No. 15 Notre Dame failed to light the lamp in a pair of shutout losses to top-ranked Miami as the Irish suffered their first weekend sweep in more than a year, falling 1-0 Friday and 4-0 Saturday.
"Friday we had scoring chances and we just didn't put the puck in the net," junior left wing Calle Ridderwall said. "Saturday we had a couple chances that probably should have gone in, but the bottom line is that you've got to bury the puck in the back of the net and we're not doing that right now."
Notre Dame (7-7-4, 4-4-4-2 CCHA) had not been swept since Oct. 24-25, 2008, when the RedHawks (11-2-5, 8-1-3-1) handed the Irish consecutive losses at the Joyce Center. Miami has now beaten Notre Dame six straight times dating back to 2007.
The lone goal of Friday night‘s contest came at 18:42 in the first when freshman defenseman Joe Hartman beat Irish freshman goaltender Mike Johnson, who was otherwise perfect in making 25 saves.
"Johnson was good in both games," Ridderwall said. "You obviously can't win a game not scoring any goals though. And Saturday we didn't help him enough [defensively]."
Saturday's game was closer than the score indicated, as the Irish only trailed 1-0 for most of the game after Tommy Wingels' goal midway through the opening period. But third-period goals by Pat Cannone, Carter Camper and Justin Vaive put the game out of reach.
"I think we can learn a lot from Miami," Ridderwall said. "Their special teams were fantastic all weekend. Just a very fast team, and we've been wanting to play quicker. Definitely the speed of their game and their offensive abilities."
The Irish will try to right the ship this weekend, but they'll have another tough series when they play a home-and-home with conference rival Michigan.
