the face off, gets the ball into the offensive zone, and Tierney decides on a timeout.
DENVER WINS – Wes Berg scores with an assist from Pace (who ends with 4 points on 2 goals, 2 assists). The same score as their regular season contest, with the same winning team, winning in overtime.
