Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mellon Arena - Kevin Deeth and Erik Condra had career nights for Notre Dame as they handed Robert Morris a 6-2 loss at the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase at Mellon Arena Friday night. Deeth recorded his first career hat trick and Condra pitched in a goal and four assists as the second-ranked Fighting Irish improved to 17-3-1 on the season. Robert Morris, who got single goals from juniors Logan Bittle (Peoria, Ill. / Soo Indians) and David Boguslawski (Cottage Grove, Minn. / Tri-City Storm) as they fall to 6-10-1 on the season.
The Colonials played in front their largest-ever home crowd and the second largest crowd to witness a RMU home event as 3,420 fans filed into Mellon Arena for the game.
Notre Dame got on the board just 1:26 into the game, taking advantage of a intereference penalty on junior defenseman Andrew Bonello (Brampton, Ontario / Milton Icehawks). Erik Condra and Kevin Deeth were set on a 2-on-1 breakaway by a long outlet from Noah Babin. Condra skated down the right side and flipped a pass across to Deeth who one-time it into the empty net.
The Fighting Irish stretched the lead to 2-0 at 7:14 with a shorthanded score by Condra, his eighth of the year. Condra chased down a clearance by Brett Blatchford and beat RMU netminder Christian Boucher (Orleans, Ontario / Cumberland Grads) to the glove side on a breakaway.
The Colonials cut the lead to 2-1 with a power play goal by Bittle at 17:09. Junior forward Ryan Cruthers (Farmingdale, N.Y. / Army) won the puck in the Notre Dame corner and fed in front to Sean Berkstresser (Apollo, Pa. / Pittsburgh Forge) who found Bittle cutting from behind the net. Bittle shoveled a backhand through Irish goaltender David Brown's five-hole for his secon dof the year.
Deeth tallied his second of the night 1:28 into the second period with a good one-on-one move. Deeth dragged the puck across the slot and found room between Boucher's pads to run the score to 3-1. Condra and Ryan Thang earned the assists on the goal.
Again the Colonials cut the margin to one goal. Boguslawski beat Brown through the legs from the left circle with 8:43 into the middle frame. The goal was set up by a backhand pass from Jason Towsley (Lasalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers) as RMU broke into the zone on a 3-on-2.
Notre Dame pushed the lead to 4-2 with 3:42 left in the second period when Josh Sciba collected his own rebound and beat Boucher with a backhand under the blocker on the shortside.
All of the third scoring belonged to the Irish with Deeth registereing his first career hat trick and Thang chipping in a power play goal, his 10th marker of the year.
Brown, a 2004 draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, tallied 17 saves for the win while Boucher finished with 23.
Notre Dame held a 29-19 advantage in shots and converted on two of their three power play chances. Robert Morris was 1-5 on the power play.
These two teams meet again in South Bend, Indiana, Sunday, January 7, in a 4:00 p.m. contest.
