Nov. 13, 2004
Kalamazoo, Mich.T.J. Jindra scored one goal and set up another and goaltender Morgan Cey stopped 38 of 40 Western Michigan shots to lead Notre Dame to a 3-2 win at Lawson Arena on Saturday night.
Notre Dame also got goals from Cory McLean and Wes O’Neill in the victory. Brian Bicek scored twice for the Broncos.
The win, the first for the Irish since Oct. 22, snapped a five-game winless streak (0-2-3) and was the first CCHA win for Notre Dame. The Irish improve to 2-5-4 on the year overall and 1-4-3 in league action. The Broncos are now 4-5-1 overall and 2-5-1 in CCHA play.
Notre Dame got on the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead at 6:18 of the opening period.
Strong forechecking by Mike Walsh started the Irish scoring play. The junior left wing forced a turnover deep in the Western Michigan zone. The puck was fired around the left wing boards where Evan Rankin stopped it. He dumped it behind the net to Cory McLean who walked out from behind the goal and tucked the puck between the post and Western goaltender Dan Bellissimo’s pads for the lone goal of the opening stanza. The goal was McLean’s third of the season.
The game opened up in the second period as each team scored twice.
Notre Dame took a 2-0 lead at 5:01 of the second period via the power play. O’Neill scored his team-high fourth goal of the season when he ripped a slap shot from the left point that deflected in front over Bellissimo and under the cross bar. Jindra and Mark Van Guilder picked up assists on the goal.
The Broncos got back in the game at 15:34 with a power-play goal of their own. Bicek got his first of two goals in the period when he came out from behind the net and lifted a backhander over Morgan Cey’s right shoulder for his fourth goal of the season.
The Western Michigan freshman tied the game just two minutes and 40 seconds later when he came down the right wing and fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the right wing circle past Cey at 18:14.
The Irish answered with 33.3 seconds left in the stanza as Jindra sent Notre Dame into the intermission with a 3-2 lead.
Defenseman Brock Sheahan threw a cross-rink pass from the right wing boards in his own zone to Jindra at the Western blue line. Jindra carried the puck to the face-off circle and cut across the slot before firing a wrist shot past Bellissimo at 19:26 for his second goal of the season.
The third period belonged to Cey as he held off the Broncos by making 17 saves in the period. WMU almost tied the game with 5:58 left when Pat Dwyer looked like he scored on a rebound. Referee Steve Piotrowski ruled that the puck had been kicked into the net and waved the goal off.
For the game, Notre Dame was out shot by a 40-24 margin. Bellissimo finished with 21 saves in the game. Notre Dame was 1-for-1 on the power play while the Broncos were 1-for-5.
Notre Dame returns home next weekend to face the U.S. National Developmental Program’s Under-18 team on Friday, November 19th in an exhibition game. Face off at the Joyce Center is set for 7:35 p.m.