The Falleti Ice Arena was packed with both Notre Dame and Batavia fans who were hoping their team would come away victorious. It was the Notre Dame fans that got their wish as their team had a powerful third period and defeated host Batavia 6-2.
"We were pumped to get out there and play them," said Batavia forward Nate Palmer. "It's always a fun game, but unfortunately it didn't end the way we wanted it to."
Batavia Notre Dame got on the board first as Josh Johnson snuck the puck by Batavia goaltender Adam Kurek on a play set up by Dylan Versage.
Batavia failed to produce a strong offense in the first period, but came out strong early in the second as Conor Holvey set up Tim Finnell to tie the game at 1-1.
Notre Dame responded shortly after by taking the 2-1 as Tyler Kessler stole the puck and beat Kurek for the goal.
Josh Marr capped off the second-period scoring as he broke down the right side of the ice and sniped the puck over the right shoulder of ND goaltender Tom Dehr.
The third period was all ND as they capitalized four times.
The Irish came out hard and Zach Blew lit the lamp off a set up from Josh Johnson and Dylan Versage.
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Batavia responded shortly after with a great scoring chance as Josh Marr fed Nate Palmer on a 2 on 1, but Palmer was unable to get good wood on the shot.
"We had some chances but couldn't capitalize on them," says Palmer.
Brett Perfit continued the scoring driving as he put the fourth goal on the board in a solo effort.
Notre Dame's Jordan Difilippo got into a small fight in front of Dehr with Batavia's Tim Finnell, which led to coincidental penalties. After an argument with the referee, Batavia was assessed a bench minor penalty, giving ND the powerplay.
Jack Nenni and Brett Perfit set up Tyler Kessler to take advantage of the powerplay and put ND up 5-2.
Nenni scored shortly after to cap off the scoring at the final 6-2. Tyler Kessler and Brennan Brown were credited with the assist.
"We were very happy with our team's effort," says Notre Dame forward Dylan Versage. "We wanted the win and were all gonna do what we needed to get the win. Everyone contributed and it paid off."
