Jan. 18, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – Nebraska-Omaha center Shane Glover scored on a rebound with 1:12 left in the third period to give the Mavericks a 3-2 win over Notre Dame Friday night at the Joyce Center.
Glover, who won a face-off inside the Irish blueline, followed right wing Andrew Wong to the net. Wong snapped off a 15-foot wrist shot but Notre Dame’s Morgan Cey made the stop. Glover swooped in and drilled the rebound past Cey for his 10th goal of the year.
“They won the draw inside our blueline and we missed a coverage,” explained assistant coach Andy Slaggert following the game.
“Morgan (Cey) made the big first save to bail us out, but they beat us to the rebound.”
The loss drops the Irish behind the Mavericks in the CCHA standings as Notre Dame falls to 8-10-5 on the year and 6-7-4 in league play for 16 points. Nebraska-Omaha is now 13-9-3 overall and 7-7-3 in league play for 17 points. The two teams meet again on Saturday in a 7:05 p.m. game at the Joyce Center.
Notre Dame took a first period lead at 15:10 of the stanza after dominating the play. Center John Wroblewski took a pass from Brad Wanchulak in the left wing circle and cut to the front where his shot eluded Mavericks’ goaltender Dan Ellis for his eighth goal of the year.
Ellis kept Nebraska-Omaha in the game as Notre Dame outshot the Mavericks 17-2 in the opening period.
“Dan Ellis really played well in the first period and didn’t allow us to extend the one-goal lead,” said Slaggert.
The Irish again came out strong in the second period but a defensive error turned into a goal at 5:31. David Brisson was able to poke the puck away from a Notre Dame player and break in all alone on Cey. Brisson whipped the puck past the Notre Dame goaltender for his eighth of the year.
“We turned the puck over to a pretty good hockey player and he made the play,” said Slaggert.
Nebraska-Omaha went ahead 2-1 midway through the second period on the power play. Jeff Hoggan won a face-off to the right of Cey and got the puck to Brisson at the left point. Brisson moved it over to All-CCHA defenseman Greg Zanon who blasted a shot past Cey from the right point for his sixth goal of the season.
The Irish tied the game at 13:02 of the third period with Connor Dunlop scoring on the power play. Brett Lebda moved the puck from the point into Dunlop who was able to beat Ellis from in close for his sixth goal of the season.
Glover then put out the Irish hopes for a weekend in the final games of a six-game homestand with his rebound goal.
In the end, it was defensive lapses that cost the Irish.
“We turned the puck over and it led to a goal. We had breakdowns on two defensive zone face-offs that lead to goals. That’s inexusable. You can’t let down for a minute in the CCHA or its in the net,” said Slaggert.
For the night, the Irish outshot the Mavericks by a 43-18 margin. Ellis finished the game with 41 saves while Cey made 16 in the Notre Dame nets.
IRISH HOCKEY NOTES:
**The Irish were one-for-nine on the power play while Nebraska-Omaha was one-for-five on the night.
**The Irish are 1-3-1 through the first five games of their six-game homestand.
**Notre Dame’s John Wroblewski scored his career-best eighth goal of the season in the first period. Coming into this year, Wroblewski had scored four goals over two seasons.
**For the second game in a row, a visiting goaltender has made 41 saves versus the Irish. Northern Michigan’s Craig Kowalski made 41 last Saturday (Jan. 12) in a 4-0 win.
**Since starting the season with an 0-4-2 mark, the Irish are 8-6-3 in their last 17 games and 6-4-1 since Dec. 1st.
SCORING SUMMARY
Nebraska-Omaha (13-9-3/7-7-3) 0 2 1 – 3
Notre Dame (8-10-5/6-7-4) 1 0 1 – 2
Scoring
First Period: ND: John Wroblewski 8 (Brad Wanchulak, Evan Nielsen), 15:10.
Penalties: UNO: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: UNO: David Brisson 8 (unassisted), 5:31, UNO: Greg Zanon 6 (Brisson, Jeff Hoggan), PPG, 10:34.
Penalties: UNO: 4 for 8 minutes, ND: 5 for 10 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Connor Dunlop 6 (Brett Lebda, David Inman), PPG, 13:02, UNO: Shane Glover 10 (Andrew Wong), 18:48.
Penalties: UNO: 5 for 10 minutes, ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Nebraska-Omaha 2 -11 – 5 – 18
Notre Dame 17 – 9 – 17 – 43
Goaltender Saves:
Nebraska-Omaha – Dan Ellis (60:00) 16 – 9 – 16 – 41
Notre Dame – Morgan Cey (59:00) 2 – 9 – 4 – 16
Power Plays: UNO: 1 for 5, ND: 1 for 9
Attendance: 2,016