Nov. 24, 2000
Notre Dame, Ind. – Northern Michigan’s Matt Hunter and Bryce Cockburn each scored third period goals to snap a 1-1 tie on the way to the Wildcats a 3-1 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Friday night in CCHA league action Friday night at ND’s Joyce Center.
The win extended Northern’s mastery over the Irish to five games (4-0-1) dating back to March 13, 1999. Northern improves to 7-4-3 overall and is now 5-4-1 in CCHA play while Notre Dame drops its second in a row to fall to 3-7-2 on the year and 1-3-1 in league play.
The two teams meet again on Saturday night for the second game of the weekend series. Face-off at the Joyce Center is set for 7:05 p.m.
The night started strong for the Fighting Irish as they played one of their best periods of the season in the first stanza. David Inman (Jr., Toronto, Ont.), back in the lineup after missing two games with a concussion rifled home his fifth goal of the season at 4:46 of the first period to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.
Inman’s goal came off a faceoff as Ryan Dolder (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) took the loose puck along the left wing boards and dropped it to Rob Globke (Fr., West Bloomfield, Mich.) who passed cross ice to Inman for the power play goal. Notre Dame outshot NMU, 10-5, in the first, but had just the oene goal lead.
“I was pleased after the first period, I thought we played as well as we have all season in the first period,” said Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin.
“Our special teams were good, we got the power play goal and killed off three Northern power plays. We have this barrier to get over, we just have to get over it somehow. If we do, we’ll be a pretty good hockey team.”
Northern came out in the second and was able to grab the momentum, reeling off nine of the first ten shots on the way to a 17-shot second period. The Wildcats scored just once though at 15:40 when Sean Owens scored his first of the year from in front of the goal on assists to Fred Mattersdorfer and Bryce Cockburn.
“I don’t understand how the momentum changes like that,” said Poulin. “We had some chances in the period, especially on the late power play. Still, 1-1 going into the third period, that’s where we want to be.”
The Irish got their offense going in the third period, but could not solve Wildcat goaltender, Dan Ragusett. The senior goaltender stopped all 12 Notre Dame shots for a total of 31 saves in the game. Northern on the other hand scored twice on five shots.
Strong forechecking by sophomore Dan Donnette forced an Irish turnover in their defensive zone and the Wildcat forward fed the puck to freshman Matt Hunter in front who deposited the puck behind ND’s Tony Zasowski (So., Darien, Ill.) for the eventual game winner at 8:38 of the third period.
Cockburn added the insurance goal at 11:31 as his first shot in the slot was blocked by the Irish defense, but he got his own rebound and fired it under the crossbar for his eighth goal of the season.
The loss left Poulin looking for answers. “We can’t be satisfied with playing a good game, it’s not good enough. We went into the third period tied and gave up five shots, that should be good enough to win the game. We need individuals to step up and make plays. We’re getting our chances, now we have to start scoring goals. “We have to win this game,” said the Irish coach.
For the game, ND outshot Northern Michigan by a 32-27 margin. Zasowski, who saw his record fall to 1-5-1 on the year, made 24 saves on the night for Notre Dame.
The Irish ran their penalty killing streak to four straight games as they stopped Northern Michigan’s four power play chances. Notre Dame has now killed off 20 consecutive penalties dating back to the November 3 game at Miami University.
SUMMARY:
Northern Michigan (7-4-3/5-4-1) 0 1 2 – 3
Notre Dame (3-7-2/1-3-1) 1 0 0 – 1
First Period: ND: David Inman 5 (Rob Globke, Ryan Dolder), PP, 4:46
Penalties: NMU: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 5 for 10 minutes.
Second Period: NMU: Sean Owens 1 (Fred Mattersdorfer, Bryce Cockburn), 15:43.
Penalties: NMU: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: NMU: Matt Hunter 2 (Dan Donnette), 8:38, NMU: Cockburn 8 (Mattersdorfer, Chad Theuer), 11:31.
Penalties: NMU: 2 for 4 minutes, ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Power Plays:
Northern Michigan: 0 for 4
Notre Dame: 1 for 3
Shots On Goal
Northern Michigan: 5 – 17 – 5 – 27
Notre Dame: 10 – 10 -12- 32
Goaltender Saves:
Northern Michigan: Dan Ragusett (60:00) 9 – 10 – 12 – 31
Notre Dame: Tony Zasowski (58:59) 5 – 16 – 3 – 24
Attendance: 1,886