Lucia Hat Trick Leads Notre Dame Past Lake Superior State, 5-1
Junior forward Mario Lucia posts hat trick for Fighting Irish

Junior forward Mario Lucia posts hat trick for Fighting Irish
Prd Time  Team Score Type Scored By Assists
1st 3:37  NDM1-0 EV Jake Evans (1) -
1st 13:16  NDM2-0 EV GW Mario Lucia (3)Steven Fogarty/3, Robbie Russo/3
2nd 2:29  LSS1-2 EV Stephen Perfetto (2)Mitchell Nardi/2, Kyle Chatham/1
3rd 1:57  NDM3-1 EV Mario Lucia (4)Connor Hurley/1
3rd 6:35  NDM4-1 EV Austin Wuthrich (1) -
3rd 7:49  NDM5-1 EV Mario Lucia (5)Vince Hinostroza/2
Scoring 1st 2nd 3rd Final
Lake Superior State  0101
Notre Dame  2035
Shots on Goal 1st 2nd 3rd SOG
Lake Superior State  1110728
Notre Dame  1271332
Team Stats and Records  PP PIM SHGF
Lake Superior State (0-6-0)  0/4 2/4 0
Notre Dame (2-2-0)  0/1 4/11 0
Lake Superior State Goaltending MIN GA 1 2 3 Saves
Kevin Aldridge (L, 0-1-0)59:505 1071027
Empty Net0:100     
Notre Dame Goaltending MIN GA 1 2 3 Saves
Cal Petersen (W, 1-1-0)59:451 119727
Empty Net0:150     

Junior forward Mario Lucia notched the first hat trick of his college career and freshman goaltender Cal Petersen stopped 27 of 28 shots for his first collegiate win as the University of Notre Dame defeated Lake Superior State 5-1 in front of 3,692 at the Compton Family Ice Arena on Saturday night.

The win gave Notre Dame its series sweep of the young season. Freshman Jake Evans scored his first collegiate goal and senior Austin Wuthrich lit the lamp for the first time this season for the Irish. Stephen Perfetto scored the lone Lakers' goal in the game.

For Lucia, who had three two-goal games in his first two seasons at Notre Dame, the hat trick was his first with the Irish.

"That was the first one that I've had in a long time," said Lucia following the game.

"The last one I had was in tryouts for the World Juniors against Finland. That was my freshman year and it helped me make that team. This one felt good. It helped the team win and with the two wins it gives us something that we can build off of over the next couple of weeks."

The win improves Notre Dame to 2-2-0 on the season while Lake Superior State falls to 0-6-0 in the first three weekends of the season. The Irish continue their eight-game home stand on Oct. 24-25, when they play host to the Niagara University Purple Eagles next weekend.

"We've made a lot of progress in the last couple of days," said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.

"It was nice to see our defense recover from last night, the young guys especially. They were making good puck decisions, moving the puck quickly up the boards to the forwards. Progress was made tonight with puck decisions and puck play. It was more of what we are looking for."

For the second night in a row, Notre Dame scored first with Evans getting his first collegiate goal at 3:37 of the first period.

The Toronto, Ontario native carried the puck down the right side and fired a shot from the right circle that deflected off a Lake Superior defenseman's stick and over freshman goaltender Kevin Aldridge's glove hand for the 1-0 lead.

Lucia picked up his first of the night to make it 2-0 at 13:16, scoring a true goal scorer's goal. Center Steven Fogarty, who had five points on the weekend (two goals and three assists), moved the puck from the left corner to defenseman Robbie Russo at the left point. Russo fired a shot that missed the left side of the goal but the puck bounced off the backboards in front to Lucia who was parked in front where he flipped it past Aldridge for his third goal of the season.

Lake Superior came out strong in the second period and took the play to the Irish, cutting the lead to 2-1 at 2:29 when Perfetto redirected a centering pass from Mitchell Nardi behind Petersen to make it a one-goal game. The Lakers had a 10-7 shot advantage in the middle period but Petersen slammed the door on them the rest of the way.

"I thought we could have shot the puck a whole lot more in the second period," said Jackson.

"We were over passing the puck in the second period and we finally started shooting more in the third."

The Irish would score three times in the third period with Lucia starting the scoring at 1:57 off a nice set up from freshman Connor Hurley who recorded his first collegiate assist on the play.

With Notre Dame changing lines, Hurley carried chipped the puck down the left boards to Lucia and then drove to the goal with Lucia using him as a screen. At the bottom of the left circle he pulled the puck across and drilled a shot that caught the cross bar behind Aldridge and landed in the goal for his second of the night and fourth of the season.

"Hurls (Hurley) made a good play in the neutral zone chipping it in and I just tried to stay onside," explained Lucia.

"He drove the net hard and I just kind of pulled and dragged which helps when you are shooting because it pulls the goalie of his angle a little bit and I just shot it hard into the corner."

The goal seemed to take the wind out of the Lakers as Notre Dame kept forcing turnovers and getting scoring chances.

Wuthrich picked off an errant Lake Superior pass in the slot and hammered a shot over Aldridge's glove at 6:35 to make it 4-1.

Lucia closed out the hat trick at 7:49 when he followed a Hinostroza shot, banging the rebound past Aldridge for the final score of 5-1.

The hat trick was the first for a Notre Dame player since Jan. 10, 2014, when Bryan Rust had three goals in a 7-1 win over Alabama Huntsville at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

On the night, Notre Dame out shot Lake Superior State by a 32-28 margin. Aldridge finished the night with 27 saves. The Lakers were zero for four on the power play while the Irish were zero for one. They have yet to score on the power play (0-16) in the first four games this season.

Jackson was pleased with the way his goaltenders played on the weekend.

"I thought Cal (Petersen) played really well," said Jackson.

"He made some huge saves for us, especially on that first penalty kill (a five-minute major). The big thing wasn't that he made the saves, but his rebound control was good. For the weekend, I thought both goaltenders played well."