Oct. 29, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – Freshman center David Gerths scored twice and freshman left wing Anders Lee scored the game winner in the third period to lead Notre Dame to its fourth consecutive win with a 3-2 victory over Western Michigan on Friday night at a sold-out Joyce Center.
The Irish got strong goaltending from freshman Steven Summerhays who made his first CCHA start a victory by stopping 19-of-21 Bronco shots. Western Michigan got goals from a pair of freshmen as Chase Balisy and Shane Berschbach lit the lamp for the Broncos. Sophomore goaltender Nick Pisellini suffered his first loss of the season, making 21 saves in the game.
The win improves the No. 11/No. 13 Irish to 5-1-0 on the year and ran the CCHA mark to 3-0-0-0. Western Michigan suffered its first loss since Oct. 9, snapping a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) to go to 4-2-1 overall and 0-1-0-0 in conference play.
After a scoreless first period, Notre Dame broke through at 11:49 of the second when Gerths got his first of the game when he tucked a wrist shot from the right wing circle over Pisellini’s glove for his second of the season and a 1-0 lead.
The Broncos wasted little time tying the score just 1:03 later when Balisy notched his first of the season at 12:52 of the second period. The freshman center carried the puck through center and dished the puck to left wing Kyle O’Kane who carried the puck deep into the right corner and centered it to Balisy who backhanded a shot past Summerhays to tie the game at 1-1.
Notre Dame snapped the 1-1 tie off of strong work by the three freshmen. Defenseman Stephen Johns dug the puck out of the right wing corner and moved it to left wing Jeff Costello at the left circle. He fed it to Gerths breaking down the slot. Gerths fired a shot over Pisellini to make it 2-1 at the 6:26 mark.
Again the Broncos evened the score less than three minutes later when Berschbach scored on the power play at 8:48.
Defenseman Matt Tennyson fired a shot that missed the net and came off the backboards to Berschbach on the right side of the net. Before the Irish could get to him, he flipped the puck over a sprawling Summerhays to make it 2-2.
It would be up to another freshman to pull the game out of the fire for the Irish and they did it on their eighth power-play of the night.
Freshman T.J. Tynan moved the puck from the left point to Ryan Guentzel on the goal line in the left corner. Guentzel put the puck in the slot where Lee fought off a defenseman and buried a shot behind Pisellini for his team-high fifth goal of the season.
The Broncos would get one last chance with a power play with a minute left in the game. They pulled the goaltender to have a 6-on-4 scoring opportunity but Summerhays and the Notre Dame defense held the fort of the final score of 3-2.
On the night, Notre Dame outshot Western Michigan by a 24-21 margin. The Broncos were 1-for-5 on the power play while the Irish were 1-for-9.
The two teams meet on Saturday night at Western Michigan’s Lawson Arena. Game time is 7:35 p.m.
** IRISH NOTES ** * Notre Dame is now 6-0-1 at the Joyce Center versus Western Michigan since the 2003-04 season. The last time the Irish won at Western Michigan was Nov. 17, 2007. They are 0-3 in their last three games in Kalamazoo.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FWestern Michigan (4-2-1/0-1-0) 0 1 1 - 2#11/#13 Notre Dame (5-1-0/3-0-0) 0 1 2 - 3
Scoring
First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: WMU: 4 for 8 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: David Gerths 2 (Kevin Lind), 11:49; WMU: Chase Balisy 1 (Kyle O’Kane), 12:52.
Penalties: WMU: 6 for 12 minutes; ND: 6 for 20 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Gerths 2 (Jeff Costello, Stephen Johns), 6:26; WMU: Shane Berschbach 1 (Matt Tennyson, Dennis Brown), PPG, 8:48; ND: Anders Lee 5 (Ryan Guentzel, T.J. Tynan), PPG, 14:45.
Penalties: WMU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Western Michigan 9 - 9 - 3 - 21Notre Dame 3 - 11 - 10 - 24
Goaltender Saves:WMU: Nick Pisellini (58:47) 3 - 10 - 8 - 21ND: Steven Summerhays (59:24) 9 - 8 - 2 - 19
Power Plays:WMU: 1 for 5ND: 1 for 9
Attendance: 2,857 (sellout)