Jan. 7, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team responded to an early Lake Superior goal with two first-period scores of its own and then rode the 29-save effort of freshman Tony Zasowski the rest of the way, as the Irish returned to CCHA play with a 2-1 victory over the Lakers in Central Collegiate Hockey Association action Friday night at the Joyce Center Fieldhouse.
The win moves Notre Dame (8-12-3, 5-6-2 CCHA) into a tie for seventh place in the CCHA, just two points out of fifth. The Irish welcomed back three of their top forwards from the World Junior Championship but played without their co-leading scorer and team captain, as senior center Ben Simon was forced to sit out the game due to a game misconduct penalty in the previous game versus Colorado College.
Lake Superior (8-11-0, 7-6-0 CCHA) failed to cash in on all six of its power-play chances while slipping back into a tie for fifth in the CCHA standings, by virtue of Western Michigan’s 3-2 win Friday over visiting Alaska Fairbanks (WMU is now 7-6-2).
The Irish received an early goal from sophomore David Inman-one of the three players returning from the World Juniors-while senior right wing Joe Dusbabek scored on the power play, becoming the eighth different player to record a game-winning goal for Notre Dame this season (in eight wins).
The Lakers jumped ahead in the game’s fifth minute, with junior defenseman Ryan Knox scoring at the top of the crease for his first goal of the season (4:27). Junior center Ryan Vince assisted on the goal for the Lakers, who then failed to crack Zasowski on their final 28 shots of the game.
Inman-who has spent most of the second as the fist-line left wing but centered the third line on Friday due to Simon’s absence-tied the game 48 seconds later, slapping home the rebound of his own breakaway chance. Junior left wing Jay Kopischke picked up the assist for his sixth point in the last seven games, firing the puck to Inman in the Irish zone. Inman then came free up the middle and sent a short forehand shot off the chest of LSSU junior goaltender Jayme Platt, who was unable to sweep away the rebound before Inman had nudged home his team-leading eighth goal of the season (5:15).
Dusbabek’s power-play goal pushed the Irish ahead midway through the period. Junior left wing Dan Carlson angled from the left boards to mid-ice before sending a pass to the top of the right circle. Junior right wing Ryan Dolder then fed the puck back between the circles and Dusbabek beat Platt with a low shot for his fifth goal of the season (10:46).
The Lakers pulled Platt with 34 seconds left to play and the Irish had a chance to score on the open net, after clearing the puck from the zone. But LSSU quickly went back down the ice and Vince nearly poked the puck past Zasowski on rush form the right side. Vince ultimately slapped the puck through Zasowski, but the play already had been blown dead for a faceoff.
NOTES: In other CCHA action Friday, Michigan (11-4-0) picked up a 2-0 win at Michigan State (11-4-0) to force a tie atop the CCHA standings … third-place Northern Michigan (10-2-1) kept pace with a 2-1 home win over Ferris State (7-8-0), which dropped into a tie with LSSU for fifth … Dusbabek scored a PPG for the second straight game and has 12 points over his last 14 games played (4G-8A ) … Dolder has points in each of the last four games and nine points in the last seven (2G-7A) … Dolder (5G-11A) inched past Simon (6G-9A) atop the Irish scoring charts …Kopischke has six points in his last seven games played (3G-3A) after totaling just nine points in his first three seasons with the Irish (69 games) … Inman’s goal was his first in his last five games played and just his second since Nov. 6 (spanning nine games played) … freshman Connor Dunlop made his return from the World Juniors and made his presence felt as the first-line center, winning 15 of his 24 faceoffs … sophomore center Brett Henning also returned from Sweden, restoring the productive second forward line of senior left wing Andy Jurkowski, Henning and Dolder … Zasowski was solid in his first appearance since Dec. 10, after allowing four goals in each of his previous two games … prior to Friday, Notre Dame had allowed 27 goals in the previous seven games … Zasowski lowered his season goals-against average to 2.41 while raising his save percentage to .912 … the Irish avoided their first three-game home losing streak since late in the 1996-97 season … eight of Notre Dame’s last 13 games have been decided by 0-1 goals (4-3-1 in those games) … the Irish improved to 4-2-1 in the first game of CCHA series this season (1-4-1 in second games) … the Irish are 5-2-2 in their last nine CCHA games … Zasowski has allowed 0-2 goals in eight of his 11 starts.
| LAKE SUPERIOR (8-11-0, 7-6-0 CCHA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 |
| NOTRE DAME (8-12-3, 5-6-2 CCHA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 |
1st: LS 1. Knox 1 (Vince) 4:27, ND 1. Inman 8 (Kopischke) 5:15, ND 2. Dusbabek 5 (Dolder, Carlson) 10:46.
Shots: LSSU 9-13-8/30, ND 14-10-12/36.
Saves: LSSU (Platt) 12-10-12/34, ND (Zasowski) 8-13-8/29.
Power Play: LSSU 0-for-6, ND 1-for-3.
Penalties: LSSU 5 for 10:00, ND 8 for 16:00.