Oct. 11, 2003
Columbus, Ohio – Third-period goals by JB Bittner and Dave Steckel snapped a 1-1 tie to give the 15th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes a 3-1 victory over Notre Dame Saturday night at Value City Arena.
Goaltending was the name of this game as Irish freshman David Brown, making his first career start, stopped 36 of 39 shots he faced, including 18 in the second period. Ohio State senior Mike Betz continued to be a thorn in Notre Dame’s side as he stopped 29 of 30 Irish shots to run his career-record versus the Irish to 7-0-3 over four season.
The loss drops the Irish to 1-1-0 overall and in the CCHA while Ohio State is now 2-2-0 in four games and 1-1-0 in league action.
“We put ourselves in pretty good position going into the third period tied 1-1,” said Irish coach Dave Poulin.
“Ohio State played a little more desperate in the final period and got the two points. This is one that we have to find a way to win. We lost one of six periods on the weekend and it cost us two points.
Despite combining for 69 shots in the game, the two teams skated through a lackluster first period with Ohio State outshooting Notre Dame by a 7-3 margin
The two teams found their legs in the second period, combining for 35 shots in the middle stanza. Ohio State broke through first at 2:44 when Daymen Bencharski scored on a deflection in front of the Irish goal.
After Ohio State won a faceoff in the right wing circle, the Buckeyes worked the puck around to the left point where defenseman Matt Waddell fired a shot through a maze of skates and sticks in front of Brown. Bencharski was able to get a stick on it and redirect the biscuit past the Notre Dame goaltender for a 1-0 Ohio State lead.
The Irish tied the game less than two minutes later on the strong fore-checking of the line of Tim Wallace, Matt Amado and Cory McLean. Wallace was able to force a turnover on the left wing boards deep in the OSU end. Amado controlled the puck and slid it to McLean in the left wing circle. Betz stopped his shot, but Wallace was parked in front to shovel the rebound home for his first of the season at 4:35.
Brown stopped 18 of 19 shots he faced in the period and Betz handled 15 of 16 in a period that featured plenty of end-to-end action.
In the third, Bittner put the Buckeyes ahead to stay with his first goal of the season at 11:20. With Ohio State pressing, Andrew Schembri slid a pass across the crease to Bittner who redirected it past Brown for the 2-1 lead.
Steckel closed the scoring at 18:05 with his fourth goal of the year. The senior center broke his stick at center ice and went to the bench to get a new one while play carried into the Notre Dame end. He came late into the play and Paul Caponigri saw him and slid a pass to the late arriving center who banged it inside the left post for the final of 3-1.
After the first two regular season games, Poulin likes what he sees in his young team. “I liked the way we played overall. We were doing lots of the intangible things well. We had two goaltenders who hadn’t played a game at the Division I level play pretty well,” added the Irish bench boss.
Notre Dame returns to action on Friday, Oct. 17 when they open the home schedule with a visit from the Bowling Green Falcons. Game time at the Joyce Center is 7:35 p.m.
IRISH NOTES:
** The Irish were 0-for-4 on the power play in Saturday’s contest. For the weekend, they were 2-for-11. On the penalty killing side, the Irish killed all five penalties on Saturday to give them nine consecutive penalties killed for the weekend.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 – F
Notre Dame (1-1-0/1-1-0) 0 1 0 – 1
Ohio State (2-2-0/1-1-0) 0 1 2 – 3
Scoring
First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; OSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: OSU: Daymen Bencharski 1 (Matt Waddell, Nate Guenin), 2:44; ND: Tim Wallace 1 (Cory McLean, Matt Amado), 4:35.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; OSU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: OSU: JB Bittner 1 (Andrew Schembri, Waddell), 11:00; OSU: Dave Steckel 4 (Paul Caponigri, Dan Knapp), 18:05.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; OSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 3 – 16 – 11 – 30 Ohio State 7 – 19 – 13 – 39
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (59:12) 7 – 18 – 11 – 36
OSU – Mike Betz (60:00) 3 – 15 – 11 – 29
Power Plays:
ND: 0-4
OSU: 0-5
Attendance: 1,956