Box score

Post-game press conference: Jim Madigan and Garrett Vermeersch (YouTube.com)

In a battle of teams hailing from the world's oldest ice arena against one of the country's newest, the Northeastern men's hockey team became the first opponent to win a game at No. 2/3 Notre Dame's brand new facility, the Compton Family Ice Arena, in demonstrative fashion, 9-2. Friday night was Northeastern's second-ever trip to South Bend, Ind. to combat the Fighting Irish.

The Huskies offered up 12 points scorers, eight of which turned in multi-point efforts, to power Northeastern's most lopsided victory since bowling over Dartmouth, 7-0, on Jan. 2, 2010.  The last time Northeastern reached the nine-goal plateau was at Matthews Arena against Connecticut on Oct. 11, 2002. The Huskies throttled UConn, 10-1. The last time Northeastern turned the trick on the road was a 9-4 triumph at Boston College on Jan. 7, 1994.

Three was a common denominator in Northeastern's landmark victory. The Huskies tallied three goals in the first 4:13 of play. Three skaters achieved their first goals of the season. Northeastern also scored a goal under the first minute of play in all three periods. Notre Dame also trotted out all three netminders in 60:00 of regulation. Lastly, all nine of Northeastern's goals came in even-strength play.

Freshman Ludwig Karlsson continues to impress, becoming the first Husky to notch four points since Chris Donovan turned the trick against Boston College on Feb. 2, 2009 (1-3-4). The Stockholm, Sweden native is Northeastern's first player to record four assists in an outing since Mike Morris accomplished the feat at UMass Lowell on Jan. 19, 2007.

Sophomore Cody Ferriero (1-2-3) and junior Steve Quailer (0-3-3) continue to melt the ice, each turning in consecutive multi-point performances, while juniors Garrett Vermeersch (1-2-3), Drew Ellement (1-1-2) and Vinny Saponari (0-2-2) joined sophomores Braden Pimm (2-0-2), Anthony Bitetto (0-2-2) in the multi-point outburst. Rookies Dan Cornell (1-0-1) and Adam Reid (1-0-1) teamed up with the Daniels' brothers, Justin (1-0-1) and Drew (0-1-1) on the scoring sheet.

Junior Chris Rawlings continues to limit opposing offenses, holding Notre Dame's 17th-ranked offense to just two goals via 25 stops. The North Delta, B.C. native has allowed a scant six goals in his last four starts, setting his goals against average at 2.37. Notre Dame's trio of Mike Johnson (0 saves – 3 GA), Steven Summerhayes (8 saves – 4 GA) and Joe Rogers (3 saves – 2 GA) were stymied for nine goals on just 20 Huskies' shots.

Northeastern wasted no time setting the tempo as Pimm pounded home a loose rebound just 30 seconds into the first frame. Northeastern won the initial draw and penetrated Notre Dame's zone down low. Ferriero fed Quailer up top as he attempted the first shot on Johnson, but the puck caromed out to the near post where Pimm was waiting to give Northeastern the 1-0 edge at 00:30.

Northeastern maintained its physical presence and added another just over two minutes later where D. Daniels connected with Reid on a home run pass at 2:58. D. Daniels was simply trying to clear the puck out to Reid through the neutral zone when Reid found himself charging towards the net unattested. Reid made a deke to his left and banked it off Johnson. The puck trickled out to Johnson's left with velocity and it bounced off of a Notre Dame defenseman and into the net for the 2-0 Huskies' edge.

The first-period scoring did not stop there as Northeastern put away its third tally in the first 4:13 of the contest. Quailer redirected a pass over to Bitetto who spotted Cornell atop the zone all alone. Cornell rifled a shot from beyond the blue line, hoping to pinball the puck through traffic and gain a redirect goal. Luckily, the puck eluded the clogged up middle and forced Johnson out of net as Cornell's blast put Northeastern up, 3-0.

Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson called for a timeout to put a halt to the ambush and swapped in Summerhayes before the five-minute mark of the first period.

Bitetto went off for tripping to give Notre Dame its first man-advantage of the game, but two huge stops by Rawlings kept the Irish at bay. Each team got another power play in the middle of the first, but neither club could capitalize.

