Hockey: After brief losing streak, Irish post weekend victories
By JUSTIN SCHUVER
Sports Writer
The Nielsen ratings were high for the Irish this weekend as they swept Bowling Green in a two game series.
Notre Dame, who came into the series on a two-game losing streak, reversed their fortunes with a 6-3 victory over the Falcons on Saturday and a 5-2 win Sunday.
Evan Nielsen, the senior Irish captain and top defenseman, had two goals and four assists in the two games, almost doubling his season point total of seven going into the weekend.
"It's so hard to score goals 5-on-5," Irish head coach Dave Poulin said. "You have to look to special teams and defense."
Special teams were crucial in Saturday's victory, with the Irish capitalizing on four of six power plays, while killing all six Falcon power plays.
Just a week before, in a 5-4 loss at Alaska-Fairbanks, the Irish gave up four power play goals while going 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
Saturday, the Irish jumped out to an early lead at 4:54 of the first period when sophomore Falcon goaltender Jordan Sigalet bobbled a shot from Nielsen and sophomore center Yan Stastny was able to poke the rebound into the net.
The Falcons tied the score at 17:02 of the first period, with forward Ryan Barnett beating Irish sophomore goaltender Morgan Cey top shelf.
The Irish retook the lead on a power play goal about midway through the second period when junior wing and CCHA leading goal scorer Rob Globke beat Sigalet following assists from Nielsen and junior defenseman Neil Komadowski.
Cey provided his team with a lift after robbing Bowling Green of a goal about 11 minutes into the period. The Irish goaltender stopped a Falcon shot from the far side, but gave up a rebound right to the middle of the ice. Out of position, Cey was just able to spread his stick across the mouth of the goal and block a Falcon shot from point-blank range.
"That was the turning point," Poulin said. "That's the save we've needed, and we got it."
At 12:06 of the second, Falcon forward Brian Escobedo was able to tie the game back up, but two straight power play goals from sophomore wing Cory McLean and junior defenseman gave Notre Dame a 4-2 lead going into the third period.
The Falcons cut the deficit to one just a minute into the third after forward Brett Pilkington wristed a shot from the blue line past an unscreened Cey.
Nielsen answered for the Irish about three minutes later with his first goal of the season. The Irish defenseman took an intial pass from Cey and broke in one-on-one on Sigalet. Nielsen made a nifty move to fake his defender to the left, and then pulled back to center to rip a slap shot over the Falcon goaltender's right shoulder to give Notre Dame a 5-3 advantage.
"I knew somebody would get one back for us," Nielsen said. "I'm glad it ended up being me."
The Irish got an insurance goal at 18:04 of the final period on the power play, with McLean scoring his second of the game after assists from Globke and Wroblewski.
Cey was good in net for the Irish in Saturday's win, stopping 37 of 40 shots. Sunday, he was unbelievable. The Saskatchewan native saved 47 of 49 shots, achieving a new career high for saves.
"I felt a lot more comfortable this weekend," Cey said. "Worked out a lot of the bad stuff."
Globke got the first goal of the game just 20 seconds into the contest. An attempted clear by Bowling Green was blocked by Nielsen in the neutral zone, who passed to senior center Connor Dunlop who then found Globke skating up the left side. Globke launched a slap shot from the left circle that beat senior Falcon goaltender Tyler Masters high on the glove side.
A power play goal by the Falcon forward Mike Falk at 9:34 of the first and a goal by forward D'Arcy McConvey at 12:23 of the second gave Bowling Green a 2-1 lead.
Nielsen tied the game back up for the Irish at 14:00 of the second, after collecting a beautiful drop pass from Stastny and flipping the puck over Masters' glove.
"That was really good vision by Stastny," Poulin said. "Sometimes when you're going on a rush you get tunnel vision. He had a great weekend overall."
Senior wing Michael Chin gave the Irish a 3-2 lead just a minute and a half later with his second goal of the season.
Wroblewski scored two even strength goals in the third to seal the victory for the Irish. Stastny and Nielsen assisted on his first, but the second was a beautiful individual effort where he faked Masters to the left and crossed over to flip it into the vacated net.
The Irish travel to Detroit Saturday to take on Wayne State at Joe Louis Arena. Their next home game is not until Jan. 17 against Yale.
All Sports Stories for Monday, December 9, 2002
