Oct. 18, 2003
Bowling Green, Ohio – Notre Dame Hockey – October 18, 2003
What a difference 24 hours makes.
On Friday night at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame fired 59 shots at Bowling Green goaltender Jordan Sigalet. On Saturday night, the Falcons returned the favor, blitzing Irish goaltender David Brown with 40 shots. And tonight, it was Brown’s turn to shine.
In front of a home-opening, thunder stick wielding, energized crowd, all the freshman from Stoney Creek, Ont., did was make a career-high 40 saves for his first career shutout and the first win of his young career. Brown’s shutout, in just his third game and his second start, marks the earliest a Notre Dame goaltender has ever recorded a shutout in his career.
For Brown, Saturday night’s game versus Bowling Green was a chance to bounce back from a rough outing on Friday at Notre Dame when he replaced Rory Walsh in the third period and gave up two goals on nine shots.
“I was disappointed with the way I played last night (Friday),” said Brown following the game.
“I just had to take last night in stride and put it behind me. Tonight I wanted to show people what I can do.”
The victory snapped a two-game Irish losing streak and improved Notre Dame to 2-2-0 on the year and 2-2-0 in CCHA play. Bowling Green falls to 1-3-0 overall and in league play.
Brown got all the help he would need just 17 seconds into the game when Mike Walsh scored from in front to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Brett Lebda controlled the play at the right point and flipped it into the right wing corner to Cory McLean who found Walsh camped on the Bowling Green doorstep. Walsh tucked McLean’s centering pass under goaltender Jordan Sigalet’s pads for the 1-0 lead.
Just 2:30 later, Notre Dame made it 2-0 as freshman Josh Sciba scored his first of the year, beating Sigalet with a bad-angle shot along the goal line at that snuck between Sigalet’s pads and the left post at 2:47.
Head coach Dave Poulin was glad to see his offense get on the board early.
“That was a great way to start for us. You know if he (Sigalet) stops a couple of those, then you’re thinking here we go again. The two goals early really changed the course of the game,” said Poulin.
Brown made 18 saves in the first period to set the tempo for the night.
“Bowling Green really came at us tonight. They played hard. My defense did a great job clearing the rebounds and gave me good looks on the shots from the point,” said Brown.
“BG never gave me a chance to relax, though. I always had to be aware and keep moving. They like to go after the rebounds in front and we didn’t give them too many chances.”
After a scoreless second period where Brown stopped 14 shots, Notre Dame added an insurance goal just 1:39 into the final period.
The trio of Tim Wallace, Matt Amado and Rob Globke combined on some strong fore-checking and an extra effort in front of the goal to score on the only shot of the period for the Irish.
Amado slid the puck to Wallace who got fired a shot that was blocked in front of Sigalet. Globke crashed the net and was able to jam the rebound into the goal for his fourth of the season to give the Irish the 3-0 lead.
For the game, Bowling Green outshot the Irish 40-17. Sigalet finished the night with 14 saves for the Falcons.
“David (Brown) played great tonight,” said Poulin.
“I thought both goaltenders struggled last night, so it was good to see him bounce back and play the way he can. He’s a bright, young talent. He came up big every time we needed a key save tonight.”
Brown and his teammates take a break from CCHA action next week as they travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass., for a single game on Friday, Oct. 24 versus the top-ranked Boston College Eagles. That game will be televised live by College Sports Television (CSTV) with game time set for 8:05 p.m. (EDT), 7:05 p.m. in South Bend.
IRISH NOTES:
** Defenseman Joe Zurenko (Jr., Palantine, Ill.) and left wing Tony Gill (So., Rochester, Minn.) made their first appearances of the season for the Irish versus the Falcons on Saturday night.
** Attendance at the Bowling Green Ice Arena on opening night was 2,623.
** Neither team could take advantage of the power play as Notre Dame was 0-for-6 with the man-advantage and Bowling Green was 0-for-7.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (2-2-0/2-2-0) 2 0 1 3
Bowling Green (1-3-0/1-3-0) 0 0 0 0
Scoring
First Period: ND: Mike Walsh 1 (Cory McLean, Brett Lebda), :17; ND: Josh Sciba 1 (Matt Williams-Kovacs, Rob Globke), 2:47.
Penalties: ND: 4 for 8 minutes; BGSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 6 for 12 minutes; BGSU: 7 for 14 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Globke 4 (Tim Wallace, Matt Amado), 1:39.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; BGSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 8 – 8 – 1 – 17
Bowling Green 18 – 14 – 8 – 40
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (60:00) 18 – 14 – 8 – 40
BGSU – Jordan Sigalet (60:00) 6 – 8 – 0 – 14
Power Plays:
ND: 0-6
BGSU: 0-7
Attendance: 2,623