Dec. 28, 2001
Princeton, N.J. – David Inman and Michael Chin scored first period goals and goaltender Morgan Cey made them stand up to lead the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to a 2-1 win over the Princeton Tigers at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink Friday night.
The win was the first for Notre Dame versus Princeton in 10 games in the all-time series that began on Jan. 2, 1985. The Irish had lost the first four meetings played at Baker Rink in the series.
The win improves Notre Dame to 6-7-4 overall, 6-3-2 in its last 11 games. Princeton falls to 4-10-0 with the loss.
Irish head coach Dave Poulin was pleased with his team’s efforts. “I really thought we played well tonight. I would have liked to have seen more goals, but offensively we moved the puck well and got plenty of scoring chances.”
Notre Dame controlled play through much of the first period firing a season-high 19 shots on Princeton goaltender Trevor Clay who was making his first career start for the Tigers.
Despite the 19-6 edge in shots in the first period, it wasn’t until the 13:20 mark of the stanza that the Irish would get on the scoreboard.
David Inman was able to control a Princeton clearing attempt along the left wing boards. The senior forward stickhandled through the Tigers’ defense before banking a centering pass off Princeton goaltender Trevor Clay for his ninth goal of the season.
“David has been a dominant player the last six weeks. That was an important goal for us. He’s really done it at both ends of the ice for us,” said Poulin.
The Irish got their second goal of the night with just 40 seconds left in the first period and it came on the power play.
Connor Dunlop won the draw to the right of Clay back to defenseman Tom Galvin. The sophomore blueliner fired a shot at the Princeton goal. Clay made the stop, but Michael Chin was camped on the doorstep where he flipped the rebound in for his career-high seventh goal of the season at the 19:20 mark.
Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey only faced 12 shots through the first two periods but kept Princeton off the board until the 18:20 mark of the third period.
With Clay pulled in favor of a sixth attacker, Princeton’s David Del Monte whipped a shot past Cey from the bottom of the right wing circle for his fourth goal of the season.
After the faceoff, Princeton was again able to pull Clay, but only got one shot on Cey in the final 38 seconds of the game.
“Morgan made a couple big saves early in the game and made some key ones in the third period when they got a couple of good chances,” said Poulin.
The Irish outshot Princeton 43-22 on the night. Cey made 21 saves for Notre Dame in picking up his fifth win of the season. Clay made 41 stops for the Tigers in an impressive performance in his first career start.
The Irish close the weekend series versus Princeton on Saturday night. The game will be played in Trenton, N.J. at the Sovereign Bank Center. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Game Summary: 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (6-7-4) 2 0 0 2
Princeton (4-10-0) 0 0 1 1
Scoring
First Period: ND: David Inman 9 ( unassisted), 13:22, ND: Michael Chin 7 (Tom Galvin, Connor Dunlop), PPG, 19:20.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes, PU: 4 for 8 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes, PU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: PU: David Del Monte 4 (George Parros), 18:20.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes, PU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 19 – 13 – 11 – 43
Princeton 6 – 6 – 10 – 22
Goaltender Saves:
ND – Morgan Cey (60:00) 6 – 6 – 9 -21
PU – Trevor Clay (58:37) 17 – 13 – 11 – 41
Power Plays:
ND: 1 for 5
PU: 0 for 6
Attendance: 2,301 (sellout)