Feb. 28, 2003
Kalamazoo, Mich. – Sophomore left wing Jeremy Cheyne converted on a two-on-one with just over 11 minutes left in the game to snap a 2-2 tie and lead the Western Michigan Broncos to a 4-2 win over Notre Dame Friday night in front of a sold-out Lawson Arena.
The loss, coupled with Northern Michigan’s 5-2 win over Ohio State drops the Irish to seventh-place in the CCHA standings and possibly further depending on the outcome of the Alaska Fairbanks – Miami game that’s played in Fairbanks tonight.
The Irish fall one game below .500 with the loss as they are now 13-14-6 on the year, 11-11-3 in CCHA play for 25 points. Western Michigan goes to 15-16-2 on the year and 13-11-1 in league play, good for 27 points. The loss also ended Notre Dame’s season-best four-game winning streak.
The Irish came out fast and furious and opened the scoring at 10:41 of the first period with Rob Globke getting the goal. The junior right wing slammed his own rebound past Bronco goaltender Scott Foster for his 19th of the season. The goal snapped a personal eight-game scoring drought for Notre Dame’s top scorer as he had been held goal less since Jan. 18 versus Yale.
But that would be the only goal for the Irish in the period as they outshot the Broncos 11-6.
“We played well in the first period and should have been up by more than one goal with the chances we had,” said head coach Dave Poulin.
“We had some great opportunities in that period and just didn’t finish.”
In the second period, Western Michigan turned the tables outshooting the Irish 14-3 and outscoring them 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead into the final period.
The Broncos evened the score just 2:26 into the period when he took a feed from Vince Bellisimo at the hashmarks on the left wing circle and snapped a wrister over Morgan Cey’s glove for his fourth of the season.
The lead would go to 2-1 at 13:35 when Trevor Cook fired the puck at the net from a bad angle at the bottom of the left wing circle. The puck found its way through Cey’s pads to give the Broncos their first lead of the night.
“Morgan made some big saves in that period, but I’m sure that second goal is one he would like to have back,” said Poulin.
The Irish bounced back in the third period and took the play to the Broncos. Yan Stastny combined with Aaron Gill and John Wroblewski to tie the game at 5:11 of the final period when he stuffed the rebound of his wrap around shot under Foster for his 14th of the season.
Notre Dame held the lead until 8:21 when Cheyne and Dana Lattery raced in on Cey two-on-one. Cey stopped Lattery’s shot, but the rebound went right to Cheyne who had the entire right side of the goal to fire the rebound home for his fifth of the season.
Western had a chance to break the game wide-open with just under six minutes left when referee Steve Piotrowski awarded Vince Bellisimo a penalty shot after the Irish covered the puck in the crease. Bellisimo tried to deke Cey, but the sophomore got his pad on it for his third penalty-shot stop of the season.
The Broncos would close out the scoring with 32 seconds left in the game when Jeff Campbell collected his 13th goal of the season firing the puck into an open net for the 4-2 win.
On the night, Western Michigan outshot Notre Dame 30-26. Cey finished the night with 26 saves while Foster got the win by making 24 stops.
Notre Dame’s hopes for home-ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs are still alive, but they face a must-win situation on Saturday night at the Joyce Center.
“These games are all critical for everyone. The playoffs really started tonight,” said Poulin.
“We have to play tomorrow night the way we did tonight in the first period and finish our scoring chances.”
The Irish and Broncos will do it again on Saturday night, this time at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center. The Irish will honor their senior class prior to the 7:05 p.m. starting time.
IRISH ICE BITS:
Goaltender Morgan Cey has now faced three penalty shots this season and four in his career. He has stopped all four of them in his career.
Rob Globke needs just one more goal to reach the 20 mark for his career. He will be the first Notre Dame player to get 20 goals in a season since Aniket Dhadphale scored 25 in the 1997-98 season.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (13-14-6/11-11-3) 1 0 1 2
Western Michigan (15-16-2/13-11-1) 0 2 2 4
Scoring
First Period: ND: Rob Globke 19 (John Wroblewski, Chris Trick), 10:41.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 4 minutes; WMU: 1 for 2 minutes
Second Period: WMU: Ben Gagnon 4 (Vince Bellisimo), 2:26; WMU: Trevor Cook 3 (Dana Lattery), 13:35.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; WMU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Yan Stastny 14 (Aaron Gill, Wroblewski), 5:11; WMU: Jeremy Cheyne 5 (Lattery, Bellisimo), 8:21; WMU: Jeff Campbell 13 (Lattery, Dave Cousineau), 19:28.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; WMU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 11 – 3 – 12 – 26
Western Michigan 6 – 14 – 10 – 30
Goaltender Saves:
ND – Morgan Cey (58:47) 6 – 12 – 8 – 26
WMU – Scott Foster (60:00) 10 – 3 -11 – 24
Power Plays:
ND: 0 for 1
WMU: 0 for 3
Attendance: 4,326