Notre Dame's Calle Ridderwall (22) tries to get past the defense of Miami of Ohio's Tommy Wingels during the first period of their CCHA college hockey game on Friday, March 21, 2008 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza)
Story Created:
Mar 22, 2008 at 12:30 AM EDT
Story Updated:
Mar 22, 2008 at 12:30 AM EDT
DETROIT (AP) — A trio of Miami of Ohio RedHawks who are natives of the Detroit area celebrated their homecoming on Friday.
Alec Martinez's goal 6:06 into overtime lifted Miami to a 2-1 win over Notre Dame in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association Championship semifinal game at Joe Louis Arena.
Miami (32-6-1) advances to Saturday night's championship game against Michigan (30-5-4), which beat Northern Michigan 6-4 in the other semifinal Friday night.
Notre Dame (24-14-4) and the Wildcats (19-20-4) play in Saturday's third-place game.
Martinez, a defenseman from Rochester, beat Jordan Pearce with a slap shot from the high slot for the game winner.
"Broken play along the left half wall," said Martinez. "The puck bounced out to me and I just tried to shoot it as hard as I could."
Mitch Ganzak, who is from Canton, also scored for Miami. His goal came with only 3.4 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 1-1. Chesterfield's Jeff Zatkoff made 20 saves.
Evan Rankin got Notre Dame's lone goal. Pearce stopped 28 shots.
Ganzak's shot was a one-time slap shot from the top of the left circle.
"Scoring with just two seconds left, that's just a lucky bounce," said Miami coach Enrico Blasi.
Notre Dame is on the bubble for a NCAA Tournament berth. With the loss, they have to win Saturday's consolation game to have any chance of getting in.
"Any time you lose a game like that, it's pretty devastating," said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson.
Rankin scored the game's first goal with 4:30 remaining. His backhand shot from the left circle went in off of Zatkoff's glove.
"I just kind of got open in the circle ... just fired it backhand," said Rankin.
Martinez said he grew up rooting for the Detroit Red Wings and going to Joe Louis Arena as a fan.
"It's really a good feeling to be able to come here and win this game," he said.
It appeared that Mark Van Guilder had put Notre Dame on the board with 6:11 left. But replays showed that his shot from the left circle hit the goal post.
"I thought the puck hit the back bar," said Van Guilder. "But that's the way it goes."
