Nov. 22, 2002
Ann Arbor, Mich. – For years, the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines have had a hex over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, especially at Yost Arena on the Michigan campus. Friday night, in front of a standing room only crowd of 6,776, it was freshman goaltender Al Montoya’s turn to keep the streak alive as he made 35 saves while getting goals from four different players in Michigan’s 4-2 win over the Irish.
The Michigan win ran their regular-season unbeaten streak at Yost since the Irish returned to the CCHA in 1992-93 to 15 games (14-0-1). Over the last 20 meetings on the Wolverine’s home ice, the Irish are 1-18-1 with the lone win coming in the 1998 CCHA playoffs.
The loss dropped the Irish to 4-4-2 overall and 3-4-0 in the CCHA, the first time they have been under .500 in the league this season. For Michigan, the win extended the Wolverine’s current unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1) and makes them 9-1-1 on the year and 6-0-1 in CCHA play.
Michigan took a 2-0 lead in the first period on a pair of goals that were the results of strong forechecking and a favorable bounce or two for the Wolverines.
John Shouneyia put Michigan on the scoreboard first with a power-play goal at 6:11. As time wound down on the power play, the Notre Dame defense came up with the puck behind the net. The clearing attempt appeared to hit an Irish defender who was tied up to the right of goaltender Morgan Cey. The puck bounced in front to Shouneyia who was parked on the doorstep. The senior center one-timed a shot beating Cey low to the stick side.
The Wolverine lead would go to 2-0 with just 11 seconds left in the period. Michigan dumped the puck around the right wing boards where Cey played it off the boards. Andrew Ebbett was able to knock the clearing attempt down and while Cey scrambled to get back in the net, fired the puck between the Irish goaltender’s glove and body for his third goal of the season, this one unassisted.
Michigan improved their lead to 3-0 just 2:44 into the second period when defenseman Nick Martens pinched in from the left point keeping the puck along the left wing boards. His shot through traffic in front was stopped by Cey, but right wing Michael Woodford dug the rebound loose and fired it past Cey for his second goal of the season.
The Irish, 0-for-5 on the power play through two periods, had an excellent chance to get back in the game when Ebbett (9:24) and defenseman Mike Roemensky (10:53) were whistled for roughing and tripping calls respectively. With the two-man advantage, Rob Globke and Yan Stastny were stopped by Michigan’s Al Montoya from the slot on two of Notre Dame’s best scoring chances of the game.
The Irish would finally break through on Montoya at 16:33 of the period as Brett Lebda beat Montoya to cut the lead to 3-1. Lebda carried the puck down the left wing boards and rifled a slapshot from the bottom of the left wing circle that broke through the Michigan goaltender’s pads.
Michigan answered back 23 seconds later when Mark Mink ripped a slapshot past Cey at 16:56 for his fifth goal of the season to send the game into the second intermission with the Wolverines leading 4-1.
Notre Dame came out strong in the final period and cut the lead to 4-2 just 58 seconds into the third stanza. Heavy pressure around the Michigan goal resulted in an excellent chance in front for Aaron Gill. Montoya made the stop and the rebound rolled out to the left wing circle where Jake Wiegand pounced on it and drilled it over a sprawling Montoya for his first goal of the season. It was Wiegand’s first game back in the lineup after going down with a left knee sprain on Oct. 19 at Western Michigan.
The Irish would pepper Montoya with 16 shots in the period and 37 in the game, but would not dent the Michigan goal again on the evening.
Globke came close again when he rang a shot off the crossbar with 8:25 gone in the period on a 2-on-1 scoring chance.
For Cey, who made 20 saves in the game for the Irish, his highlight of the night cam at 12:36 of the third period when he stopped Michigan’s Milan Gajic on a penalty shot. Gajic was pulled down on a breakaway and referee Steve McInchak awarded the sophomore the shot. Gajic, a right-hander deked right and then went to his backhand, but Cey slid across to stop the shot. The penalty shot was the second that Cey has faced in his career and he has stopped both of them.
Notre Dame and Michigan will again do battle in game two of the weekend series on Saturday night. Game time at Yost Arena is 7:35 p.m. returns to action at home next weekend. The Irish will play host to the Ferris State Bulldogs on Fri.-Sat., Oct. 25-26 with faceoff both nights set for 7:05 p.m.
IRISH NOTES:
+ Morgan Cey stopped his first penalty shot as a member of the Notre Dame hockey team on Dec. 8, 2001 when he stopped Bowling Green’s Greg Day in a 4-2 loss at Bowling Green.
+ Michigan is now 31-20-3 versus the Irish all-time in Ann Arbor.
+ With the loss to the Wolverines, Notre Dame is now 1-2-1 versus nationally ranked teams.
+ The Irish outshot Michigan by a 37-25 margin in the 4-2 loss on Friday night. This season, when the Irish outshoot the opposition, they are just 1-3-0
GAME SUMARY:
1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (4-4-2/3-4-0) 2 2 0 4
Michigan (9-1-1/6-0-1) 0 1 1 2
Scoring
First Period: UM: John Shouneyia 3 (unassisted), PPG, 6:11; UM: Andrew Ebbett 3 (unassisted), 19:49.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; UM: 2 for 4 minutes
Second Period: UM: Michael Woodford 2 (Nick Martens), 2:44; ND: Brett Lebda 1 (unassisted), 16:33; UM:Mark Mink 5 (Dwight Helminen, Danny Richmond), 16:56.
Penalties: ND: 10 for 20 minutes; UM: 10 for 20 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Jake Wiegand 1 (Aaron Gill, Neil Komadoski), :58.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; UM: 2 for 4 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 6 – 15 -16 – 37
Michigan 7 – 12 – 5 – 24
Goaltender Saves:
ND – Morgan Cey (58:38) 5 – 10 – 5 – 20
UM – Al Montoya (60:00) 6 – 14 – 15 – 35
Power Plays:
ND: 0 for 7
UM: 1 for 5
Attendance: 6,776