Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Hockey Falls To Ferris State 4-1

Oct. 26, 2002

Final Stats

Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team ran into a scoring machine in the person of Ferris State left wing Chris Kunitz this weekend and are still trying to stop the senior from Regina, Sask. Kunitz scored two goals and added two assists on Saturday night to lead the Bulldogs to a 4-1 win over the Irish on Saturday night at the Joyce Center. The win also gave Ferris State a weekend sweep of Notre Dame after also winning on Friday, 5-2.

Kunitz, who leads the CCHA in scoring, scored a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal while setting up FSU’s first two goals of the game for his second four-point game of the weekend. Linemate Jeff Legue also scored twice for the Bulldogs while goaltender Mike Brown stopped 40 of 41 Notre Dame shots in the win. Brown saw his shutout bid snapped with just 3:10 left in the game when Cory McLean scored on a rebound in front as the Irish peppered Brown with 21 shots in the final stanza.

The loss drops Notre Dame to 3-2-1 overall and 2-2-0 in CCHA play. Ferris State has now won five in a row to improve to 5-1-0 on the year and 4-0-0 in the CCHA.

The game started much like Friday night’s game as Brown and Notre Dame goaltender Tony Zasowski stopped everything thrown at them. Brown made 15 stops and Zasowski had 11 in the period.

The Bulldogs got the first of two power-play goals for an early 1-0 second-period lead. With Connor Dunlop off for cross checking, Legue redirected Troy Milam’s shot past Zasowski at 1:47 of the period.

Legue got his second of the night at the halfway point of the game when Kunitz found him unattended in front of the Irish goal. Legue slid a shot under Zasowski’s pads for the 2-0 lead at 9:55.

Ferris would build their lead to 4-0 on a pair of Kunitz goals. His first came via the power play when he rifled a shot from the right point through a screen past Zasowski for his eight of the season (third on the power play) at 8:30.

Kunitz sealed the deal with his first shorthanded goal of the season at 10:19. With Notre Dame on the power play, an Irish defender fell down at the blue line and Kunitz was off on a breakaway. He made a couple of moves on Zasowski and flipped the puck under the crossbar for his ninth goal of the year to give Ferris State the 4-0 lead.

While the Irish were firing 21 shots in the period they could not dent Brown until the 16:50 mark. Neil Komadoski’s shot from the left point whistled wide of the goal and was picked up by Tom Galvin in the right faceoff circle. Brown went down to stop his hard wrist shot and couldn’t control the rebound. McLean was in front and stuffed the rebound home for his first goal of the season and the final margin of 4-1.

Notre Dame had been outshot in four of its first five games, but fired a season-high 41 shots on the Ferris State goal. The Bulldogs answered with 33 of their own in the game. Zasowski made 29 stops in picking up his first loss of the season.

Ferris State was 2-for-6 on the power play in the game, while the Irish were 0-for-4.

Notre Dame is next in action on Friday, Nov. 1 when the Irish play host to the Boston College Eagles in a single game at the Joyce Center. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

Ferris State (5-1-0/4-0-0) 0 2 2 – 4

Notre Dame (3-2-1/2-2-0) 0 0 1 – 1

Scoring

First Period: No Scoring.

Penalties: FSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.

Second Period: FSU: Jeff Legue 6 (Troy Milam, Chris Kunitz), PPG, 1:47; FSU: Legue 7 (Kunitz), 9:55.

Penalties: FSU: 5 for 10 minutes; ND: 6 for 12 minutes.

Third Period: FSU: Kunitz 8 (Milam, Derek Nesbitt), PPG, 8:30; FSU: Kunitz 9 (unassisted), SHG, 10:19; ND: Cory McLean 1 (Tom Galvin, Neil Komadoski), 16:50.

Penalties: FSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.

Shots On Goal:

Ferris State 11 – 12 – 10 – 33

Notre Dame 15 – 6 – 20 – 41

Goaltender Saves:

Ferris State – Mike Brown (60:00) 15 – 6 – 19 – 40

Notre Dame – Tony Zasowski (60:00) 11 -10 – 8 – 29

Power Plays: FSU: 2 for 6; ND: 0 for 4

Attendance: 2,307