Feb. 22, 2002
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. –
Notre Dame got goals from Cory McLean, Brett Lebda and John Wroblewski and goaltender Morgan Cey made 21 saves as the Fighting Irish took a 3-1 win from the Lake Superior State Lakers Friday night.
The win was the second in a row for the Irish as they improved their record to 11-15-5 overall and 9-12-4 in the CCHA. The loss dropped the last place Lakers to 7-22-2 on the year and 4-19-2 in league play.
The Irish broke through first in a first period that saw just 13 shots exchanged between the two teams. Freshman Cory McLean gave the Irish a 1-0 lead at 15:33 when his long wrist shot from inside the Lake Superior blue line sailed over Laker goaltender Matt Violin’s glove. The goal was the first of his career for McLean and Kyle Dolder picked up his first career assist on the goal.
The goal marked the 18th time this season that Notre Dame scored the game’s first goal. The Irish are 11-5-2 this season when they score first.
Notre Dame increased its lead to 2-0 at 8:26 of the second period scoring on a five-on-three power play chance. With Chris Thompson (6:54) and Adam Nightingale (6:54) in the penalty box, Brett Lebda snuck in from the left point and got a centering pass from Connor Dunlop. Lebda flipped a wrist shot past Violing from the bottom of the left wing circle for his second goal in as many games and his second game-winner in as many games.
Lake Superior broke the shutout at 10:21 off a scramble in front of the Irish goal. Left wing Kyle Anderson took the first shot which was stopped by Cey. The rebound laid outside the crease where Will Magnuson fired it home for his second goal of the season to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 2-1 at the second intermission.
Defense took over in the third period as both goaltenders made big saves to keep the score at 2-1. Lake Superior pulled the goaltender at 18:24 and the Irish got the open net goal for the 3-1 win.
John Wroblewski took a pass from Dunlop at center ice and fired it into the open net for his ninth of the season which gave the Irish their third win of the year versus the Lakers. Dunlop’s assist, his second of the game, gave him 30 on the season to make him the first Irish player to record 30 assists in a season since Jamie Ling had 31 in 1994-95.
On the night, Notre Dame outshot Lake Superior 32-21. Cey finished the game with 20 saves while Violin made 29 saves for the Lakers.
Notre Dame and Lake Superior close out the weekend series on Saturday night at Taffy Abel Arena. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
Game Summary: 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (11-15-5/9-12-4) 1 1 1 3
Lake Superior St. (7-22-2/4-19-2) 0 1 0 1
Scoring
First Period: ND:. Cory McLean 1 (Kyle Dolder, Brad Wanchulak), 15:33.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes, LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes
Second Period: ND: Brett Lebda 5 (Connor Dunlop, Tom Galvin), PPG, 8:26, LSSU: Will Magnuson 2 (Kyle Anderson, Aaron Davis), 10:21.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes, LSSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: ND: John Wroblewski 9 (Dunlop, Evan Nielsen), ENG, 19:18.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes, MSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 6 – 16 – 10 – 32
Lake Superior St. 7 – 9 – 5 – 21
Goaltender Saves:
ND – Morgan Cey (60:00) 7 – 8 – 5 -20
LSSU – Matt Violin (59:06) 5 – 15 – 9 – 29
Power Plays:
ND: 1 for 3
LSSU: 0 for 2
Attendance: 2,470