Feb. 22, 1997

Notre Dame Hockey Officially Eliminated From CCHA Tournament Race

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Western Michigan used three power playgoals to defeat the Notre Dame hockey team, 6-1, officiallyeliminating the Irish from the CCHA tournament race.

WMU jumped ahead 3-0 in the first period. The first goal came atthe 6:24 mark, when Justin Cardwell redirected a pass from MattCressman, as the puck went inside the right post.

Less than a minute later, Steve Duke buried the bisket in thebasket, redirecting a pass from the left wing by Joel Irving.

At 10:36 of the period, Mike Melas took a rebound of a Joe Corvoshot and gave WMU a commanding 3-0 lead with a power play goal.

Late in the first period, WMU was whistled for afive-minute major penalty, but Notre Dame couldn’t capitalize.

The lone bright spot for the Irish came 52 seconds into the secondperiod, when Steve Noble lit the lamp with an assist coming from TysonFrazier, who was at the right point. Ben Nelsen picked up the otherassist on the power play goal.

Nevertheless, Notre Dame could put no more on the board, as WMUscored three more goals, two with the man advantage, in the first 12minutes of the final period to ice the contest.

Senior Erik Berg saw his first action of the season, filling inbetween the pipes for the final 7 1/2 minutes of the contest.

Notre Dame concludes its season on Friday, Feb. 28 when it hosts MichiganState.

Notre Dame        0  1  0 --  1Western Michigan  3  0  3 --  61st period:  (WM) Cardwell 18 (Cressman, Corvo), 6:24; (WMU)Duke 3 (Irving, Nordstrom), 7:16; (WMU) Melas 17 (Corvo, Duke), pp,10:36. 2nd period: (ND) Noble 13 (Nelson, Fraser) pp, 0:52.3rd period:  (WMU) Waring 3 (Andrews, Novock), 5:03; (WMU)Irving 7 (Melas, Corvo) pp, 9:05; (WMU) Andrews 5 (Cressman), pp,12.24.Shots on GoalNotre Dame        8-12-11 -- 31Western Michigan 12-12-16 -- 40Saves/MinutesND  - Eisler (52:24)   9-12-10 -- 31ND  - Erik Berg (7:36) 0-0-3   --  3WMU - Barnes (58:58)   8-11-8  -- 27WMU - Tolliver (1:02)  0-0-3   --  3PenaltiesNotre Dame         14-44Western Michigan   11-41Power Play ConvNotre Dame        1-5Western Michigan  3-8RecordsNotre Dame         9-24-1 (6-19-1)Western Michigan  14-15-4 (10-11-4)Att:  4,198