Oct. 13, 2000
Omaha, Neb. – The Boston College Eagles showed why they came into the opening game of the Maverick Stampede ranked as the fourth best team in college hockey Friday night in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Eagles got a pair of goals from junior left wing Jeff Giuliano plus three assists from freshman center Ben Eaves while senior goaltender Scott Clemmensen stopped 25 of 26 Notre Dame shots on the way to a 4-1 win over the Fighting Irish at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
Senior left wing Ryan Dolder scored the lone goal for the Fighting Irish who had several outstanding scoring chances in the game, but failed to get the puck past Clemmensen, the veteran BC puckstopper.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 0-2-0 on the young season while Boston College is now 1-0-0. Notre Dame will play this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. versus the loser of the Niagara University-Nebraska-Omaha game.
“I thought we played pretty well tonight,” said Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin. “I thought we had some great scoring chances and just didn’t score. Both teams had the same kind of chances, their goal scorers put them away and we didn’t.”
After a quick-pace first 17 minutes, Boston College got on the board first with 2:13 lef t in the first stanza. Eagle forward Jeff Guiliano stuffed the rebound of a Ben Eaves shot under Tony Zasowski. Right wing Chuck Kobashew started the play as he intercepted an Irish clearing pass at the top of the right wing circle.
“The first goal was a turnover in our end and they worked in front and jammed it in,” related Poulin outside the ND locker room following the game. “They made a nice play on the second goal on the power play and the third came off a power play rush.”
That second goal came with Dan Carlson off for tripping penalty. BC’s power play went to work taking just 19 seconds to find the back of the Irish net. Hobey Baker candidate Brian Gionta got around the ND defense and found a wide-open Krys Kolanos who ripped a shot from the bottom of the right wing circle that went in off the left post past Zasowski at 2:35 putting the Eagles ahead 2-0.
BC’s third goal came as an Eagle power play was ending. Again Gionta had a hand in it as he put junior Ales Dolinar in on Zasowski all alone with a pretty passing pass at the blueline. Dolinar beat the Irish goaltender with a nice move for his first goal of the season at 7:02.
Zasowski was then pulled by Poulin in favor of junior netminder Jeremiah Kimento as the Irish bench boss looked to spark his team. Kimento turned in a strong effort over the final 27:02 of the game.
“I thought the team needed a lift at that point. We really needed a spark and I thought Jeremiah played well the rest of the way,” explained Poulin. “The goal he gave up was an NHL goal, but he really did a good job for us in that situation.”
The fourth goal came at 14:57 of the second stanza as Guiliano got his second goal of the night off a nifty set-up by defenseman Brooks Orpik.
After taking a pass inside the blueline from Eaves, Orpik, a 2000 first round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, found Guiliano streaking down the left side and put a perfect pass on his stick. Guiliano then drilled a hard wrist shot under the crossbar for his second goal of the night.
Notre Dame played a strong third period getting the lone goal just 43 seconds into the stanza.
Senior left wing Ryan Dolder got his first marker of the season when he stuffed the rebound of a Brett Lebda backhander past Clemmensen at the doorstep. Freshman Aaron Gill added a helper on the play.
On the night, Boston College outshot Notre Dame by a 35-26 margin. Zasowski made 16 saves on the night while Kimento made 15 for the Irish.
Notre Dame was 0-8 on the power play while Boston College was 1-6 with the man-advantage. ND is 0-14 with the extra-man through the first two games of the season.
The Irish played without sophomore defenseman Evan Nielsen who came down with the flu earlier in the day. Several other players also had symptoms but were able to play. The same thing happened to Notre Dame last season when the Irish visited Omaha as several players missed part of the weekend series due to the flu.
1 2 3 - FBoston College (1-0-0) 1 3 0 - 4Notre Dame (0-2-0) 0 0 1 - 1
Scoring
First Period: BC: Jeff Guiliano – 1 ( Ben Eaves, Chuck Kobasew) 17:47.
Second Period: BC: Krys Kolanos – 1 (Brian Gionta, Eaves) 2:35 PPG, BC: Ales Dolinar -1 (Gionta, Rob Scuderi) 12:58, BC: Guiliano -2 (Brooks Orpik, Eaves) 14:57.
Third Period: ND: Ryan Dolder – 1 (Brett Lebda, Aaron Gill) 0:43.
Penalties:
Boston College: 8/16
Notre Dame: 7/14
Power Plays:
Boston College: 1 for 6
Notre Dame: 0 for 8
Shots On Goal:
Boston College: 14 – 12 – 9 – 35
Notre Dame: 9 – 8 – 9 – 26
Goaltender Saves:
Boston College – Scott Clemmensen (60:00): 9 – 8 – 10 – 30
Notre Dame – Tony Zasowski (32:58): 13 – 3 – x – 16
Jeremiah Kimento (27:02): x – 6 – 9 – 15
Attendance: 8,314