DETROIT - Trailing 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the second period, things looked bleak for the Irish, to say the least. But Notre Dame scored five unanswered goals in the final 30 minutes, including four in the third period, to beat Michigan 5-2 and claim the program's second CCHA Championship.
Sophomores Calle Ridderwall and Ben Ryan scored goals within 20 seconds of each other in the third period to turn a 2-1 Irish deficit into a 3-2 lead. Ridderwall and junior Christiaan Minella added goals to pad the Irish lead, and senior netminder Jordan Pearce made several excellent saves to keep the Wolverines at bay.
Michigan's Luke Glendening opened the scoring at 14:32 of the first period when he pushed a shot that knuckled off an Irish player and past Pearce. David Wohlberg extended the Wolverine lead to 2-0 after corralling a loose puck and firing a wrister past Pearce, who was named the CCHA Tournament MVP. Ryan, Ridderwall, Pearce and sophomore defenseman Ian Cole were named to the CCHA All-Tournament team.
Notre Dame will be back in action next weekend when it plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Just when and where that is will be announced tomorrow morning.
