March 5, 2004
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – They say that there is no place like home. That’s especially true in the CCHA where more often than not the home time is on the winning side of the ledger.
For Notre Dame, the road woes continued for the Irish as they traveled to Lake Superior State on Friday night, looking to move up in the CCHA standings on the final weekend of the 2003-04 regular season.
Coming off a home sweep of Michigan and on a four-game winning streak, the Irish had a chance to move as high as fourth in the standings but saw their hopes for a higher seeding and a first-ever NCAA berth dampened.
The hard-working Lake Superior State Lakers had something to say about that though as they smothered the Irish offense time and time again on the way to a 3-0 win over the Irish at Taffy Abel Arena.
The Lakers got strong goaltending from freshman Jeff Jakaitis, who stopped all 23 shots he faced on the way to his third shutout of the season, and goals from Mike Adamek, Alex Dunn and Colin Nicholson on the way to the win. The shutout was the third of the season for Jakaitis and the fourth against the Irish this season.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 17-12-4 on the season and 13-11-3 in CCHA play. The Irish remain tied for fifth place in the standings with Alaska Fairbanks and will need at least a point on Saturday to finish fifth overall. The Lakers go to 9-17-7 on the year and 7-15-5 in the CCHA.
The first period belonged to Lake Superior as the Lakers built a 2-0 lead scoring early and late in the opening stanza.
Mike Adamek put the Lakers on top at 2:42 of the first period with his third goal of the season. Left wing Steve McJannett was able to get a shot off from the left face-off dot that David Brown stopped. The rebound bounced right to Adamek who was trailing the play and his wrist shot beat Brown over his catching glove and inside the right post.
The lead would go to 2-0 at 19:07 when left wing Tim Krueckl got around the Irish defense at the left wing circle. Krueckl found right wing Alex Dunn racing down the slot and Dunn whipped his fifth of the season past Brown for his fifth goal of the season.
The Lakers built the lead to 3-0 at 10:42 of the second period when Colin Nicholson came out from behind the Irish net and tried to stuff the puck between the post and Brown. The Irish goaltender made the stop but Nicholson carried on and lifted a backhander past Brown for his sixth goal of the season.
Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin then called a timeout to try and change the momentum while making the change in goal by going to junior Morgan Cey. Just nine seconds after the next faceoff, a pain of glass shattered delaying play for 15 minutes. The change and delay sparked the Irish as they held the Lakers to just one shot in the period while getting seven shots of their own but not scoring.
In the third period, the Irish could not get much going in the way of offense as the Lakers smothering defense and the goaltending of Jakaitis held them at bay as they mustered just six shots and were held off the scoreboard.
David Brown finished with 14 saves in 30:30 of action. Morgan Cey made just four saves in relief of Brown as he played the final 29:30 of the game.
There were no power play chances in the game as no penalties were called on the night.
The Irish and Lakers will close out the regular season on Saturday night at Taffy Abel Arena. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
IRISH NOTES:
** Tickets for Notre Dame’s first round playoff series will go on sale at the Joyce Center ticket office on Monday, March 8 at 9:00 a.m. or by phone at 8:30 a.m. by calling 574-631-7356. Tickets are $13.00 and $11.00 for adults and $7.00 and $6.00 for children and senior citizens.
** Notre Dame will host the first round of the CCHA playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. That year, the Irish defeated Ferris State, two games to one, and advanced to the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena. That marked the first time the Irish had advanced in CCHA play since returning to the league in 1992.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (17-12-4/13-11-3) 0 0 0 0
Lake Superior State (9-17-7/7-15-5) 2 1 0 3
Scoring
First Period: LSSU: Mike Adamek 3 (Steve McJannett, Colin Nicholson), 2:42; LSSU: Alex Dunn 5 (Jon Booras, Tim Krueckl), 19:07.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Second Period: LSSU: Nicholson 6 (Mike Adamek, Krueckl), 10:42.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; LSSU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 5 – 12 – 6 – 23
Lake Superior State 9 – 9 – 3 – 21
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (30:30) 7 – 7 – x – 14
Morgan Cey (29:30) x – 1 – 3 – 4
LSSU – Jeff Jakaitis (60:00) 5 – 12 – 6 – 23
Power Plays:
ND: 0 for 0
LSSU: 0 for 0
Attendance: 1,760