Jan. 10, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – Third-period goals by Ferris State’s Blair Riley and Cody Chupp snapped a 2-2 tie to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 win over Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon at a sold-out Joyce Center. The win gave Ferris State a weekend sweep of the Irish and moved the Bulldogs into a tie for first place in the CCHA with Miami.
Notre Dame defensemen Kyle Lawson and Ian Cole each scored first-period power-play goals to give the Irish a 2-1 lead after the opening period. Mike Embach opened the scoring for Ferris State and Eric Alexander tied the game 2-2 with the lone second-period marker.
The loss dropped Notre Dame to 9-10-5 on the season and 5-7-4-2 in the CCHA, good for 21 points and a three-way tie for seventh place with Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha. Ferris State is now unbeaten in its last 12 CCHA games (10-0-2) and improved to 16-4-2 overall and 10-2-2-2 in the conference, good for 34 points and a share of the CCHA lead with Miami. The Bulldogs and RedHawks tangle next weekend at Big Rapids, Mich., in a two-game series.
The line of Embach, Aaron Lewicki and Justin Menke picked up where it left off on Saturday night (three goals, four assists) and gave Ferris State a 1-0 lead at 8:41 with Emback cashing in his fifth goal of the season.
Lewicki carried the puck into the Irish zone and fed it to Menke on the goal line to the left of Irish goaltender Tommy O’Brien. Menke walked it towards the crease and passed across the front of the goal to Embach as he moved to the left post. The junior left wing got his stick on the puck and redirected it inside the left post to put the Bulldogs ahead, 1-0.
Notre Dame answered back with the first of two power-play goals in the opening stanza with Lawson getting the first at 13:16. Calle Ridderwall moved the buck from the left wing boards to Brett Blatchford at the center point. The senior defenseman fired a low-hard shot that Pat Nagle was ready to stop before Lawson got his stick on it in front and redirected it inside the right post for his fourth goal of the season.
Less than two minutes later, the Irish made it 2-1 on a power-play tally by Ian Cole. Where Lawson’s goal just made it over the goal line, Cole scored on a rocket of a shot past Nagle at 14:55. Off a face off in the left circle, Ben Ryan controlled the puck to Ryan Thang who pushed it to Riley Sheahan at the left point. Sheahan moved it across to the right side to Cole who hammered a shot past Nagle for his second of the weekend and third goal of the year. Thang’s assist on the goal was the 100th career point for the Edina, Minn., native, making him just one of 45 players in Irish hockey history to reach 100 points in his career.
The Bulldogs would get the lone goal of the second period to tie the game at 6:53 as Eric Alexander beat O’Brien to his stick side with a shot from inside the left circle for his third goal of the season. Travis Oullette and Zach Redmond picked up helpers on the play.
Ferris State looked like it had taken the lead with 8:36 left on the second-period clock when Matthew Kirzinger scored from in front of the goal. After the officials reviewed the play, the goal was waved off due to a man in the crease. After two periods, the Bulldogs owned a 27-18 shot advantage.
It would take Ferris State just 14 seconds in the third period to take the lead for good as Riley netted his team-best 16th of the season off a scramble in front of O’Brien. Chupp moved the puck towards the front of the goal to Casey Haines who got the puck through to the goal where Riley was able to get it past O’Brien for a 3-2 lead.
The Bulldogs added an insurance goal at 4:47 of the third period off a face off to the right off O’Brien. Kirzinger won a draw back to Chupp who moved towards the slot and lifted a back-hander over O’Brien’s glove hand for his seventh goal of the season and a 4-2 lead for Ferris State.
The Irish would get three late power-play chances in the final period, including a two-man advantage for 1:06 but could not dent the Bulldog goal.
Play turned nasty late in the game when Travis Oullette was charged with checking Irish defender Teddy Ruth from behind into the boards. Brett Blatchford came to his aid and grabbed Ouellette while Ruth tangled with Brett Wysopal. The melee resulted in 62 minutes in penalties with Oullette and Ruth being assessed game disqualification penalties.
On the night, Ferris State out shot Notre Dame by a 33-29 margin. Nagle finished with 27 saves while O’Brien, making just his second start of the season, had a career-high 29 saves in the contest.
Notre Dame returns to action with a home-and-home series on Jan. 15-16 versus the Michigan State Spartans. On Fri., Jan. 15, the two teams will meet in an 8:05 p.m. game at the Joyce Center that will be televised by CBS College Sports. On Sat., Jan. 16, the Irish and Spartans will tangle at Munn Arena in East Lansing, Mich., in a 7:05 game.
IRISH NOTES:
** The back-to-back losses to Ferris State marked just the second time this season and the 10th time in the Jeff Jackson era (2005-present) that the Irish have been swept in a series. Miami did it in December at Oxford, Ohio. It happened five times in his first year, twice in 2007-08, once last year and twice this season.
** The sellout crowd of 2,767 on Sunday was the 10th sellout crowd in 14 home games this season. Since Dec. 13, 2008, Notre Dame has had 19 sellout crowds in its last 23 games.
** Ryan Thang now has 51 goals and 49 assists for his 100 career points. He joins fellow senior Kevin Deeth who has 35 goals and 75 assists for 110 points to rank 37th all-time as the two Notre Dame players to reach 100 points this season.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#12/#11 Ferris State (16-4-2/10-2-2-2) 1 1 2 - 4Notre Dame (9-10-5/5-7-4-2) 2 0 0 - 2
Scoring
First Period: FSU: Mike Embach 5 (Aaron Lewicki, Justin Menke), 8:41; ND: Kyle Lawson 4 (Brett Blatchford, Calle Ridderwall), PPG, 13:16; ND: Ian Cole 3 (Riley Sheahan, Ryan Thang), PPG, 14:55.
Penalties: FSU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: FSU: Eric Alexander 3 (Travis Oullette, Zach Redmond), 6:53.
Penalties: FSU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: FSU: Blair Riley 16 (Casey Haines, Cody Chupp), 00:14; FSU: Chupp 7 (Matthew Fitzinger), 4:57.
Penalties: FSU: 8 for 35 minutes; ND: 6 for 39 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Ferris State 13 - 14 - 6 - 33Notre Dame 10 - 8 - 11 - 29
Goaltender Saves:FSU: Pat Nagle (60:00) 8 - 8 - 11 - 27ND: Tom O'Brien (58:50) 12 - 13 - 4 - 29
Power Plays:FSU: 0 for 4ND: 2 for 9
Attendance: 2,767 (sellout)