Before the first stanza concluded, Ferriero added another goal to give the Huskies a 4-0 pad after the first 20 minutes. Karlsson registered his first of four helpers on a perfect give-and-go through ND's zone to beat Summerhays.

Even though the Fighting Irish outshot the Huskies, 9-4, in the second session, Northeastern still outscored its opponent starting off with a Vermeersch marker 47 seconds in. Ellement connected with Karlsson in the neutral zone where the puck was relayed out to Vermeersch on the left side. Vermeersch carted the puck in unattested and was able to unleash a wrist shot that whizzed past Summerhays' mitt off the crossbar to the back of the net for the 5-0 lead at the 00:47 mark.

Rawlings continued to anchor the defense with two big stops in front immediately following Vermeersch's goal, allowing the Huskies' offense to shine once again.

Vermeersch netted his second-consecutive goal halfway through the second on a tic-tac-toe play from Karlsson and Saponari. Sophomore Luke Eibler cleared the puck out to Karlsson on Notre Dame's blue line. Karlsson skated towards the net and chipped it back to Saponari who then connected with Vermeersch on a cross-crease pass. Vermeersh redirected through Summerhays' five-hole to give Northeastern a six-goal buffer at 10:33 of the second period.

A couple more extra-man opportunities went by the wayside before Notre Dame stopped the bleeding with a late power play goal. Ellement went off for holding at 17:59 and T.J. Tynan blasted one through traffic on a feed from Riley Sheahan between the blue line and left circle. Rawlings could not spot the disc and the Fighting Irish got on the board at 19:47 to make to a 6-1 affair.

Once again, Northeastern got the early jump to start the third period as Pimm shredded the back of the net just 13 seconds off the draw. Bitetto chipped the puck into Quailer off the faceoff as it eventually made its way to Ferriero in the corner. In an attempt to get the puck into prime position, Ferriero crafted a no-look, behind-the-back pass to Pimm in front of the net. Pimm quickly gathered the rubber and made it a 7-1 game at 00:13.

Everything continued to go Northeastern's way after a Notre Dame goal was waved off a few minutes later. Robbie Russo appeared to shovel the puck in, but Anders Lee was called for goaltender interference, forcing the officiating crew to deem the goal invalid.

Jackson opted to test his third netminder of the night at 15:24 of the third frame, but Northeastern continued to light the lamp, offering two more tallies before the final horn. J. Daniels sniped the left corner at 14:24 of the third period from the right dot on a pass from Bitetto before Ellement closed out Northeastern's onslaught with a ferocious slap shot off the blue line. Ellement's missile bounced off both posts at 18:19.

Nick Larson added the Fighting Irish's second and final marker at 11:32 on a redirect blast generated by Kevin Lind two strides from the blue line.

The Huskies went 0-for-4 on the power play while Notre Dame finished 1-for-7.

The Huskies look for their fifth-straight victory tomorrow night at the Compton Family Ice Arena at 7:05 p.m. against Notre Dame. It will be the first time Northeastern has faced its opponent in consecutive nights since battling Merrimack on Nov. 3-4.

Game Notes
• Tonight's victory marks the first time Northeastern has won consecutive contests against a CCHA opponent since Dec. 27-28, 1997. The Huskies defeated the Fighting Irish (4-2) on Dec. 27 at the Mariucci Classic before dispatching Minnesota the next night by the same score on Dec. 28.

• Northeastern has assembled its first four-game winning streak after downing Providence (Nov. 18, 5-2), Vermont (Nov. 19, 4-1), Michigan (Nov. 25, 4-1) and Notre Dame (Dec. 2, 9-2) since the 2009-10 season when the Huskies rattled off five-straight victories from Feb. 5 to Feb. 19, 2010.

• The last time Northeastern defeated Notre Dame was on Oct. 21, 2000 in South Bend, Ind. by a 5-3 final. With the triumph, the Huskies evened the overall series, 3-3-1 in seven fixtures.

• Last time Northeastern scored nine goals was in the Bruce Crowder era (2002-03) when the Huskies dispatched Connecticut, 10-1. The last time Northeastern actual finished with nine tallies was a 9-4 triumph at Boston College on Jan. 7, 1994. Northeastern's highest goal total in school history is 18. The Huskies thumped Norwich, 18-6, on Feb. 9, 1948.

