Nov. 8, 2003
East Lansing, Mich. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish battled back from a pair of two-goal deficits to tie Michigan State 3-3, then saw a potential game-winning goal with just seven seconds left in the game waved off by the officials to settle for the 3-3 overtime tie at Munn Arena Saturday night.
Third-period power-play goals by Neil Komadoski and Aaron Gill wiped out a 3-1 Michigan State lead with 1:06 left in the game. Notre Dame defenseman Wes O’Neill was whistled off for holding at 19:31 and while skating short-handed, Rob Globke took a long lead pass from defenseman Tom Galvin and ripped a slapshot from the top of the right wing circle past Spartan goaltender Matt Migliaccio with seven seconds left for the apparent game-winning goal.
The officials convened and ruled that the whistle had blown after a linesman called Globke for closing his hand on the puck as he jumped to knock down Galvin’s pass at center ice.
The Irish protested to no avail and the game went to overtime.
“The call was very disappointing. To come back the way they did to give themselves a chance to win and then have the goal waved off was tough,” said head coach Dave Poulin following the game.
“What I really focused on with them after the game was not the call, but the way they played the third period. I thought we played well the entire game, but the third period really stood out. They owe it to each other to play that way every night,” said Poulin.
Michigan State took early charge of the game scoring twice in the first period off of Irish goaltender David Brown. After turning in three consecutive shutouts and 186:15 minutes of shutout hockey, David Brown saw his streak come to an end at 7:12 of the first period as Michigan State’s Jim Slater found the back of the net.
With the puck in the left wing corner, Tommy Goebel carried the puck around a fallen Irish defenseman and along the goal line where he found Slater alone in front. The Spartan sniper fired Goebel’s pass over Brown’s glove for his eighth goal of the year.
Slater’s goal snapped Brown’s consecutive minutes without giving up a goal at 193:27, a Notre Dame-school record. The last goal that the freshman goaltender surrendered came on Oct. 17 versus Bowling Green.and found Slater all alone in front
Michigan State made it 2-0 with 59.1 seconds left in the period, scoring off an Irish turnover.
Defenseman Chris Snavely kept a Notre Dame clearing attempt in at the right point and found Brock Radunske coming out of the zone. His pass found Radunske in the slot where he whipped a shot past Brown for his third goal of the season.
The Irish finally broke through on Migliaccio at 9:04 of the second period.
Mike Walsh, who is suddenly becoming a top power forward in the CCHA, scored on a rebound for his fourth of the season. Walsh jumped a Cory McLean rebound right in front of Migliaccio and fired it home to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Spartans got their two-goal lead back to two goals at 18:22 of the second period as Slater notched his second of the game, this one on the power play.
Brown stopped Goebel on the right side of the goal but couldn’t control the rebound. Adam Nightingale controlled the puck and slid it across to the left side of the goal to a wide-open Slater who fired the puck into the open net.
The power-play goal snapped a streak of 20 consecutive penalties killed by the Irish dating back to Oct. 17 and was just the third power-play goal given up by the Irish in the first nine games of the season.
The Irish took advantage of two Michigan State penalties in the third period to tie the game.
Neil Komadoski picked up his second power-play goal of the season at 1:43 of the third period when his blast from the center point appeared to climb over Migliaccio’s left shoulder to make it 3-2.
At 17:10 of the third period, Radunske was called for boarding and the Irish capitalized. With 1:30 left in the game, Poulin pulled Brown to give the Irish a 6-on-4 power play and they turned it into a goal.
Rob Globke held the puck along the left wing boards and caught Gill racing down the right side. His pass hit Gill in stride and the senior center buried it behind Migliaccio for his third of the season at 18:54. For Gill, it was his third point of the night and his third three-point game of the season.
“Rob (Globke) made a great pass across to me,” said Gill.
“I just wanted to get the shot off and bury it. We really played well in the third period and showed each other how well we can play. Hopefully, it will give us the confidence to play that well all the time,” added the senior center.
The tie gives Notre Dame a 5-3-1 overall record and a 4-3-1 mark in the CCHA. Michigan State goes to 6-3-1 and 5-2-1 in league play.
Notre Dame outshot the Spartans on the night 33-28. Brown finished with 25 saves in his first career overtime game and Migliaccio had 30 stops for the Spartans.
The Irish take a break from CCHA action when they play host to the United States National Developmental Program’s Under-18 team on Friday, Nov. 14. Game time for this exhibition game at the Joyce Center is 7:35 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 OT – F
Notre Dame (5-3-1/4-3-1) 0 1 2 0 – 3
Michigan State (6-3-1/5-2-1) 2 1 0 0 – 3
Scoring
First Period: MSU: Jim Slater 8 (Tommy Goebel, Ethan Graham), 7:12; MSU: Brock Radunske 3 (Chris Snavely), 19:00.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; MSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Mike Walsh 4 (Cory McLean, Aaron Gill), 9:04; MSU: Slater 9 (Adam Nightingale, Goebel), PPG, 18:22.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; MSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Neil Komadoski 2 (Tom Galvin, A. Gill), PPG, 1:43; ND: A. Gill 3 (Rob Globke, Tom Galvin), PPG, 18:54.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; MSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Overtime: No Scoring
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; MSU: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 9 – 15 – 9 – 0 – 33
Michigan State 9 – 8- 9 – 2 – 28
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (64:39) 7 – 7 – 9 – 2 – 25
MSU – Matt Migliaccio (65:00) 9 – 14 – 7 – 0 – 30
Power Plays:
ND: 2-4
MSU: 1-4
Attendance: 6,542 (sellout)