ALBANY, N.Y. — There didn’t figure to be many goals.
The Minnesota State men’s hockey team entered play Saturday ranked second in Division I in goals allowed per game (1.32), while Notre Dame ranked fifth (2.08).
“Tonight was a battle all the way from the first shift,” MSU goaltender Dryden McKay said. “If you’re going to make it to the Frozen Four, you’re going to have to earn it. You’re going to have to do something extra, and I thought we kind of had that extra effort tonight.”
A first-period goal ended up being all MSU needed, as the Mavericks topped Notre Dame 1-0 in the East Region final, punching their ticket to the Frozen Four at Boston.
“We’re happy to be going to Boston,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “It was a goal of this group’s from Day 1.”
Space was at a premium and the hits were flying from the start, and that didn’t change much throughout the night.
Notre Dame had a great opportunity to get on the board first in the opening period when an MSU clearing attempt took a weird bounce off the glass. The deflection ended up giving the Irish a breakaway, but McKay made the save to keep the game scoreless.
“Timely saves are so important. It’s not the amount of saves to me, it’s when are those saves made,” Hastings said. “He hasn’t done that for two weeks, he’s done that for four years.
“I think that’s an ability. That’s a talent.”
McKay made 23 saves to record his 10th shutout of the season and the 34th of his career.
“We had a game plan, and we executed it pretty well,” MSU’s Nathan Smith said. “We got a brick wall in the net, so that helps.”
The game’s lone goal came with 16 seconds remaining in the first period, when Smith fired home a rebound off a shot from Brendan Furry.
Notre Dame blocked seven shots in the opening frame, and did a great job getting their sticks in passing lanes.
“There was like four guys in the lane … (Furry) found it, just put it off the pad and I just tried to go to the net,” Smith said. “It kind of just bounced right to me.”
MSU continued to forecheck hard, even as the game remained 1-0 into the third period, but Irish goalie Matthew Galajda made some good saves to prevent MSU from extending the lead.
Notre Dame had an opportunity to tie it with about six minutes remaining amid a scrum in front of the MSU goal, but Benton Maass eventually cleared it after a shot hit the post. It started with Nick Leivermann’s shot from the point.
“That was kind of just chaos,” McKay said with a laugh. “I think he shot it, it hit a shin pad, skipped four or five times, skipped over my defenseman, I think it skipped over my pad, hit the post, then I’m pretty sure Andy Carroll swept it off the goal line.
“From there I’m just trying to take up as much space as I can. I didn’t know where it was. There was like five guys in the crease.”
Notre Dame pulled its goalie with 2:14 to go, but got no good looks with the extra attacker, as MSU came up with several key blocks.
Shots on goal favored MSU 33-23.
The Mavericks (37-5) will play the winner of Western Michigan and Minnesota in the Frozen Four on April 7 at TD Garden.
“These are my best friends and these have been the best four years of my life,” McKay said. “I can’t think of a better way to cap it than with a national title.”
Follow Kevin Dudley on Twitter @Dudley7Kevin
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