• Northeastern's handed Notre Dame its first loss at the Compton Family Ice Arena since opening against Rensselaer on Oct. 21, 2011. Notre Dame was a perfect 5-0-0 in its new facility, outscoring its opponent by an aggregate of 19-12.

• Northeastern's 9-2 win over Notre Dame was the country's highest goal total on Dec. 2, 2011 along with highest goal differential. The second closest was Air Force's 8-3 win at American International.

• Northeastern is now tied with Colgate and Robert Morris for the fourth-longest winning streak in the country. Minnesota Duluth leads with 11, Ohio State has not lost in 10 games while Boston University has not dropped a game in its last five.

• Northeastern knocked off its third ranked opponent of the season. In those three victories, the Huskies have outscored their opponent, 17-3. NU shutout #15 New Hampshire, 4-0, on Oct. 14, 2011 before stunning #11 Michigan, 4-1, on Nov. 25, 4-1. Everything went right for Northeastern in its 9-2 triumph over #2/3 ND on Dec. 2, 2011.

• Over the course of its last four games, Northeastern has outscored its opponents by a combined score of 22-6. The Huskies outworked #11 Michigan and #2/3 Notre Dame by a total of 13-3.

• Northeastern scored 10 unanswered goals going back to the four-straight tallies at Michigan on Nov. 25 combined with the six strikes against Notre Dame on Dec. 2.

• Northeasterns first three shots found the back of the net.  The Huskies converted 45 percent of their shots on Dec. 2 (9-for-20).

• Five players carry point streaks into Dec. 3's game against Notre Dame, including Steve Quailer (5 games – career-high), Cody Ferriero (4 games – career-high), Garrett Vermeersch (3 games), Anthony Bitetto and Braden Pimm (2 games).

• Ludwig Karlsson became the first Husky to notch four points since Chris Donovan turned the trick against Boston College on Feb. 2, 2009 (1-3-4). The Stockholm, Sweden native is Northeastern's first player to record four assists in an outing since Mike Morris accomplished the feat at UMass Lowell on Jan. 19, 2007. In 12 games this season, Karlsson has scored at least a point in seven of them (58.3 percent) and is tied with Quailer in teams points with 14.

• Garrett Vermeersch curbed a 13-game scoreless streak by tallying his first-career two-goal game at Notre Dame on Dec. 2. The Macomb, Mich. native's first goal stood as his 40th-career point. Vermeersch has scored 41 points (12-29-41) in 85 career games. Vermeersch's last goal was against Boston College in the Hockey East semifinal against Boston College on March 18, 2011.

• Steve Quailer has pieced together a career-best five-game point streak and sixth-career two-game assist streak. The Arvada, Colo. native has scored three goals and six assists amidst the stretch. Quailer has registered three multi-point games this season and eight in his career. The Dec. 2 game versus Notre Dame counts as his fifth-career two-assists outing.

• Cody Ferriero has strung together a career-best four-game point streak and has turned in his first two career multi-point outings in his last two games (Michigan, 2-0-2 • Notre Dame, 1-2-3). Ferriero's two assists against Notre Dame marks a career-first and his three points is a career-high.

• Braden Pimm turned in his first-career two-goal game against ND on Dec. 2. The Fort St. John, B.C. native has recorded four multi-point outings this season and five in his career. In his last two trips, Pimm has accounted for five points (3-2-5).

• Rookies Dan Cornell and Adam Reid achieved their first-career goals at Northeastern. Cornell has two points (1-1-2) through 12 games while Reid has logged the same total through 13 contests. Cornell's tally was Northeastern's third of the night, standing as the game-winner.

• Drew Ellement registered his second-career two-point game (1-1-2) and second goal of his career in 76 outings. His last came at Providence on Nov. 18, 2011.

• Anthony Bitetto scored his second two-point performance of the season (0-2-2) and seventh of his career. His first of 2011-12 came at Maine on Oct. 9. His last two assists outing fell against UMass Lowell on Jan. 8, 2011.

• Vinny Saponari posted two assists for the third time as a Husky on Dec. 2 against Notre Dame and has registered two points in a game on four occasions this season.