Dec. 3, 2004
Ann Arbor, Mich. – Six different Michigan players scored goals and All-American goaltender Al Montoya stopped 21 of 22 shots as the fifth-ranked Wolverines handed Notre Dame a 6-1 loss at Yost Arena on Friday night.
Michigan got a balanced offensive attack, scoring twice in each period with a pair of power-play tallies and stellar penalty killing as the Wolverines held Notre Dame to just one power-play goal on 11 chances in the game.
The loss snapped Notre Dame’s three-game winning streak versus the Wolverines and drops the Irish to 3-7-4 overall and 2-6-3 in CCHA play. Michigan is now 10-4-1 on the year and 8-1-0 in league play.
The Wolverines jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by T.J. Hensick and Eric Werner.
Hensick put Michigan ahead at 5:24 when he picked up a loose puck in the slot and, using an Irish defenseman as a screen, tucked a wrist shot over David Brown’s catching glove and under the cross bar.
For Hensick, the goal was his seventh of the season.
Werner made it 2-0 at 10:18 when he took an Andrew Ebbett feed from the right wing corner and fired a shot from the top of the right wing circle that went inside the right post. The goal was the fourth of the year for the senior defenseman.
Notre Dame broke through at 15:55 on the power play. With the Irish controlling the puck in the Michigan zone, T.J. Jindra fired a shot from the left face-off circle. The shot was blocked by the Wolverine defense with the rebound going to Michael Bartlett as he closed in from the left point. Bartlett drove a slap shot past Al Montoya for his first goal of the year to make it a 2-1 game.
Michigan added a pair of goals in the second period to build the lead to 4-1 and chase Brown from the goal.
Brandon Kaleniecki made it a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 8:47. The junior left wing took a feed from Milan Gajic at the bottom of the left wing circle and snapped a wrist shot over Brown’s glove for his third goal of the year.
Freshman Chad Kolarik notched his sixth goal of the season and sent Brown to the Irish bench when he tucked a shot between the sophomore goaltender’s pads at 11:19 to give Michigan a three-goal lead at 4-1. Brown stopped seven of the 11 shots he faced as Morgan Cey took over between the pipes.
Michigan’s offense added two more in the final period as they poured 20 shots on Cey in the Irish net. Gajic scored his seventh of the year at 9:10 on a perfect feed from Jason Ryznar as he slid the puck between Cey’s pads to make it 5-1.
The Wolverines added their second power-play goal of the night just 1:10 later as defenseman Brandon Rogers scored on a slap shot from the left point at 10:20 for the 6-1 final score.
For the night, Notre Dame was out shot, 35-22. Cey finished the game with 22 saves, giving up two goals on the night.
Notre Dame and Michigan will meet in game two of the series on Saturday night at the Joyce Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The game will be televised live by Comcast Local and can be seen on South Bend’s Comcast Cable channel 99.
IRISH NOTES:
** Junior center Tony Gill was a late scratch for the Irish after coming down with flu-like symptoms prior to warm ups. He was replaced in the lineup by freshman defenseman Brian D’Arcy who gave Notre Dame seven defensemen dressed for the game.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (3-7-4/2-6-3) 1 0 0 1
Michigan (10-4-1/8-1-0) 2 2 2 6
Scoring
First Period: UM: T.J. Hensick 7 (unassisted), 5:24; UM: Eric Werner 4 (Andrew Ebbett), 10:18; ND: Michael Bartlett 1 (T.J. Jindra, Mark Van Guilder), PPG, 15:55.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; UM: 4 for 8 minutes.
Second Period: UM: Brandon Kaleniecki 3 (Milan Gajic, Andrew Ebbett), PPG, 8:47; UM: Chad Kolarik 6 (David Moss, Kaleniecki), 11:19.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; UM: 6 for 12 minutes.
Third Period: UM: Gajic 7 (Jason Ryznar, Moss), 9:10; UM: Brandon Rogers 2 (Kevin Porter), PPG, 10:20
Penalties: ND: 4 for 8 minutes; UM: 4 for 8 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 10 – 7 – 5 – 22
Michigan 6 – 9 – 20 – 35
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (31:19) 4 – 3 – x – 7
Morgan Cey (28:41) x – 4 -18 – 22
UM – Al Montoya (60:00) 9 – 7 – 5 – 21
Power Plays:
ND: 1-11
UM: 2-7
Attendance: 6,694