Adam Karaszyk, whose end-of-regular-time goal was video replayed, hugs Notre Dame overtime hero Graham Sluggert on Thursday (photo: Rich Gagnon).
ALBANY, NY — It took Notre Dame 60 minutes of defensive physical combat, 12 minutes of video footage and 1:38 of overtime to take a 2-1 victory over North Dakota thanks to Graham Sluggert’s power-play goal in the Albany Regional Semi-Final semi-finals on Thursday . evening.
At the end of regular time, the Fighting Irish appeared to win with a shorthanded goal from Adam Karaszyk, just as the clock hit zero.
But an extended video review using multiple camera angles – while the players watched, waited and skated a bit to stay free – resulted in the goal not being scored.
“At the end of the day, you want to try and make the right call and put in as much time as possible, and they did,” North Dakota coach Brad Berry said. “It took them a long time and they finally felt like they made the right choice. It gave us a lot of energy going into the dressing room and coming back.”
Players from North Dakota stated that they were not embarrassed by the delay.
“Our trainers did a great job of not stopping after the bell,” said North Dakota’s Ethan Frisch. “We were quick enough to get a video review upstairs and the guys watching the replays said, ‘This won’t count. It was definitely after the time was up. … So that helped a lot.”
“I’ve been talking to them over the past few weeks, never too high, never too low. It happens in this tournament for a reason,” said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson. “I reminded them to remember what happened to Mankato last week because that is what happened again today. It’s disappointing that it has to happen at this level, but I’m just proud of how these guys reacted because we still had 30 seconds left.”
Jackson also expressed skepticism about the lack of purpose.
“I was just based on what was on the scoreboard and they tell me there are two different hours? We play on the scoreboard, not on the clock, which is not visible to anyone, ”Jackson explained. “When the green light came on, I assumed there was still time on the clock. At least that’s how it is in the NHL.
The green light outside the net came on after the puck was in the net. However, the NCAA ice hockey rulebook favors watches. Rule 4.2 states: “The time displayed on the clock or chronometer replaces any discrepancy with lights or an audible signal signaling the end of the period or game.”
An NCAA statement after the game said the scoreboard clock was “burnt” for various camera angles viewed by officials.
North Dakota went into overtime with powerplay time remaining after a Jack Adams penalty for being late on the rules and looked to capitalize quickly.
“We really wanted to attack and make the most of the 26 seconds left on the power play,” Berry said.
But with 12 seconds to spare, Landon Sluggert ran out of the Notre Dame zone after a conceded puck that would have likely led to a breakaway. He was knocked down by North Dakota’s Chris Jandrick leading to an Irish powerplay 14 seconds later.
“They did a great job getting the puck past us,” Berry said. “We had to take penalties and the goal they scored was the result of their power play.”
“The last few weeks we’ve kind of been working on this game,” Graham Sluggert said of his game-winning goal. “We scored a similar goal against Wisconsin in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten. Landon does a great job of protecting the goalie and I kind of knew where he would let me shoot.”
North Dakota scored the first goal of the game when Brent Johnson fired from the right spot at 18:43 of the first period, cutting through the crowd. Landon Sluggert equalized 1-1 at 1:03 of the second period. Moving up the left flank, Sluggert passed Jandrik and scored a goal.
Notre Dame is enjoying a day off before facing Minnesota State for a spot in the Cold Four at 6:30 pm ET Saturday.
“It’s nice to have a day off and a little more time to get ready for the next game and also to have another day to be with each other,” said Graeme Sluggert.
“I think it was outstanding [rule] change,” Jackson said. “It’s good to have a day off to get the most out of both teams.”