November 15, 1996

Ferris State Skates Past Notre Dame, 5-1

Bulldogs come away with three power-play goals despite 39-21 shot advantage for the Irish

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Visiting Ferris State Universitybroke open a scoreless game with three second-period goals andsealed the victory with a pair of power-play goals in the closingminutes to defeat the University of Notre Dame 5-1 in CentralCollegiate Hockey Association action Friday before a crowd of2,214 at the Joyce Center Fieldhouse.

Notre Dame outshot Ferris State by a considerable margin, 39-21,but converted on just 1-of-6 power-play chances, compared toa 3-of-7 mark for the visitors. Freshman MikeSzkodzimski continued his stellar play in the goal for FSU,stopping 38 shots while lowering his seasongoals-against-average to 3.13.

The win moved Ferris State (5-6-1, 2-4-0 CCHA) into a three-waytie for seventh in the 10-team league standings. Friday’s effortprovided the second big road win in the past two weeks for FSU,which came away with a 3-2 win at Bowling Green last week behindSzkodzinski’s 47 saves.

The loss dropped Notre Dame (3-4-1, 2-3-1) from fourth place tofifth in the CCHA standings, behind Lake Superior (3-2-0), a 7-3winner at home Friday over Ohio State. The Irish remain in frontof OSU (2-4-0) and Bowling Green (2-5-0), which dropped a 4-0decision at Miami University on Friday.

Sophomore right wing Geoff Bennetts scored the first of his twogoals in the game early in the second period, putting back ashot from freshman Brian McCullough (1:07). The visitors wentahead 2-0 midway through the second period, when seniordefenseman Dusty Anderson skated in from the left and sent aquick pass between the circles for sophomore right wing JoelIrwin, who quickly redirected a shot past Notre Dame juniorgoaltender Matt Eisler.

The Bulldogs converted on a 4-on-3 power-play late in the secondperiod, on a goal that closely resembled FSU’s second score.McCullough took a pass on the left side from junior defensemanBrett Colborne and slapped the puck across to sophomore centerTodd Steinmetz, who then fired home the third goal of the period(17:16).

Notre Dame had a chance to gain a motivational lift heading intothe second intermission after an interference penalty onBennetts with 1:56 remaining in the period. But the Irish wereunable to create any solid scoring chances while failing ontheir fourth power-play opportunity of the game.

Midway through the third period, the hosts had another goldenopportunity after penalties to Steinmetz and Jason Hodel yieldeda 5-on-3 situation for the Irish. But Notre Dame could convertjust once, when senior right wing Tim Harberts slapped home adeflected shot by senior defenseman Benoit Cotnoir (8:34).

FSU had a similar two-man advantage in the closing minutes andwas able to come through with a pair of goals, as Hodel andBennetts both lit the lamp in the final two-and-a-half minutes.

Notre Dame outshot FSU 18-7 in the third period but also had ahandful of chances in the first 20 minutes, including a shotfrom freshman center Ben Simon that smacked off the right pipe.

The Irish continue to struggle on the power-play, havingconverted on just six of 46 chances (13.0 percent) for the season.Meanwhile, Ferris State has been solid on its penalty-killingduring CCHA games this season, stopping opponent power-plays82.9 percent of the time (29-of-35).

POSTGAME QUOTES

Ferris State Coach Bob Daniels
“Overall, Notre Dame had the edge in the game. In the firstperiod, Notre Dame was a much better team. It was the worstpiece of hockey we played all year. In the second and third, wegot the game to somewhat even. Szkodzinski gave us time to getour act together. We caught a break tonight. Every point youearn in the league is going to bring a lot of parity.”

Notre Dame Coach Dave Poulin
“At some point, you haveto play. We’ve done a lot of talking and had a lot ofdiscussions this week, but you just have to play. We startedbetter, but you have to score and you have to capitalize onspecial teams. You’ve got to score goals and we just didn’t dothat. The fact that they score should not change the way weplay. The bottom line is that you have to score to win. Youcan’t win a game 0-0. Like last week it was a situation wherethe goalie gets confidence as the game goes on. Scoring isreally a mentality as well as a talent. You have to want toscore goals. We spent 30 to 40 percent of our practice time thisweek working on special teams, but a 5-on-3 is a difficult killsituation. They scored once on a 5-on-3 and once on a 4-on-3.”

FERRIS STATE 5, NOTRE DAME 1
CCHA HOCKEY – at Notre Dame’s Joyce Center

Ferris State    0   3   2   --  5Notre Dame      0   0   1   --  1ScoringFIRST PERIOD:  No Scoring 
SECOND PERIOD: 1. FS - Bennetts (McCullough, Hunt) 1:07;  2. FS - Irwin (Anderson, Roach) 10:28; 3. FS - Steinmetz (McCullough, Colborne) 17:16, PP 4-3. 
THIRD PERIOD:  1. ND - Harberts (Cotnoir, Borega) 8:34, PP 5-3;4. FS - Hodel (Colborne, Roach) 17:33, PP 5-3;  5. Bennetts(McCullough, Hunt) 18:30, 5-4.Shots on GoalFerris State       5-9-7   --  21Notre Dame         8-13-18 --  39SavesSzkodzimski (FS)  8-13-17  --  38Eisler (ND)       5-6-5    --  16PenaltiesFerris State            10-for-20Notre Dame              12-for-32Power-PlaysFerris State             3-for-37Notre Dame               1-for-6