It only made sense that the match-up between the numbers eight and nine seeds in the the tournament produced one of, if not the best game of the first round. The game saw St. Cloud jump out to a one-goal lead three different times, only to have Notre Dame come back to the tie game. But Notre Dame had no chance to respond when Nic Dowd's heavy wrist shot beat Notre Dame goalie Steven Summerhays high to the glove side for the game winner. St. Cloud advances to tomorrow's regional final where they will face rival Minnesota for the opportunity to go to the Frozen Four.
Here's the final scoring from tonight's game, with full recap and analysis to come, once we catch our breath after that thrilling game.
First Period
6:54 Ryan Papa from Kalle Kossila and Jonny Brodzinski 1-0 St. Cloud
Brodzinski made a tremendous play to win the puck in the left corner and deke around a Notre Dame defenseman. He handed the puck off to Kossila who fired a backdoor pass to Papa, who just had to tap the puck into an open net.
10:30 Bryan Rust from Andy Ryan and TJ Tynan 1-1 tie
After an extended series of pressure by Notre Dame, Ryan carried the puck in deep from the point and handed it off to Rust at the left faceoff dot. His shot beat Faragher near-side to the blocker to tie the game.
19:25 Brooks Bertsch from Cory Thorson and Joey Benik 2-1 St. Cloud
Thorson and Benik were battling for the puck behind the Notre Dame. Thorson came up with it and fed a quick pass to Bertsch right at the top of the crease. Bertsch one-timed the puck past Notre Dame's Summerhays
Second Period
8:18 Kevin Lind from Mario Lucia and Peter Schneider 2-2 tie
Lind snuck down to the top of the right circle as Notre Dame had possession in the St. Cloud end of the ice. A pass from the left corner came out to Lind and he fired a quick shot that beat Faragher.
19:35 Jonny Brodzinski from Kalle Kossila and Ethan Prow (power play) 3-2 St. Cloud
On the power play, Brodzinski picked up a pass from Kossila at the top of the left circle and flung a wrist shot towards the net. Summerhays never saw the puck and it beat high to the glove side.
Third Period
9:35 Thomas DiPauli from Bryan Rust and Eric Johnson 3-3 tie
DiPauli skated the puck along the right goal line and fired a low-angle shot that snuck through the leg pad of Faragher to tie the game.
Overtime
17:21 Nic Dowd from David Morley
Dowd skated down the left wing and fired a high wrist over the glove of Summerhays for the game-winner.