Dec. 11, 2004
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State senior center Ash Goldie scored three goals and Tommy Goebel added a fourth as the Spartans scored three third-period goals to snap a 1-1 tie on the way to a 4-1 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night at Munn Arena.
The Michigan State win gives the two teams a weekend split as the Irish took a 3-2 overtime decision at the Joyce Center on Friday night. Notre Dame is now 4-9-4 on the year and 3-8-3 in the CCHA. The Spartans go to 8-9-1 overall and 5-7-0 in conference play.
The first period belonged to Irish goaltender David Brown as he held Notre Dame in the game, making 18 saves as Michigan State out shot the Irish by an 18-4 margin.
“David (Brown) was real solid all weekend,” said head coach Dave Poulin.
“We have to have strong goaltending and we got that this weekend.”
The Irish would snap the scoreless tie and take a 1-0 lead just 42 seconds into the second period on the power play.
Michael Bartlett controlled the puck at the right point and moved it across to Wes O’Neill at the center point. O’Neill fired a shot through a screen that Dominic Vicari stopped. The rebound came loose in the crease and Josh Sciba was parked on the doorstep to tuck it between the Spartan goaltender’s left pad and the post for his fourth goal of the season.
Brown kept Michigan State off the scoreboard until 15:14 of the middle stanza. Off a face off in the left wing circle the Spartans moved the puck back to A.J. Thelen on the right point. Thelen’s hard shot whistled wide of the Irish goal and bounced off the back boards in front of the net. Chad Honvet took one shot that Brown was able to stop before Ash Goldie flipped the rebound over the Notre Dame goaltender to tie the game at 1-1. The goal was Goldie’s seventh of the season.
The game remained tied until the 12:43 mark of the third period when Goldie would get his second of the game and the eventual game winner.
Colton Fretter took a shot from the slot that was blocked by the Irish defense. The puck landed on Goldie’s stick to the right of Brown and he fired the puck between his pads for his eighth of the year.
“We battled hard tonight and with the score tied 1-1 with seven minutes left, you knew that whoever got the next goal was going to control the game,” said Poulin.
Goebel notched the insurance goal just 39 seconds later at 13:22 off an Irish turnover in their defensive zone. Jim Slater found Goebel in front and he snapped the shot past Brown for his third of the game and a 3-1 lead.
Goldie closed out his hat trick at 19:30 as Notre Dame pulled Brown in favor of a sixth attacker. Goldie tracked down a loose puck at center ice and fired it into the open net for his ninth goal of the year and the 4-1 win.
For the game, the Irish were out shot, 40-21. Brown finished the game with 36 saves while Dominic Vicari had 20 saves in the Michigan State goal.
With the teams going into the final break, Poulin and his team will look towards the 2005 portion of the schedule.
“Friday we played our best game of the season as a team with four regulars out of the lineup. That’s something we can build from. We utilized our speed, played smart with the puck and finished our checks. We take a break now and will come back after the holidays and get ready for the second half of the season,” said Poulin.
Saturday night’s game was the last for the Irish in the 2004 portion of the season as the team breaks for finals and the Christmas Holidays. Notre Dame returns to action on Jan. 1-2 at the Joyce Center when the Irish play host to the Rensselaer Engineers.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 – F
Notre Dame (4-9-4/3-8-3) 0 1 3 – 4
Michigan State (8-9-1/5-7-0) 0 1 0 – 1
Scoring
First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 2 for 4 minutes; MSU: 4 for 8 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Josh Sciba 4 (Wes O’Neill, Michael Bartlett), PPG, :42; MSU: Ash Goldie 7 (Chad Hontvet, A.J. Thelen), 15:14.
Penalties: ND: 3 for 6 minutes; MSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Third Period: MSU: Goldie 8 (Colton Fretter, Kevin Estrada), 12:43; MSU: Tommy Goebel 3 (Jim Slater), 13:22; MSU: Goldie 9 (unassisted), ENG, 19:30.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; MSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:
Notre Dame 4 – 3 – 14 – 21
Michigan State 18 – 13 – 9 – 40
Goaltender Saves:
ND – David Brown (58:11) 18 – 12 – 6 – 36
MSU – Dominic Vicari (60:00) 4 – 2 – 14 – 20
Power Plays:
ND: 1 for 5
MSU: 0 for 5
Attendance: 5,706