Notre Dame skates to victory over Batavia - The Daily News Online

Posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 2:39 am | Updated: 2:44 am, Wed Jan 11, 2012.

BATAVIA â€" For many years, the Notre Dame hockey team was the proverbial whipping boy for Batavia in their cross-town rivalry, losing 11 of the first 13 matchups.

However, in the past three seasons, things have begun to change and Tuesday night’s contest was a fitting example of the Fighting Irish’s continuing rise to prominence.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the game, Notre Dame completely controlled the last 37 minutes of the game and proceeded to rout the Ice Devils 5-2 in front of a packed, raucous crowd at Falleti Ice Arena.

“After we got the first goal it helped us to get rolling and it got us into the game,” said Notre Dame senior Brett Perfitt. “We came out a little flat and they were all over us so we need to just get something going.”

In a key mid-season contest as both squads are fighting for sectional seeding points in the middle of the Class B standings, Notre Dame took Batavia’s opening, hard-hitting blows and withstood the rush â€" only to use its speed and agility to wear down the Ice Devils throughout.

“They just seemed to want it more, they were the better team,” said Batavia head coach Paul Pedersen. “We got what we deserved.”

Batavia (5-5-1-0) controlled the puck early on and eventually got on the board 4:25 in â€" only seven seconds into the first power play of the game â€" when Tom Grammatico slapped one in past Notre Dame netminder Tyler Stroud for the 1-0 lead.

Just over two minutes later, again on the power play, the Ice Devils struck again. As the man-advantage was coming to a close, Rich Francis sent a cross to Joe Saraceni, who one-timed it past the right side of Stroud for the 2-0 advantage.

“I think I just came into the game a little nervous and once I got those bad goals out of the way I was OK and the team picked me up and kept me in it,” said Stroud.

As things seemed to be getting out of control early for the Fighting Irish, head coach Marc Staley then called a timeout, which appeared to stem the tide.

“We just weren’t ready,” said Staley. “It’s always a very emotional game and we have a hard time dealing with that emotion.”

Notre Dame then was able to gain some composure and finally struck for a power-play goal with just over a minute left in the period when Perfitt fired a wrister over the right shoulder of Batavia netminder Adam Kurek to make it 2-1. Tyler Kessler and Matt Keeler had the assists.

Later in the first period, two Batavia penalties â€" one on Francis and one on Blake Polito â€" set the Fighting Irish up for a two-man advantage for the first 1:19 of the second period.

And they took immediate advantage.

Just 38 seconds into the frame, Perfitt dropped a perfect pass back to Keeler who beat Kurek, again over the right shoulder, for the 2-2 tie and the whole arena could feel the momentum of the game now completely on the side of the Irish.

And Notre Dame never let go of that momentum.

Just 2 1/2 minutes later, Notre Dame struck paydirt again when Perfitt beautifully set up another goal, this one by Mason Versage that deflected off of Kurek’s left shoulder for what would prove to be the eventual game-winner.

The Fighting Irish limited the Batavia chances for the rest of the period, holding them to only five shots, while Kurek did everything he could to keep the Ice Devils in the game as he was under a constant barrage of shots.

“We usually try to wear teams down with our speed,” said Perfitt. “It was no different here.”

Notre Dame outshot Batavia 36-18 on the night, including 27-9 in the last two periods.

“We knew that we had to watch (Josh) Marr, (Conor) Holvey and Grammatico because they’re so good,” said Staley. “We let them get a loose a little bit early so I started watching the matchups with the lines. We were just more aware when they were on the ice.”

The Fighting Irish would put the game away in the third. First, just over three minutes in, Kessler completely deeked Kurek for his sixth goal of the season to make it 4-2.

The icing on the cake came with 4 1/2 minutes to play when Josh Johnston scored to make it 5-2 and send Notre Dame to a 4-4-2-1 mark.

“The crowd is just so much more into it (when Notre Dame meets Batavia),” said Stroud. “It’s always loud and it’s hard to hear on the ice.”

And though he didn’t have to do much in net in the last two frames, Stroud did finish with 16 saves, many in spectacular fashion, in the win to even his season record at 3-3-1.

Also, with a goal and two assists, Kessler now has 98 career points for the Irish, two away from becoming only the fifth player in school history to reach the century mark.

Kurek did all he could for Batavia and finished with 31 saves, but with the Ice Devils unable to get anything going offensively, he didn’t stand much of a chance.

“They were hungrier and were beating us to the loose pucks,” said Pedersen.