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DETROIT — The crowd at Joe Louis Arena exploded. Mitch Ganzak simply breathed a sigh of relief.

The Miami University senior scored with 3.4 seconds left in the third period Friday, March 21, tying the game and paving the way for the RedHawks' 2-1 overtime victory over Notre Dame in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament semifinal.

"I was more relieved than excited," Ganzak said. "Being a senior, I did not want to play a third-place game. And the goal they scored was kind of a miscommunication between me and (Justin) Mercier, so I wanted to redeem myself."

It was a memorable goal for several reasons. No. 1, it allowed Miami to keep playing for a win that may have clinched a top seed in the NCAA tournament. No. 2, it was his 100th career point, making him the fifth defenseman in MU history to reach that plateau.

"There's no better way of getting 100," Ganzak said. "I'm happy to get it over with. I think my parents are more happy about it than I am."

RedHawks coach Enrico Blasi said his emotions were on a roller coaster all night.

"At some point, I'm a fan as well," Blasi said. "There's only so much you can do as a coach. Make sure the next line's up, and hopefully you've got the right guys out there."

The winning view

The game-winning goal by Alec Martinez was a straight-ahead bullet near the blue line. He described it like this:

"It was a broken play along the left half wall. The puck just kind of bounced out towards me. I just tried to shoot it as hard as I could and get it on net. I didn't really know it went in until I saw the mesh ripple a little bit after the puck dropped."

Tough in net

Both goalies, Jeff Zatkoff for Miami and Jordan Pearce for Notre Dame, turned in outstanding performances.

Pearce was particularly strong in the first two periods, when MU controlled the contest.

"People still don't want to believe that he's the type of goaltender that I've been talking about the last several months," Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said. "He's elevated his game."

Zatkoff let one goal go off his glove with 4:30 left in the third period. At the time, it looked like Evan Rankin's tally would decide the game.

"I was just worrying about keeping it a one-goal game, and they would come through," Zatkoff said of his teammates. "They did. It was a huge relief on my part."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2194 or rcassano@coxohio.com.

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