Jan. 25, 2004
Marquette, Mich. – Northern Michigan goaltender Craig Kowalski made 27 saves and defenseman Nathan Oystrick scored the only goal he would need as the Wildcats handed Notre Dame a 1-0 shutout loss in front of a sellout crowd of 4,052 at the Berry Events Center.
The shutout was Kowalski’s fourth of the season and the 12th of his outstanding four-year career for the Wildcats.
Notre Dame’s David Brown, the owner of four shutouts himself this season, made 22 saves in the one-goal loss.
The loss drops the Irish to 12-9-3 overall and 8-8-2 in CCHA play. The weekend sweep improves Northern Michigan to 12-11-1 on the year and 10-10-0 in league play. Notre Dame and Northern split their four games this season with each team sweeping a home series.
The lone goal of the game came at 16:21 of the opening period when Oystrick scored on a slapshot from the left point. The shot deflected in front of Brown over his glove hand for Oystrick’s fifth goal of the season.
The Northern Michigan penalty killers shut down Notre Dame’s power-play, killing all six Irish man-advantages. The Wildcats were 0-for-3 on their power play.
On the night, Notre Dame outshot Northern Michigan by a 27-23 margin.
Notre Dame returns home looking to get on the winning track with a pair of games at the Joyce Center versus Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 30-31. Friday’s game will start at 7:35 p.m. with Saturday’s game scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. face-off.
IRISH NOTES:
** The duo of Rob Globke and Aaron Gill have scored seven of Notre Dame’s eight goals over the last four games going back to the series at Wisconsin.
** The Irish have been involved in four 1-0 games this season. They are 3-1 in those games.
** For just the second time this season, Notre Dame’s power play was held off the board in consecutive games as Northern held the Irish scoreless on 11 power-play chances. The only other time was a three-game scoreless streak from Oct. 18-30. The Irish were 0-for-10 in those three games.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 F
Notre Dame (12-9-3/8-8-2) 0 0 0 0
No. Michigan (12-11-1/10-10-0) 1 0 0 1
Scoring
First Period: NMU: Nathan Oystrick 5 (Alex Sawruk, Geoff Waugh), 16:21.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; NMU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; NMU: 4 for 8 minutes.
Third Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; NMU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 7 – 8 – 12 – 27
No. Michigan 7 – 11 – 5 – 23
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (59:06) 6 – 11 – 5 – 22
NMU – Craig Kowalski (60:00) 7 – 8 – 12 – 27
Power Plays:
ND: 0 for 6
NMU: 0 for 3
Attendance: 4,052 (sellout)