Nov. 29, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. – Rob Globke scored two goals and Mike Walsh and Matt Amado added single tallies as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish wiped out a 2-0 second-period Northern Michigan lead to grab a 4-2 win at the Joyce Center Saturday night. The sweep of the Wildcats gives the Irish a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) and keeps them tied for first in the CCHA with Ohio State.
The win improves Notre Dame to 8-3-2 overall and 7-3-2 in CCHA play, good for 16 points. Ohio State, with its 7-0 win over Bowling Green on Saturday, keeps them tied with the Irish with 16 points. The Buckeyes have one game in hand on the Irish. The loss drops Northern Michigan to 5-7-0 overall and 4-6-0 in the CCHA. This is the latest Notre Dame has been in first place in the CCHA since returning to the league in 1992-93.
The comeback win was big for the Irish as they continue to grow as a team.
“This was another important building block for this team. Now they’ve experienced coming from behind. You can talk about things like this all you want, but until you experience it, it’s not the same. Next time they are behind late in a game, they know they can comeback, because they’ve done it before,” explained head coach Dave Poulin following the game.
Notre Dame was forced to come back by an aggressive and determined Northern Michigan squad that bounced back from Friday’s 5-1 loss.
After a scoreless first period, the Wildcats took advantage of a five-on-three power play. Nathan Oystrick moved the puck from the right point to the left wing boards to Dirk Southern. Southern found freshman Darin Olver alone in front and he fired a shot past David Brown at 3:36 for his fifth of the season.
The lead would go to 2-0 at 10:38 with the teams skating four-on-four. Defenseman Geoff Waugh corral1ed a Notre Dame clearing attempt at the left point and fired a shot on goal. Southern was able to re-direct the puck between Brown’s pads to give Northern Michigan the two-goal lead.
Notre Dame broke through on Northern goaltender Craig Kowalski at 14:01 on the power play. Kowalski stopped Neil Komadoski’s blast from the left point, but Globke grabbed the rebound and slid it through his pads for his ninth goal of the year.
“I thought our power-play goal that made it 2-1 was the key goal of the game and Rob Globke was the guy who had to score it and he did,” said Poulin.
“The shot came from the point and the rebound went off to the side,” said Globke who now has 99 points in his Notre Dame career.
“He (Kowalski) had to slide over to the post and it left the five-hole open and I just slid the rebound between his pads.”
The Irish came out in the third period believing they would continue their comeback. Walsh would even the game just 1:29 into the final period with assists to linemates Aaron Gill and Cory McLean. McLean found Walsh parked in the slot and the 6-2, 211-pound left wing buried it behind Kowalski for his sixth of the season.
“Mike Walsh has come up with big goals like that all season. It was a true power forward’s goal,” said Poulin.
Globke got what proved to be the game-winning goal at 14:56 just seconds after getting pulled down on a one-on-two rush. After Northern cleared the zone, Tim Wallace broke up a pass in the neutral zone. Brett Lebda picked up the puck and left a drop pass at the top of the right wing circle for Globke. The talented forward did the rest as he split the defense and rifled a shot under the cross bar to make it a 3-2 game with his 10th goal of the year.
“Brett Lebda just made a great drop pass and I got off a good shot. I thought there should have been a penalty on the play before, but I didn’t dwell on it. I just got myself back in the play and got another chance,” said Globke.
“Rob continues to impress me with his maturity,” said Poulin.
“He’s done it for us all season long. He’s really taking care of all the details on the ice. He’s become a complete player,” added Poulin.
Amado closed out the scoring with his first goal of the season at 16:44 when he blasted a shot from the left wing circle past Kowalski for the final score of 4-2.
The Irish outshot Northern Michigan by a 30-27 margin. Brown, who extended his unbeaten streak to eight games (6-02), made 25 saves in the game. Kowalski stopped 26 in the loss.
Globke and the Irish have just one more CCHA series before breaking for exams as they travel to Western Michigan next weekend, Dec. 5-6, for a pair of games. The Irish will not play at home in December and their next home game is Saturday, Jan. 3 versus the University of Findlay.
IRISH NOTES:
** Notre Dame’s sweep of Northern Michigan was the first for the Irish versus the Wildcats since Feb. 27-28, 1998 at the Joyce Center.
** Rob Globke now has 59 goals and 40 assists for 99 points in his career. His next point will make him the 40th player in Notre Dame history to reach 100 points for his career. His 59 goals rank him 18th on Notre Dame’s all-time goal-scoring list.
** The Irish ran their streak of at least one power-play goal in seven straight games this season. In those seven games, the Irish are 8-for-31 with the man-advantage for a 25.8% success rate.
** Notre Dame’s 8-3-2 record is its best mark after 13 games since being 9-2-2 to start the 1998-99 season. The 7-3-2 mark in the CCHA is the best for the Irish after 12 league games ever.
SCORING SUMMARY
Northern Michigan (5-7-0/4-6-0) 0 2 0 – 2
Notre Dame (8-3-2/7-3-2) 0 1 3 – 4
Scoring
First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: NMU: 4 for 8 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: NMU: Darin Olver 5 (Dirk Southern, Nathan Oystrick), PPG, 3:36; NMU: Southern 5 (Geoff Waugh), 10:38; ND: Rob Globke 9 (Neil Komadoski, Michael Bartlett), PPG, 14:01.
Penalties: NMU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 4 for 8 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Mike Walsh 6 (Aaron Gill, Cory McLean), 1:29; ND: Globke 10 (Brett Lebda, Tim Wallace), 14:56; ND: Matt Amado 1 (Tom Galvin), 16:44.
Penalties: NMU: 0 for 0 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Northern Michigan 5 – 12 – 10 – 27
Notre Dame 9 – 14 – 7 – 30
Goaltender Saves:
NMU – Craig Kowalski (60:00) 9 – 13 – 4 – 26
Notre Dame – David Brown (60:00) 5 – 10 – 10 – 25
Power Plays: NMU: 1 for 5; ND: 1 for 5
Attendance: 2,394